eCommerce software development
plugz (1222 points) | Sun, 2008-12-28 15:40Hey guys,
Happy Holidays from FL.
I need a bit of advice if any of you can help.
I quit design last year to move in to more lucrative eCommerce project management. What has become apparent very rapidly is that the available software is a horrible mismatch of quality with limited features, or feature full with awful GUIs and horrible user experiences.
I'm working in a very niche sector, I plan having spent 6 months launching a project for my current employer, to use this knowledge and market research to launch a new product to market.
Currently all products are PC based which is an issue in itself, what I plan is to differentiate by launching an OS X based product, a great and simple GUI, and rather than providing a piece of software with limited support, we'll also by default offer a service package including full software, hardware, training, and installation.
So, that's enough about what I'm doing, now for what I need.
I know good design, I know usability and I know we need a standards compliant system that can integrate with as much existing kit as possible.
Does anyone here have experience of application design, from code to GUI, databases to testing and support?
I have basic knowledge of all of these but I would appreciate the tips and advice of the guys on here.
I'm in the unique position of being my own client. Funding is going to be down to me, cost overruns and late delivery is my fault, I'll have to withhold payment from myself at times.
I'm being very ambitious, but there is a massive market gap here.
In addition, does anyone know what Apple use for their EPOS system in their retail stores? I assume it's custom built, if it's available I could use a look at it as EPOS and Inventory management will be a huge part of this.
Apologies for the epic post!
Thanks in advance guys,
Kev.
You're right. This is an area where a lot of people have done a lot of things, and none of it is good enough.
Only one suggestion. It has to be web based or at least I should be able to access everything through a web based interface as well.
The plan at the moment, and it's a very loose plan as I've pulled this all together in the past 5 days or so after thinking about it for a few months.
Start off with a big pad and a pencil, work out what we need in terms of data storage, access, database suitability, reporting and everything else.
The database is key to this all working. The plan is to run this as an OS X application initially with web running slightly behind.
From my current experience here I've learnt that having a centrally hosted database, for example at a company head office datacentre, with multiple remote sites, say distribution centres where the inventory is held, connected over company VPN via DSL lines is a horrible and unreliable way to do things. If it's going to be done we need to work out a cheap hosting service that is web based with 99.999% uptime.
While security was a massive issue with every company, if data security and compliance can be assured then there is no problem. My thoughts judging from the individual company cost of hosting their data and keeping servers up, redundancy, latency etc. this has to be approached as a hosted service.
eBay and Amazon are a great example of this to an extent, they host data and inventory and report back once a sale is made. This is fine, but when you're talking inventory sizes of 100,000 items or more it becomes a huge IT burden as you have to have an additional POS system to handle the incoming orders.
The goal ultimately is to have everything hosted, all the customer sees is their data. For example, they can log in to a web interface and view only their data, they can generate reports, upload inventory and do what they need.
The local clients are theoretically not necessary, but my experience of corporate web 2.0 so far has been horrible (Agresso, Siebel anyone?), whatever the local client does will simply provide a more stable environment to the main interface. If for example you lose your DSL connection for 2 hours you can continue to add inventory or make sales based on recent synced data until such a time it comes back online and then you can upload/download intermediate data.
The client software would merely have to maintain a limited temporary database.
I'm not even going to try to code this on my own, I just don't have the knowledge, I'm off to study my ITILv3 in February and I have to sharpen up my skills in Agile and Scrum development, but I expect to be contracting a lot of this out both locally and online.
I'm not a coder, I'm a project and process guy, I can work out how everything should work and fit together, I'm not going to try to be something I'm not. I've got a lot more research to do on margins, what we can sell at, who we can sell to, what price point makes it viable for a business in order that they grow their revenue without losing that benefit through the cost or software etc.
Glad it's not just me that sees this as an area for development.
I have a feeling this kind of thing is going to end up being termed as Web 2.5. Maintaining a relationship between various 2.0 sites, clients and cloud.
Amazon have some very interesting stuff going on right now that can help this but that's still a good 12 months or more off completion which makes this a good time to be developing alongside their new tech so we can hit market compatible and efficient.
I'd take a look at:
http://checkoutapp.com/
(a mac app for running a store)
http://www.magentocommerce.com/
(for eCommerce)
Both are nicely done. Good luck, there may be some features that you can replicate or do better.
C
Both really good platforms.
Much to learn from.