Customized Shopping Cart Software

[dogmom327]

Do any of you mama's have customized shopping cart software? I'm in the market

[Kristine233]

What kind of features are you looking for as far as customized stuff? I don't have cart software but have worked with several and can maybe reccomend one that woudl work for you?

[dogmom327]

We're looking for something fairly sophisticated this time around. We've had Zen Cart and are currently with Core Commerce but Zen Cart didn't have enough functionality and I'm increasingly unhappy with CC. It's hosted software and although that has some advantages it means we can't do any customization and we have some major functionality limits (like we have to have our blog and upcoming forum hosted as sub-domains which is disastrous for SEO). Also every time there's an upgrade (it's an automatic thing--we don't download them or anything), it seems like something breaks. Last night I had orders coming through with no shipping or contact info for customers. It's a mess.

We are growing very quickly and need something that can grow with us. We are launching a potentially big wholesale program and need a site that can accommodate that for example.

Ultimately I need to find software that allows us to be in control--I basically want the site we have now with the ability to customize. Core Commerce has an owned-version (Digishop) that we can look at but right now I'm not sure I trust that idea. I've been told we could literally do OS Commerce and then just fork out lots of money to have it customized but I'd love to find something that will be pretty darn close to what we need out of the box but has the ability for us to make changes as we grow. I want to be able to grow 3-, 4- or 5-fold and not have it be disastrous.

Needless to say my head is spinning.

[Kristine233]

I'm a fan of OptionCart based cart systems. I know some here think they are too basic for large businesses, but I've found the cart system itself is highly customizable if you know a bit of programming or have a programmer you can work with. Some of the cart owners are willing to help in that area as well. I guess it would depend on exactly what things you like or don't like about your current cart system and what functions you want. I haven't found anything yet that the OC systems won't do, although I will admit some things needed modifications to make work. I think the biggest draw back is the dependency on the Mals-e system for making adjustments to shipping costs, wholesale, discounts etc and connecting to payment processors. It does merge well with the OC carts but its another admin area you need to access. It would be nice if they figured out how to more fully merge the two.

[Quirky]

I just think the Mal's checkout is so clunky and unappealing, and given that more customers like one or max two page checkout systems, I think that Mal's is the wave of the past if you really want to look professional. I also think that OC doesn't have really important features like shopping feed integration, Facebook integration, loyalty points, bulk editing, a review system....unless these can be added and I just don't know about it? But I'm done with OptionsCart.

And I'm now freaking out because I was just about to switch to Corecommerce.

[Kristine233]

Originally Posted by Quirky

I just think the Mal's checkout is so clunky and unappealing, and given that more customers like one or max two page checkout systems, I think that Mal's is the wave of the past if you really want to look professional. I also think that OC doesn't have really important features like shopping feed integration, Facebook integration, loyalty points, bulk editing, a review system....unless these can be added and I just don't know about it? But I'm done with OptionsCart.

And I'm now freaking out because I was just about to switch to Corecommerce.

I guess I've never had an issue with the checkout process, I just didn't like that they are separate. Since it has a Froogle feed, my guess would be someone versed in databases and php could set up a customized feed or snag it to work and feed into other feeders. Facebook integration can be done with the facebook for websites area, you can insert the connect code into the product layout and its then integrated to "share" to facebook. I've never used loyalty points so don't know what that is. There is bulk editing.. under "advanced item search" in the products area there is a bulk editing mode that allows you to edit up to groups of 10. (A programmer could change that to allow more as well). The review system I'm not sure about, I'm sure it could be done, I'm just not versed enough in PhP to do it myself. lol. A good programmer would probably be able to do it.

I know its not for everyone, but I've done many modifications on it myself over the years and I'm not a programmer. I can only imagine that someone who is would have a easier time making modifications. Hiring a programmer to modify it would be far cheaper than hiring one to create a totally custom cart. But that's just my .02. I've met people who had custom carts done with all the features ready and it cost more for the cart than what my WAHM business makes in a year, so it totally wouldn't be worth it for me. lol.

Megento is one with all those features, well most anyways. It runs $3k-$13 a yr

Goodluck! Hope you find something that works well for you!

[dogmom327]

Sorry guys...didn't mean to scare anyone. I'm just incredibly frustrated at the moment.

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by Quirky

I just think the Mal's checkout is so clunky and unappealing, and given that more customers like one or max two page checkout systems, I think that Mal's is the wave of the past if you really want to look professional. I also think that OC doesn't have really important features like shopping feed integration, Facebook integration, loyalty points, bulk editing, a review system....unless these can be added and I just don't know about it? But I'm done with OptionsCart.

And I'm now freaking out because I was just about to switch to Corecommerce.

We're basically happy with CoreCommerce. The blog thing is annoying, but I am not about to learn a whole new system for it. Someone told me you could put CoreCommerce as a module inside another piece of software to help the blog issue.

FYI, CoreCommerce basically forces you into multiple page checkout if you want any options.

[Quirky]

Options like what??? Arggh, I so want a single-page checkout!

[Quirky]

Aren't you on 3d cart??

[Kristine233]

For the blog couldn't you put it in a sub folder instead of a sub domain? http://website.com/blog vs http://blog.website.com It would be better for SEO, or does the cart somehow make it so you can't have any other folders in your main folder? That would be really irritating!

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by Quirky

Aren't you on 3d cart??

OMG this is what happens when you get pg.

[CawMama]

Nevermind...