or 02-9262-7770 
Email MarketerStoreSuite NX Development Resumes!
- By Mitchell Harper
- Published 07/10/2007
Hi everyone. As many of you know, we've been planning to release a PHP eCommerce solution for a while now. Other things have taken priority recently (such as SendStudio NX, WebEdit NX and ArticleLive NX) and as such StoreSuite development kind of... well... stopped.
The good news is that development has started again, and I am focusing on StoreSuite full time. Development is about 60% complete and I thought it would be a good idea to blog about the process we're making towards a beta release every couple of days.
Since the last time I worked on StoreSuite our entire template system has changed and we've upgraded to a "prettier" Web 2.0 layout. Here's how the old StoreSuite default template looked:
... and here's how the new "Web 2.0" template looks (it's still a BIG work in progress):
I'm working on the user interface and design of StoreSuite NX, and Rod will be giving me a huge hand with the server-side code. I've been developing in PHP for about 7 years now, however we have some pretty complex MySQL and PostgreSQL queries in StoreSuite and that's where Rod is a genius, so I guess you can call StoreSuite a join-venture between Rod and I!
I'll be posting updates every week or so, and also asking for your feedback on various aspects of StoreSuite as required, so make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed so you don't miss any updates.
Talk to you with another update in a few days...
The good news is that development has started again, and I am focusing on StoreSuite full time. Development is about 60% complete and I thought it would be a good idea to blog about the process we're making towards a beta release every couple of days.
Since the last time I worked on StoreSuite our entire template system has changed and we've upgraded to a "prettier" Web 2.0 layout. Here's how the old StoreSuite default template looked:
... and here's how the new "Web 2.0" template looks (it's still a BIG work in progress):
I'm working on the user interface and design of StoreSuite NX, and Rod will be giving me a huge hand with the server-side code. I've been developing in PHP for about 7 years now, however we have some pretty complex MySQL and PostgreSQL queries in StoreSuite and that's where Rod is a genius, so I guess you can call StoreSuite a join-venture between Rod and I!
I'll be posting updates every week or so, and also asking for your feedback on various aspects of StoreSuite as required, so make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed so you don't miss any updates.
Talk to you with another update in a few days...
Spread The Word
24 Responses to "StoreSuite NX Development Resumes!" 
|
said this on 11 Jul 2007 11:48:22 PM CDT
Awesome news! Can't wait to see it.
|
Author/Admin)|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 3:40:01 AM CDT
In Rod we trust! --- The Simpsons
|
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 4:04:58 AM CDT
I'm awaiting a better cart system to be developed by someone, but the stuff you listed is no where unique or interesting as mentioned on the StoreSuite page. Perhaps the "sendstudio" integration and thats it.
What about the true unique features that NO OTHER CART has? Real XHTML template support, native SEO support, proper checkout flow. Without this, everything is just another basic cart software. If you have this, I'm a customer right now. Or else I will just cry because nobody implements it properly in 2007.. Thanks. [ Our reply: Thanks for the comments. You should checkout www.thestoresuiteblog.com to see some REAL features that no one has. The ones you mentioned previously are already included, native SEO support, checkout flow, XHTML templates are just some of what we feel are standard StoreSuite features. ] |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 4:56:28 AM CDT
Good news. I would love to use that for our webshop customers. Please think about an open interface (e.g. a web service) to an (optional) desktop administration tool since maintaining 100.000 products via web admin is really awkward.
Also please think about an open module interface for external shop consultants (like us ;) providing addintional modules (payment, delivery etc.). |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 5:25:33 AM CDT
Difficult to judge from a screenshot - but it does look at first glance like every other open-source cart solution (OS Commerce, Zen Cart, Nuke etc). What would be the advantage of your system versus those given the maturity of the best and of course no upfront license costs?
[From Mitch: Hi Raul. I wont get into specifics because that's not what this post is about, but if you ask our existing customers you'll see it's our level of support, product customization (FULLY template driven, no HTML+PHP in the same file) and easy rebranding abilities to name a few] |
|
said this on 15 Jul 2007 10:51:30 PM CDT
Will this also be able to sell time-based subscriptions to protected areas of the site? If not, please include before it's too late.
[From Mitch: Hi Ignatius. This is a feature coming in another one of our products, ArticleLive NX2. This wont be included in StoreSuite as it's not the right solution for pay-per-view.] |
|
said this on 13 Jul 2007 11:16:38 PM CDT
If you include native SEO urls with product names in them much like wordpress, do not use smarty..., have a professional one-page checkout flow option.
I would consider this cart immediately. Otherwise it would have no benefit over the rest of the junk there is. [From Mitch: Hi John, thanks for the comment. We're HUGE SEO freaks, so we will be implementing SEO out of the box for StoreSuite including page titles, header tags, anchor text, etc. Checkout will be simple and we use our own simple template engine that separates HTML from PHP, so it looks like we have all bases covered :) ] |
|
said this on 23 Jul 2007 5:06:52 AM CDT
Now I understand the difference Mitch - thanks :-) What's the ETA on it?
|
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 8:11:20 AM CDT
Really looking forward to seeing this project. Please please include UK Payment Gateways for example Protx
[From Mitch: Hi Drew. I haven't heard of Protx before but I'll add them to the payment provider list for sure. We're not onto the checkout functionality yet, but I promise Protx will be in there if they have some sort of API] |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 8:12:45 AM CDT
Great step in the right direction. I think if you guys can give most of the standard features of the carts that are out there now (ie CS cart) along with the branding free that would be great. The great thing I like about send studio is the multi user support and admin. Your store suite product should have this as well. What I mean by that is the option to permission customers to use store suite but allow them to have their own domain name without installing anything new. That would be the perfect solution.
|
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 8:35:07 AM CDT
Will this product integrate with Article Live? If a client with an existing AL installation wants to have a store - will the two products integrate well?
[Hi Paul: Yes it will. I don't have details yet, but StoreSuite will integrate seamlessly with most (if not all) of our existing products] |
|
said this on 13 Jul 2007 6:49:40 AM CDT
I forgot to ask...
When will it be available? :) |
|
said this on 16 Jul 2007 1:21:23 PM CDT
Dont forget the good old Up-Sell & cross selling feature : )
|
|
said this on 19 Jul 2007 5:30:11 AM CDT
very interested by your comments and would wish to better know your products and their diffusion in France.
Thank you and with soon |
|
said this on 17 Jul 2007 11:14:55 AM CDT
How about the ability to sell giftcrads only on the site and make them fill out who they will go to and then in the admin have an HTML template for the gift card that is email with the amount and message and who it is from and so on.
This way if you wanted to have a store that only sold gift crads you could and the gift card/gift cretificate does not have to be used in the store only and generates a number that auto numbers that you set in the admin as the starting number. So like something you could implement? I have an app i had built that does this if you need an example just let me know. :) |
|
said this on 17 Jul 2007 5:14:41 PM CDT
When I said unlimited users, I actually meant sites. I would want to see this to multiple clients that have separate stores, would I have to pay for each store or will you sell packs of 5 or 10 stores?
How will pricing work per store and what is your release date? |
|
said this on 17 Jul 2007 5:45:27 PM CDT
how about quantity discounts on the same product... like :
1-2 = 1.00 3-4 = 0.75 5-10 = 0.50 11 = 0.25 We use this on almost all of the sites we run and would love to see it on your system... |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 11:09:46 AM CDT
Looks like a terrific solution to the work it addresses! Keep up the good work!
www.Odyssey21.com |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 11:19:35 AM CDT
I'm looking forward to having a peek at the beta. I currently use another cart, that has som elimitations. Some things I hope are available:
- CSS Driven - Integrated CMS for "Non Shopping" pages - Choice of Payment Gateways. Notably Protx [Hi Jim! Cheers for the comments. StoreSuite will have everything you mentioned, including the ability to add "Pages" so you can manage your content as well] |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 12:33:17 PM CDT
Will there be a templating system to customise the look of the front end? Will it allow total flexibility or do we have to keep to your basic layout and only able to change colors etc?
[From Mitch: Hi Gavin. It's totally customizable and can be integrated into an existing site too.] |
|
said this on 12 Jul 2007 3:55:16 PM CDT
Great! I am just waiting to see. Please, think in a good "usability" way to set up products coming from another system.
|
|
said this on 13 Jul 2007 3:19:55 PM CDT
Will I be able to add unlimited users and will I have to pay for each user I add?
[From Mitch: Hi Mike. StoreSuite will have unlimited users for the flat price, no you wont have to pay for extra users.] |
|
said this on 19 Jul 2007 10:08:49 PM CDT
Will there be a way to easily print shipping lables in different sizes? This is a must as I've seen too many applications not include this and you end up spending to much time making lables before you ship out. THanks.
[From Mitch: Hi Nathan. StoreSuite will include printable shipping labels, yes.] |
|
said this on 20 Jul 2007 4:31:35 AM CDT
Please make sure to support European VAT rules properly.
|
