[TYPO3] TYPO3 viable as eCommerce system for Amazon-like webshop?

[Daniel Smedegaard Buus]

Dmitry Dulepov wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Daniel Smedegaard Buus wrote:
>   
>> I hear the learning curve is quite steep with TYPO3, but my feeling is 
>> that this is due to the power and customizability of TYPO3, and not 
>> because it is needlessly complex by design or something like that?
>>     
>
> A number of reasons... Firsts, typo3 is very large. If you need a simple 
> site, you can get it withing several days from the very beginning. But 
> if you need anything beyond standard functionality, you may need to dig 
> further into docs, experiment, look into source code, etc. Documentation
> is excellent but one really need practice to work with typo3 confidently.
>
>   
That is expected... Good news is the project period has been extended, 
so that the final system should be ready by August, 2007. Also, my boss 
agrees with me in that there's more strategic, long-term value in me 
getting skilled with a generalized and widely applicable system like 
TYPO3 than with a more narrow eCommerce system. So, the extra time 
needed for me to climb the learning curve is not as big a problem as it 
could be with a different type of boss ;) I like my boss! :D

>> I am 
>> the sole programmer on this project, backed by my boss, who is project 
>> leader and responsible for database design (will optimize, create stored 
>> procedures, make sure the XAL system is synchronized, etc.), and the 
>> webmaster, who has tons and tons of ideas, and is able to help with 
>> diagrams and such, but not with any programming.
>>     
>
> It does not look like you will really need database designer there 
> unless you want to program own plugin.
>
>   
Probably I will. And I'm not sure if and how he'll come in handy with 
regards to TYPO3, but it's nice to have him as backup, and to be able to 
push stuff about database synchronization (pulling in book data from 
third-party suppliers etc.) and XAL integration over to him.

>> One of the things that make me concerned about this is the need to track 
>> every user's complete behavior. We want to record *everything* in the 
>> database, so that when a new idea for semantic data analysis arises 
>> (such as the ability to figure out what new books this user would like, 
>> so that we can mail him and actually present him with something he wants 
>> instead of just annoying him), we already have all the data about users' 
>> behavior in the database. This may just be my lack of experience with 
>> TYPO3 and the likes speaking, but I'm thinking that if this isn't 
>> already a built-in feature of TYPO3, I'd have to mess around with the 
>> core code to implement it?
>>     
>
> Not really. There are PHP libraries that do it and I saw one of them 
> integrated into extension. Not sure if it is still there but it should 
> be possible to integrate easily. It showed paths through site, times 
> spent on each page, etc. Nice thing.
>
>   
That sounds really cool! Do you happen to remember what it's called?

Thanks again, Dmitry, for your help :)



Volker Graubaum wrote:
> Hi,
>
> just a short answer :-)
>
>   
>> newest is commerce but it is not ready for product yet.
>>     
>
> That's wrong. Also we've a few bugs left, before we are going to make 
> the release in the TER, we've already about 10 Shops online and working.
> The first one for about 9 month already, one of the last ones, a danish 
> book shop. ( www.libris.dk )
>
> Greetings Volker
>   
Hi, Volker! This looks very promising! Very very nice, indeed. 
Interestingly, the webmaster with the customer here knows the people in 
Libris, and has worked with them previously :) He was surprised to see 
their new website :)

Thanks for the pointer! Yet another good reason for us to use TYPO3.


rocky wrote:
>
> Hey,
>
> I did a amzon webshop in pure php for one of my clients since he needs 
> it urgently. After doing that I'm thinking of develop an extension for 
> amzon system. I'm planing to do it from now. But since I'm going to do 
> it using my spare time. It maybe very slow. It is good to know someone 
> else wants the same feature. If you would like to talk about it more you 
> can send me an email.
>
> Thanks,
> Rocky
Hi Rocky!

That sounds great. May I see the website you made?

This extension you speak of, is that an extension for TYPO3 for others 
to use for their own Amazon-like webshops, or some other kind of extension?

If it's allright with you, I'd like to add you to my address book, so 
that once I get into TYPO3, start to get a more complete view of the 
system, and get ready to get my hands dirty, I might use you as sparring 
(and the other way around, of course)?

Cheers, and thanks for the input :)



Daniel