I should mention that the majority of this write-up contains personal notes, but hopefully they are helpful to those interested (as I did do a fair amount of research). Again, the first two solutions I looked at are currently FREE and open source. The third costs $500 (Standard version), which comes with the full source code upon purchase, but isn’t open source.

Getting Started

Here are the solutions I looked at:

dashCommerce is the successor to Commerce Starter Kit, and is freely available on CodePlex. This is great for those ASP.NET developers used to working with it that wish to contribute. However, it seems to be a one man show right now as far as development. We’ll see if it can indeed keep pace with the market.

Magento Commerce is an open source PHP e-commerce solution led by Los Angelos based E-Commerce firm Varien. The solution stakes claim to unprecedented flexibility and control. You can jump into learning right away as they have a bunch of tutorial screencasts on their site.

Znode Storefront is an ASP.NET 2.0 solution that “specializes in secure, scalable e-commerce solutions driven by customer needs.”

Below are my notes on some parts I was most interested in. I have provided additional information in a tabular grid below as well.

Development Status

• Magento was recently launched in Beta and it is not recommended to use in a production environment. A functional version is in the works and Varien is shooting for Q1 2008.
• dashCommerce has just released version 2.2 and has sites in a product environment. Major changes are in order for the next version (3.0) which is slated tentatively for December 2007 / Q1 2008.
• Znode Storefront has sites and can be used in the production environment.

Community Following

• Magento seems to have the largest community following of the three. They have a Wiki section and allow the community to contribute. Continued development is by Varien.
• dashCommerce has a decent community following, but it currently seems somewhat disorganized. Community can contribute via CodePlex. Continued development is by Chris Cevyas.
• Znode, not being open source like the others, does not appear to have much of an active community. However, they seem to be dedicated to continued improvement of their product (see roadmap).

User Interface / CSS

• Magento. I’m a sucker for good lucks and that’s exactly what Magento is: Good Looking! Utilizing Scriptlicious, AJAX, and tagging it has Web 2.0 written all over it. It comes with a wide array of features “out of the box.”
• Znode has a structured CSS and Master Page system setup that seems ideal for customization. The admin area allows editing of CSS via a form Textbox similar to working in the popular Wordpress blogging software. It boasts further AJAX UI in future versions.
• dashCommerce seems to be the most messy to tailor via CSS. This should be changing in their next release, version 3.0.

SEO

• Metadata - Magento and Znode both allow webmasters to edit metadata.
• Url Optimization - This is also an important factor in SEO and in human readability. Magento had the best SEO Url out of the bunch. Here are some sample product urls you could expect to see:

dashCommerce Url
/product/894c4c71-9776-4331-b1d4-c675f525beeba.aspx

Magento Url
/product/view/s/olympus-stylus-750-7-1mp-digital-camera/id/46/category/12/

Znode Url
/storeproduct302.aspx

I also noticed in Znode that Store Categories were referred to in two separate manners. I’m not sure the reasoning, but I know that isn’t a good idea for search engines and duplicate content. Example for category “81” (Exotic Fruit) in the demo site:

/category.aspx?cid=81

/storecategory81.aspx

Couponing System

• Magento has the most advanced coupon system. Aside from percentage off or dollars off coupons, it also allows for conditional based coupons to be created. Very nice.
• Znode Storefront allows for dollars off or percentage off coupons.
• dashCommerce currently only has dollars off coupons. However, the code allows developers to add their own promotional classes, but documentation is slim to none.

The Comparison Grid

Final Words

Znode Storefront

At 500 bucks for the Standard version this is the solution I ended up choosing for the project. I felt the most comfortable (maybe because I was paying for it!) with the software. Here are some key reasons:

• I needed the Admin area to be easy enough to teach the client.
• The template it comes with is nice enough where not a lot of customization is needed.
• The images are automatically resized for the Admin.

David was excellent in giving me responses to all the questions I had. I’ll likely be following up with some of the Q&A he provided for me. (Note: If you are looking to get Znode Storefront and need web hosting, DiscountASP.net has plans and you get 20% off your Znode Storefront purchase.)
What’s the catch?

Installation was fairly straight forward, however it did require me to open up SQL Server and run a SQL script to do the installation. This should be changing in the future releases.

Magento Commerce

Magento seems to be very easy to build on. They’ve got a good comunity and lots of documentation already. Although they only have a few payment systems, they got a nice writeup on creating new Payment Modules. Through this process I did the least amount of testing with Magento, so I can’t say too much more about it. This was because it is PHP based and since it isn’t available for production environments yet it wasn’t a likely choice to begin with. However, I would definitely keep an eye on this going into 2008. It looked pretty enough on the outside to make me consider moving from ASP.NET to PHP for the project. If this project was six months down the road I may have chosen this solution. If I was a competitor I would look at all the things they are doing right and take notes.

What’s the catch?

I can’t say much as I didn’t go through the install process. I will say that it is confusing as you can download the software, yet it’s mentioned only a few places that you should not run the software in a “production environment.” See the forums for more information.

dashCommerce

After switching from Commerce Starter Kit to dashCommerce I did see some improvements. However, both the backend and the front-end would require too much time to clean up and customize. I felt better off waiting to see what comes of future versions.

What’s the catch?

Installation was generally pretty smooth, but it gets buggy if you enter the wrong information for SQL Server and try to go to previous. At one point it would just bring me back to the first page of the install. I had to switch browsers and start the install over. Later, I realized I just had to clear cookies to get it to stop looping.

This API feature had been slated for release during July ‘07 according to the eBay Road Map.

More news coming next week.  Right from the e-mail:

• How does this help me?

  • Half.com product and pricing information will now be available via a Shopping API returning data in near real time. This will allow you to provide your shoppers with accurate and up-to-date information.
• Where can I get more information?
  • Information will be available at developer.ebay.com. The API name is “FindHalfProducts” and it is available as a Shopping Services API.
• How do I sign up and begin ramping up using the API?
  • Signing up is simple and free: You must have a developer account at developer.ebay.com. Documentation for the new FindHalfProducts API will be available at:
    developer.ebay.com/DevZone/shopping/docs/CallRef/index.html
• When will this be available?
  • We are shooting for the API to be available next week! Watch for a follow-up notice to announce availability!

Web Publishers: Half.com has a separate affiliate program running on CJ.

By the time I had checked my feed reader this morning, Brian Smith had already covered Shopping.com’s latest press release.  If you are a reader of Brian’s blog then you know he has been very critical of Shopping.com the past couple years.  So I was sure I was dreaming when I read his post title “Shopping.com Gets With The Program.”  Alas, I was not dreaming… They are planning to release the following quality innovations for merchants:

• Product Performance Reporting
• SKU Level Bidding
• Shopping.com Cart
• Distributed Commerce Program

These will be accesible through a merchant portion of the Shopping.com API, slated for beta release in 2008.  You can read the details about the items mentioned above in the press release or on Ed’s etaildtail blog entry.

Now, what does this mean to a Partner in the Shopping.com Developer Network?  Simply put conversion will effect your CPC rate.  Directly from Shopping.com:

“the revenue per click to publishers will also be adjusted based on the merchant CPC. We evaluate the quality of traffic from our distribution partners by measuring the conversion to sale and adjust the merchants’ cost per click accordingly.”

More…

• All existing agreements to remain the same
• To continue to receive a share of the merchant revenue
• To be evaluated based on a new metric: Quality Score. This metric will determine the value a partner receives on each click and will be available in the Partner Account Center upon launch of VBP.

I’m hoping that Shopping.com will ensure publisher partners have the information neccessary to increase their conversion and provide a higher quality of clicks.

This will change the landscape dramatically, especially for those pumping low quality clicks through SDC.  But at the end of the day, its all for the better.  From Shopping.com:

“Value-Based Pricing will encourage merchants to increase their investment with Shopping.com, driving a mutually beneficial relationship between partners and merchants and reinforcing our ecosystem.”

Lately, I’ve run into trouble as an online consumer. Specifically getting shipments. Here is a real-life post from being an everyday consumer:

I ordered a Nintendo Wii from CircuitCity.com on August 30th. I got it right before they sold out. Everyone here was really excited about it. Well, it still hasn’t been delivered yet. Here is my FedEx SmartPost tracking log:

Today is only one day after the estimated delivery date, but it hasn’t moved from the Edison NJ warehouse in 4 business days. I’m starting to think something is wrong so I decided I’d try to find out.

I started out by calling FedEx.

FedEx Rep 1:
Rep 1: Thanks for calling FedEx…
Me: Hi, I’m trying to track a SmartPost package…
Rep 1: We don’t track FedEx SmartPost, you have to call your local post office.

Ok, calling the post office

Local Post Office Rep (Pat):
…
Pat: Do you have a tracking ID?
Me: I believe so. (Read the number).
Pat: That looks to be a FedEx number. We probably haven’t received any information from FedEx yet.

Back to square 1. I call FedEx again.

FedEx Rep 2:
Rep 1: Thanks for calling FedEx…
Me: Hi, I’m trying to track a SmartPost package…
Rep 2: Let me transfer you to SmartPost department.
Me: (Thinking why the hell couldn’t you do that the first time?)

Wait to be transferred…

SmartPost Rep (Mary):
Mary: Hi, how can I help you?
Me: (Explains the whole situation)
Mary: We are a 3rd party organization that hands off packages from FedEx to the Post office for finally delivery. We usually have a 1-3 business day turn around once it enters the Sortation (that can’t be a real word) facility. Since it hasn’t moved since September 7th, I would say there is something wrong with your package. Perhaps the package, packaging or label was damaged. I would call Circuit City and tell them you talked to us, and we feel that the package has been damaged or lost.

Great, now to call Circuit City…

Circuit City Rep (Michelle):
Michelle: You can only report lost after 15 business days from shipment.
Me: So I can’t do anything until September 20th?
Michelle: I’m sorry sir, but we can’t report it lost until 15 business days from the shipment.

End of Story

I’m still hopeful that I might get my package, but this whole thing has turned into a nightmare. I thought I’d save a couple bucks for free shipping. I should know better. Now some kid who works at the Edison FedEx sortation facility is probably playing my stolen Nintendo Wii right now; or maybe its on the back off an unmarked truck to be sold on the black market… who knows, but at least I’m optimistic.

Lessons learned

• Never use free shipping from Circuit City again.
• Never receive or ship using FedEx SmartPost (I’m not the only one that has problems).
• Stop shopping online its not worth it =)

$45,000 to anyone who can identify what is wrong with the listing above… See it yet? I found myself wondering if the person who took this screen capture was paying attention to the listing. A Rushmore DVD for $45,000? Um, I’m not really sure that price is accurate! I figured it was just a fluke in Pronto’s pricing system. Flukes are still very common in price comparison engines. I’ve seen plenty on the others (Shopping.com, PriceGrabber, etc.). However I’ve never seen one so extreme.

When I clicked “compare prices” I was taken to the product page. There I noticed a “most liked” section to the right of the main product information. I thought “Hey, this is a cool little tidbit.” Then I got to thinking that the information “Marie C. from Boulder, Colorado was the first person to like it” wasn’t all that useful to me. But hey it’s a good start as far as social shopping goes…

Now, I’m not a big Pronto user, but I found it disturbing that again the pricing information seemed skewed. Office Space DVD from $3 to $529? I did some further digging. The low price ($3) was from GreatArrow.com. Never heard of them, but I checked it out anyway. They sell Greeting Cards, no DVDs found on their site. I checked the high price ($529). Turned out to be Office Space by Creatas (Software) from FotoSearch.com. Ugh, that was enough for me.

Ok, enough criticism about the price and product matching. Pronto did some quality community integration work. I saw some similarities to our own My Shopping Facebook application, specifically the short review box, and the “I own it” and “I want it” parts, found in the modal popup that appears when clicking the “Like” button. This makes it easy to share additional information.

I found their Local Liked Products section to be a very innovative idea, and something they could build on in the long-term. As described by Pronto:

“Users can track the hottest trends in their city by searching the most “Liked” products by region.”

Another very important “social shopping” piece that they have included are the Brand and Store Likes:

“Users can express their interest in particular brands and stores in addition to their favorite products, providing other shoppers greater insight into their tastes and style.”

They seem to be off to a great start in the social shopping space. For more information, Scott Wingo has a pair of writeups (Part I / Part II) including Q&A and some tips… worth the read. You can read the official press release here.

Why would comparison shopping engines be interested in HackerSafe? For starters, the service boasts that: “Tests confirm 15% average conversion increase when your HackerSafe image is displayed directly in comparison shopping search result pages.”

Joe Lazarus, director of marketing at Yahoo Shopping, states: “Combining enhanced security information with price, user ratings and merchant reviews helps online shoppers make more informed and trusted buying decisions.”

Despite such claims, many in the industry are still unsure what the true benefits of these partnerships will be. There are some interesting user comments on a recent GrokDotCom blog entry about whether or not the trust seal brings real value to consumers. Only time (and good solid analysis) will tell.

As a seasoned online shopper with over a decade of experience, I can say that I personally don’t take the time to check for “HackerSafe” or other trustmarks on a merchant product page. However, taking out the price and the brandname factors, I’d be likely to pick a “HackerSafe” trustmarked merchant site over unmarked sites, especially if they were placed right in front of my face on a comparison shopping product page.

Two large-scale integrations is a great start for HackerSafe, and I anticipate more partnerships and continued innovation in this field. I’m not sure how their “feed” currently operates, but I’d love to see a standardized web service (like BuySafe has) be on their roadmap. This would allow developers widespread access to their product, and increase the value of their product for their merchant customers. For now, interested parties can find out more information about HackerSafe and its trustmark feed here.

Resources and More on this topic:

• ScanAlert HackerSafe is Good and .. Yahoo! and PriceGrabber agree
• E-Commerce Optimization - Yahoo Shopping & ScanAlert Announce Partnership
• InternetRetailer - Yahoo Shopping adds trust marks as another comparison element
• PriceGrabber Press Release

• Grand Prize (1) - $10,000
• Second Prizes (2) - $5,000
• Third Prizes (4) - $2,500

Check out the comments on this Mashable post as their has been some controversy over the rules of the contest, which have just recently been updated (better for the developers).  More about the new terms on AuctionBytes.

Shannon from Varien provided a nice review. I figured I’d respond to her question directly here. In her review she refers to the shopping news feed (found on our application’s entrance page) and asks,

“How do I filter out all of these other users?”

Great question! As time goes on and we see more “networks of friends” versus individual users, we’ll add filtering features.

She also states

“In the end, I came away wishing more Facebook application developers had given their offerings this much thought and care.”

That means a great deal to me personally.

Next up… I’ve talked about viral expansion a lot recently. Here is what I am talking about. A continued uptrend of % of change in users. A picture is worth a thousand words right? The graphic below looks at the growth rates of our application and that of the eBay Shopping app as well (since last Friday, July 20th). While the eBay Shopping app has been around longer and has more users, our app is growing at a rapid pace.