Tripwire Magazine, a weblog catered to the web designers and developers, has recently named the top 15 open source platforms for ecommerce website designers, useful for both professional internet marketers and individuals that desire to start their own online store. Open source platforms allow users to modify, change, and improve the software. Here are the five most popular open source platforms ecommerce website designers use for their clients and businesses:
1. Magento – Magento Enterprise is a free open source platform and is considered the fastest growing platform. Merchants use the platform to conduct $25 billion worth of transactions. With the Enterprise Edition, merchants are able use powerful tools such as store credits and gift cards and top notch support. The Community Edition is free for download, without the support provided by the Enterprise Edition.
2. osCommerce – As with Magento, osCommerce is a free ecommerce platform that offers a quick, cost-effective, and painless means of setting up an online store. Although it is free to use, merchants will need to pay for some of the 5,800 add-ons offered by osCommerce to make their websites stand out.
3. Zen Cart – Also free, Zen Cart offers the standard features but also adds a newsletter manager, discount coupons, multi-volume discounts, and the option of choosing the cards you prefer for payment.
4. X-Cart – For $115, X-Cart is ideal for both established ecommerce website designers and those who are just beginning to set up their online stores. The amount of support and features included with X-Cart, such as professional and community support for merchants, makes up for the hefty price tag. Programmers will also be glad to know that X-Cart uses the Smarty template system, compliant and search-engine friendly.
5. CubeCart – With three different skins, CubeCart 3 is a free ecommerce platform that offers customer order history, unlimited products, multi-currency support, and product search – all of which are essential to any ecommerce store. For those willing to shell out big bucks, CubeCart 4 costs $100 and offers enhanced SEO, courier tracking URL, and the ability to change orders from the back-end, just to name a few.
Tripwire offers the pros and cons of each and it is up to you to choose one that fits your business’ needs. While some ecommerce platforms are free, there are also those that offer a wide range of prices with additional features. To read the original article, you may go here.
