I know this isn't exactly in the scope of what we generally discuss here, but
it isn't completely way out there either. So for my own comfort I thought I'd ask
anyway so I know I covered all of my bases. If I'm out of the scope of the list lemme
know and if you have any suggestions on where I should go, I'm open. I know I left
myself open there...be nice ;)
I'm the only web developer for an e-Commerce site that sells reports and
collections of reports. Actually most of our customers are service subscribers and
have access to all of our research, but we do sell individual reports too. Currently
it's a M$ only shop and I'm looking at alternatives to my current configuration and
I've persuaded management to allow me look into all solutions including commercial and
open source *NIX based solutions. My requirements are extensive (see below) and so are
the offerings out there, which is why I'm looking for input from the list. I've found
a few offerings already, but I'd like to keep those to myself as I would like unbiased
suggestions rather than flames on my current findings. Besides we can save arguments
for after we have come up with a list of products. <g>
If you have any experience with e-Commerce suites on Linux I would like
your suggestions on what you like about them and if any of them have the following
features. Ideally I'd like something like a hybrid of MSNBC or NYTIMES (any publisher
really) published document system with the up-selling, customization and suggestion
properties of Amazon.
1. Publishing of reports (products) with categorization, searching
a. I've toyed with the idea of the entire report being published to a DB and
using XML to format the final product (any thoughts?)
b. This should be able to be done by a publishing or production department.
2. Membership authentication
a. This should include tracking of reports read and purchased for suggestions
and such.
b. Profile editing
3. Commerce
a. Marketing initiatives
b. Order processing and tracking
c. Account management
4. Search
a. Synonym serching
b. Natural language
c. Flexible and easily customizable (nature of the business is Technology and
terms take on new meanings everyday)
5. Reporting
a. What's selling
b. What paths people are taking
c. What's being searched for and what's being found
I'm very sorry if this strays to far. If so let me knon if anyone know of a good place
to post instead. I'm just looking for opinions on stuff not implementation help. I'll
try to figure that out myself.
Thanks everyone!
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