UK compatible shopping carts

"On Web" <ac297.DeleteThis@dial.pipex.commm> wrote in message
news:7hl6h.26479$fz1.1944@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
>
> "On Web" <ac297.DeleteThis@dial.pipex.commm> wrote in message
> news:36l6h.9966$bC3.9738@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
>> I've been asked to quote for a website with a shopping cart and CMS, I'm
>> currently researching shopping carts (I have a likely CMS)
>>
>> The retailer will be UK based and offer mail order as well as downloads.
>> It's also likely there will be a wholesale type operation to the retail
>> trade. I'm looking to find the best off-the-shelf solution for this kind
>> of operation. It will be neessary to customise the shopping cart to fit
>> the overal design of the web site. It also seems to me that stock control
>> will be important as well as financial reporting/order tracking, though
>> these don't figure in the current brief. I'm aware that there are 1001
>> products out there, so I'm taking a short cut here to find out what's
>> likely to be the best solution for a UK based retailer. If successful,
>> the site may be extended for use in other countries and languages, though
>> that may well be a MK2 version. The online retail sector is new to me and
>> currently the options seem overwhelming and my time is short. My gut
>> feeling that what I'm looking for will be called actinic, but I'm looking
>> for opinions and choices.
>>
>> Fully bespoke is not an option - what's intended is customisation and
>> integration of products.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> While we're at it - it's most likely this may be remotely hosted, which
> makes me think there may be a business vulnerability if the remote host
> hits
> a problem or the isp fails, the business operations wouls be halted or
> rely
> on 'manual' processing. Do businesses rely on remote hosts exclusively?

OK, I've been told actinic isn't a real-time system. Anyone care to suggest
a real-time alternative to actinic?
 >> Stay informed about: UK compatible shopping carts 

On Web wrote:
> "On Web" <ac297.DeleteThis@dial.pipex.commm> wrote in message
> news:7hl6h.26479$fz1.1944@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
>> "On Web" <ac297.DeleteThis@dial.pipex.commm> wrote in message
>> news:36l6h.9966$bC3.9738@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
>>> I've been asked to quote for a website with a shopping cart and CMS, I'm
>>> currently researching shopping carts (I have a likely CMS)
>>>
>>> The retailer will be UK based and offer mail order as well as downloads.
>>> It's also likely there will be a wholesale type operation to the retail
>>> trade. I'm looking to find the best off-the-shelf solution for this kind
>>> of operation. It will be neessary to customise the shopping cart to fit
>>> the overal design of the web site. It also seems to me that stock control
>>> will be important as well as financial reporting/order tracking, though
>>> these don't figure in the current brief. I'm aware that there are 1001
>>> products out there, so I'm taking a short cut here to find out what's
>>> likely to be the best solution for a UK based retailer. If successful,
>>> the site may be extended for use in other countries and languages, though
>>> that may well be a MK2 version. The online retail sector is new to me and
>>> currently the options seem overwhelming and my time is short. My gut
>>> feeling that what I'm looking for will be called actinic, but I'm looking
>>> for opinions and choices.
>>>
>>> Fully bespoke is not an option - what's intended is customisation and
>>> integration of products.
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>> While we're at it - it's most likely this may be remotely hosted, which
>> makes me think there may be a business vulnerability if the remote host
>> hits
>> a problem or the isp fails, the business operations wouls be halted or
>> rely
>> on 'manual' processing. Do businesses rely on remote hosts exclusively?
>
> OK, I've been told actinic isn't a real-time system. Anyone care to suggest
> a real-time alternative to actinic?
>
>

I use CubeCart. Its a popular shopping cart, and easier to set-up than
most of the others I've used.
It can handle digital (downloads) and physical items, or a mix of both.

Its a "free" download, but retains a small copyright notice in the page
title and page footer. If you pay a small registration fee, the
copyright message is removed.
(Search for "powered by cubecart" in google)

www.cubecart.com - Main site
www.cubecart.org - 3rd party add-ons, free and commercial (most
commercial mods are £5-£10)

It handles multi-lingual, and multi-currency.
Customisation is an active part of Cubecart as it uses a template
engine, keeping code and HTML separate.

Cubecart is mainly managed by a web-based admin section. You'll only
need to FTP when uploading any modifations - product images are uploaded
via the browser (you can also FTP)


I've no real experience of Actinic, but it basically runs on a web
server (using Perl scripting), and a PC application does most of the
hard work.
I like the idea - most web servers run Perl, and so you're not stuck
with Linux vs Windows hosting.


Other carts I've had experience of are:
OSCommerce - Free/open source. Lots of free mods, but not that easy to
set-up (from my experience)
Zen Cart - A fork of the above, a bit more "joined-up"
PD ShopPro - Windows server based (uses ASP/MS Access or SQL Server)

Your weakest link will be the web-host. If worldpay/paypal etc are
down, it should be a rare event.
A more common problem is the web-server being overloaded (if you're on a
shared server). This will mean a slow site, or even the site being down.
The best way to avoid this is to pick a decent hosting company, and then
ensure you can move quickly in the event of repeated problems.

One company I can recommend is www.nativespace.com (I'm an ex-customer,
but now share a server with a friend)
Their tech support and prices are very good. If I had a hosting
requirement again, I'd not hesitate to use them again.

I hope this is of help,
Jason
 >> Stay informed about: UK compatible shopping carts 

On Web wrote:
> "On Web" <ac297.TakeThisOut@dial.pipex.commm> wrote in message
> news:7hl6h.26479$fz1.1944@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
>
>>"On Web" <ac297.TakeThisOut@dial.pipex.commm> wrote in message
>>news:36l6h.9966$bC3.9738@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
>>
>>>I've been asked to quote for a website with a shopping cart and CMS, I'm
>>>currently researching shopping carts (I have a likely CMS)
>>>
>>>The retailer will be UK based and offer mail order as well as downloads.
>>>It's also likely there will be a wholesale type operation to the retail
>>>trade. I'm looking to find the best off-the-shelf solution for this kind
>>>of operation. It will be neessary to customise the shopping cart to fit
>>>the overal design of the web site. It also seems to me that stock control
>>>will be important as well as financial reporting/order tracking, though
>>>these don't figure in the current brief. I'm aware that there are 1001
>>>products out there, so I'm taking a short cut here to find out what's
>>>likely to be the best solution for a UK based retailer. If successful,
>>>the site may be extended for use in other countries and languages, though
>>>that may well be a MK2 version. The online retail sector is new to me and
>>>currently the options seem overwhelming and my time is short. My gut
>>>feeling that what I'm looking for will be called actinic, but I'm looking
>>>for opinions and choices.
>>>
>>>Fully bespoke is not an option - what's intended is customisation and
>>>integration of products.
>>>
>>>Thanks.
>>
>>While we're at it - it's most likely this may be remotely hosted, which
>>makes me think there may be a business vulnerability if the remote host
>>hits
>>a problem or the isp fails, the business operations wouls be halted or
>>rely
>>on 'manual' processing. Do businesses rely on remote hosts exclusively?
>
>
> OK, I've been told actinic isn't a real-time system. Anyone care to suggest
> a real-time alternative to actinic?
>
>

Try www.cactushop.com, I've experience with this. Handle multi currency
and languages and downloadable products well (and can recognise them as
such and not charge for shipping them etc).

Is UK based company (and more recently Dubai too) so up to speed for VAT
etc (will even check syntax of vat numbers for EU orders)

With any site you are dependent on your hosting. Make sure you pick a
good one - cheapest doesn't equal best in many cases.
 >> Stay informed about: UK compatible shopping carts 

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:17:19 GMT, in alt.ecommerce you wrote:

>The retailer will be UK based and offer mail order as well as downloads.
>It's also likely there will be a wholesale type operation to the retail
>trade. I'm looking to find the best off-the-shelf solution for this kind of
>operation.

Howdy,

It doesn't make any difference where a web site is hosted. US hosting will
be just as fast for your customers.

Everything you need is built into the BIZyCart Ecommerce Server. You can
set up web pages to use up to four different pricing levels. You can also
require retailers to set up an account before they have access to wholesale
prices.

>It will be neessary to customise the shopping cart to fit the
>overal design of the web site.

That's all done within the template pages. No program code changes would be
necessary. Hit http://bizynet.biz/BIZyCart.asp?GROUP=Links&CLIENT=BIZyBiz
and take a look at some sites. Every one of them is different.

>extended for use in other countries and languages, though that may well be a
>MK2 version. The online retail sector is new to me and currently the options
>seem overwhelming and my time is short. My gut feeling that what I'm looking
>for will be called actinic, but I'm looking for opinions and choices.

There really aren't that many. If they aren't listed on the page at
http://www.authorizenet.com/alliances/carts_cert.php you don't want to mess
with them. You will not find Actinic certified anywhere.

Thanks, Chris www.bizynet.com and www.bizycart.com
BIZynet Coordinator cgunn.RemoveThis@bizynet.com - (505) 586-1225
 >> Stay informed about: UK compatible shopping carts