Online store, technical side of the coin
I decided to share my experience in creating online stores. Since my experience lies precisely in the creation of sites, I will share this part.
It's simple. Tom who wants to do sales over the Internet. Well, who has this opportunity.
There are different options.
A sales manager who was able to make acquaintances with suppliers and they agreed to help him. Well, as a rule, assistance is in providing warehouses, that is, as long as you do not have your own, you can pick up the goods directly from the supplier’s warehouse, before sending them to the final customer.
')
The owner of the store (s) who are looking for additional sales opportunities. In the light of tougher competition in the market, Internet commerce becomes more and more popular for this type of sellers, especially if we consider the development of the Internet sales market, ask Google and get the tendency for the growth of Internet sales in Ukraine . They have their own warehouse, it’s really not even one. Product accounting system.
Wholesalers, competition also forces them to work with retailers, including as online stores.
What is this all about? Besides that these people have different opportunities in terms of financing their project. especially if they are seriously aimed at him.
Therefore, I will consider these two options.
If you rely on 200-300 bucks for your site, then I can disappoint you. Cheap in most cases not high quality. Yes, I am now showered with “coders for food” tomatoes, but that's the way it is. Do not mess, repeat, do not mess with students, beginners (for portfolio) and other options (all for 100 bucks).
What causes such savings:
Well, how? Not scary?
Okay, let's go further.
Choosing a CMS for a budget site. Here we pay attention to free CMS.
I would recommend.
These are the CMS that I watched more than others, there are still a lot of good projects in this field on the Internet, but I’ll probably create another topic to list them.
If you have decided on the system, it does not mean that it will fully suit you. Alas, there are no perfect solutions for everyone. One way or another will have to refine the CMS to fit your needs. For example, Joomla only from version 1.5.x allows you to create in the template (site design) your own versions of module and component views (system files that link the functionality and type of data that they form.
Will have to work with a file. At least in order to expand the functionality.
For example, I have not yet met in free CMS the ability to install filters on a product. Ie there is an option c manufacturer, but at this point they stop. And for example, setting the parameters for the product, and the possibility for filtering options, no. Moreover, in some CMS you need to try to realize this possibility. In Virtuemart, it is possible to specify the type of product (by assigning a specific set of parameters to it), but in the form in which they are stored in the database, they discard the normal filter variant due to the fact that there is no normalization just for implementing such a functional.
Ie to realize, in principle, it is possible, but the load on the server will increase, and if you have not only a budget CMS, but also a budget hosting, then it will be noticeable.
The cost of the project will vary between 1000-3000 ye, for a good freelancer or a small web studio.
In Kiev, the average will be 3000 cu
Small studios that have similar projects in the portfolio. Not rarely on the sites of shops there are links to the studios who developed it. You can contact the developers if you like some site.
If the money is not enough even for such a studio.
Go to the sites of freelancers, find a developer with good reviews and the main portfolio with ready-made projects. Do not be lazy to call his clients and ask how long the project lasted, whether they are satisfied with his work. Do not be afraid that you will be denied. In most cases, people go to contact if they are politely asked.
If you contact the studio, then you need to ask which engine (CMS) they are developing. If on samopisnaya, then ask about the presentation. A lot of such studios are based on CMF (a set of software tools, a designer for a programmer), I won’t clutter your head, I’ll say that this is important only for programmers. If for some reason you can not work more with this studio. It is quite likely that a new person who will refine your site has already come across this designer and the revision will not take long.
When you have decided on the studio and CMS, you will have the problem of writing TK. Try to first meet with the responsible developer. In it, you can discuss in general what you want to receive and get advice on issues that you have. To write TK, first it is better to get ready to see how they are drawn up. No need to neglect this, the cost of the project depends on the TOR. Also TK is a very important annex to the contract. Which will need to be signed. About writing TK and the contract, if someone is interested, I can also write a topic (:
Agree on support in advance. It should include not only the support of the site code, I’m talking about errors on the site, alterations. rework But the ability to ask questions and quickly get answers to them. Training a person who will work closely with the system, container server.
Naturally, all these bows incur additional costs. Because support as such is included by the studios in the price. Improvements are for a fee. The support period is usually 1 year, then you will have to pay for further support.
This is an option when you seriously decided to enter the online commerce market.
By the word “serious” I mean costs already at the initial level. You have analyzed the market, identified your direct competitors in online sales. We have formed the delivery service department (without it there is no sense in going online trading, this is the internet trading whale), payment options (this is another whale), if you cannot offer other payment options other than cash, you will lose a significant portion of customers, note that money is gaining popularity with wild turns.
If you didn’t turn to twisted studios, whose prices can exceed 100 thousand cu.
So you have an acceptable option with mid-level studios. the site in such will cost an average of 20 thousand for a serious project.
This amount includes your comfort.
You get a quality consultation on the project from which you can select the necessary elements for your site.
Website design with corporate style support.
You can choose a paid CMS.
You will be helped to draw up a technical task.
Serious support, in different modes, e-mail, calls.
At the moment, the market leaders in paid CMS are Bitrix , which is catching up with its UMI, which is currently spinning on. There are NETCAT and ABO, but I almost never came across them.
Consider, Bitrix and UMI are the developers of the CMS itself, they will not be directly involved in the development of your project (well, except for a certain fee). But they will offer their partners. From them you can choose a studio with which you can cooperate.
Not to say that a paid CMS is a panacea, but often they are more protected than free and have richer functionality. The above filtering is present :).
Although the option is not excluded that you will have to write additional modules for your project.
As a rule, site promotion is included in the price.
Paid CMS is not the only option. It is quite possible that the studio has its own, then the question will be about its convenience, safety and other things, and here only the guarantee of this studio, you rely on their honesty.
Who needs it?
It's simple. Tom who wants to do sales over the Internet. Well, who has this opportunity.
There are different options.
A sales manager who was able to make acquaintances with suppliers and they agreed to help him. Well, as a rule, assistance is in providing warehouses, that is, as long as you do not have your own, you can pick up the goods directly from the supplier’s warehouse, before sending them to the final customer.
')
The owner of the store (s) who are looking for additional sales opportunities. In the light of tougher competition in the market, Internet commerce becomes more and more popular for this type of sellers, especially if we consider the development of the Internet sales market, ask Google and get the tendency for the growth of Internet sales in Ukraine . They have their own warehouse, it’s really not even one. Product accounting system.
Wholesalers, competition also forces them to work with retailers, including as online stores.
What is this all about? Besides that these people have different opportunities in terms of financing their project. especially if they are seriously aimed at him.
Therefore, I will consider these two options.
Budget
If you rely on 200-300 bucks for your site, then I can disappoint you. Cheap in most cases not high quality. Yes, I am now showered with “coders for food” tomatoes, but that's the way it is. Do not mess, repeat, do not mess with students, beginners (for portfolio) and other options (all for 100 bucks).
What causes such savings:
- Your site may simply be buried under the promises to finish the other day, bickering over some inability to implement the functionality. Well, if you make a contract with him, then at least you can somehow frighten.
- If you do not have experience creating an online store, then you will not be able to get advice, because such a developer also doesn’t have it, in this area he is guided mainly by his ideas.
- If this is a novice and he is gaining programming experience, he will most likely start writing the content management system itself. And believe me, in 99.99% of cases, its code will be crooked and full of holes, even a child with a basic knowledge of sql injection will be able to hack your site. Do not believe? Check it out.
- Weak or no support for your future site. even if you run it, there will be a miser from it. Because the site needs to be promoted, I will probably mention this in another topic, which is a painfully broad topic.
- Since a person is a beginner, and only a beginner agrees to work for such money, he is new to everything. In this project, he has a human orchestra who will have to deal with a programming language (server part), layout language and cascading styles (client part), databases, if you keep records of goods in some system (1C for example) and the amount of goods has exceeded far beyond 1000, you will have to synchronize the goods with the warehouse (your records in the accounting system) and the base of the site. And many nuances of creating sites. By the way, the design most often also he does.
Well, how? Not scary?
Okay, let's go further.
Choosing a CMS for a budget site. Here we pay attention to free CMS.
I would recommend.
- Joomla ( official website , in Russian ) in conjunction with the component Virtuemart ( official website , in Russian )
Very powerful system, with the ability to customize and a large number of components and ready-made templates. But her most tangible plus is that she has a large community, and this is a choice of developers, documentation, forums. - oscommerce ( official website , in Russian ) A system created specifically for online sales. A very popular system and just like joomla supported by domestic programmers. It has many payment modules, delivery options. There are fully Russian editions.
- Magento official site A fairly fresh project, but no less attractive. Although his Russian support is rather weak compared to the above. But in quality and functionality, it is not inferior to them, and sometimes surpasses.
- Zen Card official site Not as popular as oscommerce, but with it you can find many supporters and developers.
These are the CMS that I watched more than others, there are still a lot of good projects in this field on the Internet, but I’ll probably create another topic to list them.
If you have decided on the system, it does not mean that it will fully suit you. Alas, there are no perfect solutions for everyone. One way or another will have to refine the CMS to fit your needs. For example, Joomla only from version 1.5.x allows you to create in the template (site design) your own versions of module and component views (system files that link the functionality and type of data that they form.
Will have to work with a file. At least in order to expand the functionality.
For example, I have not yet met in free CMS the ability to install filters on a product. Ie there is an option c manufacturer, but at this point they stop. And for example, setting the parameters for the product, and the possibility for filtering options, no. Moreover, in some CMS you need to try to realize this possibility. In Virtuemart, it is possible to specify the type of product (by assigning a specific set of parameters to it), but in the form in which they are stored in the database, they discard the normal filter variant due to the fact that there is no normalization just for implementing such a functional.
Ie to realize, in principle, it is possible, but the load on the server will increase, and if you have not only a budget CMS, but also a budget hosting, then it will be noticeable.
So how much to spend and whom to hire?
The cost of the project will vary between 1000-3000 ye, for a good freelancer or a small web studio.
In Kiev, the average will be 3000 cu
Small studios that have similar projects in the portfolio. Not rarely on the sites of shops there are links to the studios who developed it. You can contact the developers if you like some site.
If the money is not enough even for such a studio.
Go to the sites of freelancers, find a developer with good reviews and the main portfolio with ready-made projects. Do not be lazy to call his clients and ask how long the project lasted, whether they are satisfied with his work. Do not be afraid that you will be denied. In most cases, people go to contact if they are politely asked.
If you contact the studio, then you need to ask which engine (CMS) they are developing. If on samopisnaya, then ask about the presentation. A lot of such studios are based on CMF (a set of software tools, a designer for a programmer), I won’t clutter your head, I’ll say that this is important only for programmers. If for some reason you can not work more with this studio. It is quite likely that a new person who will refine your site has already come across this designer and the revision will not take long.
When you have decided on the studio and CMS, you will have the problem of writing TK. Try to first meet with the responsible developer. In it, you can discuss in general what you want to receive and get advice on issues that you have. To write TK, first it is better to get ready to see how they are drawn up. No need to neglect this, the cost of the project depends on the TOR. Also TK is a very important annex to the contract. Which will need to be signed. About writing TK and the contract, if someone is interested, I can also write a topic (:
Agree on support in advance. It should include not only the support of the site code, I’m talking about errors on the site, alterations. rework But the ability to ask questions and quickly get answers to them. Training a person who will work closely with the system, container server.
Naturally, all these bows incur additional costs. Because support as such is included by the studios in the price. Improvements are for a fee. The support period is usually 1 year, then you will have to pay for further support.
Business option
This is an option when you seriously decided to enter the online commerce market.
By the word “serious” I mean costs already at the initial level. You have analyzed the market, identified your direct competitors in online sales. We have formed the delivery service department (without it there is no sense in going online trading, this is the internet trading whale), payment options (this is another whale), if you cannot offer other payment options other than cash, you will lose a significant portion of customers, note that money is gaining popularity with wild turns.
If you didn’t turn to twisted studios, whose prices can exceed 100 thousand cu.
So you have an acceptable option with mid-level studios. the site in such will cost an average of 20 thousand for a serious project.
This amount includes your comfort.
You get a quality consultation on the project from which you can select the necessary elements for your site.
Website design with corporate style support.
You can choose a paid CMS.
You will be helped to draw up a technical task.
Serious support, in different modes, e-mail, calls.
At the moment, the market leaders in paid CMS are Bitrix , which is catching up with its UMI, which is currently spinning on. There are NETCAT and ABO, but I almost never came across them.
Consider, Bitrix and UMI are the developers of the CMS itself, they will not be directly involved in the development of your project (well, except for a certain fee). But they will offer their partners. From them you can choose a studio with which you can cooperate.
Not to say that a paid CMS is a panacea, but often they are more protected than free and have richer functionality. The above filtering is present :).
Although the option is not excluded that you will have to write additional modules for your project.
As a rule, site promotion is included in the price.
Paid CMS is not the only option. It is quite possible that the studio has its own, then the question will be about its convenience, safety and other things, and here only the guarantee of this studio, you rely on their honesty.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/29359/
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