Best open source system for my needs?

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Kai_63

Free Member
May 23, 2010
61
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  • #1
    I wondered if anyone had suggestions on what open source solution to go with for my online fashion store. My plan is to get a web designer/developer to create the initial templates and build the basic website, but after that I’ll be updating the copy and images myself (I have very basic CMS skills but happy to learn more).
    Ideally it should be able to offer the following (some are desirable rather than essential):
    • Be sufficient for a store selling 50-100 products to start (growing over time to up to 250 potentially)
    • Easily updatable (copy and images)
    • Feature a good range of product features e.g zoom, multiple images
    • Easy to use shopping cart and compatible with a range of payment products
    • Customer account area
    • SEO-able
    • Blog area
    • Send to a friend function (Desirable)
    • Wishlist (Desirable)
    • Send a virtual or physical gift voucher (Desirable)


    At the moment I’m leaning towards Magento but I know there are a few downsides (e.g. slow to run) but your opinions are welcome!

    Also if you have a rough idea of how long (e.g. working hours) a site of this type would take to create using one of the main open source systems, that would be really useful.
    Thanks
     
    B

    bens

    Free Member
    Jun 4, 2010
    6
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    London
  • #3
    I personally think that magento is an over kill for your needs. It's an excellent system however very "heavy". Why not open a yahoo store for 40 USD a month? You then don't have to worry about someone hacking your server, performance issues I would definitely consider it.
     
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    J

    JoomGuru

  • #5
    I am trialling a new ecommerce component for Joomla called Tienda by Discouri. I am just about to load version 0.44 BETA onto a site. I will let you know so you can view it, just message me your details and I will pass on the link.
     
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    S

    Shopping365Group

    Free Member
    Jun 5, 2010
    31
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  • #7
    All of the freely available shopping carts could do pretty much everything you require with possibly the exception of being able to zoom images out of the box, but i imagine with all of them you could install something that would give you that functionality. It's just a matter of your personal taste really or what the web developer you go with is used to working with.

    Good luck with it anyway whichever type of shopping cart you choose to go with.
     
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    S

    Shopping365Group

    Free Member
    Jun 5, 2010
    31
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  • #8
    Apologies for double posting but i forgot to add, with regards to how many hours it would take to set up, it is hard to say, we have spent thousands of hours on our sites and their still not finished but interms of initial setup to get you started if you already have some sort of product descriptions and are using a web developer then it should not take more than a few hours.

    Then the hard work really starts! :eek:
     
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    S

    sanjiv

    Free Member
    Feb 15, 2010
    2,121
    247
  • #9
    Shopping365Group said:
    All of the freely available shopping carts could do pretty much everything you require with possibly the exception of being able to zoom images out of the box, but i imagine with all of them you could install something that would give you that functionality. It's just a matter of your personal taste really or what the web developer you go with is used to working with.

    Good luck with it anyway whichever type of shopping cart you choose to go with.
    Click to expand...
    It would be quite easy to install a lightbox into most e-commerce platforms.
     
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    K

    Kai_63

    Free Member
    May 23, 2010
    61
    1
  • #11
    Great to know that most will accomodate my needs. Just as important as the functionality is a great looking site (as it's a fashion store, it needs to look extra slick and professional). The Magento live sites seemed to fit the bill on this whereas for example, the OScommerce sites all looked a little less professional to me. That said, I'd be interested to hear what people think about Prestashop - seems to have some good reviews and their live sites looked pretty good.Magento also seems to be a good fit because I have big ambitions for my business (as I'm sure do most people here) and it seems to allow the transition from a small start up to a decent medium sized business with its Professional and Enterprise versions better than some of the other solutions.The other thing, as I mentioned, is that it needs to be easily updatable by someone with very little knowledge of HTML (i.e. me)!
     
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    edmondscommerce

    edmondscommerce

    Free Member
    Nov 11, 2008
    3,653
    628
    UK
  • #13
    I would go for Magento for this without a doubt.

    It will easily handle your current requirements and will still have plenty of room to grow so you will not need to invest in moving to another platform should you business grow in the future (which of course you hope it will!)

    Forget about the Professional and Enterprise versions, its the same system with extra support (basically) and is unlikely to be required for the vast majority of businesses.
     
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    P

    paretowasright

    Free Member
    Jan 2, 2009
    674
    98
  • #14
    edmondscommerce said:
    I would go for Magento for this without a doubt.

    It will easily handle your current requirements and will still have plenty of room to grow so you will not need to invest in moving to another platform should you business grow in the future (which of course you hope it will!)

    Forget about the Professional and Enterprise versions, its the same system with extra support (basically) and is unlikely to be required for the vast majority of businesses.
    Click to expand...

    Joseph,

    I was looking at the differences between community, enterprise and professional the other day and pleased that community may still be workable else its $2500 minimum pa from memory!
    Do you have a set cost structure for completing a community magento site based on various add ons/templates etc?
     
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    edmondscommerce

    edmondscommerce

    Free Member
    Nov 11, 2008
    3,653
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    UK
  • #16
    paretowasright said:
    Joseph,

    I was looking at the differences between community, enterprise and professional the other day and pleased that community may still be workable else its $2500 minimum pa from memory!
    Do you have a set cost structure for completing a community magento site based on various add ons/templates etc?
    Click to expand...

    No set price structure, each client has their own requirements and the line between what we do and what the client does changes on a per project basis.

    Some clients would prefer to pay more and get us to do the vast majority of the work, others prefer to get much more involved and try to do as much as possible themselves in order to save cash. We are happy working either way.

    So to give you an idea costs would range from a couple of hundred pounds up to a few thousand pounds and everywhere in between.

    Get in touch to discuss directly if you would like more specific details
     
    Last edited:
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    zabestof

    zabestof

    Free Member
    Jun 2, 2010
    36
    3
  • #17
    I'd recommend a wordpress shopping cart plugin or, even better, a wordpress theme with a shopping cart included (no plugins). It's easy to use, light and has almost all of the features you require. Also, you can find a lot of wp devs. and it's not expensive either.
     
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    P

    paretowasright

    Free Member
    Jan 2, 2009
    674
    98
  • #18
    edmondscommerce said:
    No set price structure, each client has their own requirements and the line between what we do and what the client does changes on a per project basis.

    Some clients would prefer to pay more and get us to do the vast majority of the work, others prefer to get much more involved and try to do as much as possible themselves in order to save cash. We are happy working either way.

    So to give you an idea costs would range from a couple of hundred pounds up to a few thousand pounds and everywhere in between.

    Get in touch to discuss directly if you would like more specific details
    Click to expand...

    Joseph,

    Yes I will send you a PM when I have an accurate brief written.
    Looking to switch a site away from another managed shopping cart.
     
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    InternetMarketingPlatinum

    InternetMarketingPlatinum

    Free Member
    Jul 21, 2009
    1,616
    212
    Yorkshire, UK
  • #20
    zabestof said:
    I'd recommend a wordpress shopping cart plugin or, even better, a wordpress theme with a shopping cart included (no plugins). It's easy to use, light and has almost all of the features you require. Also, you can find a lot of wp devs. and it's not expensive either.
    Click to expand...

    Isn't Wordpress limited to Paypal/Google Checkout? I would recommend Magento.
     
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    S

    sitedesign

  • #22
    Hi,

    As some of the above members have mentioned, Joomla is a very versatile system with a huge range of add-ons, I use it to develop many different kind of websites, most of which are edited by the site owners.

    Hope this helps with your decision making.

    David at SiteDesign-Group dot co dot uk
     
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