What would be your perfect shopping cart system?

Hello,

I'm doing some research about shopping cart systems feature, quality, technical and price wise. I have a very important question i need to ask this great community, specifically the business section.

I would like to know what each and everyone here would love to have in a shopping cart system for their current or future business including specific features or the way you would like your system to work. If for example you are against or do not like shopping cart systems due to any limitations please specify why and what would change your mind.

I can't wait to here what everyone here would describe their perfect and ultimate shopping cart system.

Thanks

It should be reliable and tested by the developer in Beta before release with documentation. SQL and Apache based.

Should be able to apply options to several products at once
Reliable gateway integration
WYSIWYG editor
Easy article integration
Reliable language and currency cross-over
Well-thought out back end
One-time buy out and no monthly fee
Responsive support forum

Just look at CS Cart it's about the best I've seen.

If I could add a couple more wish list requirements a full CRM integration and full accounting package integration. Most systems of any kind fall short on these needs.

We as a ecommerce enabling company are working on these needs. It seems to be a holy grail to make it a marketable product. It can be done in a custom fashion but is to expensive so far to mass produce.

To many different combinations to fill everyones needs.

1- Open Source code
2- Good documentation
3- Guides inside the admin next to each section
4- The ability to edit every PHP (or ASP) file from an Admin Wiz and not having to go in and FTP edit, etc. If you can have an editor for main page content etc....then why not an edit tool for every PHP file that might need to change. I would search through the standard file tree in a wizard in the admin, or search for a key word or function to find the file if I dont know which file I need. View the file, edit it there, click a button and it FTPs the file back to my live directory.
5- Dynamic template and EASY template design changes.

The biggest problem is - trying to please everyone with one product. Unfortunately, it can never be done. So the best way - build a cart that you like. And then add on to it when someone needs something.

Don't use a database driven cart for the simple things (like LinkPoint gateway number, etc). Hard code those. It wil only take 30 seconds to change / update things like that.

Keep your codes separate for each thing you add and always keep in the back of your mind that the cart is not perfect. Just make it as compliant as possible and add on when needed.

CB made a good point. Who is your target for the cart? B2B, home biz, super techs, newbies, etc. Design it for your target and that will impact the features and interface.

I think Corey hit the nail on the head. There is no 'one size fits all' shopping cart. What features some clients might love in a shopping cart system will change drastically depending on what they are selling and what their clients want. A client that sells exclusively digital goods is going to be looking for a different feature set than another person who sells clothes or apparel.

There are other factors like budget, customization, and programming that need to be addressed also. Questions like - How much programming knowledge do you expect your clients to have? What's the average revenue do you expect your clients to make with your system? Will you support customization of your system and to what extent?

Working as technical support for a shopping cart developer, I don't think that many people will have the same answer to your question. It's really going to depend on the individual needs of each client. It's still an interesting question though :)

I am looking for a shopping cart which can

1. have affiliate scheme
2. purchasers can add their reviews of the product

Does this exist or am I mad

Larry - check out Volusion.

I can understand your confusion and bewilderment. This is the normal reaction when people first take on the challanges of e-commerce and shopping cart selection in particular.


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I can understand your confusion and bewilderment. This is the normal reaction when folks first take on the challanges of e-commerce and shopping cart selection.

I have just started a free e-commerce newsletter that addresses some of these concerns.

In the newsletter you'll find information about a new shopping cart that is currently in beta testing. They are allowing testers to use the software free of charge during the extensive testing phase. What is really cool is the fact that they will allow you to actually use the system for live online sales.

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Hello DonKon,

For small-scale, low-volume shops with only a few products, there are many free PHP solutions that will be adequate for most people (eg osCommerce to name just one). Watch out for security, however, since there are often horror stories about security weaknesses with some of the implementations of these.

For larger-scale, higher-volume shops with many products you need to look carefully at how scalable the solution is. Will it handle all the shoppers that you expect or will they be driven away becasue your shop is too slow? Another consideration is integration with other systems. This becomes a more important factor for the bigger shops which would typically be part of a suite of related, co-operating systems.

A free java-based solution that offers scalability and excellent interoperability with other systems that you might wish to consider is KonaKart.
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www.konakart.com

Larry - Check out AspDotNetStoreFront. Their cart offers affiliate functionality and the ability for customers to review/rate products.

My brother can make you a shopping cart for a one time fee. Otherwise if you go through a company it is about 60 dollars a month.
Write me if you want to find out more.
He made my shopping cart and it works great at natureday.com
Anna:)