I am currently looking around for a decent and relatively simple to use frontend for a web shop which I intend to setup.

I've looked around and there is millions of buggers! Trying to pick which is decent ain't easy.

I don't mind paying, I don't mind doing HTML as required (I am familiar with Dreamweaver, MySQL etc - and developed websites previously), but now I can't be arsed reinventing the wheel.

My main requirement is a decent management backend to allow easy site updates, I am past wanting to be fiddling around with HTML to just update a page etc. That said the frontend must be completely customisable, I don't want an off the shelf

frontend, decent SEO in the package is a must.

Anyone recommend any packages?

Cheers

Edit: Forgot to mention - I don't require hosting, DNS or other add-ons - that's all taken care of.

x-cart gold - not cheap and possibly overkill for a small shop but has just about every option you can think of, fully customisable front end (Smarty templates), very complete back end, full source code supplied, better quality than most of the open source ones I looked at

http://www.x-cart.com/

bkkguy

Try

http://oscommerce.com

OR

http://creloaded.com

Note that if you have Cpanel on your hosting you can install osCommerce through Fantastico very easily.

I would add ZenCart to the list as well. I've used it for a few stores and i've generally been happy with it.

Whichever you choose, be sure to keep a detailed log of your installation and customizations. Learn how to customize the site the proper way to save yourself future headaches.

Most will require some CSS skills and I have found the Web Developer plugin for FireFox to be a huge asset for this. It allows you to edit the CSS on the fly and see the changes instantly.