Internet Commerce and Local Foods: Computer Systems

Before you get started with this software, here is an overview and questions to ask first to make sure it will serve your purposes.

What is Open Source?

• Where the source code of software that is made available to the general public with relaxed intellectual property restrictions.
• Anyone can use and modify the source. If they do, cannot close the source.
• Can share features back with the community. Has lead to a great deal of collaboration.
• GPL – General Public License – not ‘free’ – osCommerce and the Co-op software are both released under the GPL

Overview of Co-op Software

• Co-op software set up on an order cycle
• Producers add and edit products at any time – inventory, photos, descriptions
• Admins screen product changes, then make the product changes live to public
• Order opens, customers order over a week or two. Anything left in your cart when the order closes is considered an order
• When order closes, producers log in and enter weights and mark stock
• Route managers remind customers on their routes to pick up their orders
• Invoice payments posted from previous cycle
• Customer and producer invoice totals are saved “finalized”
• Customer and producer invoices generated as PDFs and printed for delivery day
• Delivery day!
• Adjustments entered

• Delivery route lists
• Product labels
• Weights can be entered to calculate product price (2 pounds of tomatoes)
• Adjustments – taxed and non-taxed
• Membership maintenance, shares can be purchased online
• Aging reports
• Customer balances carried forward and applied to next cycle’s invoice
• Future delivery options – installments, deposits for pre-purchase, items appear on both that invoice and noted on delivery invoice
• Webpages for producers

Overview of osCommerce

• Typical shopping cart, click, buy, and get. Always open.
• Default is one central shipping and payment processing, and one producer
• KS River Valley Brokerage has decided to use it for wholesale buyers and to be a clearinghouse for local products, not processing money
• KS customized features:
• Separate logins for producers
• Producer deals directly with customers

Questions to ask yourselves

• Order cycle system or order always open?
• Who are your buyers?
• Who fulfills your orders – producers direct to customer or co-op the go-between? What kind of distribution system will you use?
• Who will handle the money?
• Will you allow for weight-affected products? (price calculated after order place and item is weighed)
• What kind of financial interface do you want?

Main Differences in Software approaches

Deciding what you want to do with the Data

What kind of financial interface do you want?