If you are a smart business, there is probably no need to explain the benefits of online selling. Setting up an online store is like opening a new beach that is easily accessible for your prospects all over the globe. So, what can you expect? Of course, more sales, more revenue, and more profits!
There are numerous ways to start selling online but shopping carts are essentially the most convenient and promising ones. However, simply setting up a shopping cart does not guarantee a sudden avalanche of new sales as you expected. This is largely because merchants often overlook some of the very important factors that determine the success of a shopping cart.
The very first factor in this aspect is convenience and satisfaction it offers to the customers. We have already discussed some of the main features that enhance the user-friendliness of your shopping cart for your customers. We have discussed how you can create a perfect buying environment for your customers. While user satisfaction is utterly important, it is not the only thing you should consider.
Your own personal experience with the shopping cart also plays an important role in determining how your online venture will fare in the long run. You should look for a shopping cart that is not only highly user friendly for the merchant, but also loaded with features that make it specifically ideal for your business. It must have the ability to fit your marketing plan and evolve as your business grows.
Shopping carts can be free or paid but just because you are paying hundreds of dollar does not mean you are investing in the best option. There are nearly hundreds of shopping cart platforms available for each category. Finding the one with the features mentioned above is not quite possible without a proper side-by-side comparison of your best options. So, do you really know your best options? Here are a few to consider.
Magento (Free & Paid)
Why use it – Magento is a highly popular open-source shopping cart platform that offers a plethora of features free of cost. Magento is a winner when it comes to customizability and flexibility. That is why it is a great option for almost all kinds of businesses. One of the major pluses is its huge and helpful community that ensures that you will find any kind of extension and theme you need. And finally, if SEO is your major concern, there isn’t really another option.
Why not – When you are picking an option as popular as Magento, you will clearly see the downsides of open source. Development is not an easy task with Magento and programmers charge a hefty amount to do the job. Besides, Magento also consumes a precious amount of resources. So, unless you are a tech guru yourself, it isn’t really an optional fit for startups and small businesses on a budget.
Presta Shop (Free)
Why use it – Prestashop is a shopping cart that truly defines open source, and did it before anyone else. It has been around from 2007 and offers almost all the features you get with Magento. However, it offers a clear advantage when it comes to user-friendliness. Not only is it easier and simpler to use, it is also frugal on resource consumption. All these features make it a better choice for small and mid size businesses.
Why not – While it is easy to find almost any kind of modules/extension you require, you will have to pay a slightly higher price for even the basic ones such as Social media extension. Due to this reason, it won’t make the best option for small businesses with higher needs.
Zen Cart (Free)
Why use it – Zen Cart is another simple to use shopping cart available with a wide number of features that might eliminate the need of add ons for most small businesses. Installation and customization is easy and you won’t need a high level technical understanding. Another major advantage is the fact that it’s based on OsCommerce, a mature and stable platform.
Why not – If attraction marketing is your concern, Zen Cart may not offer the kind of aesthetics you would like. While general usage is simple, integration and installation of add-ons can be complicated. Moreover, it is not suitable for handling large volumes and may slow down if too many products are added.
CS Cart (Paid)
Why use it – One of the best things about Cs-Cart is that it allows customization and modification without excessive interference with the existing source code. Therefore, it is fairly easier to use as compared to Magento, with which it holds plenty of similarities. Due to its features, it is extremely feasible for large business with high end needs.
Why not – CS cart is a paid ecommerce solution that makes it right away unsuitable for smaller and most mid-sized businesses. This is also the reason you will need a good amount of resources, preferably a remote server, to dedicate to the system.
Shopify (Paid)
Why use it – Shopify is comparatively a newer name in this arena. However, it is getting extremely popular due to the ease and convenience it offers for both the merchant and the end-users. It gives admin complete control over how the things are displayed. As a new comer, it definitely wins the race in terms of speed as well as security. Plus, it offers plenty marketing opportunities such as easy and quick creation of sales pages, etc.
Why not – the first reason would be the price that can leave a visible dent in small business budget. Secondly, set up and installation is not as easy as the overall usage itself. This could be possible because of the specific jargons that are a bit different than what is typically used in the industry. Unless you are good at getting a hang of the new terms, you will find Shopify a little confusing.
WordPress (Free)
Why use it – WordPress is a popular CMS that offers ecommerce capabilities. It is the closest to what you can call a basic shopping cart with extensive amount of features. You can add more features using plugins for WordPress. And thanks to the huge community, you will never find yourself short of useful plugins. With WordPress you can create visually appealing store without spending much effort and time. Yet, the crown jewel of this platform is the content marketing opportunities it offers with its integrated blogging feature.
Why not – Once again, the simplicity of this platform makes it unsuitable for large businesses with high-end needs. It is good for startups but if you are predicting a fast growth rate that will prompt frequent expansion, WordPress may not be the best option. It lacks third-party integration and upgrades can result is serious mess ups.