When choosing an open source e-commerce platform you will be
bombarded with many different packages and options available. You will
most likely get a lot of conflicting information and people will tell
you one is better than the other. In this article we will look at the
top 6 e-commerce solutions for your website. Some platforms that are
good for one site, may not be so good for another, so it can be very
difficult finding the perfect solution.
Each platform has its own set of pros and cons as they have been
built and designed from different perspectives, with different users in
mind. Creating a shop, uploading and tweaking an online shop can take a
lot of time, so it is essential that you at least try a few different
platforms before making your final decision.
1. Magento
Magento is by far the most versatile and “heavy weight” e-commerce
platform of them all. You have only got to look at Magento’s clients to
see they are a big player. Companies such as: Nike, Lindt, Olympus and
OfficeMax use Magento to power their online stores. Magento is used by
over 30,000 online merchants and is the world’s fastest growing
e-commerce platform. The Community Edition
is free, but is only advised to be used by developers. The Enterprise
Edition is extremely powerful and is jam-packed full of useful and
amazing features, but this can be expensive. If you are not a developer,
your best bet is to pay a web developer to build a shop using the
Community Edition.
2. osCommerce
osCommerce is one of the older players in the e-commerce game and has
proven to be a very popular choice for people looking to set up their
shops online powering over 228,700 online stores. The set-up and running
of an osCommerce store is incredibly easy and with all of the themes
and plugins out there, it enables non-developers to set up a shop with
little or no help. Although this can be a drawback, as it is hard to
differentiate your site from others using the same theme.
osCommerce has also been known to have coding vulnerabilities and there has been many reports of stores being hacked.
3. OpenCart
OpenCart is a very scalable, powerful e-commerce platform that can
power an online shop of any size. You can create an unlimited number of
categories, sell an unlimited number of products, accept multiple
currencies, use multiple languages, choose from over 20 payment and 8
shipping methods. OpenCart is also know to be very search engine
friendly so requires less work to achieve a good ranking in the search
engines. One drawback to OpenCart is that it’s lesser know than other
e-commerce platforms, therefore documentation and help may be hard to
come by.
4. Zen Cart
Zen Cart is very easy to install, customise and manage which makes it
the perfect choice for less technically minded people who want a simple
e-commerce solution. Zen Cart contains handy features such as
newsletter manager, discount coupons, gift certificates. There are many
handy addons available to build and expand your shop and admin area,
although too many can make the UI a little cluttered.
If you are looking for a basic store and aren’t fussed about the look
and setup, or you are good with PHP Zen Cart could be a good choice for
you.
WordPress
I know what your’re thinking, isn’t WordPress a blogging platform?
Well, that is what it was initially created for, but has since turned
into an extremely powerful and customisable CMS system with a vast range
of plugins that can turn your site into an online shop. WordPress is
the perfect e-commerce solution for anyone with little or no coding or
technical knowledge. Basically my nan could set up a WordPress site with
e-commerce plugin.
5. WP E-commerce for WordPress
WP E-commerce is very easy to install, only taking about five
minutes. Adding products is very easy too and there is also a CSV
importer included if you have lots products to add. Much like the other
e-commerce platforms above, there are loads of great addons available to
give your shop even more functionality. WP E-commerce also supports
quite a few payment gateways, and even more if you purchase the “Gold
Plugin”. So in conclusion, this plugin does have most of the
functionality of a fully fledged e-commerce system and is great if your
are a beginner looking for a simple and easy to set-up online shop. But
if you need something with some power, you may need to look towards a
non-Wordpress solution.
6. WooCommerce for WordPress
WooCommerce is a derivative of JigoShop, another WordPress e-commerce
plugin. WooCommerce has many similarities with WP E-commerce but there
are also quite a few differences. One of them being WooCommerce doesnt
work with many themes, so if you have little coding knowledge it may be
hard for you to customise your online shop. Also the shipping options
are very limited compared to WP E-commerce.
WooCommerce’s back-end and front-end interfaces are very nice, with a
smooth easy to use system. From a store owner’s perspective, an
interface that’s easy for customers to use is likely to lead to more
sales.
The best thing to do would be to try both WooCommerce and WP E-commerce to see which solution works best for you and your site.
Comments
Post a Comment