The general site theme (outer shell) had already been created. I created a basic user flow using Photoshop.

I provided assistance in the design strategy and was the lead developer involved in the project. This project used mainly HTML, CSS, and jQuery to achieve a “free-roaming protytpe”. (i.e. client would be able to click through the site as if it worked, but the site, itself, contained no functionality.

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Why? Well, quite frankly, there is just so much crap out there. It’s hard to find a happy medium between systems that are built solely for large-scale e-commerce sites with twenty-five sweat-stained über nerds sitting at a folding table, ready to burst into hex code, and dumbed-down versions of John Doe’s blog with a PayPal button on it.

What I’ve been looking for, specifically, is a system that allows a jack-of-all trades designer/developer (me) the ability to quickly and easily implement an e-commerce site. My needs are simple:
It needs the ability to look pretty without hiring a super-coder to clean up my simple php and css slop.
It needs the ability to be easily managed by a complete anti-nerd
It needs to be user-friendly

The Contenders

To alleviate the need for a nap while you’re reading this, I’ll cut to the chase. I narrowed my options to the following:

1. WordPress site with an e-commerce plugin
   • Shopp plugin
   • WP e-commerce plugin
   • PHPurchase
2. Magento Community Version
3. Prestashop
4. WebAssist eCart (Dreamweaver plugin)

So, let me start by knocking out some of the competitors…

WebAssist eCart

I’ve used an older version of eCart in the past on a mid-scale site that needed a good deal of customization. At the time, eCart did its job perfectly. It provided seamless cart functionality with little setup time. However, the downside is that I was left to create my own database and back-office functionality.

The new version of eCart does include a MySQL database. However, developers are still left to create their own back-office/store administration functionality.

Magento and Prestashop

I’ve lumped these two monsters together for the simple fact that they both do pretty much the same thing. They both offer free, open-source versions of a VERY robust e-commerce platform.

After installing both of them, I was very impressed by the ease of the setup and the sheer amount of documentation and support that is provided for them.

The only downside to both Magento and Prestashop, is that they offer too much functionality for what I’m looking for. When it comes time to open a full-featured shop that can offer discount codes, member downloads, shipping modules, and scrambled eggs, I’ll probably go with one of these behemoths. But for this mission, I’ll look elsewhere.

WordPress to the Rescue!

So this leaves me with three different WordPress plugins. My immediate choice of the three was WP e-commerce, since it was the only one of the three that’s free. PHPurchase is $49 for the single site license, while Shopp is $55. The developer licenses are both $299. Though, PHPurchase also has a “Pro” developer version for $499 (allows for membership functions and recurring payments).

WP e-commerce

While WP e-commerce has been highly praised by much of the forum community, I personally found it to be…mmm…adequate. It installed on top of my WordPress theme fairly easily. Products and the rest of the backend were pretty easy to setup and though I didn’t personally skin it, I don’t think anyone would have any real trouble making it look nice.

One big beef I had with WP e-commerce is that the product grid functionality had to be purchased. BOO! I SAY! Also, while the initial setup was fairly easy to implement, the overall template seemed fairly “locked down”, in regards to placement. A decent amount of php & general web knowledge is required to alter things.

I’m going out on a limb, here, and stating that the main reason this plugin is so popular, is because it does a decent job…for free. Perhaps, I’m simply a turd and haven’t played around with it enough, and if so, feel free to bash me in the comments section of this post.

Shopp vs PHPurchase

Ok, so ultimately, I’ve narrowed it down to these two choices. To be honest, I really can’t say one is better than the other. As I haven’t purchased either of them yet, I have to go on what I’ve found through my research of the inter-connected world-wide-web (the “internet”).

They both seem to have an active development team, and I would expect new features to continue to pop up with both of them in the coming months. In addition, they both have a plethora of features, ranging from integrated shipping, coupons, sales dashboard, etc.

The main difference seem to lie in how the store is actually implemented. Shopp has taken the more traditional route of a template-based shopping system. Whereas PHPurchase will require a bit more coding to get the site up and running the way you’d like it. That said, PHPurchase seems to be a bit more flexible, overall, in how products are presented. One important note – neither product seemed to have very positive feedback in regards to their support; buyer beware.

From the advice of my highly-intelligent circle of developer friends, I can say that I’ll probably end up using Shopp. Mainly for the fact that they know a friend-of-a-friend who’s used it and has been happy with it.

And yes…if all my friends jumped off a bridge, I too would jump…’cause there’s probably a mega hideous bird monster about ready to eat me if I don’t