Open Source eCommerce: Quality is no longer enough
I'm delighted to be writing about Open Source eCommerce (OSC) for Practical eCommerce! When I started in the Internet industry, the few eCommerce stores were custom-programmed, they cost millions of dollars and employed large teams of programmers. osCommerce changed all that at the turn of the century with the first free, open source eCommerce program.
I've been a huge booster of the OSC industry since before I wrote my first book on osCommerce and sold it in my own online shop in 2003. In those early, giddy days there were no books on any OSC programs, the attitude was "we don't need no steenkin' books!" We believed that with this new style of doing business using electrons instead of bricks, paper books would fall away and people would use only forums or other online sources for knowledge. Everything was new and we didn't know how things would shake out. But today books are more popular than ever, though many are electronic books downloaded from our electronic shops.
As the owner and a daily user of an OSC online store, I am very aware of what is important to an online business owner. I've watched the industry change from "gee whiz, look what this technology can do!" for barely functional programs that broke down all the time.
In those days programmers were the kings. They decided what should be in the program, and what should not. They treated non-technical users like pond scum! Many of them believed that ordinary users needed to learn how to be techies, too, and frequently the so-called "user-friendly Admin" dumped the ordinary user into learning how to program lines of code. Blecchhh! Because the techies were so close to their program, their baby, they never even realized how difficult that was for users. New users are the lifeblood of any program - without them, a program will die out. I worked at Netscape in the days when they failed to embrace users, and they lost to Microsoft who catered to users. I didn't want this OSC industry to do the same.
I have used my position as a consultant and expert in the industry to encourage, cajole and wheedle the different groups to become better and better. I've sponsored and reported on an annual survey where ordinary users explain what they like and dislike about the programs and vendors in the industry. I've tested and reported on the new OSC programs that spout up like mushrooms, some becoming wildly popular and others disappearing.
I have loved watching this industry mature to the point where ordinary users are accepted and respected. Today OSC programs can be expected to be stable, secure, and programming-free for ordinary users. If they are not, they are going to hear about it from me!
I have a message for all OSC teams out there: "Quality is Job #1" is no longer a selling point. People expect OSC programs to be quality, to have valid and secure programming, to work as promised. There are dozens of Open Source eCommerce programs available today, and new ones starting up each month.
To stand out from the pack, an OSC program must also give joy to the user. I call this the "Joy Factor." To use the same program day in and day out, to recommend it to others, to get it to rise to the top of the market, a program has to give users some joy. Don't just fulfill the function, meet requirements. Love your users, and give them some joy.
I will be reporting on many OSC programs here at Practical eCommerce, and I'll let you know which ones are merely functional and which ones give you joy. I look forward to spending a lot of time together with you.
7 Comments
Susan Price says:
Kerry, I'm happy to have discovered Practical eCommerce by following you; looks to be a good matchup for both you and the community.
I've been happy to watch the adoption curve of open source-based solutions in the organizations we design websites for. I've seen so many CIOs and IT pros make the move from skeptic to believer. We seem to be moving into a new phase where there are a bewildering array of commercial products and SaaS solutions based on open source.
I look forward to seeing your recommendations on which open source and open source-derived solutions look likely to win the evolutionary race in the long run.
Bryan, Comdev says:
Kerry, I'm totally agreed with what you wrote and you'll be writing. We saw the similar trends of the scripting industry. 3-5 years back, scripts provider were competing for comprehensive features. Programs became over complicated and sometimes away too flexible until end users have to learn many technical stuff to tweak it to work. Eg, many programs still require end users to know CSS to customize the template files.
To-date as people are focusing more on the business aspect, those applications should be designed to be business oriented or goal achieving. Eg, if what's the main objective of running an online shop? It should be (1) fast to setup and easy to upload their products, (2) easily draw traffic to generate sales. So, the features should be designed around the objective to make it easy enough for end users to do what they need.
cybrhost says:
The continued "boom" of eCommerce, and the industry shift towards SaaS models, will be a very interesting time for open source e-commerce apps -- and OSS in general.
Our parent company is an open-source support and consulting company, so we actively try to support open source projects and applications in any way we can. As an e-commerce host, however, our most used and supported e-commerce application is a commercial, closed source (but flexible and reasonably priced) package.
The big issue facing open source e-commerce (as I see it) is the upcoming PA-DSS compliance. As I understand it, open source applications are not exempt from PA-DSS. New and existing apps will either need to go through the code audit (via some paid-for edition more than likely) or focus on integration with services like PayPal and Google Checkout.
I'm anxiously watching to see how it all plays out, and I look forward to your next article!
Nat says:
You hit the nail on the head about ease of use and intuitive navigation are now mandatory. I think a critical point of adoption will be with users who use open source CMS systems. The CMS community has continued to grow and integration with ecommerce systems remains confusing for people who are push-button users.
Jon Hos says:
Hi Kerry.
Nice Post. what are your thoughts on the pure open source model, ie osCommerce, compared to Open Source backed by finance, ie CRE or Magento...
What are the pros and cons on each one. Any thoughts.
Dips says:
Thanks Kerry for providing nice information about osCommerce
BlueBoxSystems eCommerce and Online Store Development Consultants says:
Just to share our 2cents of experience. We have off late found some of the clients asking for eCommerce solutions which not only cater to selling their products but also which can have user stickyness - by means of having discussion forums, newsletters, blogs, video links etc.
So yes, just quality is no longer enough !
This puts pressure to select the right combination of Open Source source products which can seamlessly integrate. Any suggestions on the what products can be used to achieve this in the best way?
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