Platform for eCommerce site.

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I want to create a eCommerce website.
Which coding language I should prefer for developing website?
Please suggest me platform for my website.
#ecommerce #platform #site
  • Profile picture of the author StuDavid
    I heard PHP is widely used for eCommerce, but to be honest if you're brand new to making a website (like I am) then you should go with some hosting service that's easy to use and offers templates for eCommerce activity so you don't have to code it from scratch like 1and1. I use them or a personal website, but one of their main strengths is eBusiness support. Do you already have a domain and web hosting or are you just planning to buy?
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  • Profile picture of the author iamjerson
    Originally Posted by gaurav19 View Post

    I want to create a eCommerce website.
    Which coding language I should prefer for developing website?
    Please suggest me platform for my website.
    Hi Gaurav,

    Yes a lot of opensource e-commerce in market right now that you can use one of it is OpenCart which is nice and easy to use.

    And if you need a help from a web developer I can help you as I am also a web developer for over 5 years.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tikii
      Originally Posted by iamjerson View Post

      Hi Gaurav,

      Yes a lot of opensource e-commerce in market right now that you can use one of it is OpenCart which is nice and easy to use.

      And if you need a help from a web developer I can help you as I am also a web developer for over 5 years.
      Hey there, i would also suggest OpenCart i use it personally and can come in to help if ever you need it. There are some nice templates you can buy and customize to your needs.
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      • Profile picture of the author amcg
        Originally Posted by Tikii View Post

        Hey there, i would also suggest OpenCart i use it personally and can come in to help if ever you need it. There are some nice templates you can buy and customize to your needs.
        Yes, I'd go with OpenCart or Magento. If you're not a developer, and actually this could apply to developers too, hosted carts are just as good for starting out. Shopify is a good hosted option, as is BigCommerce.
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  • Profile picture of the author roblawrence
    Wordpress is your best bet. They have a lot of ecommerce plugins. Checkout WP-ecommerce:

    WordPress › WP e-Commerce « WordPress Plugins

    Wordpress is free and wp ecommerce is free for the basic version. Keep your startup costs low and grow from there!
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    • Profile picture of the author amcg
      Originally Posted by roblawrence View Post

      Wordpress is your best bet. They have a lot of ecommerce plugins. Checkout WP-ecommerce:

      WordPress › WP e-Commerce « WordPress Plugins

      Wordpress is free and wp ecommerce is free for the basic version. Keep your startup costs low and grow from there!
      I would agree that open source is a good option, but beware that your costs might not always be lower going this route. You will obviously need hosting, but beyond this, you will need to pay for everything else e.g SSL, Payment Gateway etc that you will normally get included in a hosted solution.

      I genuinely believe that hosted ecommerce is the best way to start out.
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      • Profile picture of the author hitaseo
        PHP is best, my suggestion is to go with fancy clone script.
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        • Profile picture of the author RemoteProgrammer
          The best Platform is PHP. We have experiences in working with all platforms in last 13 years, including .NET, JSP but finally has stuck to PHP . Here are pros and cons of 3 main programming platforms

          PHP - It requires minimum budget to develop and maintain in future. Low cost hosting as all platform software (OS, database, mail server) are free, and stabler than windows counterpart.

          .NET - Not stable platform as it requires Windows which is prone to virus attack. Costly hosting because OS/database/mail server all cost. Upgrade trap. There is a chance that current code will not work in the newer version of MS-SQL/.NET without major changes.

          JSP - Good but project cost will shoot up at least 100 to 200% more. More importantly you will find it difficult to maintain unless you stick to a support contract with a company who normally several times than normal companies. Good for very large and custom system that needs to be integrated with inhouse database. For a e-com website it is not justified. You may to setup a dedicated server to host it.



          Now for PHP :If your requirement is just making a website like other standard shopping website, go for opensource carts like Magento.

          If your requirement is unique, have something unique in your mind, want control on your system to make future change easier, you should go for custom system. I do not suggest WP as it is prone to trojan attack. In fact all opensource projects are prone to security attacks.

          Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author ReferralCandy
    It really depends on your needs. What sort of site are you hoping to set up? How many products are you going to be selling?
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    Measure, manage and incentivize customer referrals with ReferralCandy.

    PS: Looking to get more repeat customers for a physical store? Check out CandyBar's digital loyalty cards!

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  • Profile picture of the author jones115
    Banned
    It is important to check if the platform that you are going to work with has the speed that your e-shop needs. Because, if it cannot meet the demand your site needs then, it is useless. Ask for trial period. That is the best option.
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    • Profile picture of the author misshealthguru
      Banned
      Opps! Does all E-commerce platform offers trial period? do you have any idea how much does it cost me to have one that can help me become visible in a short period of time. I cannot afford to wait longer because I am just a small business venture with minimum investment.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarginMetrics
    The following is information I just pulled out of an word document I had on my computer when going thru the same analysis for myself recently. The terminology is surrounding "shopping carts", and not "websites". You'll find that is the heart of what you are looking for when searching for the right ecom platform. We ended up choosing a "hosted" shopping cart.

    Website Analysis: Which is the right fit for us?

    Shopping Cart Types: Hosted vs Licensed Shopping Carts

    What is a "shopping cart?": Shopping carts provide the interface for customers to select/update the items they wish to purchase. The shopping cart transfers the ordering details to the payment gateway when the customer is ready to CHECKOUT.

    Hosted shopping carts
    Pros:
    • Maintenance free solution. The hosting company is responsible for server backups, server/application maintenance, upgrades and troubleshooting.
    • Generally quick to setup (depending on the # of products)
    • Hosting solution will include ecommerce web hosting
    Cons:
    • Hosted solutions generally incur monthly fees ($9.99/month and up depending on provider)
    • Generally not as flexible if complex customizations are needed.
    • With some hosted carts, your customers will be transferred to another domain for payment processing.
    Licensed shopping carts:

    Buy your own cart and custom to your specifications
    Pros:

    • No monthly fees for hosting the cart (generally)
    • Highly customizable layouts
    • Greater Flexibility in altering features/functionality and integrating 3rd party tools
    Cons:

    • Requires higher upfront costs (fee to purchase the cart + license, SSL certificate, costs to customize/setup the cart to work on your website)
    • Requires technical expertise to setup and integrate with existing website and database(s)
    • Web hosting solution (operating system) will determine the shopping carts that can run on your web server.
    • Requires technical expertise to troubleshoot if problems occur.
    • Technical support may not be readily available for open source, free carts.
    3 Main types:
    Open Source Shopping Carts
    Hosted Shopping Carts
    CMS +eCommerce Plug-in



    This was a quick and helpful powerpoint slide I came across in my research.


    Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author BuildaBazaar
    Have you considered BuildaBazaar? The site offers a trial period, and the fees are rather nominal. Plus, there is a good deal of customizability available in the platform.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
    whatever you chose, avoid wordpress. we all know you can hack wordpress to behave like a ecommerce site but its not what it was built for. My experience is opencart so have a look at that:

    OpenCart - Demonstration
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  • Profile picture of the author shanayas
    Magento is the best platform to build an eCommerce website. It is the most securest platform from all others. It makes online shopping more user-friendly & help to increase the number of customers in your site. It is the only platform that can help you to save huge on resources & that means it will save your money more.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnpriceonline
    Here's a comparison guide to check out on some popular ones. I've personally only used big commerce and I was happy with them until I outgrew them. The limitations for me came when I needed to customize product feeds into the store from suppliers and needed custom script to make that happen. Big commerce does not really allow that without a bunch of fees, etc. But for getting started they're a good solution that is both affordable and somewhat scalable.
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  • Profile picture of the author farshidkv1
    My opinion is php is good .
    You can use open source platform like opencart .
    Most of the open source platform has good templates ,plugin etc..
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  • Profile picture of the author jessiem
    Another vote for PHP and Magento.
    Most of the devs I heard are using these languages to develop an e-commerce site.
    You can try it, too..
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Purchase
    It depends on the size of your product offering. If you're only selling a few products across a few categories - it's worth building a Wordpress Site with Woo Commerce plugged in.

    If you're looking at a larger scale site, then you'll want to be using Magento. It is such a user-friendly platform once installed. It really won't take you long to setup!
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholas28
    Its depend on your need, If you have small inventory you should use wordpress but if you have large inventory i suggest you magento.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Woocommerce is my preference. Don't need to be a developer and there's no monthly fees for using it. You can create an ecommerce site as easily as installing Wordpress and plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gazstevens73
    Originally Posted by gaurav19 View Post

    I want to create a eCommerce website.
    Which coding language I should prefer for developing website?
    Please suggest me platform for my website.
    Hi,
    If you are new like myself and want an easy alternative to building a site from scratch try wix.
    The platform is simple and everything is in place for ecommerce
    They have some great templates, easy pricing and inventory structure
    Plus the ricin glam is good.
    Regards
    Gaz
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