[ic] Reliability of IC

[Jim Balcom]

On Tue, 26 Feb 2002, Jim Musil wrote:

JM>>I think the power and flexibility and open-source support of
JM>>interchange is amazing, but I'm wondering how reliable it is.

IMHO, that question is totally dependent on your server.

Interchange is a mature program that has been around almost since Lincoln
was shot! It is pretty bulletproof. Problems can usually be traced to either
the server, or the person doing the implementation.

JM>>Is it conceivable that, as an independent developer, I could build
JM>>out a fairly simple cart/store and then walk away?

As I understand it, there are people doing it all of the time.

JM>>(This presumes, of course, that I did a thorough job of setting up
JM>>the store and testing, and that the client is content with the
JM>>finished product.)

The client is going to need to be well-versed at adding new products, at
deleting old ones, at doing things to 'perk up' the store - re-arranging
stuff in the html code of the main page and any supplemental pages that you
put in.

Radio Shack has a policy of totally re-arranging their store every so often,
requiring the customer to have to stop and look at what is there instead of
walking in in a trance and getting what they want and walking out.

I re-arrange my front page regularly, presenting the same things in a
different way for just this reason.

This last weekend, sales were off, so I had an 'Overstock Sale' and
everything in the store was 10% off. Sales immediately picked up. I do this
by uncommenting one line in index.html. This is one of the nice things about
e-commerce. If you want to have a sale, just announce it on the main page
and send out e-mails to your customers on your e-mail list.

There is no reason why you can't just walk away from it and put it into
'perpetual motion' mode. But, don't overlook the aspect of residual income
where you go back once a month to check up on it, perhaps shuffle some pages
for them to spruce it up, etc.

-= Jim =-

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Tagline for Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at 17:50 PM:
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