Car Parts Site - Bulk Uploading - A Few Questions

**RandomlySet** · 17 Oct 2012, 10:48 AM

Good morning all.....

I'm after a few ideas here. Currently we have a website which is designed and maintained by a 3rd party company. Our website can be seen here: www.clickcarparts.co.uk

Some of the basic pages such as T&Cs, Opening hours and blogs etc can all be created and edited by us in house. However, when anything major needs doing, we contact our guy at the company we use.

We are considering taking it all in house, possibly led by myself. However, before we even start to plan a move, we need to know a few things. When uploading new parts catalogues, we generally send an excel file to our designer who then I assume uploads it as a CSV file. Is this possible with Zen Cart? Also, not only do we want part numbers, prices and vehicle application to be uploaded, but also product details etc. For example, take a look here: http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acata...ant-cat12.html on that page they have a box with 4 tabs for further info. Is something like this possible with Zen Cart?

We also need a good, easy to use back end system. This would be for in house use to look up orders, return issues, post blogs, add ad-hoc listings etc. Again, would this be suitable.

Also, we are looking at incorporating TechDoc. I'm not sure if anyone is aware of this, or has experience. This site currently has techdoc embedded within it http://www.mister-auto.co.uk/en/ Again, can Zen Cart handle this?

I'm familiar with Joomla, but not used ZC. Would Joomla support my needs, or would it be wise to stick with a dedicated eCommerce platform such as ZC?

Any help would be much appreciated.

**stevesh** · 17 Oct 2012, 11:12 AM

There's this:

http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=868

I haven't used it, but many here do. Also search the Web for 'Apsona'.

There's this for the tabs:

http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=646

I have used it and it works well.

"Good and easy' are in the eye of the beholder, but I find Zencart's admin area to be both, but with a learning curve. I found Joomla's back end to be much more difficult to learn.

Haven't heard of TechDoc.

I looked at the shopping cart plugins for Joomla a while ago and wasn't impressed. Zencart is much more powerful.

**RandomlySet** · 17 Oct 2012, 11:16 AM

That's great. Thanks for the quick reply. I shall look over these with the GM.

Also, I know Zen Cart is free with some web hosts, but how much is it if we was to purchase a full licence?

EDIT: Forget that, is ZenCart always free, you would just pay for any templates you want (like Joomla)

**stevesh** · 17 Oct 2012, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by RandomlySet

EDIT: Forget that, is ZenCart always free, you would just pay for any templates you want (like Joomla)

Correct, but it isn't necessary to buy templates either, and the main seller of Zencart templates is Template Monster, whose products aren't often recommended here. Look at http://(sorry, site offline) for some free ones, paying particular attention to those by Picaflor Azul.

**RandomlySet** · 17 Oct 2012, 12:08 PM

I've had a quick browse at that site.... I have used and modified templates in the past for Joomla based sites, and also WordPress, so I imagine this would be similar.

I'm also guessing that plugins for Zen are as easily available as they are for Joomla. Things such as Social Networking, allowing users to like/share/tweet a page etc. Also, should the need arise, the ability to embed YouTube videos, have slideshows etc etc.....

We'll be setting up and running a test site before we even consider making any kind of switchover.

**jonnyboy22** · 18 Oct 2012, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by RandomlySet

When uploading new parts catalogues, we generally send an excel file to our designer who then I assume uploads it as a CSV file. Is this possible with Zen Cart?

the easy populate module will probably do what you require (you may already have it installed if you're sending your designer csv files)

**CoolCarPartsOnline** · 18 Oct 2012, 11:38 PM

Advanced Easy Populate is the best module to use for Auto Parts reason being you might have multiple product_ids with the same part number/model number etc...

Zen Cart can be used for Auto Parts but it will need some major modifications. You can check the sites in my Sig which were all based on Zen Cart at some point.