Hi,
I’ve recently been through the superb new 2.4 “Building an Expression Engine 2 Site for Small Business” course as a result of a recent decision to consolidate my efforts into one main CMS. During the week I’ve picked up an inquiry for a new project, an e-commerce store. I’ve already built a fairly basic static site for this company last year and it’s currently managed via a hosted CMS (PageLime).
I’ve previously built a couple of e-com stores using “Cartweaver” a PHP product but having invested lots of time recently in training myself up on EE my preferred approach would be to continue developing in the EE space so long as it’s the right tool for the job. I’m just one person, so I need to choose my technology platforms carefully.
I have two main questions that I’m looking for some guidance on if you’d be kind enough to help:
1) Would it be best to retro-fit EE to the existing static site to keep things simple going forward (one admin interface for the client to update for the site and store, doing away with the hosted CMS solution)?
2) Which “cart” add-on module would you recommend I use to provide the following front, and back end functionality for my client? My focus is on ease of use for the client, flexibility and clear implementation guide lines. I have had a brief look at exp:resso store and Cart Throb to date but would value independent advice first.
The store is to rent sports equipment via…
The site is currently in English & French and the customer element must have the main site and store in both languages. The back-end only needs to be in one language (French).
Customers on the site will need to do the following:
1) Select dates from a calendar for the rental period
2) Choose a shop location to rent from
3) Select the desired equipment
4) Add the equipment with associated options to the basket
5) Enter their personal details
6) Review the order on a summary page
7) Pay by Credit card
8) Receive an HTML formated e-mail confirmation
The shop will need to perform the following activities
1) Receive an email to confirm an order has been placed
2) Have access to an admin page
3) List all bookings for a given period of time via a search
4) Search for clients via the name or booking date or address
5) Add discounts whenever required without the need for customers entering a code
6) Export the a report of bookings to an excel spreadsheet or PDF (or both)
I hope that has given an overview of what I’m trying to achieve here.
Your help will be much appreciated.
Regards
Rob