Practical eCommerce

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Fri May 11, 2007 9:53 am **Subject:** Open Source CMS for eCommerce

Over the last week or so, I have been doing a lot of research and learning about Content Management Systems (CMS) - specifically Joomla. As a relative newbie to CMS, I've got to say that - for a free/open-source system - Joomla is pretty amazing.

There is even a free/open-source shopping cart system for Joomla - VirtueMart. Though perhaps not as robust as, say, the top-tier carts from Yahoo, Miva or MonsterCommerce ... it still seems pretty darn functional and dynamic. (check out some of the "Live Shops" on the VirtueMart website -> www.virtuemart.net)

Further, as both Joomla and VirtueMart are written in PHP, the research I've been doing seems to indicate that expanding functionality with additional PHP scripts is very possible.

In any case, I thought I'd initiate a discussion on this topic - Open Source Content Management Systems for eCommerce - to see what some of you thought and/or might have to share on the subject.

TOM

kabucas · **Date:** Sun May 20, 2007 9:52 pm **Subject:**

there are a lot of shopping cart solutions that are the CMS as well as the ecomm

CRE Loaded for example does a pretty good job and the upcoming release will blow anything out of the water(CMS)

Euan · **Date:** Mon May 21, 2007 2:55 am **Subject:**

CMS are best done when they are standalone CMS systems, IMO.

Just as e-commerce carts best done when not just an add-on for another script.

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Mon May 21, 2007 6:50 am **Subject:**

But isn't a CMS beneficial to manage content on your site a bit easier - be it a commercial/osCMS or custom built?

The cart handles the "cart" processing, but there is still the rest of the site to manage.

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Mon May 21, 2007 9:32 am **Subject:**

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:37 am **Subject:**

Well, I have been working with the Joomla + VirtueMart combination for about a month now, and so far I am happy with it. Granted, I have had a few hair-pulling moments trying to figure out all of the CSS and PHP coding to get the layout as I want .... but I will say that I have found the support community to be very helpful and responsive when I (or anyone) has a question/problem).

Just giving an update - for anyone looking for a very low cost (if not completely free) CMS + Shopping Cart solution.

TOM

digitalgeek · **Date:** Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:08 am **Subject:**

I also like Joomla + VirtueMart among free options because of many reasons. But if you want to customize it you should know some html and php, I can help with installation and customization if something ))).

tcraw1010 · **Date:** Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:23 am **Subject:**

Thanks for the help. I actually have a number of friends who are pretty proficient in Joomla and PHP - and I've learned quite a bit myself over the past year. It's still not the easiest process in the world.

123 eCart · **Date:** Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:55 am **Subject:**

I've seen some pretty amazing things done with Joomla. While I still prefer to do my own coding, I can see where it can be a great platform for some developers.

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