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e-shop strategy ...

 [1/2] from: petr::krenzelok::trz::cz at: 16-Apr-2003 15:03


Hello once again :-) in term of our company - Xidys, we use lots of semiconductors to make our hw products a reality. The problem is, that very often you have to (or it is simply cheaper) order some bigger amount of semiconductors. But it costs you a money. My brother takes care about all the ordering, catalogues, etc. He asked me to rent or create some e-shop, so we would be able to offer what we have in stock and what we don't eventually need for our own product in near future. 1) The scenario of renting some of existing shops. There are pros and cons as always - you can start using it imediatelly, but otoh you pay for its usage, but what may be even worse, it may not offer some kind of API for you to be able to deploy with your invoice, order etc. systems .... or do you know any shop offering such "hooks"? 2) Creation of own shop - the big con is, that you spend some time developing it. a) using IOS model - let's say our company goes for IOS for better company and various projects coordination. There are imo situations, where IOS based syncing is not all that optimal. IOS uses mostly per-record-syncing, record-per-file storage (as messenger does for e.g.). While it allows you to work off-line, I can't imagine some customer (regular shop visitor) to not be connected for quite some time, waiting for endless syncing once he connects - what if the store will have thousands of items to offer, whose amount on stock changes several times a week? Central storage method sounds better to me then (SQL on the server, client sending just query), although it prevents user from off-line usage. The question is - who is off-line nowadays? There is also the problem of possible rebol client and its web integration. Altme is better in that regard than IOS, but you still have to download the client, store it somewhere, start it manually. There is pseudo ability to have it launched directly from the html page link automatically (IE), but it asks you the same security question once again next time you try to start it - so does not behave like a real plug-in. Worse situation is with Mozilla anyway ... An example of the kind of integration for X-internet (custom app) can be found at http://www.tipcars.cz - the app should be launchable from the html page link .... b) developing web-interface for the own shop - the one preferred by my brother - he uses dozens of such shops on a daily basis to buy some semiconductors, watch the prices etc. and finds no problem with browser interface .... If Maarten will read the message, I would like to know, how his wife's customer like rebol based solution, which is not probably linked from website? Thanks and cheers, -pekr-

 [2/2] from: greggirwin:mindspring at: 16-Apr-2003 10:24


Hi Petr, As you know, IOS is not meant for browsing or surfing to a large, unknown, set of clients. I imagine you may have some other groups of people that you'll end up working with, maybe sharing the cost of large orders and inventory, etc. For *those* people, use IOS. Set up an internal system where you can all work together on it, whether you just share files or develop custom reblets. Then, use the same back end to drive the web side of things for a browser-based eStore. -- Gregg