All of the buzz on the internet lately has been all about blogging and making money through advertising. That’s not the only way to make money, eCommerce is still alive and kicking! One of my companies, ActiveTuning, sells aftermarket parts for Nissan and Infiniti that we manufacture. Practically 100% of our sales [...]
All of the buzz on the internet lately has been all about blogging and making money through advertising. That’s not the only way to make money, eCommerce is still alive and kicking! One of my companies, ActiveTuning, sells aftermarket parts for Nissan and Infiniti that we manufacture. Practically 100% of our sales are done online through our eCommerce platform. It’s a part-time gig for both my partner and I, yet we still manage to pull in 6-figures for gross sales. I designed and developed the website on my own, so there was no cost to building it. The eCommerce platform used is an open-source solution called osCommerce. I have heavily modified it to fit our needs, and even still there are many things I would like to change to make things better and more efficient…but it works. It has handled thousands of customers and thousands of orders without a hitch.
osCommerce has been in development for a very long time, especially the upcoming version 3.0…a drastic improvement over todays outdated version. The developers just recently released a public alpha version (version 3.0 alpha 4), which allows us to get a sneak peak at what the final version 3 will look like. I installed it on a local test server to see what some of the changes are, and I was very impressed. The usability of the administration interface is so much better, but there are still many improvements needed. Many of the improvements that I can think of, are on the roadmap for future alpha releases before the final version is announced. Among the “must-need” features that need to be added in my opinion:
These are all features that are listed to be implemented before the final release. There are still some major features I feel are not included but need to be:
Although there is a lot left to do in my opinion, they are on the right track. Here are some screenshots of some of the new improvements so far:
The new installation interface. This is a huge improvement over the old interface, and makes installation much simpler.
This is your standard product page
The administration now supports user access levels. This is a major feature that should been added in the first version! We’ll see in another screenshot that we can now create users and give them access to certain areas of the administration.
This is the new “welcome screen” for the administration. Also a huge improvement over the old version. It provides easy access to commonly accessed information.
The new menu system provides a clean and easy to use dropdown. This is a 200% improvement in usability.
Here is the feature that allows you to provide certain levels of access to specific users.
You can now enter a new customer into the system manually. In the old version you would have to register somebody through the actual frontend of the eCommerce site. Not very professional.
Here is the new order page. It is now nicely organized through the use of tabs which don’t require a refresh on the page…so it’s fast.
A new template system will allow for much easier customizations to your store. Frontend code is also being updated to be XHTML compliant, rather than an outdated table layout.
A new services section lets you turn on and off various features with ease. This is huge for me, because I had to literally take off all features manually on the version I use.
Here is the new add product page. Like viewing an order, everything is organized through tabs. An HTML editor is now an option.
I’m very excited as we get closer and closer to a final version. I hope that more of the features which I feel need to be added will be.
If you use osCommerce for your eCommerce solution, how do you feel about it? If you use something else, tell us about it, and any downfalls you’ve had.
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Manufacturer and reseller of aftermarket car parts
IT solutions based out of Maryland. From homeusers to mid-sized businesses.
My name is David Pitlyuk and I’m an entrepreneur. I’m always on the lookout for the next big opportunity. This blog hits topics of interest for entrepreneurs, as well as my miscellaneous ramblings.
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©2008 David Pitlyuk
Joshua Dorkin
04/06/2007 2:48 pmDavid - thanks for your post! I’ve made an income from websites for years now, and have recently decided to start an ecommerce site, but have found little online to help me out. I actually just started to detail my journey in establishing such a site on my blog, http://www.timeforblogging.com . I’ve learned a bit about both oscommerce and zencart, but am not sure which direction to go yet. Your post certainly is helpful as it gives a bit more incentive to stick with one of these 2 solutions instead of a non open-source solution. Thanks and keep up the great work!
David Pitlyuk
04/07/2007 12:50 pmJoshua: Very interesting blog, I think I’ll subscribe to it.
I’ve played around with Zencart before, but I think I may try it again to see the new features. The biggest problem for me was wayy too many features. With my osC integration I pretty much disabled the majority of things, and most of things I wanted were contributions that weren’t built into the software anyway.
Non open-source is also nice just because you can get things exactly how you want. But there are also many companies out there that can highly customize the open-source solutions to your specific needs. I would probably be more interested in that solution as it is more than likely cheaper in the end…and it’s like having your own eCommerce package developed from you.
Joshua Dorkin
04/07/2007 1:30 pmDavid, thanks for the advice and the complement on the blog. I’m going to continue the mission of learning for now, as far as carts and other ecommerce stuff is concerned, but I will certainly heed your advice. I love how OSC plugins are called contributions . . . it took a bit to figure that out. Let me know if you ever do more on ecommerce. I’d like to hear what your ongoing thoughts are. (BTW - I am a subscriber to you now as well)
Ryan Christensen
05/08/2007 9:53 pmI’m very much looking forward to the 3.0 release. I’ve used Zen Cart for a few projects recently and have never been entirely satisfied. Granted, I initially shifted *to* Zen because I wasn’t happy with the version of OSC at the time, so it’s a never ending battle ;).
Thanks for the reminder that OSC might still have something to offer. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it…
David Pitlyuk
05/08/2007 11:30 pmRyan: As you, osC, Zen Cart, and others have not really been a good solution in my opinion. We need something more like Wordpress, but for eCommerce. There are many downfalls for OSC at this time I realized lately, enough that I would actually prefer to use something like Zen Cart for now…3.0 may change that. I will for sure be on the lookout. I think OSC biggest downfall right now is a horrible method of enabling contributions. Contributions are a mess…as Joshua has found.
Joshua: I got your e-mail and will be in touch shortly. This is a very busy week for me, as soon as I get some free moments I’ll be in touch!
Joshua Dorkin
05/09/2007 1:15 pmDavid -
Thanks for your email. I’ll be in touch!
Ryan Christensen
05/09/2007 1:28 pmSometimes the lack of good options frustrates me enough to where I’m half tempted to just build my own solution (which I’ve done on a small scale for some clients.) Unfortunately, that’s a pretty substantial investment (of time) to make.
I also fear, if it were to be open-sourced like OSC/Zen it would eventually run into the problems that all these other systems face. The fact that you can’t please everyone… half of your users will want more features, half will want less, etc. Seems like it would be a never-ending battle. (Though, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to at least build a basic shopping system that meets my own needs so I can stop relying on solutions that infuriate me, like OSC and Zen.)
David Pitlyuk
05/09/2007 2:05 pmRyan: That’s a good point, and you being a developer allows for that solution to be possibility. For most everybody else, it’s not though, and what works for free open source may be worth the lack of customizability (even a word??) compared to paying somebody to develop something for you.
I think Wordpress has done the best job in terms of having an open source product and trying to support the needs of everybody. Others I hope will follow. Also, vBulletin, which I used like 5 years ago was pretty good as well…I assume since it was so good back then, it’s even better now.
I definitely believe there is a HUGE market out there for somebody that can take the Wordpress approach to developing an eCommerce package. A lot of money to be made for somebody!
Ryan Christensen
05/10/2007 1:26 amHmmm… I might just need to add this to my list of side-projects!
A flexible/open “wordpress of shopping carts” type system… it might just work!
Steve
05/16/2007 12:28 pmQuestion: Is a new osCommerce user better off installing 2.2 and then upgrading to 3.0 -or- waiting until 3.0 moves into Beta?
David Pitlyuk
05/16/2007 12:42 pmSteve - that’s a good question. It really depends on your personal timeline. osC 3.0 has been in development for years…and there is no telling how much longer it will continue to be in development.
I would also assume that all of the contributions will need to be re-engineered to work with osC 3.0, so that will take time. I know that upgrading from 2.2 to 3.0 is going to be a huge pain, but if you’re planning to run a store soon, I’d deal with it rather than wait until 3.0 is actually finalized.
In fact, I’m sure 3.0 will have its own issues once it’s released to more of a public forum where it many people can find bugs rather than just their limited beta (alpha?) testers. My plan is to wait for the 3.0 final release, give it some time to read feedback, and make a decision based on that.