Open-Source E-Commerce Platforms

Magento

First released in March 2008, Magento is an open-source e-commerce solution designed to deliver the total package. Created by Varien Inc. and owned by none other than eBay, Magento has proved to be an absolute game-changer for thousands of businesses worldwide.

Famed for its highly flexible modular architecture, Magento has been designed to adapt meticulously to the needs of each business individually. Everything you need and nothing you don’t – all tied up in an extremely user-friendly package.

The biggest draw with Magento is the way it simplifies the design, development, and launch of e-commerce enterprises. Even if you’ve zero knowledge or experience with these kinds of things, a quick Magento tutorial and you’re away. Everything is accessed and controlled via a highly intuitive primary dashboard, giving store owners and managers easy access to key metrics and analytics. From products to sales to marketing to content to customers and more, it’s all right there at the click of a button.

[Image here]

The scalable, flexible nature of Magento has made it a firm favourite on a global basis among all types of e-commerce businesses. For those at the smaller end of the scale, setting up a basic online store with Magento takes minutes – literally. For larger enterprises, the platform features a near-endless range of powerful and robust tools, features, and available add-ons.

And of course, the fact that Magento has such deep and seamless integration with eBay (no surprises there!) makes it the obvious choice for those looking to sell via eBay.

Why Should You Use Magento?

One of the biggest advantages of Magento is its versatility. Whatever it is you intend to do, chances are, you’ll get it done with Magento. This is precisely why somewhere in the region of 240,000 merchants all over the world now rely on Magento for the development and management of their online stores – a number that continues to grow at its fastest-ever rate.

[Picture of a successful store here maybe?]

As an open-source e-commerce solution, Magento just keeps on getting better and better all the time. Thousands of developers continually working to improve and enhance the platform as a whole for its global user base.

Just a few examples of the additional benefits Magento brings to the table include the following:

Total scalability. Ideal for smaller businesses in particular, which are most likely to experience rapid and significant growth. Magento grows and evolves seamlessly alongside your business with comprehensive ease.

Tools and features. Magento offers an extraordinary range of enterprise-level functionalities and tools, giving every business owner the opportunity to leverage their online stores.

Complete control. Even for those with little to no experience, Magento makes it easy to take complete control over all aspects of your online store. This minimises the requirement for third-party intervention along the way.

SEO-friendly. Online retail websites created using Magento can be interwoven with rich and powerful SEO elements, maximising SERP potential and boosting exposure. Targeted SEO plugins can also improve wider SEO efforts.

Flexible payments. Magento accepts a wide variety of different payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, cheques, money order, and Google checkouts.

Language support. For those looking to branch out overseas or appeal to international audiences at home, Magento supports multiple languages and currencies.

Intelligent search. Magento makes it quick and easy for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for, with simplified yet intelligent product search and image-zoom features.

It’s free. Or at least, the basic version of Magento won’t cost you a penny to set up and get started with at the time of this writing. That said, there are several paid versions of Magento designed for enterprise use, with annual licenses currently costing anything from $22,000 to $190,000.

Don’t be put off by these prices though, as most smaller and newer businesses can easily get away with the free ‘Community’ edition of Magento. It’s not until you’re operating at a pretty high level that you’ll need the ‘Enterprise’ edition, by which time your revenues should more than justify the required licensing outlay.

Are There Any Disadvantages to Magento?

On the flipside of the coin, the subject of disadvantages is highly subjective. After all, those bringing their businesses to life with a free version of Magento can’t exactly complain! Some might argue the annual licensing fees for more advanced packages are a little steep, but it’s worth remembering that these typically apply to web retailers with an annual turnover of seven or eight figures. Not your average small business owner looking to get by.

Other than this, a few of the possible downsides of working with Magento include the following:

Customisation. Though highly flexible and adaptive, more advanced developers may find Magento somewhat limited in terms of customisation options. Hence the many Magento websites sharing various design and functionality traits.

Disk space. Magento uses more disk space and memory than some alternative e-commerce platforms and solutions, though not to the kind of extent that typically causes serious problems.

Speed. In terms of overall performance, Magento e-commerce websites are usually not nearly as fast as their counterparts built elsewhere and via other means. However, this doesn’t mean it isn’t perfectly possible (and pretty easy) to build a lightning-fast Magento store.

Who Uses Magento?

In a nutshell, a heck of a lot of people all over the world use Magento!

Popularity isn’t everything, but the numbers paint a pretty accurate picture of what Magento has to offer and why it’s worth checking out. For example, when you take a look at Alexa’s top 1 million websites with the highest number of hits, you’ll see that Magento currently accounts for somewhere in the region of 18% of these sites. That’s an 18% share of the top 1 million websites (according to Alexa’s rankings) going the way of Magento.

And what’s even more impressive is how the popularity of the platform is growing all the time. E-commerce as a whole is getting bigger by the year – total global online sales are expected to surpass $4.05 trillion by the end of the current decade.[1] With the way things are going, it’s pretty safe to say that Magento is primed and ready to scoop up a big piece of the action.

It’s far from just the world’s smaller and newer businesses that are using Magento to score big with global audiences. Some of the biggest brands on the face of the Earth rely on Magento to get the job done, including Olympus, Nike, Nespresso, Samsung, and many more besides.

For newcomers to e-commerce looking to set up and operate their first online stores, Magento takes some beating. Not least because it’s free, easy to work with, and pretty much limitless in terms of scope and flexibility. But even at the larger end of the spectrum, Magento has a lot to offer…just check out the brands above for all the evidence you’ll need.

WooCommerce

Often misinterpreted as an e-commerce platform in its own right, WooCommerce is technically more of an extension. Roughly translated, WooCommerce first hit the market in 2011 with the intention of providing WordPress users with a dedicated and highly streamlined shopping cart tool, thus converting any WordPress site into a fully functional online retail business.

[Sample site image here]

Given the popularity of WordPress, it seemed only logical to design a dedicated e-commerce extension. Today, it’s estimated that around one in every four websites (28%) is powered by WordPress – something like 250 million websites in total. [ELA1] WooCommerce has transformed the way the WordPress community approaches e-commerce, chalking up an incredible 10 million downloads to date.

Or to put it another way, WooCommerce is powering about 28% of the world’s online stores!

The idea being that rather than creating a new website from scratch, WordPress users could use a simplified tool to bring e-commerce functionalities to the platform. Or alternatively, use the uniquely user-friendly WordPress website design and development system to create and launch all-new e-commerce enterprises. So whether looking to expand the functionality of an existing website or starting something new from scratch, WooCommerce makes it comprehensively easy.

Who Is WooCommerce For?

In short, anyone with any WordPress experience whatsoever will be in their element with WooCommerce. If already familiar with the platform, getting acquainted with WooCommerce is a walk in the park. But just as is the case with WordPress, WooCommerce is also perfect for newcomers with no prior experience whatsoever. Boasting one of the gentlest learning curves of an e-commerce platform, it takes no time at all to get to grips with its primary mechanics.

[Dashboard/platform image here]

Simple it may be, but WooCommerce is also more than powerful enough to cater to the needs of the largest businesses on the planet. Packed with powerful features, endless add-ons, and limitless scope for expansion, it’s little wonder WordPress and WooCommerce enjoy such a titanic share of the global e-commerce market.

Why Choose WooCommerce?

Again, it’s a case of accessibility above all else. If you know your way around WordPress, you’re golden. If you don’t, it won’t take you a huge amount of time to get up to speed. And once you do, you’ll be flying through your WooCommerce experience like a pro.

But along with its simplicity and user-friendliness, WooCommerce brings a series of additional benefits to the table.

Open-source codebase. Just as is the case with WordPress, WooCommerce is an open-source platform. This essentially means that the code is freely available for anyone to view, modify, and contribute towards.

Simple setups. If you already have a WordPress website up and running, there’s really no easier way of taking what you have and transforming it into a powerful online store.

Onboarding wizard. The add-on itself comes complete with its own setup tutorial and onboarding wizard, guiding users through the process in as little as five minutes!

Extension library. The WooCommerce extension library is already enormous and continues to expand by the day. Huge scope for the provision of any services your customers require.

Support. The WooCommerce team and user communities, which include software experts and actual business owners, provide ongoing support.

It’s free! Or at least, it’s technically free to download and get started with. WooCommerce costs nothing in the first instant, though quite a number of themes and add-ons come at a price. Not that any of them are compulsory, but to get the best out of your WordPress e-commerce site, you might need to make a purchase or two.

The Limitations of WooCommerce

Perhaps the biggest downside to WooCommerce is the way in which the merchant is required to cover a series of additional considerations manually. Site security and hosting being two primary examples which, due to the nature of the platform, don’t form part of the package.

In addition, every open-source suite like WooCommerce is subject to frequent and ongoing updates. On one hand, great for optimising the performance of the package, bolstering security and generally making things better all the time. On the other, a potential issue when updates cause one or more essential plugins to suddenly become incompatible and stop working.

Some would also argue that the fact that WooCommerce is limited to WordPress sites only represents a disadvantage in its own right. If your current website or web development skills lie primarily outside the confines of WordPress, WooCommerce really isn’t a viable option.

Who Uses WooCommerce?

The list of brands and businesses worldwide that rely on WooCommerce to get the job done is epic, to say the least. Which is hardly surprising, given its extraordinary overall e-commerce market share. Just a few examples of the bigger names that are proud to use and recommend WooCommerce include Men’s Health Box, Designboom, Ripleys, Vic Firth, Duracell Lighting, Orange Amplification, Kinfolk, Airstream, and many more besides.

[Brand sample image]

In a nutshell, it’s important not to interpret WooCommerce as a standalone e-commerce solution, but instead as an extension of WordPress…which it is. Meaning that if you’ve any kind of experience with or fondness for WordPress, WooCommerce is just about as good as it gets.

Likewise, if you have no prior experience with any aspect of website design and development, WordPress comes highly recommended as an accessible starting point.

Given the fact that both WordPress and WooCommerce are (technically) free, there isn’t much more that needs to be said for their primary points of appeal.

OpenCart

Anyone looking to set up a new e-commerce business from scratch will undoubtedly come across OpenCart and would be wise to give it solid consideration. Hugely successful and popular at all levels of online retail, OpenCart is an open-source, downloadable shopping cart that doesn’t cost a penny to download or use. Based around the PHP server scripting language, OpenCart is perhaps best suited to those who have at least a little prior experience in this programming language.

[Image of OpenCart dashboard]

First developed all the way back in 1998 by Christopher G. Mann, OpenCart failed to gain traction in its first iteration and was largely declared dead after the year 2000. Five years later, a UK-based developer named Daniel Kerr used the fundamentals of the software to program his own e-commerce solution, resulting in the launch of the first stable OpenCart release in early 2009.

Since then, OpenCart has gone from strength to strength. By late 2014, Kerr claimed that OpenCart had become the biggest and most successful e-commerce platform in China, while accounting for around 6.4% of total global e-commerce volumes. As of 2017, OpenCart is powering more than 317,000 online retail sites worldwide, [ELA1] which is more than Magento, though less than Shopify.

Why Would You Choose OpenCart?

Like many e-commerce platforms, OpenCart follows the typical core + extensions development model, meaning that in its raw form, there isn’t a great deal to it at all. However, with a simply enormous pool of more than 14,000 extensions and a huge community of developers all over the world, there’s limitless scope for enhancement.

[Sample OpenCart storefront]

If you’re considering working with OpenCart to set up and manage your business, you’d be wise to consider two important things before going ahead. First of all, with limited support available to you, you’ll need to have confidence in your ability to set up and maintain a potentially complex web enterprise single-handedly. In addition, it’s very difficult to build an outstanding OpenCart website without paying for at least a handful of premium add-ons.

If you’re happy with both of these provisos, you stand to benefit from OpenCart in a multitude of ways, including the following:

Simple development. Based on the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern, it’s comparatively easy to create and customise extensions – if you’re comfortable with PHP and MySQL. Huge potential scope for more advanced developers.

User-friendly. The user interface and experience in general provided by OpenCart is right up there with the best in the business. An intuitive dashboard and easy access to all key areas make for a great UX.

Documentation. Articles, forum topics, FAQs, tutorials, and so on – the sheer volume of helpful documentation available for OpenCart users is astonishing. The forum alone has more than 500,000 posts to check out.

Extensions. As mentioned, the OpenCart extension library currently features more than 14,000 add-ons – some free, others starting from as little as $10 each.

Templates. Those looking for the quickest and easiest setups will find hundreds of themes and templates to choose from. Of course, more advanced developers have the option of editing or creating their own.

Multi-language. OpenCart makes it a breeze to provide multi-language support for your customers – every store can have an unlimited number of languages.

SEO. OpenCart has been engineered to be as SEO-friendly as possible, helping e-commerce business owners climb the rankings and benefit from high-level exposure.

It’s free. Once again, there are various paid add-ons and extras available, but OpenCart is currently, as a software suite in its own right, 100% free to download and use.

The Downsides of OpenCart

Not to put too fine a point on it, but free isn’t entirely free when working with OpenCart. The software might be free to download, but the merchant still has to factor in expenses like web hosting, a domain name, an SSL certificate, and so on.

It’s once again worth noting that you are probably (or definitely) going to have to shell out for a bunch of premium extensions if you’re going to get the best out of OpenCart.

All of these combined costs could still see you setting up an outstanding web business for a comparatively low price.

Technically speaking, OpenCart is suitable for every type of business and all sizes of e-commerce enterprises. That said, the general recommendation from those in the know (myself included) is that OpenCart may be used by smaller to mid-size companies under the proviso that those at the helm have at least some web experience. If you have no experience whatsoever, you may struggle to get the most out of OpenCart. Alternatively, you may choose to bring in outside help or outsource certain jobs.

[Sample site image]

In terms of customer service, there’s currently a $99-per-month support plan – also available as a one-time-only technical assistance service for the same $99. Both of these are geared towards bug fixes, technical issues, and expert installations, though don’t extend to the real ‘meat and gravy’ of your site’s design and development.

It’s not that you can’t get the hang of OpenCart as a newbie and make incredible things happen – it’s just that it’s likely to take a little more time and effort.

OpenCart versus Magento

Perhaps the biggest and fiercest debate you’ll come across in the world of e-commerce business development is, which is better, OpenCart or Magento? Is there a clear winner?

On paper, Magento seems to have the upper hand. A larger library of extensions, greater user interface design flexibility, easier product comparisons, stronger focus on SEO, and so on. At the same time, those with more advanced coding and development experience can easily tip the balance back in favour of OpenCart.

So rather than one being any ‘better’ than the other, it all comes down to personal preferences and capabilities.

Who Uses OpenCart?

[Brand website image]

Along with tens of thousands of smaller to medium-size businesses on a global basis, OpenCart is responsible for powering the websites of countless major corporations. Just a few examples of which include FX Creations, The British Red Cross, Suning, Concordia College, and many more besides. This proves outright that in the right hands, OpenCart really can make magic happen for every size and type of business.

It’s becoming a bit of a recurring theme, admittedly, but the same logic applies with OpenCart as it does most other leading e-commerce platforms. Given that it’s currently 100% free to download and take a look at, that’s exactly what you should do.

Every e-commerce software suite has its unique advantages and disadvantages. Hence the lack of logic in singling any out as ‘better’ than any other. Even if OpenCart has the potential to be slightly more demanding than some of its counterparts, what it’s capable of offering in return is not to be underestimated.