Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#1

Post by interactive_guy » Thu, Aug 27, 2015, 8:12 PM UTC

I thought it would be fun to set up a low-footprint ecommerce site, either selling a drop-shipped product or some etsy-esque art I make, just as an experiment in starting a small business.

But all the information I've found is incredibly... spammy. It's all aimed at non-coders with insane get-rich-quick ideas who usually resort to "growth-hacking" techniques I abhor as an internet user, developer, and human being (e.g. use modals aggressively, sell your user's information, etc).

Are there any technical guides for developers interested in starting small businesses? It's a little annoying to read ecommerce blogspam that takes about how bleeding-edge XML-powered inventory systems are.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#2

Post by theworstshill » Thu, Aug 27, 2015, 8:16 PM UTC

With a preexisting solution? Read up OpenCart documentation if PHP is your thing, I've used it and liked it.

If you mean - create your own ecommerce solution from scratch - just google "ecommerce store books" and you'll be headed in the right direction.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#3

Post by jaworrom » Thu, Aug 27, 2015, 8:29 PM UTC

I'm actually working on a course right now for eCommerce. Real world experience, not the typical spam guru shit we've all become accustomed to.

If you're interested, I'd be glad to let you view the course material/videos for free in exchange for your feedback. If so, let me know!

Disclaimer: I'm a Front-End Developer at Blinds.com/Blinds.ca/JustBlinds.com/AmericanBlinds.com.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#4

Post by interactive_guy » Thu, Aug 27, 2015, 8:33 PM UTC

theworstshill wrote: post #2

With a preexisting solution? Read up OpenCart documentation if PHP is your thing, I've used it and liked it. If you mean - create your own ecommerce solution from scratch - just google "ecommerce store books" and you'll be headed in the right direction.

Thanks for the OpenCart suggestion. Would you mind if I asked a few questions?

What kinds of services did you ultimately tie into it? Did it hook into stripe, paypal, or another third-party payment provider? Did you incorporate it into any kind of marketing or analytics pipeline?

I'm not much of a PHP dev (stronger in Node and Python), but it would really help for showing me what to look for. I'm definitely interested in something relatively out-of-the-box, I just want something I could dive into more than a WP plugin.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#5

Post by interactive_guy » Thu, Aug 27, 2015, 8:40 PM UTC

jaworrom wrote: post #3

I'm actually working on a course right now for eCommerce. Real world experience, not the typical spam guru shit we've all become accustomed to. If you're interested, I'd be glad to let you view the course material/videos for free in exchange for your feedback. If so, let me know! Disclaimer: I'm a Front-End Developer at Blinds.com/Blinds.ca/JustBlinds.com/AmericanBlinds.com.

That sounds really neat! Can you tell me a little more about the approach? What language you use and what form the lessons take?

Re: Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#6

Post by theworstshill » Thu, Aug 27, 2015, 8:48 PM UTC

interactive_guy wrote: post #4

theworstshill wrote: post #2

With a preexisting solution? Read up OpenCart documentation if PHP is your thing, I've used it and liked it. If you mean - create your own ecommerce solution from scratch - just google "ecommerce store books" and you'll be headed in the right direction.

Thanks for the OpenCart suggestion. Would you mind if I asked a few questions? What kinds of services did you ultimately tie into it? Did it hook into stripe, paypal, or another third-party payment provider? Did you incorporate it into any kind of marketing or analytics pipeline? I'm not much of a PHP dev (stronger in Node and Python), but it would really help for showing me what to look for. I'm definitely intereste…

I worked with OpenCart about 2 years ago, so my memory is fuzzy but I believe it hooked into paypal either out of the box, or it had an official plugin for that. What I liked about OpenCart plugins is that the paid ones were a one time fee, instead of subscription basis bullshit that solutions such as Shopify offer. And of course you could always just hack into the code yourself to customize it. They had simple analytics for shoppers and their flow built in I believe, don't recall if there was anything for marketing.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for a developer starting an ecommerce business?

#7

Post by jaworrom » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

interactive_guy wrote: post #5

jaworrom wrote: post #3

I'm actually working on a course right now for eCommerce. Real world experience, not the typical spam guru shit we've all become accustomed to. If you're interested, I'd be glad to let you view the course material/videos for free in exchange for your feedback. If so, let me know! Disclaimer: I'm a Front-End Developer at Blinds.com/Blinds.ca/JustBlinds.com/AmericanBlinds.com.

That sounds really neat! Can you tell me a little more about the approach? What language you use and what form the lessons take?

It's mostly business-related and non-technical (I'm using Shopify for the screencasts), although I touch on the Shopify templating system and discuss running/implementing A/B tests. It's primarily a walk-through from start to finish on choosing and validating a long-tail niche, sourcing the products, setting pricing/suitable margins, building out pages, marketing the store, etc.

I chose Shopify because it has a really solid hosting infrastructure, templating is straightforward, you don't have to install the store/SSL certificates, and it has a huge ecosystem of add-ons and integrations. It makes bootstrapping and launching an eCommerce business extremely easy and relatively painless.

Regardless of what back-end you use to power the store, the principles should still be beneficial!