Is it possible to create an advance eCommerce website?

[Samk80]

Hi there community,

 

I'm new to this site. Basically I just discovered processwire. I was always a fan of Joomla but recently I came across a site which was designed by processwire. I looked at some of modules on processwire website but couldn't find the module I need.

 

I want to create a website that does the custom configuration of a product and provides product filtering.

Something similar to this site but not exactly the same.

 

Is there a module that can do that?

 

Basically the product configuration is done by checking the compatibility values between the categories, so the module need to support product tagging or some sort of value check to only display compatible products. 

 

Edited October 19, 2017 by kongondo
First post, suspicious link

[evan]

Hey Sam,

Welcome!  It's definitely possible to build something like that.  There's a few reasons why you didn't find an exact module for what you're trying to do.

ProcessWire is more of a development framework and toolset than a plug-and-play CMS.  It provides you easy access to a relational database, user and session management, querying, and front-end rendering through its API.  As that's the case, much of what you want to do – create product records with categories and tagging, and query those records with those fields – can be done pretty easily with native PW functionality.

A skeletal walk-through of how you might do this:

1. Create a Product template in the admin.
    
2. Create the fields you'd like for the Product – probably a Title, Body, Categories, and Tags.  The last two could either be hard-coded (as a Select – more rigid) or relational (as a Page Reference/PageArray, using other Pages as data – more flexible).
    
3. Create Pages with the Product template, and populate the data.
    
4. Create a Product front-end template, /site/templates/Product.php (file shares the same name as your admin template name), with code like this:
    

   <h1><?=$page->title?></h1>
   <div class="body">
     <?=$p->body?>
   </div>
   <div class="categories">
     <?php foreach ($page->categories as $c): ?>
     	<?=$c->value?> <!-- This is assuming your Categories are a simple Option fieldtype, without titles. -->
     <?php endforeach ?>
   </div>
   <div class="tags">
     <?php foreach ($page->tags as $c): ?>
     	<?=$c->title?> <!-- This is assuming your Tags are a Page Reference fieldtype. -->
     <?php endforeach ?>
   </div>

   
    
5. Edit your front-end home template, /site/templates/home.php, and list some of your Products, maybe like this:
    

   <ul>  <!-- List pages with Product template, limit results to 10 -->
     <?php foreach ($pages->find('template=Product, limit=10') as $p): ?>
     <li>
       <a href="<?=$p->url?>">
         <?=$p->title?>
       </a>
     </li>
   <?php endforeach ?>
   </ul>

    

That'll get you started with displaying and querying Pages.  You might want to take a look at this article to better understand how Templates, Fields, and Pages relate to each other.

E-commerce is one of the less well-represented areas of ProcessWire, but is 100% doable.  The main bits that don't exist out-of-box are a shopping cart, order management, and the checkout process, but could definitely be built using PW.  The module Padloper has both a cart and checkout process.  You could get something mostly self-contained like Stripe or Snipcart running within a PW install in short order.   Whatever the case, E-commerce in PW, and in fact most systems, will require some development and figuring out.  Hope that helps!

[flydev]

There exist two Pro modules which will help you to build this e-commerce website. Padloper (already mentioned) and Variations : https://variations.kongondo.com (check the tutorial and the video)

 

Also there are two good reads on Snipcart, a tutorial and a case-study - a must read even if you plan to not use Snipcart:

https://snipcart.com/blog/processwire-ecommerce-tutorial

https://snipcart.com/blog/case-study-ateliers-fromagers-processwire

 

Welcome to the forum @Samk80 and good day to you 

 

[hheyne]

As evan mentioned above, ProcessWire lacks support of shop modules. I built 3 Shops with ProcessWire within the last year. The first one with the help of Padloper, the other two (b2b-shops) without Padloper. Take the time to write down evertything about the structure of your producst and then you can start developing your own very flexible solution for your customer. By the way, it's very easy to do complex imports (XML or JSON) and exports of products or orders (PDF - pages2pdf, XML, JSON) for other systems. So there is no need to manage the orders within ProcessWire. The import can be startet manually or via cron by night. But you can do this also... maybe not so shiny as in magento or shopware. In one solution the customer can put everything with an import into the shop and the orders run back via email into the system. The customer nearly never uses the backend.

[maxlab]

Hey there @Samk80, Max from Snipcart here. Don't hesitate to ping us at geeks@snipcart.com should you decide to give our product a try! We'd be glad to help.

And a huge thanks to @evan & @flydev for mentioning Snipcart. Goes a long way! 
 

[JeevanisM]

On 10/23/2017 at 11:05 PM, maxlab said:

Hey there @Samk80, Max from Snipcart here. Don't hesitate to ping us at geeks@snipcart.com should you decide to give our product a try! We'd be glad to help.

And a huge thanks to @evan & @flydev for mentioning Snipcart. Goes a long way! 
 

Hello @maxlab

 

I have an incoming project for an Online Store for Apparel ( E-commerce for clothings ). Only the preliminary discussion is going on with client as of now but I want to know whether its possible to create an online Apparel store with Processwire and Snipcart. Please consider the fact that I am from India, so let me know if there is any issue with Indian currency for payment.

 

thankx

[Macaco]

Hi ppl.

I'm not sure the best way to formulate my question.... I'm building a e-com for a coffee roaster, with products and subscription plans. We start small but ready for a potential growth (very good coffee) :)

I've seen here the padloper and snipcart option. (love this comunity)

here the trouble. I'm a designer slowly diving in webdev. I've been happy to use PW, and dislike WP. The options I understand so far are:

- Shopify (apparently full of hidden costs, but extremely easy)

- Magento (need to dedicate on learning, good for scaling up)

- WooCommerce (full of hidden costs and WP....hmmmm nope)

And of course the two options first mentioned which keep me in the PW ecosystem and probably also require a lot of learning.  I feel quite lost at the moment. Considering to start with Shopify to gain some education time and later migrate to PW or Magento.

So I guess this is not a question, but maybe someone want to share experiences?

 

[Pixrael]

2 hours ago, Macaco said:

Considering to start with Shopify to gain some education time and later migrate to PW or Magento.

This is the way ... now Shopify .. then Processwire + Padloper 2 (when released)

[Gadgetto]

I recently published a new PW module called SnipWire which fully integrates the Snipcart shopping cart system + full features PW dashboard:

Depending on you needs, Snipcart could be a good choice. With SnipWire the implementation into your ProcessWire driven site is very easy. Snipcart takes 2% fees per transaction, which seems to be odd, but if you calculate the cost of developing and implementing another shop-system, the costs are quickly relativised.

[Outward]

I absolutely love Snipcart.

If the 2% fee isn't prohibitive, it makes building a completely bespoke e-commerce site with ProcessWire a breeze. I've spent the last couple of months working on one that pulls in a huge data feed from an Azure database each day and doesn't break a sweat. 

I do have a PadLoper developer licence and I used it for one project, but until the new version is released to test I would stick with SnipCart.

[Pixrael]

On 4/22/2020 at 4:42 AM, DonPachi said:

If the 2% fee isn't prohibitive

That depends on the store, if the monthly income is in the order of $20,000, the fee for using Snipcart is $400.. but in more quantities, it will go crazy.

In one of the stores that I manage (Check the picture), so far this month (and there are 8 more days) the Snipcart charges would go up to $16,658, but Shopify only charges me $266 for the whole month.

It would be very interesting to have a similar module for Shopify, or better for a headless ecommerce patform like https://saleor.io/

PS:
Source https://github.com/mirumee/saleor
Store example https://pwa.saleor.io/
Admin https://pwa.saleor.io/dashboard/
Login credentials: admin@example.com / admin

[Krlos]

I am really interested in this discussion as I have multiple clients who want to implement stores.

[Outward]

On 4/22/2020 at 3:48 PM, Pixrael said:

That depends on the store, if the monthly income is in the order of $20,000, the fee for using Snipcart is $400.. but in more quantities, it will go crazy.

In one of the stores that I manage (Check the picture), so far this month (and there are 8 more days) the Snipcart charges would go up to $16,658, but Shopify only charges me $266 for the whole month.

It would be very interesting to have a similar module for Shopify, or better for a headless ecommerce patform like https://saleor.io/. I'll purchase it 100%

PS:
Source https://github.com/mirumee/saleor
Store example https://pwa.saleor.io/
Admin https://pwa.saleor.io/dashboard/
Login credentials: admin@example.com / admin

That is a real eye opener Pixrael and really puts it into perspective.

Most of my clients who use a combination of PW/SnipCart are turning over much less, so at present it's an affordable solution.

If I'm lucky enough to work with clients with that level of sales volume I'll no doubt be shying away from SnipCart. I understand they do offer some negotiation on fixed fees for high volume stores but they don't share publicly what kind of fee that might be. 

[DrQuincy]

On 4/22/2020 at 3:48 PM, Pixrael said:

That depends on the store, if the monthly income is in the order of $20,000, the fee for using Snipcart is $400.. but in more quantities, it will go crazy.

In one of the stores that I manage (Check the picture), so far this month (and there are 8 more days) the Snipcart charges would go up to $16,658, but Shopify only charges me $266 for the whole month.

It would be very interesting to have a similar module for Shopify, or better for a headless ecommerce patform like https://saleor.io/

PS:
Source https://github.com/mirumee/saleor
Store example https://pwa.saleor.io/
Admin https://pwa.saleor.io/dashboard/
Login credentials: admin@example.com / admin

Thanks for this — very interesting. But how are Shopify only charging you $266? Is this what Shopify charge for the monthly fee, i.e. without the payment gateway?

I thought they took something like 2.9% + 20c + monthly fee.
Snipcart appears to be 2% + Stripe fees.

Is the saving the fact Shopify charge a flat monthly fee and Snipcart take 2%? The actual payment gateway fees look similar.

[DrQuincy]

On 4/22/2020 at 9:42 AM, DonPachi said:

it makes building a completely bespoke e-commerce site with ProcessWire a breeze

I'm very interested in this. Would you mind giving a brief summary as to how this works?

1. In PW how do what field type do you use for product variations (e.g. size and colour of clothing)?
2. Snipcart checkout is a popup on your site, right? If so, how much can you customise the look and flow?
3. How easy is it to run code after failed and successful transactions so you can update stock, send emails, etc? Is it just like webhook endpoints in Stripe?
4. Does Snipcart allow you to mitigate tampering with the basket? If you pass everything, including the price, to Snipcart via data-* attributes then the user could inspect the element and lower the price. Can you prevent this from happening?

Thanks.

[Gadgetto]

The easiest way is to use SnipWire: https://modules.processwire.com/modules/snip-wire/

5 minutes ago, DrQuincy said:

In PW how do what field type do you use for product variations (e.g. size and colour of clothing)?

Product variations is one of the open points in my module SnipWire.

6 minutes ago, DrQuincy said:

Snipcart checkout is a popup on your site, right? If so, how much can you customise the look and flow?

It's fully customizable - just see how this works here: https://docs.snipcart.com/v2/getting-started/customization

8 minutes ago, DrQuincy said:

How easy is it to run code after failed and successful transactions so you can update stock, send emails, etc? Is it just like webhook endpoints in Stripe?

It's easy by using the hookable webhook methods of SnipWire module!

8 minutes ago, DrQuincy said:

Does Snipcart allow you to mitigate tampering with the basket? If you pass everything, including the price, to Snipcart via data-* attributes then the user could inspect the element and lower the price. Can you prevent this from happening?

Snipcart validates an order's integrity, by using the values specified in the data-item-url attribute of each product. If you submit an order, Snipcart crawls your website and compares the submitted values with the stored values of the products. It's impossible to manipulate an order.

[DrQuincy]

Thanks @Gadgetto. After looking at your module and the docs you linked to this is looking like a very attractive offer and a good, solid product. I am particularly impressed that they validate the data from the referring URL. your module looks excellent too.

So, it looks like your module brings most of what the client would need from Snipcart into the PW dashboard. That is a massive bonus as the fewer logins the client needs, the better.

Quote

Product variations is one of the open points in my module SnipWire.

Sorry, what do you mean by this — do you mean it's undecided as to what the best way is?

Quote

It's fully customizable

Thanks, is it possible to make the checkout load in page between your site's header and footer as opposed to in an overlay?

[Gadgetto]

1 minute ago, DrQuincy said:

Sorry, what do you mean by this — do you mean it's undecided as to what the best way is?

Sorry for my bad English! I meant - this is on my todo list! It will definitely be implemented.

3 minutes ago, DrQuincy said:

Thanks, is it possible to make the checkout load in page between your site's header and footer as opposed to in an overlay?

The full cart system is JavaScript based - so it should be all possible what's possible with JS.

[DrQuincy]

No worries, thanks and keep up the good work!

All added to my list of things to try out. ?

[Pixrael]

6 hours ago, DrQuincy said:

Thanks for this — very interesting. But how are Shopify only charging you $266? Is this what Shopify charge for the monthly fee, i.e. without the payment gateway?

I thought they took something like 2.9% + 20c + monthly fee.
Snipcart appears to be 2% + Stripe fees.

Is the saving the fact Shopify charge a flat monthly fee and Snipcart take 2%? The actual payment gateway fees look similar.

Shopify Basic: $29/mo + Payment Gateway: 2.9% + 30¢ each sale
Shopify Standard: $79/mo + Payment Gateway: 2.6% + 30¢ each sale
Shopify Advance: $299/mo + Payment Gateway: 2.4% + 30¢ each sale

Snipcart: 2% each sale + Payment Gateway: 2.9% + 30¢ each sale

[Alexander]

Hi there

Here is the future of e-commerce for Processwire framework: https://processwire.com/talk/topic/19911-future-of-padloper-new-project-lead/ by @kongondo

Third parties solutions looks great until you will faced with customization and then, with issues after updates. It is always better to control the code by yourselves.

Best wishes from the Alps
Alexander

[DrQuincy]

13 hours ago, Pixrael said:

Shopify Basic: $29/mo + Payment Gateway: 2.9% + 30¢ each sale
Shopify Standard: $79/mo + Payment Gateway: 2.6% + 30¢ each sale
Shopify Advance: $299/mo + Payment Gateway: 2.4% + 30¢ each sale

Snipcart: 2% each sale + Payment Gateway: 2.9% + 30¢ each sale

Thanks. So the PW + Snipcart option is for lower volume of sales — but that's probably most of my clients anyway.

[DrQuincy]

11 hours ago, Alexander said:

Third parties solutions looks great until you will faced with customization and then, with issues after updates. It is always better to control the code by yourselves.

I have used Shopify once a long time ago for something really simple and it worked quite well — and have used Opencart and the experience was absolutely horrendous. Plus a couple of others but most of the time I end up coding them myself for these reasons. I use libraries to speed things up but, in general, I find there is often something custom the client wants. With some systems even if this is a minor thing it can be impossible or a huge headache.

Only yesterday a colleague was encouraging me to try Shopify again as he says there is very little you can't do with it and it has improved a lot since I last used it. I may do if I get the time but I am going to try Perch Shop as it looks interesting, PW + Snipcart and, when V3 goes into production, Padloper. Custom work is my bread and butter but of all the CMSs I have used Processwire is far superior to any others so an online shop module that works with it would be great so long as it is not restrictive.

I don't go out of my way to do online shops as they aren't my favourite kind to build but I predict there will be a lot of this work around now as online sales have proved very effective during the pandemic.

[Gadgetto]

1 hour ago, DrQuincy said:

Thanks. So the PW + Snipcart option is for lower volume of sales — but that's probably most of my clients anyway.

If you have higher volumes of sales Snipcart offers special prices. Just contact them. They are very flexible!

[huseyin]

15 hours ago, Alexander said:

It is always better to control the code by yourselves.

Best wishes from the Alps
Alexander

I think the same. 

I do not worry to face all the effort to code the system.

I am only afraid of safety.