Executive Summary

Ecommerce platforms are being commoditized. Enterprise level solutions are returning down in worth and new open source solutions are being created obtainable to anyone with an web association for free.

The foremost robust of those open source solutions is OS Commerce (OSC) – a community driven eCommerce answer that is flexible, scalable, and user friendly. As eCommerce becomes even additional a part of mainstream retail, OSC can provide businesses of all styles and sizes with the functionality and capabilities of the massive boys. This transient examines some of the advantages of OS Commerce and provides insights into how it can help your business.

There is no such issue as a free lunch.

Perhaps therefore, but you CAN get an eCommerce platform for nothing. Offered for free at www.oscommerce.com, this eCommerce resolution provides loads of bells and whistles and provides a user friendly interface to manage the executive portions of the store. The code is based in the PHP scripting language and runs on the Apache web server – a user conjointly desires access to a SQL database to initially upload the files that manage the classes and products among the admin section.

Currently that sounds difficult, but really anyone will do it with some focused effort. A lot of of the documentation online concerning OS is terribly thorough and provides bit by bit plans on how to urge your store up and running. Any newbie to the current kind of work will likely come back across some roadblocks, but the OS Commerce community Forums are only a click away to begin hassle shooting.

The solution is community driven, meaning that like minded OSCers are prepared to assist out their peers with answers to posted questions. Yes, every now and then this can be very frustrating looking ahead to an answer, however it is terribly rewarding to overcome a technology bug on your own.

Contribute to the Cause

The most effective half of OSC is the quantity of contributions that can be added to your website at any time. Again, there's no value for these enhancements and upgrades – simply the requirement to hold back in your installations. In most cases, contributions are located on the OS commerce community section and are downloadable via zip files. When gap the file, read the “read me” file which can walk you thru the file additions, subtractions, and code changes required to create your enhancement work properly. If you explore the OS platform be positive to upgrade with the subsequent contributions.

Ultimate SEO URL’s by Chemo

This cool contribution permits the location owner to make static URL’s out of a database driven site. This can dramatically help in search saturation as a lot of pages can be indexed. Its no secret that search spiders like traditional urls better than ones that are dynamic and this contribution helps achieve that.

Easy Populate

No need to input product knowledge manually, this contribution allows you to import data from a basic excel file into your store. A real timesaver!

Featured Products

If you have an ecommerce store – bound product are more attractive to sell than others. This contribution allows you to tailor the featured products that you want to showcase within both your home and class pages.

Final Thoughts on OSC

Myself, I'm a marketer. However when learning OS I very feel like I've got some programmer blood in me! This platform is straightforward to use and excellent for a small to medium size business in getting online. Yes, there can be headaches along the manner however stay with it and you'll overcome them and shortly have an ecommerce store to bring you during a new revenue stream.

Craig Smith is that the founding father of Trinity Insight LLC - a management consulting firm for the E-Commerce sector.

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