Database lookup, cross reference lookup, exist?

[chowardart]

Greetings!
Does Zen Cart have within it, or is there an add-on made, that can give a customer different ways to locate the product they are searching for?

In other words, let's say I had rear view mirrors for cars. If a customer comes into the store looking for say, a rear view mirror for a 78 Chevy Impala, is there a system that can do this? If so, can it get into more detail, like say the difference between a sedan and a wagon, sport models, maybe even colors? In the automotive trade many times the same product will fit across several models, so this would also be taken into account...

So does such an animal exist?

[mc12345678]

Greetings!
Does Zen Cart have within it, or is there an add-on made, that can give a customer different ways to locate the product they are searching for?

In other words, let's say I had rear view mirrors for cars. If a customer comes into the store looking for say, a rear view mirror for a 78 Chevy Impala, is there a system that can do this? If so, can it get into more detail, like say the difference between a sedan and a wagon, sport models, maybe even colors? In the automotive trade many times the same product will fit across several models, so this would also be taken into account...

So does such an animal exist?

I think I've seen a similar question asked before, but unfortunately there isn't anything more useful specifically associated with automobile parts in the suggested threads below. Regardless, ZC offers search capability for items in the database, this includes searching through the text of product descriptions. The more information in the product information, potentially the more likely it is to be found. There are possibly some "plugins" that mmay make it a little easier to populate and search, but basically it comes down to the data in the database and it being availble to the search engine in the store.

Like for example, some parts can be listed as 1986-1992, but generally speaking if one is search for 1987, that text is not found and therefore less likely to appear than say if the content were: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992. At least that way the specific year would be locateable. Of course, there is the possibility of adding additional fields, and a number of other modifications to populate the database with applicable searchable content. I do recall one issue/concern is the model#/part# issue that different vendors of the same part have different designations, and so that would be a factor to consider having to work around.

Sorry wasn't muchh more assistance, perhaps try looking through the plugins to see if something might seem to work but may not be specific to automotive parts.