Practical eCommerce

rizzy

Ok, here is my question/problem.

We have one main web store that we have had for over 4 years. This store has multiple categories that are growing. Currently we are looking for a new host and a new shopping cart, so we can move forward and have more control.

We would like to keep the main store active, but split off into multiple niche stores. We would have MainSite.com - NicheSiteA.com - NicheSiteB.com - NicheSiteC.com... etc. This will allow us to organize the stores more and be a better shopping experience for the user.

If we take a shopping cart and give each store it's own look and feel can each sub-site pull it's product info, data and all that from 1 central database that each site would have access to?

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:06 am **Subject:**

Why not keep it one site, yet have separate sub-domains pointing to the various companion websites? I would think that this could save you a lot of money on both hosting and shopping cart costs (unless, of course, you use a free/open-source cart like osCommerce or CubeCart).

As for finding a new web host, I have been using www.aplus.net (ePro plan) and I have been very happy with it, thus far. Tons of web space adn features for the price. *(If you're interested, let me know and I'll give you my referral number Wink

)

TOM

rizzy · **Date:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:14 am **Subject:**

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:46 pm **Subject:**

WOW ... That is one impressive site. Shocked

Okay, so my first question would be - Does that site own/operate ALL of those stores they feature? Or are they more of a "middle-man" type of thing for promoting and selling the various webstore's profucts?

Ironically, the website buisiness I am developing operates on a similar principle - although more focused on a niche market.

It would seem to me that you can operate all of these "stores" off of one hosting account (though it would have to be fairly large - perhaps a dedicated server). Many hosting accounts these days offer multiple database suppor, with opetions to purchase more t .... so I would think that you could take advantage of this by spreading out your data-driven information amongst several different databased (depending on how many they allow you to have).

Again, you would obviously have sub-domains pointing to the individual stores, with your primary domain for your primary/central hub store.

Bottom line .... in my non-professional opinion, I do not think you need multiple hosting plans - though I do tend to think you will need multiple database integration.

Do you have a url for your CURRENT store I can take a look at ??

TOM

rizzy · **Date:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:02 pm **Subject:**

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:16 pm **Subject:**

That's one hell of a drop-shipping success story.
I mean, there's no way it could be anything else - with all of those products.

Where did you read about them? How do you know about their sales volume and such?
(I only ask because I would like to read about them as well)

Can we see YOUR site ?? Smile

rizzy · **Date:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:39 pm **Subject:**

Here is there information on NetShops: http://www.netshopsinc.com/news.cfm?zone=5&subZone=2

This is our site: http://www.bostontables.com

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:33 am **Subject:**

I suggested to Kerry and Brad that an interview with the founders of NetShops would, in my opinion, be a fantastic article for Practical Ecommerce magazine. The story behind NetShops success is the stuff every aspiring netrepeneur dreams of.

Again, given the sheer volume of potential data that operating several different niche stores - as does NetShops - I would think that you would require several different databases. Again, this can be realtively easily accomplished using MySQL - and many web hosts these days offer plans with multiple MySQL database integration.

TOM

Abison · **Date:** Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:58 pm **Subject:**

bgetting · **Date:** Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:31 pm **Subject:** To Answer Your Question

To answer the original question in this thread, there shouldn't be any problem with having multiple stores draw off of one database. Then again, you might find reasons why you would want all the sites to have their own individual databases.

Even if you decide to use subdomains, you will be using the same database server, which means you have a few choices. You can create a database for each site and therefor have them each separate. The upside to this is that if there is a problem with the database, it only affects the sub-site that it serves. The downside is that you then have a bunch of databases to keep track of, and to make sure and back up.

Another option is to have one database with all your stores feeding from it. The stores and be individual installations, even different types of shopping carts of applications. Most applications will allow you to set a table prefix, usually during the database setup portion of installation. This tells the application to create tables that are prefixed with a unique prefix, allowing you to run multiple application from one database.

For example, if you were going to have three stores, each of them using a different shopping cart software (or the same, it doesn't matter) at the subdomains:

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