CodeIgniter E-Commerce system - in dev

[eluser]GlennJ[/eluser]
I've created a very sophisticated e-commerce system in CI and now I'm trying to decide on what to do with it, as a business naturally.

The system is comparible to Magento in functionality, but with a nicer interface (IMO).

- Uses Modular Separation for HMVC
- Hooks for plugin functionality
- Delivery & Payment module setup
- Smarty templates for store front(s) (editable in admin, like eecms)
- Products have unlimited attributes (grouped into attribute sets)
- Search can run off Sphinx search engine (fast!)
- Search filters (works on product attributes)
- Caching for products and categories
- Excellent reporting
- Simple CMS with categories, snippets, etc
- Multi-store, Multi-Language (so easily make mobile site, mini site, etc)
- Support ticket system, eNotes, Q&A's, etc
- Admin very AJAX based, so no annoying screen refreshes when trying to edit a template!

I'm very proud of the work I've done and although it's a good number of months away from being tidy and 100%, I want to workout how I'm going to take it forward.


As I see it my options are: -

1. Run it as an online app, subscription based
2. Sell it as software (like eecms)
3. Make it open source and try make money from "extras"

I think the clients I've originally developed it for would be a bit annoyed with option 3!

Anyone have any thoughts? And what sort of demand do you think there would be from the CI community?

[eluser]phpserver[/eluser]
I would say sell it as software.After having five paying customers you are bound to see your business model in a new light.I know of small shops who simply cannot afford to hire a magento developer and instead are turning to easier but equally good solutions like what you have.The London fashion week is always an interesting time to pitch ideas to small shops who deal with the latest pieces and make a handsome return,so i would imagine,a fat pay check for you too.

[eluser]Total Shop UK[/eluser]
I came across the same issue with the CI eCommerce that I developed,
not sure if you want to follow my solution but I released two versions of my code:

1) OpenSource - http://sourceforge.net/projects/totalshopuk/files/
2) Premium - http://www.totalshopuk.com/products/p/to...merce-code

[eluser]Vheissu[/eluser]
Ask yourself this: is software that has the same features as an already established and widely known application Magento better and worth money? Are you offering anything new to the table? My experience with seeing other developers make money is open source is the only way to go and sell addons.

Bundle in basic shop functionality and add extras like analytics and chart modules, invoicing functionality, PDF generation and other goodies.

Halogy CMS has made a bit from selling addons: http://www.halogy.com/ (it's an open source CI CMS)
SiteManPro has made tens of thousands of dollars in sales from addons: http://www.sitemanpro.com/ (another open source CI CMS) and there are others if you look.

97% of people will always pick the free option if it works. Imagine if Wordpress weren't free, it wouldn't be half as popular as it is now.

Just my $0.02.

[eluser]Total Shop UK[/eluser]
That was kinda the way I was trying to go. Having a basic eCommerce system and then have addons. The only problem is that the addons are all bundled together and so they're not currently able to be sold seperately. The basic version also lacks many of the normal features like order tracking. My problem is that the whole process of order tracking and account management was timely to create and so I would only want to provide it to paying customers.

[eluser]GlennJ[/eluser]
Thanks for the good feedback.

I think that offering a free version is a great way to get awareness of the product and the USP is that it is a CI 2.0 product, so great for us lot (and those wanting to avoid the complexities of Magento).

My commercial ideas are...

- To offer it free as long as a mention stays in place, or mention can be removed for a small fee.

- Sell plugins (enhancements)

- Sell a "Pro" version, which bundles all the popular plugins

- Offer a hosted solution

- Offer commercial support and implementation

- Offer SEO packages (for promotion, not code)

And I'm sure there's many other ways to monetise it.

Only concerns of offering an open source solution is the amount of support which will be required, it may drive me insane!

[eluser]TWP Marketing[/eluser]
um, you're a programmer/designer and already certifiable, it goes with the territory.
I'd like to see your system when you're ready to offer it.