[mk9000]

Hi - We are evaluating what e-commerce system is best for our business. Options is Magneto and OpenCart but I had some questions to help narrow down the choices (and maybe you can help me for questions I should also be asking).

1.) What's needed from a functional and technlological point of view to integrate with Magneto, OpenCart? What kind of SLA do they have, e.g. you provide this we provide that.
2.) How long does it take to integrate with Magneto and OpenCart for a reasonably experienced developer? I know that this "depends" but assuming you know web technologies such as PHP & SQL reasoably well..another way to put it is what are the ranges of time to integrate?
3.) What are the downsides to Magneto or OpenCart and how does one differentiate between one or the other as far as functionality, cost aside?
4.) With the advent of Magneto, OpenCart and the like for ecommerce, is there any good reason to implement your own ecommerce implementation short of if you’re a massive business like expedia.com? At what point does it no longer make sense to use such a free service?
5.) Are Magneto and OpenCart compatible with Facebook apps and mobile platform such as iPhone, Android and Windows?

Our current infrastructure utilizes PHP + MySQL. The business is a start up in it's very early stage and anticipated usage will be anywhere between 0 - 100,000 or more / yr.. At this time though, let's s go with a very optimistic 1,000 / month. Maybe zero if it fails .

Thanks!

[BlueDreamer]

Here's my take on it...

1.) What's needed from a functional and technlological point of view to integrate with Magneto, OpenCart? What kind of SLA do they have, e.g. you provide this we provide that.

- both require PHP and mySQL
- Magento is pretty resource hungry so you'd need suitable hosting, Opencart is a lot more lightweight so should normally run happily on a shared account
- check their sites for SLA's, support options etc
Magento have their own support offerings - http://www.magentoco...upport/overview
Opencart use a "partners" system - http://www.opencart....support/support

2.) How long does it take to integrate with Magneto and OpenCart for a reasonably experienced developer? I know that this "depends" but assuming you know web technologies such as PHP & SQL reasoably well..another way to put it is what are the ranges of time to integrate?

- very hard to answer!
- if it's a "boilerplate" installation with minimal customisation then it could be "a few working days"
- if it requires extensive customsation then it's weeks or months

3.) What are the downsides to Magneto or OpenCart and how does one differentiate between one or the other as far as functionality, cost aside?

- there are no downsides if the application meets all your business needs!
- is over-reliance on 3rd party addons a downside? In my mind if you need more than a few addons it isn't the right solution

4.) With the advent of Magneto, OpenCart and the like for ecommerce, is there any good reason to implement your own ecommerce implementation short of if you're a massive business like expedia.com? At what point does it no longer make sense to use such a free service?

- custom implementations will always be more expensive
- there's no such thing as "free", sure you may get to download the software at no cost but you still have development time, build/integration costs, and running/maintenance costs
- if you find you're not gatteing value for money with an off the shelf system that is probably the time to look elsewhere

5.) Are Magneto and OpenCart compatible with Facebook apps and mobile platform such as iPhone, Android and Windows?

- they probably both have plugins for social media platforms
- catering for "mobiles" is a design issue (check out "responsive design")

This post has been edited by BlueDreamer: 03 June 2011 - 10:54 PM
Reason for edit: can't spell!