Some of you will have noticed we have been operating a Fine Art Print Store for a little while. Our current version is based on the Open Source, osCommerce spin off, Zen-Cart.This is a mature and sophisticated platform and offers a method of integrating with Gallery 2, which we use for our Client Galleries. The shop, in fact, grew almost as a side effect of using Zen as the eCommerce part of our galleries. The integration module eventually proved to cause more problems than it cured and Gallery’s own Checkout plug in (extended by: Alec Myers) had improved to the point of doing everything we needed for the gallery. So we severed the link between Zen and Gallery each now working entirely independently of each other.
Zen-Cart has grown over many years and is now (V1.38) rather unwieldy and often counterintuitive both for users and administrators. With the promise/threat of a brand new version I started to look at the possibility of improving the user experience making the shop easier and more fun to use. The new version 2 of Zen Cart has some impressive features but it is seriously behind schedule and would likely require a complete fresh start in customizing it.