Shopstix a New WordPress e-Commerce Solution is on its Way
I just stumbled across a soon to be released eCommerce plugin for WordPress called Shopstix. Here’s what I know so far.
Shopstix is being built by Abstraktion, a UK based web application company. Here’s what Abstraktion says about Shopstix.
an eCommerce engine which is flexible but not too bloated. Shop owners can add any custom set of “fields” to describe their products, add “galleries” of product images and even add custom “variations” (such as size, weight, etc). Shopstix then creates a bespoke admin panel around these preferences, to ensure that adding a product to your shop is as effortless as adding a new post to your blog.
I am excited to see what Shopstix does. In particular, the idea of a bespoke admin panel is intriguing. This should allow for serious customization so that back end of each store is tailor made to the needs of that store.
Can they compete with WP e-Commerce? I seriously doubt that their first release will be anywhere near as feature rich as Instinct’s shopping cart. WP e-Commerce works with numerous gateways, has a bucket load of configurable options and after a couple of years of development is finally more than a plugin for selling the occasional t-shirt or cd from a blog page. Having observed Instinct’s ongoing struggles to build a true e-Commerce solution for WordPress I know it isn’t as easy as it looks. Will Shopstix be a serious ecommerce solution? Only time will tell.