E-Commerce System
summary
| Client | Tradepages.co.uk |
|---|---|
| Type | shopping cart system |
| Tools | HTML, Perl, mSQL |
objective
Willie Holt Ireland Ltd., a major manufacturer of billiard tables and accessories, wanted to create an e-commerce site under the brand name of Tradepages. The site would be used to sell not only Willie Holt's products, but also products from a number of other manufacturers, with each manufacturer having their own 'store' on the Tradepages site. Each manufacturer would update their own product listings and information.
solution
The system developed for the client consisted of a set of custom Perl scripts implementing the shopping system and the maintenance tools, backed by a database for storing product information and images. For the initial release of the system, the inexpensive mSQL database management system was used, but code accessing the database was abstracted so as to allow the subsequent replacement of mSQL by a more heavy-duty DBMS.
The system implemented allowed users to browse through a set of online 'stores', with thumbnail illustrations of each product and the possibility to see larger images and more detail on each item. The system also tracked user 'shopping carts', and despatched the orders to the 'store' owner for fulfilment. For store owners, a web-based maintenance interface allowed product descriptions and images to be uploaded to the database.