hi, i've started a wholesale business and need a website that would fit my needs. all my customers know what they are buying so i dont need long description of goods and their photos, instead i need quantity box next to each product on category/tag page for them to be able to type in how many of each product they need and click checkout. i have a domain name and hosting, and know how to use ftp, do simple webmastering like minor html or css modifications but thats as far as my technical skills go. what would be your recommendations? thanks
As per my recommendation, you should hire some professional web development company to develop such site and as you require database to manage your products and order. According to your requirement you should go for the Custom PHP and not go for any open source ecommerce. For more information, you can contact us on our profile page.
I can suggest you as you already have clients and don't need any fancy website to build then go with simple ecommerce script like opencart. Use there documentation for installation and search for any free website template which suites your requirement and install the template. As you know basic skills it will be easy for you to modify the website as per your requirements. No need to hire any profession service.
You can approach some web development company, and build your required platform in PHP, hence that will be helpful to undergo future changes and enhancement in your website.
since your customers know what they are buying, like other suggests you can go with simple website. but just in case if you try to approach new customers, your website should be a catalog of you and your's customers interactives and much more. I suggest not to have a website instead having a website for name sake. If you invest money for such a website, it should worth it in the current situations and to your future of your business. Ignore me if I am wrong
you can check uniquescriptz.com website. they are offering good ecommerce cms for just $249. Best part of that is its completely customizable. I have used that and its pretty good. with feature of managing product, category, invoices, blogs, images, and coupon system. you can check there demo at http://www.uniquescriptz.com/ecommerce-script/
I have used OpenCart and it was ok. You can add almost every feature you can imagine to it. My technical skills aren't much stronger than yours, so i had to hire a company who helped me tuning up some custom modules though.
Well since you already have the business operation going, for a start you need to creat a database using microsoft access or any database software and include all your business conduct, and properties ( products, prices, quantities, customers records..etc) then create a web site with the skills you already have, if you want a better standards you can seek professional help as been suggested for you. Advice try to connect your website with social media to get customer feed backs and gain more customer.
I would seriously consider either going with a developer to help you build your site from the ground up, or going with a very simple and user-friendly out-of-the-box solution like 3dCart of Bigcommerce. These are both super easy to use, and they both have a ton of very pretty, clean themes -- which is what sounds like your site would be best suited to.
In My suggestion Php Laravel Framework is Best for Wholesale Website. Where Backend will be on Laravel and Front end on Angular Js.
Joomla is quite good and should suite your needs. There's a bit of a learning curve, but its free in the same way wordpress is. Definitely have a look at it.