ASP.Net Application Recommendations

[RFH Reseller: Sol]

Hi Guys,

I was just wondering what others would recommend in way of an E-Commerce application for a clothing store. I have some tricky requirements and am almost certain that any application would require custom programming, hence I thought I would ask here.

Requirements:

1). Ability to have a main item details with multple attributes (ie. size and colour).

2). Ability to control stock in multiple locations (ideally based on Style Code, however the style code does not take into account the attributes which should be correlated to create a single SKU).

3). Ability to manage Suppliers and goods they provided. Some items may be supplied by several suppliers at different prices.

4). Ability to allow per customer pricing (ie. some products would be discounted to fixed prices on a per customer basis).

5). Ability to allow bulk purchase discounts or promotional discounts, either fixed amount or percentile.

6). Feasibility to add taxation and shipping calculators (ideally a plug-in architecture or provider model based).

7). Provides some exposure through web services for Affiliate systems. Ideal if it provides a sample front-end application for affiliates.

8). Should allow for batch orders to be input by an operator, since adding via a shopping cart would require several clicks. Alternative would be to import Excel spreadsheets in a pre-determined format.

9). Should have the usual reporting interfaces.

10). Would look to integrate mobile devices in the future, so any work already implemented on these would be an advantage.

11). Whilst not a major requirement would be good if the application crosses over into the realms off CRM, allowing for prospects to be added to the database and their per customer pricing set.

12). Should have the ability to export to Quickbooks.


As I mentioned I do realize that this is a fairly big ask for an off-the-shelf application, and hence we would expect to do some customizing, threfore we would require the application be available in source format.

Off course, if it's open source and free all the better.

[RFH Reseller: JohnnyW]

Wow quite a list!

For a solution to do all of the above I'd say it's probably worth using quite a basic e-commerce solution to lay the foundations and then build heavily ontop of it.

I don't have much experience of .NET e-commerce apps, however if you are looking for something basic which already has the cart facility/product categoies/search etc built and is free then might be worth looking at the old Ibuyspy .net starter kit: http://www.dotnetjedi.com/Downloads/...4/Default.aspx

It's been a while since I last looked at it but I remember it being pretty basic and easy to customise so it may be a resonable starting place and would avoid you having to waste time writing the basic funcionality of an e-commerce app.

Sorry I can't be of more help

Johnny

[RFH Reseller: Sol]

Johnny,

Thanks for the pointer, however I think the IBuySpy starter kit is quite dated and that the newer Commerce Starter Kit maybe a better starting base.

However, I am also considering writing from scratch since Shopping Cart functionality is so easy to implement.

I'm considering a back end order processing and management system, that allows front end sites to connect via web services. This would mean that an affiliate site can be build to interface with the web services along with any client stores.

[Roadsie]

VP-ASP http://www.vp-asp.com is worth a look, as it seems very comprehensive and very configuarable. There is an evaluation version that can be downloaded and an online demo. It's not free but it's quite affordable at US$375 for the plus version. Obviously it's ASP and not .NET