Choosing Right E-Commerce Software For Your Online Store

 Posted in Web Design 790 days ago Written by: Saad Bassi
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ecommerce solutions design tools designThere are numerous options available when it comes to choosing right e-commerce software for creating your online shop. From free shopping cart solutions to those who charge you a bill of thousands dollars for keeping your shop online, there are actually hundred of shopping solutions available out there. In this article we will dig deep in to the world of some most famous e-commerce solutions. Let’s get started.

preview choosing right ecommerce software for online store design tools design

Cheap SSL CertificatesE-commerce week is sponsored by SSLmatic which sells SSL certificates for much cheaper prices (RapidSSL, Geotrust, Verisign) and offers great support. Check their site to get the cheap SSL certificates.

We can divide the whole section in three parts. First we will cover free and open source options and then we will cover pre hosted and paid options. We will also take a look on e-commerce modules available for extending your CMS to e-commerce website.

Open Source & Free E-Commerce Softwares

1. osCommerce

osCommerce is an award winning e-commerce shopping cart solution which has more than 200000 community members. osCommerce is released under GPL which means its open source and any one can modify its code adhering to the license under which it is released. You can download it for free and can create your shop online without paying a single penny to the developers of osCommerce.

oscommerce-e-commerce-softwares

The last update (3.0 Alpha 5) in osCommerce was in March 2009 so there are rumors that the project is dead. There are 5600 different modules available on their official repository which shows that community of osCommerce is really supportive.

2. Magento

Magento is the second big guy in the world of e-commerce solutions. Like osCommerce, Magento is also released under GPL and you can download it for free. With a very active development schedule, it got the latest update (1.4.1) on 19 February 2010. There is a big list of features which you can read there. But the biggest problem with Magento is that it’s heavy software and needs a huge amount of resources to work efficiently.

magento-e-commerce-softwares

This is my personal choice and I use it for my client works. The community of Magento is still growing as it is new in the game. Recently the official extensions repository crossed the number of 2000 extensions. Varien, the company behind Magento also offers an enterprise version of Magento starting from only 8999$$$/year. The have previously worked with osCommerce and now they have developed their own solution.

3. Zen Cart

Zen Cart is a forked version of osCommerce, licensed under GPL and free for every one. The major difference between osCommerce and Zen Cart is the templating engine and some additional features which are not available in its superior. Templating engine of Zen cart makes it very easy to create custom themes for your online shop as compared to Magento and osCommerce. There are more than 1000 free addons available in their plugin repository.

zen-cart-e-commerce-softwares

4. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is also open source and free solution for creating your online store. It has a big community with more than 50000 community members. The best thing in PrestaShop is its light weight and fast speed. If you compare PrestaShop with Magento in terms of speed and size, it’s a lot better. One thing for sure, you will love its back end design. It’s really awesome, simple and easy to use. Even a beginner can set up an online store. We published a beginner’s guide for prestashop. You can check it out here.

prestashop-e-commerce-softwares

Pre hosted and Paid Solutions

5. Shopify

Shopify is a pre hosted e-commerce solution which charges you for keeping your store online. You don’t need to set up anything technical. All you have to do is just adding your products. SSL, payment gateways and all the security measures are the responsibility of Shopify Team. You can setup your custom domain and you can also create custom themes.

shopify-e-commerce-softwares

Each shop owner can change the html/css of his store to customize the look of his store. All you have to do is just to pay their bills/month which depends upon your sales and the package plan you take. If you are totally scratch and want to make things easier for yourself then I will suggest you to go for it.

6. FoxyCart

FoxyCart is also a pre hosted version of e-commerce solutions but it’s a bit different from Shopify. Actually Foxy Cart is only a shopping cart (not a cms) which integrates in to your already existing website. You can customize the look of your shopping cart by changing the html and css of your shopping cart. Just take the code, put it into your website and you are done. At the end, you will have to pay them a monthly fee for all their efforts.

foxycart-e-commerce-softwares

E-Commerce Modules for your CMS

7. Ubercart for Drupal

Ubercart is an e-commerce module for people who want to create an e-commerce store on the top of Drupal. It’s a fact that Ubercart is an almost complete solution for anyone who wants to create an e-commerce store but I will not recommend it those people who don’t have experience with Drupal.

drupal-e-commerce-ubercart

8. WP e-Commerce for WordPress

WP e-Commerce is the most trusted and complete solution for people who want to include e-commerce functionality in their WordPress blog or website. We have already covered it out. You can check the detailed explanation here.

9. Virtue Mart for Joomla

Virtue Mart is an addon for creating online store using Joomla. There are 2 other plugins out there for same functionality but Virtue Mart is the oldest one and most comprehensive solution for creating e-commerce websites with Joomla. My personal opinion about Joomla is not good as I think a newbie will get puzzled with dozens of premium modules which have same functionally.

joomla-e-commerce-virtuemart

E-Commerce is an enormous subject to cover and each option has its own pros and cons. I have tried my best to write those options which are trusted ones and mostly people are happy with those options. There is always chance for improvement. Let me know if I have missed your favorite option and I will be happy to discuss it with you.:)

Cheap SSL CertificatesE-commerce week is sponsored by SSLmatic which sells SSL certificates for much cheaper prices (RapidSSL, Geotrust, Verisign) and offers great support. Besides standard SSL certificates, wildcard and EV certificates are offered with discounts too. Check their site to get the cheap SSL certificates.

 Did you enjoy this article and found it useful?

Saad Bassi is a 20 years old web developer from Pakistan who loves to create beautiful websites with great user experience. He is co-editor at CrispyTech and 1stWebDesigner and blogs about the next Windows at Windows8Geek. He also loves to make new friends so don't forget to say him a hello on Twitter. Last but not least, make sure that you check out my latest project, Addictive Fonts which focuses on free high quality font downloads.
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 58 Brilliant Comments - Join Discussion Now!

  • frankie

    Posted 56 days ago
    58

    I use opencart now, not bad, planning to try other software

  • Online Shop Software

    Posted 65 days ago
    57

    osCommerce, Magento and Zencart still remains to be the best among these.

  • Jim

    Posted 93 days ago
    56

    I was finally able to start making money with http://www.helpmeplease.ws It takes a little bit of time and work but it has turned out to be worth it! This is part of Global Domain International website services. The owner has proven to be very helpful to me by sharing tips and tactics used on creating your own websites and marketing them successfully. I recommend this to the self motivated, computer savvy person looking to add a few bucks to their bank account down the road. It does take an investment of time and only $10 a month for your own domain name as well as a web hosting account. It provides a great website designer with several templates to choose from. Also included is a 7 day free trial so there really is no risk involved!

  • Osbaldo

    Posted 128 days ago
    55

    I need to get in touch with Companies or Individual programmers to build an E-commerce site that will be on my one. I need a customized solution.

    I invite to conect me by emails.

    Osbaldo

  • Ecommerce

    Posted 135 days ago
    54

    Obviously, these are some truly amazing, inspiring e-commerce sites that help get the creative juices flowing in my mind. Like most developers, I too dream of an e-commerce solution that can one day make a list like this. Until then, I will enjoy reading about these powerhouse e-commerce solutions on posts like this one.

  • Shahril

    Posted 164 days ago
    53

    I’ve been used Opencart for like two years now..and for me it’s always the best…but really surprise it’s not even in the list!!

  • Webshop Nijverdal

    Posted 174 days ago
    52

    Good collection, I prefer to use Virtuemart! Great opensource software to use i.c.w. Joomla.

  • Md Shahnur Arefin

    Posted 234 days ago
    50

    I am looking for a ecommerce cms with the following features.
    “Viewer can create there own shop inside that. And clients should have the ability to add his own product. ” Please I need help regarding this. I need to know which CMS has this feature.

    Arefin

  • custom printing

    Posted 290 days ago
    49

    I think a Table comparing all the top e commerce platform will be helpful which can show the pron and cons of all the soft-wares then giving conclusion to the readers.

  • Razibul Hassan

    Posted 302 days ago
    48

    Zen Cart & Magento are 2 best e-commerce solutions around. They are quite capable of producing a Small e-commerce solution in a very sort time (considering the developer knows how to do that), and on the contrary are designed to produce large scale, comprehensive, feature enriched large online commerce site.
    Moreover, the features are getting updated round the clock by the millions of developers worldwide.

    Zen Cart and Magento should be on the priority list for anyone who requires a e-commerce solution.

  • Razibul Hassan

    Posted 315 days ago
    47

    Shopify !!! I am kind of surprised to see this hosted e-commerce here in this list. Shopify no longer even provides the free trial, though they are advertizing it on their homepage!!!!

    • Leslie Nicole

      Posted 202 days ago
      51

      Shopify does have the free trial. I’m checking it out right now.

  • altteam

    Posted 352 days ago
    46

    Hello, everybody.
    We invite you to take part in the poll Best E-commerce software.
    You welcome to propose any of shopping cart you like and vote for your favorite.
    We’d like to get as many independent and honest opinion as possible.
    http://www.alt-team.com/best-ecommerce-software.html

  • António

    Posted 383 days ago
    44

    Any good ideas about where to find serious reliable total on-line business platforms?

  • Patti V

    Posted 384 days ago
    43

    OS Commerce is very difficult to install and use – and it’s very limiting. There’s not enough features to run an entire professional business. The same goes with ZenCart. Magento almost has it right, but it’s also very difficult to install and it’s slow.

    You should look into a total online business platform such as http://www.haikuob.com which handles shopping cart, website, customer database and marketing features. It’s a hosted solution so you don’t have to worry about the technical stuff either. All the other bases are also integrated, such as the payment gateways, shipping modules etc., and you can even give your customers coupons and vouchers. It’s an all in one solution so you don’t need to juggle multiple systems.

  • Razibul Hassan

    Posted 385 days ago
    42

    People who don’t have any e-commerce or online shop building experience should definitely try the “Zen Cart” e-commerce solution. It’s free, feature enriched and easy-t-maintain.Thx for the brilliant post.

  • @JesseLuna

    Posted 421 days ago
    41

    Hi Saad,
    Have you had a chance to test out PrestaShop yet? We’re checking out PrestaShop and Magento. The store will have less than 100 products total but we are preparing for a lot of traffic.

    Also, I’ve seen several comments about Magento being resource intensive. Is a dedicated server the best way to go if we use Magento?

    Great post, BTW!
    ~@jesseluna

  • Ralph

    Posted 444 days ago
    40

    Good list, but you’re missing some that are being used widely: bigcommerce, amazon web store, web retail group, google stores/checkout. In my experience, dealing with 50 diff companies was a pain, and I never had the time to really get any marketing/sales going because we were riddled with problems. We now use Web Retail Group for our solution, they use a pretty advanced ecommerce platform. We also had them do our design, and we’re happy with that too — we like using an all-in-one company since we’re retailers and did not go to school for this stuff. We looked at bigcommerce in particular and oscommerce, but it was just too much work/learning for us as retail store owners. Still, I think you should update your site with some of these others…cheers!

  • Jagchana

    Posted 565 days ago
    39

    I am looking on starting a online opticians which e-commerce package would you recommend? please note will require options menu for prescription lens shopping cart with zoom function etc

  • Fabian koliren

    Posted 573 days ago
    38

    Great Post!!!!!

    In your opinion, Which is the best combination of CMS and shopping cart?

  • Sally Green

    Posted 594 days ago
    34

    I am looking for a powerful, feature-rich ecommerce cart that you’re able to write your own url’s. We currently have a very successful shop and do not want to abandon the established urls. I have been told that redirects are a fast way to loose your page rank – hence the ideal solution of being able to recreate our established static html pages.

    • Saad Bassi

      Posted 593 days ago
      35

      Well, 301 redirects are best way to maintain pagerank. Magento FTW. Nothing is better than it :)

  • Nirmik

    Posted 629 days ago
    33

    Great post thanks…

    It is very use full. It’s Great

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