OpenCart

OpenCart is the easy option for e-commerce solutions

Commentaires : We use OpenCart for retail stores as well as wholesale (B2B) stores. Using the native functionality and OCMOD we can make OpenCart behave like a Swiss Army knife, from Retail store to Wholesale store. This is buying as a lot of time, because choosing another platform or writing a new one for the purpose of a wholesale store would be time consuming, and let's not talk about the time that customers will need to adjust the get trained to use their wholesale store on top of the retail store. So, using the same technology and habits of coding functionality and the same User Experience and User Interface buys us a lot of time of development, training and setting up.

Avantages :

As a developer, I like the Model-View-Controller design pattern, it's easy to seperate things and understand the code, as well as reuse different controllers or models through the development of new extensions, as a result it's easy to make what it looks like native extensions, without breaking the software functionality if you follow the coding standards already used by the OpenCart developers. I think that the OCMOD system is the most intelligent way to extend OpenCart's functionality and I admire the developer who invented it. As for the UI, it's easy to use because all sections are seperated and grouped on the left column menu. Moving from other platforms to Opencart or moving from older OpenCart versions to newers is very easy especially from v2 to v3. From a user's point of view, OpenCart is like using an app, it's that easy. Labels and hints make it easier for new users to adapt as well as new customers to buy.

Inconvénients :

Even though OpenCart is stable since the beginning, I think we need more functionality that other platforms are having and would be nice if we could move them to OpenCart too. Not major functionality, but different minor things that will improve the workflow of an e-commerce owner, such as a summary page that will show products missing images, products with broken images, categories with no products, products with no descriptions or products missing translations etc. I think in the era of Javascript it would be nice if we could convert some pages that the administrator spends a lot of time to AJAX functionality or even Single Page Application so that we can make more and massively in less time. Although, that would break some 3rd party extensions obviously.

Awesome for Startups, Small Businesses and Medium Size Businesses

Commentaires : Overall, my experience with OpenCart has been very good throughout the years as it is one of the e-commerce software solutions that I can install and maintain without having to worry about it unexpectedly breaking in between periods of maintenance.

Avantages :

One of the things that I like the most about OpenCart is the multitude of options available for tailoring it towards my business needs. I have found that many of the modules and extensions that other e-commerce software solutions charge for are included out of the box with OpenCart and for free. For the extensions that are not included out of the box, they can usually be found in the OpenCart marketplace either for free or for a nominal price that allows even startups to realize a profit on their business even faster.

Inconvénients :

One of the things that I like the least about this software is the filter function for products in the admin area. Rather than allowing for products to be filtered by a single identifying keyword within a title, you have to remember the beginning word of the title and continue to add keywords in order to help filter down to a manageable number of products fitting the criteria you are looking for.

Simple and cheap e-shop system for small e-shops without marketing support.

Commentaires : This product works well for my low and middle class e-shops which offer limited number of products, mostly in the same category, with a smaller budget for running and promotion.
For the more advanced needs, this system cannot offer enough functions and there is not enough resources for customers.
Free version is too simple. For some results, paid themes and plugins are needed. Then e-shop may generate some income.

Avantages :

OpenCart is not as demanding as other e-shops in terms of resources. It doesn't use server sources as high as other apps. You can run it on standard on a shared hosting. There is fairly simple interface so it is easy to setup a shop, very simplified. It can be used by beginners. Simple UI on the back-end and fairly descent front-end makes it easy to use. Easy backup.

Inconvénients :

Very hard to update or modify. It can just break down and not work even if you roll out backup of the previously working site. SEO is terrible even with paid plugins. To make addresses and descriptions work is so hard. Never made it to work completely as it would on standard shops Magento, or Wordpress. One-page shopping is not working well even with paid plugins. Marketing options are very limited and hard to find, such as follow up emails, up-sell, cross-sell, promo codes, tracking. E-shop are used for selling primarily so one would need to offer as much as possible to clients, similar products, suggested products, to give reward points and to send customized offers. Discounting options are not working well in case client changes anything or finish shopping in a few steps. (75% of shopping carts with free shipping lose their function and have to be edited manually) There are no easy integrations, such as Zappier, MailChimp, login via social network accounts etc.

Excellent MCV framework

Avantages :

It is very easy to understand admin panel even for non-developer person

Inconvénients :

Opencart 3 Is little bit slow. Otherwise it is very good

OpenCart the way to go

Commentaires : I have had a tremendous experience... I can build my website the way I want, and once I pay for a OpenCart plugin, or theme, I add it to my box of tools that I can permanently use on any of my other sites. The initial setup can be a little daunting, but once you've built your first site, it's fantastic. The plugins and themes are very well priced, and the support is great. OpenCart have addressed previous security flaws in their software, and https://www.tinfoilsecurity.com/ scanned my site and gave it a clean bill of health. I recommend the 'Pavilion - Responsive OpenCart Theme by ThemeBurn | ThemeForest' as you do not need to know how to write a single line of code. It's responsive (re scales automatically) , so you do not have to worry about how it will look on a pc or mobile phone, and you can do almost anything you can think off. Granted that there is a HUGE learning curve, but it gets better as you learn how to work with the theme.

Avantages :

You control everything, and you can find plugins to add functionality you do not have... It is great if you want full control, and I have never found there is something I want that I cannot do without a plugin or a tweak here and there. Support is great and often the developers who create the plugins will help you install the plugin for free after you buy it. They normally even do small tweaks for free, and add extra functionality at a minimal cost. Yes, there are many ready built eCommerce platforms like shopify and squarspace, but you will have to pay a monthly hosting fee, including monthly plugin rental. If I could buy a plugin once off on shopify, I would perhaps reconsider, but most plugins are rental only. Shopify has a lot of features, but it does not have everything most people need. So you going to end up renting a lot of extra plugins. Take 10 different plugins on shopify, at a monthly cost of approx $20 each, and you 're going to pay $200 on top of your shopify costs. It all adds up. Bottom line, if you do not mind a learning curve, and you want to keep costs down in the long run, along with full control, OpenCart is the way to go!

Inconvénients :

Like most software, there is a learning curve. It can be painful all at once, but the more you use OpenCart, the better it gets.