Which E-commerce solution for a print shop?

[DavidWH]

I've experimented with ecommerce stores (magento/woocommerce/open cart) but never really followed it through to completion, jumping ship to another platform looking for one that just worked as needed.

I've learnt that it's not that simple, and I would be best persevering with 1 platform... But the question is which one.

Multi Store would be good as I have a few domains for specific products, but they can cross over with others, and would save duplicating products. (I think this rules out Woo?)

Customisable products - we print everything from a roller banner to leaflets & posters, each with their own variables that affect the price (paper, quantity, turn around time, size)... I am thinking Magento's configurable product would fit the bill... until we end up with 1000s of variations and need to update prices.

Opencart - I'm more comfortable with using, easier to manage but to lacks the functions I need, although lots of add on modules that claim to do it... something Magento seems to be lacking.

In my mind Magento seems the right choice, but then opencart seems the easier option to add functionality. Woocommerce I may be overlooking.

Does the above sound right?

What platform would you recommend I persevere with?

 

[fisicx]

There are specialist print shop platforms.

For example: https://www.capterra.com/web-to-print-software/

I remember seeing one that was expensive but connected to the printers themselves so it was all networked and integrated.

 

[DavidWH]

I've looked at a few of these, they probably are really good, but I'd prefer to keep control of everything, rather than relying on 3rd parties.

Something like this page. Which is built on WP. - https://aspireprint.co.uk/products/roller-banner-printing/

I'm planning on branding it differently to our main site, and try and keep the e-commerce side seperate to our 'main' business.

 

[Raw Rob]

Multi Store would be good [...] (I think this rules out Woo?)

There is a multi store extension for Woo, $200 per year: https://woomultistore.com/ (I've no comment on whether this would be the platform you need, I guess it might not be, and personally for multi store I would go for a platform with it built in.)

 

[DavidWH]

Cheers for the reply Rob.

My only reason for wanting multi store, is that I have a few domains, one aimed at posters, another at banners, and then I'd like a site to market all our offerings, so the products can be shared accross the 3 sites.

I could just redirect the domains to a main site, however I'm guessing this won't be as beneficial for SEO?

If woo is the better option for functionality, I'd sacrifice the multistore, or build seperate sites, as two will have a smaller offering?

 

[fisicx]

Woo is becoming pants. It bloated and can adversely affect load speeds. Add in a couple of extensions and the whole thing becomes a mess.

I’d avoid using woo where possible.

If you want to stick with WP getting a bespoke plugin/theme doesn’t have to be that expensive.

 

[justinaldridge]

For a multi-store set up Magento tends to be the best solution. It is very easy to operate multiple stores within the same installation.

Magento lovers may argue this but I find that Magento is a complex platform, it's not so easy to install and configure by yourself and developers are generally more expensive than WP developers.

But for multi-store and with lots of variants, it's probably the way to go.

 

[alexsmith2709]

I am looking for a solution like this too, but have not found a suitable one. One of the biggest issues i face is finding something that can allow complete size customisation for things like banners and posters that we can print any size as well as the dropdown selections for things like business cards and flyers.
I dont need multiple domains, but something that allows .csv (or .xls/.xlsx) price import is a must.

I quite like something like vegaprint.co.uk but with a customisable finished size where a user can possible choose from a list of common sizes or enter a custom value in ft/cm/mm. I dont know what system they are using.

I would be interested if you find a solution @DavidWH

 

[EssexBanners]

Hi

This is very interesting. I’d be interested in the exact same solution like @alexsmith2709 above

Thanks

 

[Dan Lowe]

Hi David,

Did you go with a suitable solution? We've had a fair few clients have good success with multidomain stores & configurable products with Magento, and it's always been excellent. And to be honest, it may be more complicated than some of the other options but that does lead to greater control.

Dan

 

[deepvyas]

I dont need multiple domains, but something that allows .csv (or .xls/.xlsx) price import is a must.

I would be interested if you find a solution @DavidWH

Opencart, you have the option ti import export price and other field through CSV

One of the biggest issues i face is finding something that can allow complete size customisation for things likebanners and posters that we can print any size as well as the dropdown selections for things like business cards and flyers.[/USER]

Can add something more ...?

Do you mean the images and banner size customizable from settings...

 

[alexsmith2709]

Opencart, you have the option ti import export price and other field through CSV

Can add something more ...?

Do you mean the images and banner size customizable from settings...

No i mean if someone wants a banner 1m x 2m they can type 1 in the width text box and 2 in the height text box and it will work out and show the price based on a price per meter which is set in the admin panel

 

[UKSBD]

No i mean if someone wants a banner 1m x 2m they can type 1 in the width text box and 2 in the height text box and it will work out and show the price based on a price per meter which is set in the admin panel

You can combine a non-ecommerce and ecommerce system on the same site.
ie.
Create a product in the ecommerce system for all the variations of the product but have the category and main product page outside the ecommerce section

Basically if using Wordpress use Pages for categories and products with links through to the different sizes which are in the ecommerce section as products

 

[deepvyas]

No i mean if someone wants a banner 1m x 2m they can type 1 in the width text box and 2 in the height text box and it will work out and show the price based on a price per meter which is set in the admin panel

Yes off-course extension are available on market place or customization would need to manage such scenario

 

[kev598]

I've experimented with ecommerce stores (magento/woocommerce/open cart) but never really followed it through to completion, jumping ship to another platform looking for one that just worked as needed.

I've learnt that it's not that simple, and I would be best persevering with 1 platform... But the question is which one.

Multi Store would be good as I have a few domains for specific products, but they can cross over with others, and would save duplicating products. (I think this rules out Woo?)

Customisable products - we print everything from a roller banner to leaflets & posters, each with their own variables that affect the price (paper, quantity, turn around time, size)... I am thinking Magento's configurable product would fit the bill... until we end up with 1000s of variations and need to update prices.

Opencart - I'm more comfortable with using, easier to manage but to lacks the functions I need, although lots of add on modules that claim to do it... something Magento seems to be lacking.

In my mind Magento seems the right choice, but then opencart seems the easier option to add functionality. Woocommerce I may be overlooking.

Does the above sound right?

What platform would you recommend I persevere with?

I also share your opinion about Magento. It's pretty scalable, so it won't be any problem to grow your business afterward.
It also has a multistore feature, and you can easily edit everything from the admin panel and avoid that duplication of content issue.
Also, I've come up to the article, that describes more about Magento 2 version https://web4pro.net/blog-news/choosing-magento-2-version-for-your-ecommerce-store/. Definitely, it is better than 1.x versions. Could be a bit slower, but this issue can be solved with page caching, images and videos optimization, reduce server response time, etc.

 

[Vadym Gurevych]

Hi David,

Please take a look at a sample print shop here:
https://www.ukprintproducts.com/

Multi-shop is a built in feature, it is more about customisable products I'd like to ask you to comment, please.

Kind regards, Vadym