1 backend site and many front end e-commerce sites

millymash12

Hi all

I have a conundrum, I want to be able to manage one website backend that contains all my products and pricing, but I want to be able to feed this information into a number of front end websites that my customers can use to buy products. Each front end site has its own branding and is targeting different types of customers.

Can it be done? And is it the best way to go about it?

Thanks in advance

ChRoMe

millymash12 wrote: »

Hi all

I have a conundrum, I want to be able to manage one website backend that contains all my products and pricing, but I want to be able to feed this information into a number of front end websites that my customers can use to buy products. Each front end site has its own branding and is targeting different types of customers.

Can it be done? And is it the best way to go about it?

Thanks in advance

It can definitely be done, what way you want to do it is a far bigger question.

What is your available infrastructure, are the front end sites done already, what is your development experience skills? etc etc

The Corinthian

millymash12 wrote: »

Can it be done?

Yes.

And is it the best way to go about it?

There's a few approaches off the top of my head.

You could have all the client sites hosted on the same server, effectively each using just a different skin and domain to their site, but all feeding from the same core-back end application.

If the client sites are distributed, you could expose the necessary data and interoperability with your central back-end solution using an agreed API, employing a Web service or something simpler.

Which is best, I can't say as it is very much dependant on the overall requirements; for example where are you client sites? Are they all running the same software? Do they have access to technical resources to facilitate integration? And so on.

millymash12

ChRoMe wrote: »

It can definitely be done, what way you want to do it is a far bigger question.

What is your available infrastructure, are the front end sites done already, what is your development experience skills? etc etc

Thanks for replying.

At the moment my client has a bespoke piece of software called KERNEL http://www.kernel.ie/ and they're using it to hold all the products, stock info, pricing etc.

They have a 5 year old website built in .php with no integration with Kernel. However they are about to pay a company to upgrade their websites database to MySQL so Kernel can integrate with the site.

Once that is complete, they want that one website to feed the other sites that are domains only at the moment.

I was thinking more along the lines of integrating Kernel with each site directly.

I am not a developer, however I have experience managing web projects and understand websites and integration to a certain degree. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers

millymash12

The Corinthian wrote: »

You could have all the client sites hosted on the same server, effectively each using just a different skin and domain to their site, but all feeding from the same core-back end application.

Thanks for the reply

Yes I was thinking along the same lines as what your suggesting here. The core-back end application in my clients case is Kernel http://www.kernel.ie/ and then building out all the front-end sites in Wordpress or OpenCart.

We would still have to pay the costs of integrating Kernel with each site, correct?

The Corinthian

millymash12 wrote: »

We would still have to pay the costs of integrating Kernel with each site, correct?

If there are licensing fees, or similar, I would imagine you would pass these costs onto your client. Integration work comes down to T&M's, so it really comes down to your client's budget and expectations - so I can't answer that as it's ultimately a business rather than technical question, and one tied to your specific client(s).

Looking briefly at Kernel.ie, I would contact them directly about any documentation and assistance they would supply twoards integration.

millymash12

Will do. Thanks so much for the info and help.

One last thing, in regards the structure you suggested Vs. what my client thinks would be the ideal set up......

My client believes that integrating Kernel with one site, then that site feeding the info to the other sites is the best way forward.
Whereas I believe that integrating Kernel with each site directly is the best way forward.

What do you think would be the major differences between the two approaches?

The Corinthian

millymash12 wrote: »

Will do. Thanks so much for the info and help.

One last thing, in regards the structure you suggested Vs. what my client thinks would be the ideal set up......

My client believes that integrating Kernel with one site, then that site feeding the info to the other sites is the best way forward.
Whereas I believe that integrating Kernel with each site directly is the best way forward.

What do you think would be the major differences between the two approaches?

Your approach would have multiple, independent sites, which would potentially lead to a lot of duplication of effort. Additionally data (such as products) would not be shared between the sites and would also have to be duplicated. However, on the plus side, being independent of each other, there's no danger of a cascade fail - whereby the parent site failing would cause all the other sites to also fail.

So it comes down to business requirements to a great degree.

Equally important, it comes down to the Kernel software itself, and I am certainly no expert, as I'm purely drawing from your opinion of it and a very brief perusal of their site. Thus to properly assess it, I'd have to study it far more closely, perhaps setting up a basic evaluation site also, to assess the impact of either approach.

And that is way beyond what I'm willing to do for free.

millymash12

The Corinthian wrote: »

Your approach would have multiple, independent sites, which would potentially lead to a lot of duplication of effort. Additionally data (such as products) would not be shared between the sites and would also have to be duplicated.

I agree, it is duplication of effort on the front end of the sites, but I believe each is worth the extra effort as the sites are all targeting different markets with different product ranges. Kernel needs to be able to manage this by allowing us to select what site each product appears on and at what price. I will talk with the Kernel team about this.

The Corinthian wrote: »

Equally important, it comes down to the Kernel software itself, and I am certainly no expert, as I'm purely drawing from your opinion of it and a very brief perusal of their site.

Yes, I agree, there is a lot of dependency on Kernel. It is a functional flexible enough piece of software from my experience of it so far but aesthetically it doesnt look great. Not as bad as the ole as400 though. :P

MOH

Without having a clue about Kernel, Magento, even at the free community version, seems to allow for something along the lines of what you need.

If they're not yet fully committed to Kernel might be worth looking at similar options and weighing up the cost of converting the DB versus the licensing fees involved with the current plan.