Presales Question - Multiple stores, overlapping products

[alargent]

I have a client who wants to run multiple online stores. One would sell all their brands of products, and other stores would only sell sub-sets or various combinations of these products. So they've got products X, Y, and Z for sale in store #1, while stores 2-4 would sell X, Y, and Z individually (or some mix thereof).

Can Miva share product SKUs like this between different stores out of the box, so the same product doesn't have to be entered into multiple store admin systems, or do you need some sort of syncing software like the Stone Edge Order Manager product? If so, could the product X pricing differ between different stores?

Ideally each store would have its own DNS. Also would the Miva licensing be $1000 for the first store and then $270 for each additional store?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

Each store maintains it own set of data - depending on the database API you select at install.

Now you could just use one installation, and create PHP pages for your products pulling the needed data from the database using MySQL, then pass the information back to the cart for checkout.

Unless there is some reason the sales of the items would need to be tracked seperately - this seems like the ideal solution.

If you host with a MIVA Hosting Partner, the license wont cost you anything, as it is included in many of us that are Hosting Partners, hosting plans.

Additional stores still maintain seperate databases, but they also share a common domain name with the initial store. So if you need to maintain seperate URLs and domain names for each store, you would need full sotre installations for each store.

I have a client who wants to run multiple online stores. One would sell all their brands of products, and other stores would only sell sub-sets or various combinations of these products. So they've got products X, Y, and Z for sale in store #1, while stores 2-4 would sell X, Y, and Z individually (or some mix thereof).

Can Miva share product SKUs like this between different stores out of the box, so the same product doesn't have to be entered into multiple store admin systems, or do you need some sort of syncing software like the Stone Edge Order Manager product? If so, could the product X pricing differ between different stores?

Ideally each store would have its own DNS. Also would the Miva licensing be $1000 for the first store and then $270 for each additional store?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[alargent]

Each store maintains it own set of data - depending on the database API you select at install. Huh okay, then sharing product info between stores is out. Bummer.

Now you could just use one installation, and create PHP pages for your products pulling the needed data from the database using MySQL, then pass the information back to the cart for checkout. So what would this buy me, exactly? I guess I'm not familiar enough with Miva to understand how this would get me any further than just rolling my own store by hand if I'm writing all the PHP and doing the MySQL myself?

Thanks for the quick reply, Vic.

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

The only thing you would be doing yourself is the PHP for the product display and navigation.

You'd use the links created by Merchant and plug them into your PHP pages to direct the customer to the store for the basket and data collection for checkout.

Huh okay, then sharing product info between stores is out. Bummer.

So what would this buy me, exactly? I guess I'm not familiar enough with Miva to understand how this would get me any further than just rolling my own store by hand if I'm writing all the PHP and doing the MySQL myself?

Thanks for the quick reply, Vic.