Its not the feaatures that are lacking, it is the general awkwardness of working with virtuemart for example

For those who are still waiting for this:

We are starting next month with developing a new ZOO eCommerce solution. The challenge is to make a solution that is a ZOO application itself.

Things we have planned so far:

• Works on all default ZOO applications
• It's should be simple
• It should be managed with ZOO.
• Not to much extras, it needs to be as simple as it can be.
• All extra features should be optional.
• Ajax support

Please provide us with new ideas: info@zoo-commerce.com

The website is currently under construction, we're just starting: www.yoodocs.com

We're considering a hybrid Magento & Joomla with Zoo integration. Truthfully, I agree with all of you - we need ZOO to have eCommerce features. I'm soooo sick of VirtueMart, and feel like I'm offering a solution from 1999 when I'm forced to show it to prospects.

ZooCommerce! ZooCommerce! ZooCommerce!

Hi guys, there is a plugin called "ZOOtienda" on the dioscouri.com marketplace that allows you to sell zoo items through tienda. It works only with 2.4 though. ZOOlanders.com has taken over the development of that project, and the new version for 2.5 will be probably released in january.

THANK YOU.

Seriously. I have been a Joomla user for years now and Virtumart is probably the only option really available, and they have long since bit the dust in my book. It's taken them 6 months now to ALMOST get out of 2.0 beta and that still breaks most templates and is riddled with horrible issues. It's a bloated system run by a company that seems to push its own needs than those of the Joomla community. Redshop and Tienda are managed outside of the Joomla admin area and charge a fee for "extra" options.

I know that Zoo has a catalog system built it, but you guys should REALLY please offer a shopping cart solution. Joomla desperately needs one now more than ever. There are tons of variations of news publishing components - slideshows, forums, etc, etc - but we are really biting the crapper with a decent shopping cart solution. I think that's the one thing that upsets me the most about Joomla.

I just found a really awesome cart system in the Joomla Directory. It has almost all positive reviews, and after using it for the last 30 minutes I can say that without a doubt it is the most user-friendly, well coded shopping cart currently available.

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/e-commerce/shopping-cart/14275

If there is a eCommerce system that works with the zoo product catalog, I will throw my wallet at the screen. So lets hope sometime in the future yootheme has its own shopping cart system!

After having spent 5 years building websites for clients with Joomla and using hundreds of different components and extensions - I'll tell you the main issue that shopping cart systems have: it's that they try to accomplish way too much and overbloat the system/interface.

Take VM for example. Sure, it has some amazing features, but for your average joe most of those features are not at all necessary. Most small business owners who call me looking for a website where they can sell their products just want SIMPLE. "I want a page that lets me show different items that I sell where someone can insert their payment information and we can see it.

Simple. I swear, some of the BEST components I've ever used are ones which offer less "features" but deploy, function and integrate in a snap; as opposed to components which offer a plethora of configuration settings which take hours to even begin to comprehend let alone get to work in a basic manner on a website.

So, to Yootheme devs who might read this. Please, continue to make your products as simple yet functional as they are. You've found a happy medium where one doesn't have to be a coder to simply make something happen.

Vote: Hikashop + ZOO?

Or better, something YooTheme native!

Actually we have implemented a really short and easy cart system into zoo based on simplecart javascript framework.

http://www.cavalierigioielli.it/en/jewels/bracelets/item/bra-g-500-a.html?category_id=1

I just would like to have your feedbacks!
Diego

Simplecart.js element for zoo Enjoy

Just a start version 0.0.1
http://www.yootheme.com/support/question/3809

For me a shopping cart in the Zoo Catalog would be the best solution. Combining Zoo Catalog with a web-shop extensions like Hikashop is unnecessary complicated.

Edit: @Diego: the Add to cart doesn't work (FF 9 and Chrome 16)

For those that want to share their thoughts about the ZOO e-commerce application we are developing:

http://www.yoodocs.com

We want to know what you think is the best way to manage the e-commerce. We want to stick to ZOO as much as possible.

I have stayed away from this thread as I believe it would be better to have a solution on-hand first before i share some ink.

Since day-one, I have realized the uniqueness of YT and Zoo, and I made a decision to embrace the product and not to influence it as those behind it are one of greatest teams in Joomla Community and I do appreciate their hard work and above all the talent.

I am here to let you know that we have already a product on hand. Indeed, I would like to invite you to a dedicated thread on the product we have already to get some positive feedback before we release an official release in few weeks from now.

Last but no the least, thank you to all who have postivly contrinbuted to this thread, and a special thanks to yardstick.services for keeping up this thread alive.

The thread can be found @ this URL Feature list - Zoo eShop Cart

Have a nice week!

For those who want to know, we're working on this at yoodocs.com

SimpleCaddy - good basket for the goods.

Hi,
So for those of us who would like to use the zoo cart when it's released, but wish to start building now, is it a case of purchasing the zoo package and adding products to say the Product Catalog so we are off to a flyer on launch day, or will products have to be specifically added through the ZOOcommerce?

Shame; what is the best e-commerce extension for joomla?

In this topic you can find a lot of solutions.
The ones I know of are:

• virtuemart (I wouldn't recommend this one)
• tienda (only for joomla 1.5 with a plugin)

There is an option with OpenCart too.
At ZOOcommerce we're developing an e-commerce solution for ZOO. It's not an extension itself.
You need the ZOO extension for it which is free, not the paid ZOO app package. But there will be a monthly subscription fee.

I could not agree more with yardstick.services and I would have thought yootheme would have brought out a solution by now.

However, I remember reading that Tienda cart works with Zoo. I wander if anybody has had the experience of this ? Any feedback will be helpful.

Also, if anyone have tried integrating Paypal (code available from Paypal) on to Zoo?

Jay

Weble, interesting information. I will check it out - but you know... be it either Shape5, Rocket-theme, Gavikpro or YooTheme - there must be SOME reason why none of these clubs have yet to come out with a shopping cart solution. I mean, RT had one for 1.5 but never updated it for 1.6/7. It's frustrating, honestly. Virtumart is a hunk of shit piled on top of a pile of crap.

Hi guys, there is a plugin called "ZOOtienda" on the dioscouri.com marketplace that allows you to sell zoo items through tienda. It works only with 2.4 though. ZOOlanders.com has taken over the development of that project, and the new version for 2.5 will be probably released in january.

Where did you read that? I can't find anything about zoolanders developing tienda..

Like el.curwen said, it's nothing specific...just a general clunkiness that makes working with any of the current Joomla cart systems frustrating.

HikaShop looks like a decent ecommerce solution, but the YooTheme devs are so good at creating clean, lightweight, and user-friendly components that anything they come up with will blow everything else out of the water. Until that day, I'll just keep using RedShop because I really like the CCK-like template system they've integrated into it.

Thanks for all of the responses...just trying to put that bug in their ear again. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

I agree with whats said above, a lightweight e-commerce solution built around Zoo by the Yooteam would be amazing.

I've tested VM, VM2, redShop and Tienda, and also Tienda with the Zoo plugin/bridge. VM is OK, but it lacks the presentation possibilities offered by Zoo. Tienda is also OK with the Zoo integration but I had to recode the checkout process to get it anywhere near what I wanted.

So a simple, lightweight, unobtrusive shopping cart functionality that works with Zoo and enables the community and teams like Zoolanders to expand upon it will definitely be on my wishlist for whats lurking under the christmas tree this year

@steven.weijdt : I meant the plugin FOR tienda and zoo. I'm from ZOOlanders. That's how i know it

Too bad that Tienda is only possible for joomla 1.5. Else I would choose Tienda. But still I think ZOO has get an application.
Someone interested to make a component that works with ZOO ? I can't find the time yet..

oddball: I just found a really awesome cart system in the Joomla Directory. It has almost all positive reviews, and after using it for the last 30 minutes I can say that without a doubt it is the most user-friendly, well coded shopping cart currently available. http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/e-commerce/shopping-cart/14275

But does it have Zoo integration?

@Yoo: Which cart solution are you actually using..?

@waitz they have a custom cart solution

@weble Figured so... But Yoo, you publish with Zoo, right?!

And if so, I have a willingness to pay to use the custom solution

I've decided that my next project will be a simple ZooCart. I start in the second half of februari. Problem is, I don't know what I want with this cart. It has to be very simple and it has to adept to ZOO. ZOO Product Catalog will be the catalog of course. But I still don't know how to handle the cart content, the client registration, the orders and the invoices.

Which need to be managed by Zoo. What do you think?

Great, Steven. Go for it. I agree with Oddball, it is easy to add tons of features which just makes it more complicated.

Persoally I would suggest to make shipping cost, VAT and discounts or whatever you want to add that can change the price in either way (!) as an element you can name and give features to.

Then I would like to see the checkout process built up like any other app, so that we can add zoo elements, like login/register, shipping, payment type etc to which-ever step in the checkout process you want - so that you can decide to have all on one page, or one element per page until the final checkout.

Vote: Hikashop + ZOO?  
Or better, something YooTheme native!

I installed Hikashop and looked quickly into it. And I don't want a whole new component for categorizing and displaying products when I have Zoo. I really prefer something Zoo native!

Im using ecwid on a website running along side cloud and jomsocial. I highly recommend ecwid, I did look into other shopping carts and I can confirm the majority of them either have limitations, and are over complicated

Zoolanders have Tienda plugin and it works ok.I have products with Parent-Child attributes and this is stil not working.Tienda is very user frendly and good integration would be perfect solution for me !

I searched Ecwid's forums and discovered that one guy actually customized his Zoo Catalog to work with Ecwid - http://www.techtoys2go.com/
... He said it took him 6 months and had he known he would have gone with RocketTheme's integrated template, Mercado

http://www.ecwid.com/?s=yootheme&zone=forums

--- Just playing devil's advocate here. Happy New Year!

@karen: As long as you're not the devil itself, being the advocate is ok

Ecwid looks actually interesting (until I discover otherwise). Do you know how he customized the zoo catalog?

@waitz I discovered Ecwid some time ago in the old YooForums but didn't dig very deep into it. I have an upcoming project that I am going to try and "tinker" with Ecwid. Will keep you posted.

Did anyone try an integration with opencart from www.opencart.com?

How about integration with the eCommerce module of Infusionsoft, has anyone tried that? Infusionsoft has a complete API that should make the integration possible.

@Dominick, if you want to throw that kind of many at your screen, be my guest.
If I had 3 clients who would pay 299$ per month for an e-commerce ZOO application, I would be making it right away.

Way to go Steven!
You have my vote!

We are using Joomla / Magebridge and Mageno. Magento is bloated and a nightmare to upgrade but its user-friendly and stable, its the only system IMO that is professional and free. Wish there would be a professional lightweight Zoo solution with nice features and integration of coupons and affiliate. Anyone using Prestashop?

Magento user friendly? All my clients that used magento think it's the worst eCommerce software. Magento is good for big players, but for small shops it's to complicated. And it's the opposite of lightweight. It's good for professionals though and it's good if you can spend a lot of money on it. But for small businesses it's to much trouble with every update.

I build many Joomla sites and have started on my first Magento site. Yes, took a little used to getting used to an paying for many extensions. Magento is getting better and better every month however. There is big money behind it now that Ebay bought it and PayPal is also a player. They also started an annual conference for developers and end users.

I wish YooThemes would create a new club for Magento themes and you will have another cash cow! I bought my theme from Magento from RocketThemes. Not bad template an great customer service from their sole developer that handles it for RT.

Magento, after playing with it for a while you get used to the file structures and templates. Backend could be daunting to some users. Web designers can make quite a bit of money in the maintenance of such sites. Multiple themes/stores and one backend. Very powerful platform.

gavick has now a template with VM and look really great. OK.. it's a VM... you can like or not.
but there is a need for a good template with shop. I hope yootheme catch this need.

I am total newbie, but also hating Virtuemart. After reading this entire post I decided to do one last search for a nice, simple, joomla shopping cart. Today, I found this...http://www.ayelshop.com/.

Surprisingly, I notice immediately that it is built with the YooTheme Cloud template. I think this is a good sign:) Anyone heard of Ayel Shop?

@mrs.bloom: Yes, I am also testing out Ayelshop. Personally I find it the most interesting so far. Ecwid was close, but it has some limitations for something we need, and I have given up on a couple of programmers from Ukraine that was going to make a native Zoo cart.

@waitz: I'll be waiting with baited breathe. I would like to test it out myself but I am always weary of the 'money back guarantee' and since I am a very small web developer...like 5 sites, I will wait for more feedback.

Hi @gesci, do you have an example of this SC element working with Zoo?

K

No for this time it's in my local server

Ahhhh... I would like to see it working before test out... Thanks for the tip!

I look forward to seeing it on a live site!

K

Yep, yes please

using simplecart.js with zoo doesn't require any integration or custom element, just have to load the script ... the rest is just templating....
just a little change at the end of the script:

window.addEvent('domready', simpleCart.initialize );

I already tested the ZOO + Tienda solution ...

But the problem is Tienda is still a beta project ... It is very promising but still with lot of bugs ... some little some bigs and support (100$ / month) is not really fast and focus more on next release instead of fixing bugs you encounter ...

So it make it a promising solution but not yet reliable !

Also Zoolanders guy make good work but support on the Zoo-Tienda bridge was hawfull for me on firest version from weble (and i paid the bridge) ... After they took months to release a new version ... so i gived up bridge and switch to another solution ...

So yes a real cart solution from Yoo should be great !

In the end, currently what is the best e-commerce solution to combine with the zoo on joomla 1.7/2.5?

I don't think there is one (certainly not out of the box style)

If i understand the dicsussion here correclty exists actual no good solution for e-Commerce in Combination with ZOO. As i think a very interesting market!

The quickest solution would be a Widget that incorporates ECWID. www.ecwid.com

If there was a widget for the YT themes this would be a very good option like RT have done.

Effectively you would have a full https secured cart where all the bandwith etc. is hosted at a CDN level integrated seamlessly with the magic YT.

Will be great to get an e-commerce solution in Zoo, but please also consider a widget for ECWID.

Just my 2 cents worth

@ david.willis

just checked out ecwid but its not free for over 100 products? I havent built a shop yet but ayelshop and open cart seem a decent choice

Im going to play with zoo to find out what its all about and why you guys want a zoo cart, as in what benefits it will bring over opencart/ayelshop

is the basic point that zoo is a content creation kit which should make it easier to enter products and product details? and then all we need is a quanitity and add to cart buttons on each entry and cart and checkout option? also mayber benefits for seo or something?

sorry for my noobriety

@ david.willis

I like ecwid because you can instantly create a store on Facebook and have everything tied together. The only problem with ecwid is the ability to customize your buttons and things. I am currently a open cart user and I have Joomla as my blog/article main site. For my store I just have open cart with the add-on domain name www.store.mysitename.com Customers don't seem to mind, but I rather have everything on one page.

@joe.bastulli

I have recently been developing with opencart and Joomla on the same setup, using the Ayelshop component. (site still in prod.)

Ayelshop runs an opencart installation within a Joomla component. If you are familiar with both platforms, it is easy to template etc. The opencart installation runs any opencart extensions and you can choose to have certain elements (e.g. cart, category list, filters etc.) show up in a Joomla module... hence positioning etc is simple.

It is built to merge the 2 systems with features like, same user login's for both platforms and SEF / SEO... all run from within your Joomla installation.

...back to the original post, I think that Zoo and opencart would perfectly compliment each other...worth a look into due to the light structure of opencart.

I thought I would let everyone here know that today JoomAce launched an opencart/joomla solution.

http://www.joomace.net/joomla-extensions/aceshop

Perhaps a bridge or similar implementation using Zoo items would be a good approach...

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a ZOO ecommerce solution!!! I have several clients that are currently using a less than satisfactory solution and I'm sure I would have no problem getting them to switch to ZOO if it existed. You guys do such an awesome job of designing stuff that looks and works great. Please let me know as soon as you have a release date.

jacomstephens: I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a ZOO ecommerce solution!!!

We at ZOOcommerce.com are building one right now: http://www.yoodocs.com
It's still early to tell a release date. We are almost finished with the add-to-cart button.
Some of you would think 'why does something that simple take that long?'..
Well.. we wanted to do it right. It's based on ZOO, and the add-button has a lot of options:

• price / free
• go to cart after click
• stay on the same page
• use a lightbox cart (using widgetkit!)
• disable button per item
• disable button per type
• disable input per item
• disable input per type
• minimum quantity
• maximum quantity
• editable quantity label
• editable price label
• editable button label

we are still thinking of more features for the add button..
We will post an update soon.

@ steven.weijdt : There is an estimated date for the launch of zoo-coomerce?
have also included the management of shipping methods and costs?

Thanks

Me too. I would love Zoo to have a subscription plan for different levels of membership. I was going to purchase payplans that say they are compatible with zoo, and speak very highly of zoo. They seem like a good brand.

But I would rather wait for zoo's ecommerce option. Will this include a subscription plan.

I think it would be fantastic. I really love zoo. It is so versatile. I will be keen to find out more. Dany

Maybe the first version of ZOOcommerce will be released two months from now. But we are not sure. Shipping costs will be implemented, but we do not know how in detail yet.

At this moment, ZOOcommerce will work on all ZOO applications (Blog and Pages too). We do not know if this will change, but we think not.

glyn.whalley.64

ZOOcommerce will be the easiest way to start a ecommerce website based on ZOO. ZOOcommerce can also be used with the free ZOO applications (Pages and Blog). We will probably release a demo with types that are configured like a catalog.

Here are some things you will have to do to set up ZOOcommerce if you already have a ZOO catalog:

1. Edit the types: add some special elements ZOOcommerce needs. (to set prices and such).
2. Create and configure around 3 modules.
3. Install a payment gateway.

This is a basic setup. For the client area there are a lot of things to do and most things are optional.

is this on only russia ? or multi languages.

Hi everyone!!

Firstly - I think that it is GREAT that there are a few projects going on focussed on bringing a native shopping cart to Zoo... Awesome stuff!!

Secondly - I'd like to throw a thought out there as to what we can do in the meantime...

Are there any simple shopping card plugins that have a Joomla Module that creates a single item??

If there is - could you not create an item for your product in your shopping cart - then using the "Joomla Module" element that is native in Zoo, insert that shopping cart item into your Zoo item??

I know its creating the item twice - once in Zoo (nice and pretty and flexible) and once in your shopping cart (payment functions) - but this would be a logical temporary solution would it not??

It would also mean that you don't have to migrate or rebuild your Zoo libraray when the above mentioned native elements become available - you simply swap ou the "Joomla Module" element for the native shopping cart element.

What's everyones thoughts on this and what cart do you think would be best for this approach - I'm going to start exploring this today and let you know how I go

Cheers,

Ben

ben.allan: Are there any simple shopping card plugins that have a Joomla Module that creates a single item??

Well, personally (after scrapping a native cart component I was working with a couple of russian programmers for a year..) I have started using ecwid.com

If you don't want to leave zoo's way of displaying products, ecwid has a 'html code' possibility for each product, which let you paste a little script & html into a zoo text field. And this adds the cart functionality. I discovered this a bit late, so I use ecwid for the whole shop presentation.

Ecwid also have a custom.css possibility which makes me style everything also.

Check it out. Native zoo would be nice, but this is so far the best option that is existing. (I looked into opencart, but I dropped it)

We take things slow with our project. We finished our first part of the e-commerce solution. I think it's only 2% of the whole project. We already working on the cart.. and I can tell you this: it's totally ZOO and it's getting awesome
We hope to post an update about this soon, but for now, take a look at our new element and leave a comment. We need feedback from you guys.

http://www.yoodocs.com/

I'd like to see a Store App!

Assume it will be part of current extension and not mo' $

As far as I know YOOtheme has no plans yet for a store application.
At least YOOtheme said that in earlier posts at the old forum.

There are some ongoing e-commerce projects though and some plugin solutions.

"As far as I know YOOtheme has no plans yet for a store application.
At least YOOtheme said that in earlier posts at the old forum."

Shame; what is the best e-commerce extension for joomla?

I will tell you what I use for a Joomla store and that is Magento with the MageBridge. I can also tell you the last tool I would use and that is Virtuemart. It is the sickest application ever built for Joomla and the arrogance of the developers that build it think they are all that when they are lying morons that don't know how to finish what they started!

I'd like to see a Store App!

Assume it will be part of current extension and not mo' $