How to Build Small Online Retail Store

[Whats My Name]

:wave:

I want to build a small online store. I know very little PHP. I need the following. A login for customers and a way for the website to be easily updated/maintained by not so knowledgeable store owner. Possibly order tracking for customers as well. However that is not totally necessary.

What is the best way to go about this? Are there any free 3rd party options available that can easily be integrated?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[OctaneInv]

ZenCart
osCommerce

Those are the two biggest "store" scripts. Don't need much php knowledge at all.

And just an FYI any tracking should be done via the post, not you.

 

[mhdoc]

I think "small" in the sense of simple is a mirage. The reality is that any size store has to deal with almost all the issues of a large store. There are lots of "solutions" out there, some free, some paid. I thought shopify.com looked interesting.

 

[indowebber]

Wordpress with chart would be nice in search engine

 

[Corey]

I use PHP Nuke - RavenNuke

 

[Whats My Name]

Thanks everybody. I'm checking them all out now.

OctaneInv, I agree totally. The only reason why I ask is because the website that I was pointed to has a tracking option via their website: http://redfordfilms.com/

Maybe it's tied in with the post?

 

[OctaneInv]

Yea. You can offer your customers the option of tracking, but you personally don't do the tracking. You just have to give them the tracking code that the post gives you.

 

[Lithium]

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5798 <- osCommerce Tracking addon
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=167 <- Zen Cart Tracking Addon

Hope this helps you Give me a PM if you need any help installing the script or addons.

-Lith

 

[interestedenough]

I'd say Zen-cart for an open source cart software on your own (or hosted) server; the last version is pretty stable, has a lot of functionality in its basic package, and you can improve with a bunch of cool modules.

For the future, I would look into magentocommerce.com or ubercart.org (I am particularly biased towards this solution although I haven't used it yet).

Do look at hosted solutions as they might be the easiest to work with for somebody not so used to; Volusion is a good option, but there are many others.

 

[domaindevelopers]

Online store

Have a look at this. Still under construction but most of it is over.

Can help you to set up something similar. PM me if interested.

 

[opio]

you can read a post about starting an online store here (www.TheBeefJerkyBlog.com)

With my experience, tracking isn't necessary, as long as you can track orders that's really all you need. You can always offer email tracking where you email the tracking info to the customer.

I guess what product are you selling or considering selling? This can determine if you need to use an open source cart or not. If you are looking to keep cost down, then stick with a free option, but if you are considering a merchant account that adds into the picture as equation as well and helps determine the cart that will work best for you.

You can basically turn anything into a store using WP, Joomla, ect. any CMS with Paypal... some things to consider...