How do I create a good looking and functional online store?

Question

I have spent the past two years designing and building sites using HTML Flash CSS and a little PHP(sending forms).

My clients are very happy with the way their sites look, which is what I am specialised in, but I'm always looking to broaden the old horizons... and now I've got someone who wants an online store.

I'm building the front end (ie a normal 5/6page site) but then I need to create the store. I must be able to make it look like the rest of the site otherwise its a waste of time and my name will be mud!! And of course it has to work.

I know that hosts provide online stores these days but can I modify the look of them, if so, can anyone recommend a good quality host??

I want to try to avoid paypal and use credit cards as well.

I'm probably being very picky but its got to bee e e e e perrrr fect!

Answer 1

You can host with Bluehost and use Zen Cart or Magneto. Both should be able to let you change the layout of the site. I am not sure how you intend to pay a host without using paypal and credit cards. Unless I understand the question incorrectly, you can have the option to have customers mail in checks for the online store you setup.

Answer 2

Can i suggest hiring me?

Ok, well there are plenty of apps that and some our open source.

Just like picking a CMS , plenty of choice.

Google it:)

For instance Ecommerce apps.

Answer 3

Hi,

This is quite a common question actually. My suggestion to you is to use either Magento Commerce or Ultracart. The former (Magento) is an free and open source (that's right, they are not necessarily synonymous) while the latter is a proprietary and hosted solution which will cost you at least $39.95 per month.

If you are comfortable with installing a PHP5 based application, setting up and maintaining a MySQL instance, properly backing up the application, and skinning a PHP application then Magento is a no-brainer. It is by far the most polished free and open source shopping cart solution out there. It has most of the features you would expect any respectable commerce solution to have. There are plenty of developers out there willing to assist you if you have problems (for a fee) and Varien (the company behind Magento) can be called upon for a price as well.

If the above doesn't work for you, Ultracart is a great choice as it is already hosted so you don't have to worry about maintenance. You just customize the look and feel and the store options and there you go. Your client shouldn't have a problem with the super-low price of $39.95 -- if they do then you should probably be more concerned with the quality of client you are dealing with than impressing them with seemless integration.

Speaking of seemless integration -- you shouldn't have a problem making this happen with either solution.

You also mentioned not wanting to use Paypal. I just thought I'd mention that Paypal now has a Direct Payment option where it works just like a normal merchant account (actually it is a normal merchant account). The customer doesn't have to know Paypal is your merchant account any more than they need to know that you are using Authorize.net or Paymentech. Based on my research Paypal is very competitive on their discount and transaction rates. I'm even thinking about switching from my current provider.

If you end up going with Magento and you don't already have a host that supports PHP5 you will need to get one. In that case I'd recommend going with one of the two below:

1. Slicehost

2. MediaTemple (hint: don't use their Grid Service for ecommerce... it's terribly slow for anything other than static HTML/Images/CSS -- go with their DV server or better)