How to develop an e-Commerce website?

[krishnandu]

Hi friends, I need some ideas and suggestions and mainly the working procedure of e-commerce websites.

Well, I googled it out and got few article on the process. But I actually want to how to deploy it?

I never used any CMS like Joomla, Drupal etc. Well but I really intend to learn them in future. I heard they makes the job much easier. Please put some light into this matter, I mean please comment your ideas about this.

Next thing is I heard there is a CMS named osCommerce which helps to deploy e-commerce sites. Again please put your suggestions.

And lastly what if I go with general way of writing your own code yourself? How to actually accept Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Internet Banking to get the amount on company's A/c?

I think going with the general way will be really hectic, as the thing first comes into my mind is to setup a cart, then accept payment(I don't know how), and the orders will be shown somewhere from where I can see the orders and deliver them to the buyers. A lots of code and security I've to maintain. I think this is where osCommerce and other eCommerce CMS(if any, I don't know any other names) comes in.

I think accepting payment needs a gateway, CCAvenue(this is the only name I can think of now), may be paypal. So please put your suggestions here also, as this is my main roadblock on developing an ecommerce website.

PS : Please don't redirect me to some web designing / developing companies. As I myself do freelancing on these. All I've got are some small clients who wants to develop their personal websites with a contact form. And recently I worked on few projects who wanted to move their whole business online, like their sales and purchases, stock, customer information etc. So I've that much experience only. And I do a job on permanent basis, so I do all this on my free time(after returning from office and on sat's and sun's). So I back off any major clients I get because of lack of my knowledge, experience and time too(major factor). Now I really think of learning these things, so that I can at least grab few of them without leaving all the major projects backed off.

 

[Gaurish]

Its simple, so I will say it in just two points:

1) Choose a shopping cart software based on your requirements: Popular ones are cubecart,virtuemart,magneto,zen cart, PrestaShop etc. here is the Full List of shopping cart software: List1 List2

2) Sign up for Payment Gateway or Merchant account to start accepting credit cards,Net banking etc. So if you are targetting the indian market and want to charge in Rupees; then you have to stick with Indian payment gateways. While is no accurate comparison list, but the few ones that pop out of my head right now(I can add more names, if requested) are: CCAvenue(you are mentioned),Transecute,Payseal ICICI,EBS etc. for integration, it depends on payment gateway, so contact them and ask. If you need a guide on how to choose a PG, see this

Hope it helps

 

[krishnandu]

Thanks a lot, that's the exact information I was looking for.

Now can anyone please comment on these CMS thing??

1. Are they really worth learning?? (I guess the answer would be "Yes, Of-course, 100%")

2. In what situations should I use them? Like I want to develop a sales bill form and then on submit insert into database, so I think this process I have to written manually and CMS can't handle thing thing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anything else that I should know? Please put your suggestions and views

 

[Gaurish]

Thanks a lot, that's the exact information I was looking for.

No Problem. you're always welcome

1. Are they really worth learning?? (I guess the answer would be "Yes, Of-course, 100%")

you might want to have a look at CMSMadeSimple. It will change your notion of "learning" cms because its quite simple to use.

2. In what situations should I use them? Like I want to develop a sales bill form and then on submit insert into database, so I think this process I have to written manually and CMS can't handle thing thing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Depends, each cms is made for a specific purpose. for example wikipedia or this forum is a type of CMS still they can't be use to make regular websites.And if you just need sales bill form, then its better to code it yourself and integrate it with existing website that is being used.

Remember,Always use right tool for the job

Happy coding

 

[krishnandu]

Thanks Gaurish, your suggestions are really crystal clear for anyone to understand

Sorry inspite of lot of help can't rep you, it says "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Gaurish again." Looks like I've repped you too much for something before. Actually you help me out max. times on my queries

Well, the matter is just not a sales bill, as I did a project on maintaining sales, purchase, stock, customer information recently, so quoted that. I wanted to know these type of queries, like sales bill input and then insert to database, finding something from database between two date taking input from user, deleting or updating bills / invoice like this only. Anyway I got my answer. I think reading the link you provided will answer me on which circumstances should I use these CMS. Thanks a lot again

And f you don't mind, I've another few set of questions. Everything I developed till now, I coded manually. Simply writing the code myself. But I see many airticles they suggest to use framework, MVC, like CakePHP?? What you say?? Well, I visited CakePHP site, read what it does, but didn't actually got it, and how will it make my job easier and more professional or elegant.

As I'm sure the method I follow is not right, like on my first project I used mysql_conenct() and all those on each page. Then realised the problem and on next project I wrote database part on a diff. file and include() / require() them whenever I needed. I still think there is much modification I need to implement, may be OOP?? Implement Class for every feature or function and use them wherever I need??

Please guide me in this portion too.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Well, I want to correct one thing, it's not like I never used any CMS, it would I never used Joomla, Drupal type things. But I really tried out phpBB, SMF, Wordpress CMS. (I guess they are CMS too)

 

[Gaurish]

Thanks Gaurish, your suggestions are really crystal clear for anyone to understand

Sorry inspite of lot of help can't rep you, it says "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Gaurish again." Looks like I've repped you too much for something before. Actually you help me out max. times on my queries

Thank you!

And honestly, I don't really care about reps. Just sharing what I know

Well, the matter is just not a sales bill, as I did a project on maintaining sales, purchase, stock, customer information recently, so quoted that. I wanted to know these type of queries, like sales bill input and then insert to database, finding something from database between two date taking input from user, deleting or updating bills / invoice like this only. Anyway I got my answer.

sounds like you need pos software, not a CMS.

Everything I developed till now, I coded manually. Simply writing the code myself. But I see many airticles they suggest to use framework, MVC, like CakePHP?? What you say?? Well, I visited CakePHP site, read what it does, but didn't actually got it, and how will it make my job easier and more professional or elegant.

As I'm sure the method I follow is not right

you have answered your question yourself Using Framework is not necessary but you will end up using one because its easier and saves lot of time. further, MVC is a design pattern that separates presentation from core logic. so its easier to maintain

like on my first project I used mysql_conenct() and all those on each page. Then realised the problem and on next project I wrote database part on a diff. file and include() / require() them whenever I needed. I still think there is much modification I need to implement, may be OOP?? Implement Class for every feature or function and use them wherever I need??

This is where a framework helps. it is just an glorified set of reusable libraries or helper classes. so instead of writing that database class yourself, you can use the helper classes provided by the framework.

what this means is, that you can focus on implementing the core business logic, while framework will handle all the mundane like input validation, database access etc.

I will suggest you look at CodeIgniter - Open source PHP web application framework - its easier to pickup and does not have a steep learning curve. While frameworks like Zend,Cakephp or Symphony have a higher learning curve

 

[krishnandu]

Thanks for sharing

So CMS are generally used for static pages?? Installed Joomla! and was trying to figure out, got the basics, it's easy, if I can give time then surely I can master it(atleast the basics).

 

[Gaurish]

So CMS are generally used for static pages?? Installed Joomla! and was trying to figure out, got the basics, it's easy, if I can give time then surely I can master it(atleast the basics).

No, CMS are build to manage dynamic content.

 

[arun687]

Thanks for sharing

So CMS are generally used for static pages?? Installed Joomla! and was trying to figure out, got the basics, it's easy, if I can give time then surely I can master it(atleast the basics).

No actually CMS like Drupal, Joomla is really useful for people with little coding skills to implement a very dynamic website. Like in Wordpress, we can do blogs and simple websites, but in Drupal and Joomla, we can do a lot more.

Also, for developers, its easier to get a website up and running and also customize it to their needs with coding skills. These CMS have hooks which make coding easier. Essentially, Drupal can be considered as a mini framework. Also, these have many many plugins that are mostly open source, which add a lot of custom functionality to the website.

So it's just like the same concept as not having to reinvent the wheel. When there's a lot of code floating on the web that's free and accomplish what you need to do, then why waste time and resources redoing it all. Instead, if minor customization is required, these can be done without consuming much time, as against writing it all from scratch.

 

[krishnandu]

Hmm...got that, thanks a lot for the help