upMultiple frontends in osCommerce
Almost every other bigger osCommerce project nowadays turns into a complex system where the store owner wishes to have multiple online stores - front ends - linked to the same backend and the same osCommerce database.
There are several reasons to consider this approach good for online business.
First - having multiple front ends all linked to the same backend allows for having different (from the buyer’s point of view) online stores. Correspondingly approaching various niche markets becomes possible. Each front end may have its own design, products, and even domain names. Each front end can be marketed separately, dependently on the best approach to reach its target audience.
Second - managing several online stores using the same backend is way easier than managing several separate online stores. The online store management team can be the same, all orders are stored in one place, all dispatches can be also managed easier. Finally, reports and statistics will show the status of the whole business and not just some of its parts. If properly implemented, the system should be very easy to enhance with more features, and those features will be automatically added to each front end.
Third - having the product catalogue split into several front ends may improve SEO of the whole system. Each front end can be given its specific product range, so keyword density within a particular front end can be higher than one of a web site that would have all the product. Also, all front ends can point to each other, improving page ranks. One fairly important note here is that it’s preferable to have different descriptions per product per each individual front end, as otherwise the problem of duplicate content may ruin SEO efforts.
Fourth - having a system with multiple front ends in place the online store management team can launch a very featured Affiliate Programme. Front ends are hosted on the same server where the back end of the system is located. Naturally, a front end of an online store with its list of products, with its own design is an ideal solution for an affiliate business. The store management team would just need to assign certain commission per cent on all orders received from an affiliate’s front end, and the system is ready to go live! All received orders will be stored in the database as orders received from certain front end, and commission per cent will be real easy to calculate.
Its clear that to turn osCommerce into a multiple-front ends system a significant amount of development and marketing efforts should be invested into the business, but a multiple front ends system can repay for itself very soon if properly marketed.
Some sort of such solution is available free at osCommerce Contributions site, though none of our customers who run real business went with it. Therefore we have come up with our own solution that addresses needs of real business customers now, and allows for a non-limited business growths in the future.
A good example of such solution can be seen here:
April 12th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
yes - but the trouble is that HOW VISITORS (eg. BUYERS) can perceive such integrations can be NEGATIVE in that what could appear as independent, premium destination sites can end up being a tiny portal to a JACK OF ALL TRADES set up - rather than master of none ?
April 14th, 2009 at 11:04 am
We do not see this to be a problem. Not at all! Multiple front ends become independent web sites, sales channels. Besides domain name and design each front end can have its own product range. Effectively a store owner can offer more to the end customer by using our multiple front end solution.