One comment I have that applies to all of the e-commerce plugins I tried out is this: the initial setup process is quite overwhelming. During my toying process I set up the basic Quarterly sales items and process for each plugin on a testing location. Without exception, each plugin presented me with options I never ended up needing, or didn’t even care about. I realize that WPCandy’s shopping cart needs aren’t as complicated as some, but that made me wish for a simplified setup process even more.
It would be great to see these plugins take more of a “decisions over options” approach. When that isn’t possible, stashing less vital options in an advanced section would lessen the initial impact of a screen full of checkboxes and dropdowns.
Ryan Imel explained in-depth how he created the sales page for the WordPress Quarterly magazine. Within the post you’ll find his thoughts on the various e-commerce systems he tried, code snippets to produce the page, and much more. Definitely worth a read.
Jeffro,
Thanks for posting the link to this resource. Excellent writeup by Ryan and certainly some good ideas to chew on when it comes to e-commerce and developing niches within your existing website.
Oh, and because of past experience I was a bit surprised on the wp-ecommerce choice. That’s going to make me take a second/third look.
Do you have any plans to put these tips to work on the WP Tavern?
Good times!