Beginner’s Guide to E-Commerce Solution
Today more and more people are engaging in online business. E-commerce is business carried through the internet. Nowadays more and more people are using the internet to promote and sale their products. The advantage of shopping online is that it can take place anywhere and at any time of the day. Thus it is vital to computerize the sales process. Otherwise, it would be extremely expensive to maintain sales staff to accept round the clock orders.
However before starting an e-business a person must gain some knowledge about the major ecommerce solution applications. in this article below, we review all the major eCommerce players to provide you Complete E-Commerce Solution Guide with many High-Quality Free and Commercial Resources.
The choice of an ecommerce solution application can be quite far-fetched because there are innumerable solution providers available. By offering a wide range of options, one can actually gain a wide range of customers. It is important to understand that solutions offered by an ecommerce provider are not generally all-embracing. In other words, they don’t necessarily provide all of the services for various payment options themselves which you require. So take this article as a guide before choosing any E-commerce solution for your business.
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What is eCommerce?
Electronic commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. An eCommerce site can be as simple as a catalog page with a phone no, or it can range all the way to a real time credit and processing site where customer can purchase downloadable goods and receive them on the spot. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction’s lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.
A large percentage of eCommerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most eCommerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
Please refer link below to know more about Electronic commerce or eCommerce.
What is Shopping Cart and Why Do I Need It??
What is Shopping Cart?
Shopping Cart is like a store front where you can display your products, catalogue, price etc. The customer comes to your store through website and selects the item which he requires; after selection gets completed he will be shown with the total amount to be paid for the items he has selected. He would be given an option for paying through Credit Card and complete the transaction.
Well technically, It is software that resides on your Internet Service Provider’s computer which aids your customers in shopping from your on-line store. The image is one of an invisible shopping cart. You like a product? You click on the “order” button, and voilà! It is placed in your invisible cart, and the total of all the products you’ve picked up so far is displayed with tax and shipping charges calculated for you. When you get ready to check out, you can change your mind and remove the item from your cart, and then purchase what’s left. This is slick software, and really convenient for your customers.
There are many tutorial over web by which you can learn how to create shopping cart for different technologies like Ajax, ASP.NET, ROR etc.
That’s Fine…. Now Why Do I Need It??
Someone recently asked me how he knows whether he needs shopping cart software for his online business or not? If you’re only selling a few products, you can probably get by with a simple Web page form or e-mail form which takes the customer’s name, address, phone, order, and credit information.
But when you begin to sell many products, or products which have a number of variable factors, you’ll see the limitations of the simple form. Shopping cart software enables your customers to:
- Place an order for a product on the same page as it is pictured and described.
- Order two or more items. With a simple order form, if you leave it to find another product, it’s too easy to erase the information you’ve already put in the order form. Frustration!
- Select multiple numbers of a single product while specifying different colors and sizes.
- Total all the items along with tax and shipping charges. Simple forms don’t do any calculations.
- Get the all reports i.e. Status reports, transition reports, customers details etc. is very easy and flexible.
- with secure shopping cart, you have the security of personal and financial information.
So do you need shopping cart software for the on-line store you’re dreaming about? If you’ve just got a few products, probably not. But if you’re planning to sell seriously on the Internet you can’t afford to skimp on the essentials. This is an essential. You need to follow well defined universal principles, latest cart design trends and best practices for making a great business portal.
Some of the Best Available options
What is the best shopping cart? If you try to ask this question on some forum or newsgroup, you will surely get many replies. Everyone will present you his favorite. It depends upon person to person. There are a good number of firms who a tasted success with eCommerce. Especially the Open source ecommerce applications are being largely used to fillip businesses. The whole game is how to fit the ecommerce app to your benefit.
It’s never been more important to choose a platform which suits you as a developer and one that will provide your clients with the features that they need to run a successful online shop. There are a number of ways of getting a shop online, and we’ve focused primarily on open source e-commerce platforms here.
I choose Google for a short analysis as Google™ Trends is a great tool to check some platforms popularity by comparing it to the competition.
Top 5 Solutions
01. osCommerce
osCommerce is a free, open source online shop software. The default installation includes a large number of features that you can easily enable and configure. You can easily install osCommerce on your website with the help of the Fantastico auto-installer.
With osCommerce shopping cart you can add multiple products on your site, organize them in categories, set discounts and special promotions. osCommerce allows you to set your prices in different currencies and accept all popular payment methods: PayPal, credit cards, cheques. osCommerce has a built-in shipping and tax functionalities.
02. Magento
Magento is the latest open source eCommerce platform on the web. It offers professional features, flexibility and control over the look, content, and functionality of the online shop. With Magento you can establish an e-business with convenient product and catalog browser options, extended customer management, advanced analytics, reporting and marketing promotions tools, and much more. Magento has an intuitive administration interface, it is completely scalable and backed by an extensive support network.
03. Joomla VirtueMart
Virtuemart (formerly known as php-Shop) is an independent open-source shopping cart solution. However, it is better known as an e-commerce component for Mambo or Joomla! CMS. Joomla and VirtueMart are written in PHP and made for easy use in a PHP / MySQL environment. Integration is particularly easy less than 5 minutes (if you have a working installation of Joomla, less than 10 minutes otherwise. Virtuemart uses Joomla’s admin interface for store administration, and because it is implemented inside an already rich CMS, administration will come very easily to Joomla users. Given that Joomla is (probably) one of the best CMS systems out there, it may easily give OsCommerce and others a run for their money.
04. ZenCart
Zen cart is being developed by a group of like-minded shop owners, programmers, designers, and consultants who have first-hand experience in e-commerce. Zen Cart is the outcome of their continuous mutual work. It is a free and user-friendly shopping cart, and is distributed as an open source software.
05. CRE Loaded
CREloaded project is built on the source code of osCommerce but it has extra contributions installed. It offers powerful shopping cart solutions in Standard, Pro and Pro B2B editions. With CREloaded you have the ability to distribute coupon codes, the template system is better, and you have an affiliate manager. Nearly 10,000 user-developers are creating new modules and improvements for CRE Loaded shopping carts. This is why you will be able to add new components to the online store for free, any bugs will be fixed quickly, and your e-commerce solution will be always stable!
Other Available Solutions
CubeCart
CubeCart is an eCommerce script written in PHP & MySQL. With CubeCart you can setup a powerful online store as long as you have hosting supporting PHP and one MySQL database. CubeCart is very powerful and easy to connect to various payment gateways. Cubecart have released two different versions of their product. Cubecart 3 is their free version, Cubecart 4 is their inexpensive commercial version. One of Cubecart’s main strength’s lies with its variety of different payment merchant vendor, including but not limited to the following for the free version: 2Checkout, AsianPay, Authorize AIM / SIM , BluePay, ccAvenue, ccNow, ChronoPay, PayPal Pro Direct Payment (US), PayPal Express Checkout, HSBC (API), Linkpoint Connect, Mals-E, Moneybookers, Nochex (Basic & APC), PayJunction, PayMate, PayOffline, PayPal Standard & IPN, Print Order Form, Protx (VPS Form), psiGate, SECPay, Verisign, WorldPay Junior
X-Cart
Whilst not free, X-Cart costs $229.00 for the Gold version (see features here) and $575.00 for the professional version (see features here). X-Cart is well thought of piece of software amongst the developer community. X-Cart is an easy-to-use cart, although many customers say that its learning curve is too difficult for beginners. A knowledge of the templating engine that it uses (Smarty) would be a major advantage if you do decide to use it, and would make the learning curve that bit easier.
CS-Cart
CS-Cart is paid shopping cart software written in PHP & MySQL (The license is a one-time fee of $265 and includes 1 month of free technical assistance at CS-Cart). The CS Shopping Cart is easy to install, has an intuitive template management system (compared to osCommerce) and user-friendly admin area. By default, CS-Cart is integrated with more than 35 popular payment systems such as PayPal, 2CheckOut, GoogleCheckOut, WorldPay, etc. It includes 5 professional templates and their 20 color schemes in all. CS-Cart is a fully multilingual software with multicurrency feature. It has also an advanced Order management tool, Affilate add-on, Product configurator, Feature comparison and Gift Registry modules.
WordPress with e-Commerce Plugin
I love WordPress, I honestly do. I have tried other related applications in the past but never got to using it extensively. The truth is even with WordPress, my limited technical knowledge presented a high wall to climb, but I eventually got it. I’ve begun an investigation in to using wordpress as a cms but after exploring i surprise to know that wordpress is even more than what i thinking. You also can use it as e-Commerce solution. It’s a plugin that includes all the vital features of wordpress for managing content. The app has can be used for social networking support. Those who are acquainted with wordpress themeing can do lot for their store.
Shopify
Shopify – built on Ruby on Rails technology is a full-stack hosted e-commerce package, which basically means everything you need is right there at your fingertips. You shop will be Standards-compliant, fully customizable and requires very little technical skill to get going. Best of all setting up a store is free Creating a store is free. Shopify takes a 3.75% commission on all sales, which can take the fear of setting a shop up away for some clients who want to test the water.
Unlike other hosted e-commerce offerings, Shopify allows the designer or developer easy control over the appearance of the store, so you can make sure its looks its best, attacts customers, inspires trust and closes sales. We do all the initial design, theme development and store setup for you, so that you can start selling quickly and get a jump on your online and offline marketing efforts.
Some Application Links Worth Mentioning
- PrestaShop
- OpenCart
- StoreSprite
- AgoraCart
- SunShop
- Ubercart | drupal
- LiveCart
- DashCommerce
- LiteCommerce
- Zeuscart
High-Quality Free E-Commerce Templates
Free osCommerce Templates
Dogs Store
Print Store
Pets Store
Free Magento Templates
Computer Store
Modern Theme
Pet store theme
Blue Skin
Telescope Theme
Linen Theme
Electronics Store
Free ZenCart Templates
PureBlue Template
PureGreen Template
PureOrange Template
Man Store
Cloths Online
Atheme
Acadame
My Online Store
Free CRE Loaded Templates
Cloths Store
Electronics Store
Free WordPress e-Commerce Templates
Crafty Cart
High-Quality Commercial E-Commerce Templates
Commercial Magento Templates
HelloUniversal
JM Mesolite
HelloPerfect
HelloModern
Flower store
Women’s Store
Commercial Joomla VirtueMart Templates
Mynxx
eShop
eShoptrix
eShoptrix II
JA Zeolite
JA Larix
Commercial WordPress e-Commerce Templates
Tobashop
Ecommerce Theme
Resource Link Worth Mentioning
- Requirment of shopping cart by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
- Electronic commerce | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Find Something Missing?
While compiling this list, it’s always a possibility that we missed some other famous ecommerce solutions. Feel free to share it with us.
Nice Post! I’ve been wanting to compile a list like this, but you did it already!
Great post. Just wanted to notify you of a needed edit… The like to CRE Loaded under the “Top 5” section up top is pointing to Zen Cart. Otherwise, a ton a good info, thank you.
Great post. Thanks a lot !
See more Top 10 Opensource PHP E-Commerce in my blog: http://tr.im/iur6
Good luck to you !
Nice post .. very useful … and thnx to Danh ba web for sharing Top 10 Opensource PHP E-Commerce ..
about 2 years ago i use osCommerce to create online store for my customers but it confuse me.The base of this system have many problems you can not add new plugin or template to it easily, for install new plugin or template you should change the source code files, it cause you need to apply all change again when update osCommerce.
I suggest you Magento , this is very professional and have many great features.
Excellent post!! Very thorough-
Thank you. I needed this!
Thank you. I used one of those for my template. Actually I looking for more wordpress ecommerce template. But find everywhere offering the same template
If you consider zen cart for your business you can easily switch to this platform with cart2cart web service. It automates data migration to zen cart and makes it accurate http://www.shopping-cart-migration.com
Fantastic article! Thank you so much. I tried using osCommerce but it was too technical for me. Fin ally I found one that unfortunately isn’t on your list though I think it should be. It’s a theme for WordPress called Market.
http://www.markettheme.com
Nice and easy to use with a great layout and very little technical knowledge needed.
Great article.
I’m using the Avactis http://www.avactis.com shopping cart. It is great stable product and it is very easy to customize it or integrate to any design.
Check the Avactis!
I love this blog and use it frequently to get inspiration for projects. With regards to an eCommerce solution suggestion, the Vendio store is a hosted store that comes with a shopping cart and is completely free. Professional templates, SEO, and a robust backend (item, order, customer management) is also included:
http://www.vendio.com
You don’t even need a credit card to sign up.
BigCommerce has been doing a great job with their new launch:
http://www.bigcommerce.com
Great Sharing, Thanks alots.. I found some quality zen cart templates at http://www.i-techz.com/free-zen-cart-templates/professional-zen-cart-template-template-applegreen/ It is FREE!
I have favored VirtueMart for years and now with the integration with the K2 CCK showing your products in a clean striking way is easier than ever and moves the power of the cart to another level. Having the power to create your products as articles instead of the normal product setup is a great way to help you promote your shop.
I have also been working with the latest version of a new cart from the makers of OSCommerce called Tomato Cart. It has the same great control of OSCommerce with a new twist on template design that is great for creating a more personal site. The admin area is second to none the most fantastic layouts I have seen to date. It resembles the computer desktop and is fully customizable. Defiantly worth taking a look at!
Great Sharing, Thanks a lots..
baneficial post….. once can easily understand shoping cart concept….
presently oscommerce is best…..
A huge list, great – lots to explore.
Anyone have any views on the e-Commerce module for WordPress, it seems to be a popular choice at the moment.
I’m dying to try it out. I love Magento, but a WordPress store sounds intriguing. I think WooCommerce will be my choice when I get to play around with it.
If you’re new to Magento, you might take a look at our magento extensions store. Lots of free and paid extensions are available for everyone at a reasonable price http://www.magestore.com/magento-extensions.html/
Hey there, this is really very informative blogging for all the beginners but I personally like the designing of the site and specially that Create Free Website here. Good work. Keep it up.
your post is so amazing. thanks
Anyone have any views on the Ecommerce module for WordPress or anything else ??? give me an advice :)
Nice list there. Really enlightening, Thanks for the great info you posted.
Thanks for amazing content