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    Compare Products

    First of all, if this is not the right forum for this post I apologize and am sure that it will be moved to the proper location.

    I have searched and found no information on a module to compare two or more products within a category. So with that in mind I would like to see a show of hands (virtual of course) of any store owners that would be interested in getting together a list of features for presentation to our developer community to see if we can have one built. The cost of a custom module would be too high for most of us but if that cost is shared by a number of us the cost would be more manageable.

    Here is what I have come up with so far. I also posted this in the 5.5 Dream Features thread.

    A module that would allow a customer to compare the features of 2 or more products within a category. The module would provide a check box for each product in a category that when checked would include those products in a comparison matrix on a separate page. This feature is available on many retail sites. X-cart as well as a few other shopping carts applications offer this feature either built in or as an optional module.

    The module would have a database that would give the store owner the ability to create and store a standardized table of features for each product to be used for the comparison.

    Ideally the module would have an export/import capability for external addition/editing of stored data.

    The module would extract basic information from to product itself like the weight, price, thumbnail image, product custom fields etc.

    The module should limit the number of products to compare to 3 or 4 at a time to allow for a less cluttered display.

    The module should be set up to be enabled on a category by category basis. Not every category would need to use this capability.

    In the bells and whistles category, a means of tracking the compares done on the site.
    Hugh Via
    TranscriptionGear.Com

    #2
    Re: Compare Products

    Regarding 'compare two or more products within a category':
    I have several clients that have expressed interest in such a feature, as well.
    If anybody builds such a module, please let me know!
    Thanks,
    Cway
    Trent Studios, LLC
    Graphic Design, Website Design
    TrentStudios.com
    (970) 568-8652

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Compare Products

      Well, you actually don't need a module.

      I bit of Toolkit scripting and perhaps a custom field or two would do the job. Then a bit of CSS would create the display you want.
      Steve Strickland
      972-227-2065

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Compare Products

        Originally posted by Biffy View Post
        Well, you actually don't need a module.

        I bit of Toolkit scripting and perhaps a custom field or two would do the job. Then a bit of CSS would create the display you want.
        Very neat idea - do you have a site/sites that has this in use?

        ps...great to see you at the conference this year!
        Leslie Kirk
        Miva Certified Developer
        Miva Merchant Specialist since 1997
        Previously of Webs Your Way
        (aka Leslie Nord leslienord)

        Email me: [email protected]
        www.lesliekirk.com

        Follow me: Twitter | Facebook | FourSquare | Pinterest | Flickr

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Compare Products

          FYI... Intelligent Product Comparisons is now an included tool/feature for all of our SearchSpring Pro users. You can see an example here: http://www.katom.com/refrigerated-de...lay-cases.html

          If your interested, contact us for more details.

          http://www.searchspring.net/site-search/contact
          --
          Scott Zielinski
          -----------------------------
          Sebenza.com - Miva Merchant Partner
          MIVA Development & MIVA Modules

          SearchSpring.net - Strategic Miva Merchant Partner
          How many sales is your search page losing?

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Compare Products

            I am sorry but it makes no sense why pro would offer more features but pricing is based on the number of queries per month.

            I would love it if there was a module rather than a montly service that could handle this. BTW there is a lot of coding needing to be done to implement Search Spring to work without hitting a query for each comparison thus upping your monthly charges.

            Originally posted by sebenza View Post
            FYI... Intelligent Product Comparisons is now an included tool/feature for all of our SearchSpring Pro users. You can see an example here: http://www.katom.com/refrigerated-de...lay-cases.html

            If your interested, contact us for more details.

            http://www.searchspring.net/site-search/contact

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Compare Products

              Originally posted by jlhwebgal View Post
              I am sorry but it makes no sense why pro would offer more features but pricing is based on the number of queries per month.
              I am not exactly sure what you mean by this? SearchSpring offers more features to create more value and increased functionality in the product/service. This is the main benefit of SaaS. Can you please explain in more detail to what doesn't make sense?

              Originally posted by jlhwebgal View Post
              BTW there is a lot of coding needing to be done to implement Search Spring to work without hitting a query for each comparison thus upping your monthly charges.
              Product Comparisons utilize the SearchSpring back end to deliver the product comparisons to the customer. There is virtually no coding you need to do other than some template changes for your look and feel.

              Are you suggesting some sort of caching to lower your query counts or something? What is your experience with SearchSpring and our Product Comparison system? I think there is a possibility you don't fully understand how the system works as well as pricing?

              A little more about the SearchSpring Product Comparisons. It's obvious that the SearchSpring Product Comparison system will allow you to dynamically compare products. By powering your comparisons with SearchSpring, you take the functionality farther than you can with a module by adding a level of intelligence. For example, being able to display relevant custom product fields for each comparison dynamically. Not only that, but to be able to rank these custom product fields to determine the relevancy. In addition, the system will allow your customers to click a link to see whats the same and whats different amongst the products they are comparing.
              --
              Scott Zielinski
              -----------------------------
              Sebenza.com - Miva Merchant Partner
              MIVA Development & MIVA Modules

              SearchSpring.net - Strategic Miva Merchant Partner
              How many sales is your search page losing?

              Comment

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