Cart of the Week: osCMax
There are extra than 500 on-line procuring carts. And every week we characteristic one, interviewing each the cart’s developer and a buyer. “Cart of the Week” is just not a assessment or an analysis, however fairly a possibility to find out about a procuring cart from the individuals who construct it and use it.
This week, we’ll hear from Michael Sasek, founder and lead developer of osCMax procuring cart software program. The corporate’s essential places of work are in Phoenix, Ariz., with improvement groups in each the U.S. and the U.Okay. Sasek estimates that osCMax software program presently has 10,000 to 12,000 customers, in addition to many extra privately labeled carts that use osCMax as a base.
We’ll additionally hear from an osCMax buyer, Mark Fleeson, technical director for Lindisfarne Scriptorium, a U.Okay.-based retailer that sells non secular books, CDs and different supplies through the cart.
PeC: Please present some basic background on osCMax.
Michael Sasek
Michael Sasek: “The primary model of osCMax was launched in 2003. The intent was a extra ‘characteristic full’ model of osCommerce on preliminary set up, together with all the preferred add-ons accessible in a single full and maintained package deal.
“For a few years I used to be the only developer, and because of this, improvement was fairly sluggish. In 2009, I made a concerted effort to contain others with the event, and because of this the core group now has six gifted members and the event exercise is transferring very quickly towards the subsequent main model launch later this 12 months.
“For the final couple of releases we’ve actually centered on core stability and cleansing up the core code, laying the groundwork for the upcoming 2.1 launch. We have now taken steps to increase osCMax past the framework of osCommerce with out breaking compatibility with the various 1000’s of osCommerce mods already accessible for osCMax.”
PeC: Is it hosted, licensed, or each?
Sasek: “Licensed. (GPL 3.0, open supply, so you may modify any a part of the code in your personal functions).”
PeC: How a lot does osCMax price?
Sasek: “It’s 100% free.”
PeC: What’s your organization doing to change into PCI compliant?
Sasek: “osCMax is just not a hosted service, as such, PCI compliance is an finish consumer problem. So long as customers abide by PCI rules with their enterprise practices, osCMax customers can have no problem with compliance.”
ListenListen to Michael Sasek talk about his early curiosity in computer systems, and his views on open supply software program.
PeC: What are the cart’s greatest strengths?
Sasek: “It’s free, open supply, and scalable; and it may be run on Apache, Microsoft IIS, lighttpd, and nginix. It’s suitable with the overwhelming majority of osCommerce mods, so it’s pretty simple to increase osCMax with any pre-existing mod that’s already accessible for traditional osCommerce.”
PeC: What are a few of its weaknesses?
Sasek: “The most important downside is for brand spanking new customers to get their head across the software program. It has so many options it may be overwhelming at first. General, the user-friendliness for retailer operators and directors wants some enchancment.
“Documentation can also be an space that has traditionally been weak, though just lately we’ve made a robust effort to treatment that, and documentation is far more full.”
PeC: What plans do you have got for future cart improvement?
Sasek: “The subsequent model of osCMax is already in full improvement, and we’ve mapped out a course for future improvement for years to come back. The massive factor proper now for us is to enhance the UI [user interface] for each clients and directors and prepare for full PHP 6 compatibility. The executive interface is being fully redesigned to enhance usability and effectivity. Along with the UI and documentation there are quite a lot of new options which are actively being added and deliberate.”
PeC: How would your cart assist an ecommerce service provider, versus the cart she or he is utilizing now?
Sasek: “It actually relies on what the service provider is in search of and what she or he is presently utilizing. The plain benefits are price and adaptability. osCMax will run on nearly all common internet servers, so you may resolve what platform you need to run. Customers usually are not locked into a selected hosted answer, so you may run it off your native {hardware}, co-located, devoted, cloud, VPS, or shared internet hosting. osCMax will run on a small shared account and may function simply as simply on a big multi-server, load balanced, replicated setup.
“It’s open supply, so if in case you have an concept for a characteristic, it’s trivial for a programmer to increase or modify the applying to suit your particular wants. As a result of osCMax is free, there are not any licensing charges or limits on product amount, gross sales quantity or different limitations that you simply generally see with hosted options.”
PeC: Another ideas for our readers, who’re primarily ecommerce retailers?
Sasek: “osCMax is simple to put in, so in case you are seeking to check out a number of new carts, it might be price your time to strive it out. Even if you happen to resolve on one thing else in your answer, you should have one thing to check it to, and make a extra knowledgeable choice. The entire level of our undertaking is to make ecommerce accessible to everybody.”
A Buyer’s View
Mark Fleeson is the technical director for Lindisfarne Scriptorium, a web based retailer that sells artwork playing cards, prints, books, CDs, software program and different merchandise produced by the corporate. Lindisfarne Scriptorium takes in roughly £30,0000 GBP in annual gross income through osCMax procuring cart, and Fleeson supplies his feedback and opinions concerning the cart beneath.
PeC: How lengthy has your organization been utilizing osCMax?
Mark Fleeson
Mark Fleeson: “We began utilizing osCommerce in 2002 and moved to OsCMax in 2004. osCMax is a lot extra highly effective and simpler to configure and make designs for.”
PeC: What are the cart’s greatest strengths?
Fleeson: “One in every of its greatest strengths is that we are able to use our personal rented server with out additional licenses wanted. One other energy is the separate pricing for buyer teams (to permit retail and commerce clients). We additionally like the convenience of making and importing merchandise, and likewise downloading and processing buyer orders, and the convenience of establishing cost gateways.”
PeC: How might the cart enhance?
Fleeson: “We’d prefer to see extra consumer interface enhancements, which I perceive are coming in model 2.1”
PeC: How would osCMax enhance one other service provider’s enterprise?
Fleeson: “The cart may be very scaleable, so you can begin out small with out a lot funding (other than a while) and construct your product base till you might be promoting 1000’s of merchandise.”
PeC: Do you intend on persevering with to make use of the cart?
Fleeson: “Positively. We just lately rewrote our website utilizing the most recent model of osCMax and Joomla content material administration system.”
PeC: Another ideas for our readers regarding the cart?
Fleeson: “The assist boards for osCMax are unbelievable. Lots of new customers publish there with little or no information of PHP eager to make customizations and the moderators and different discussion board members are all actually supportive. For a non-commercial procuring cart osCMax is an unbelievable piece of software program.”
