E-commerce development can be defined as the process of building a website/web application that is capable of providing products or services for sale. An e-commerce website should at least include the following facilities:
- A product catalogue showing pricing and product description
- A content management system to manage the products and related web pages
- A shopping cart for selecting products to buy
- A checkout facility to pay for products with credit card, bank transfer or cash
- User management facilities so users can register their own accounts, login and view order status
- RSS feed and Newsletter facilities for Site Marketing
- A templating system so the look and feel of the site can be adjusted easily
The fastest and easiest way to setup an online shop is not to build it from scratch, but to build on existing software – why reinvent the wheel? There are several packages available that offer all the aforementioned functionality, without the cost and time of a bespoke E-commerce application
This is where Open Source Software comes into the picture. Open source software is software that is developed collaboratively by developers across the globe. The software itself is available at little or no cost. The source code (the human-readable version of the software) is distributed with the executable form, giving users of the software the freedom to modify, adapt and improve the software to meet their needs.
This is where eStart comes into the picture. Our developers have extensive experience developing using Open Source tools and programming languages like PHP and MySQL and they routinely use Open Source packages to develop our clients’ sites with. We provide website hosting with built-in support for installing several Open Source software packages, so clients are also able to build their own sites using the available software. Since we know these products inside out, we can supply websites utilising an Open Source package, but with a custom-built template – i.e. the website still keeps the core functionality as it was designed to do, but adds a new look. So even though the software itself is available for free, we add value to it by changing the look and feel of the site to your specific requirements, and adding only the functionality that you need.
Your website will be supplied to you with your choice of payment and shipping methods already integrated into the system. All you will need to do is maintain the product database and process the orders that come in. You will be able to add unlimited categories and products into the database, as well as upload your own images.
Illustrative Pricing:
E-commerce site built with Joomla and Virtuemart:
Using an existing (free or purchased) template: R2500
Using a custom built template: R3500
Includes loading of 100 products, additional products at R500 per 500 products
E-commerce site built with Zencart:
Using an existing (free or purchased) template: R2500
Using a custom built template: R4000
Includes loading of 100 products, additional products at R500 per 500 products
Compare these options with the cost of building a custom E-commerce site with the same or similar functionality, which will easily cost R10 000 and more, and the decision should be easy.
To request a quote for Search Engine Optimisation, please complete the form below: