An e-Commerce platform is a piece of software that allows you to build an online store and run a business online.
Most of the eCommerce frameworks used are currently inexpensive or free. The open-source platforms are valuable as they are not only free but also managed and developed by experienced people across the globe.
It is advisable to decide on the experience you require from your online store which may be a self-hosting or complete package at a small fee.
People use open-source platforms as they are packed with unique features and developer-friendly.
In this article, we will focus on the top 10 important open-source eCommerce platforms to watch out in 2020 and how to choose the right one for your business.
It’s a difficult task for you to find the right eCommerce platform for your business.
What does open source mean?
Denoting software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.
So, you don’t have to deal with vendor lock. All you need to do is figure out what your business goals are, here is a complete quick guideline that will help decide which open source is right for your eCommerce business.
Magento is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms in today’s market, build on open source technologies which provides online merchants with a flexible shopping cart system, provides more than 50 payment gateways, it is a PHP-based framework that helps in building scalable solutions.
This platform comes packed with multiple plugins and extensions that can be easily integrated with the third-party apps.
As it is built for the developers, so they do not have to start from scratch.
The user needs expertise in PHP programming. The Magento had two versions Magento 1 and Magento 2.
The Magento 2 version is the latest development as more than 200,000 online retailers use it.
This version offers tools to cover advanced marketing, catalogue management, and SEO needs.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that has user-friendly features and functionalities that can be integrated easily with your existing WordPress site.
It is free to download and renders enormous extendible features.
If you want to start a perfect E-Commerce startup up with a great website, then it is easily understandable and highest recommended.
One of the most recommended open-source eCommerce platforms in the world, WooCommerce includes its own secure payment processor and shopping card.
It provides plenty of options that support in building an amazing store with greater flexibility.
It’s professional, simple, possess the latest WooThemes, and has many customization options.
It connects all the major gateways to your website. It also renders Stripe and PayPal as the default payment gateways.
It is an open-source PHP library and an E-Commerce framework offering a set of featured components for online shop applications.
The Aimeos is integrated into simple to use components that are available for a wide range of frameworks. Its existing integrations include:
The main features of this platform consist of easy integration, faster operations, multi-store capability, highly scalable, flexible, mobile-optimized, and configurable.
OsCommerce is into the business for the last 15 years. It is seen as an old reliable option for many small businesses and startups to get seamless features.
This E-Commerce platform renders more than 7,000 free integrations with 13,000 stores running on this platform.
According to a study, it is 11th most popular amongst Top 1 million sites in the open-source category.
The online retailers use it for its ease to design a well-managed online shop.
This platform easily integrates with all the third-party apps, presents your online site in multiple languages.
You can find a vast number of community developers to ease out your development process, and OsCommerce is not all complex.
xtCommerce is open-source eCommerce Webshop Software (GPL). The ongoing development is done with this platform to enhance its functionalities.
This platform helps the store owners to promote an unlimited number of products online. You can even create sub-sections of these products to display them with ease.
This open-source solution renders multilingual support, manage unlimited categories, easy to navigate interface, etc.
xtCommerce also helps in making Cart2Cart responses to the requirements of e-merchants.
If you are not aware of integrating this E-Commerce platform, then you can outsource the related services.
XtCommerce offer solutions for every eCommerce business type.
This plugin boasts as the “original E-Commerce solution” for WordPress. The developers have downloaded the WP E-Commerce more than 3 million times, this means that many online shoppers are familiar with this plugin.
WP-ECommerce has some pre-installed payment gateways such as, PayPal – Express, Google, Checkout etc.
The coding for this WordPress plugin is quite simple. You only have to be good to HTML and CSS, and you can handle this plugin with utmost ease.
The online retailers can take support from the reputed WordPress development agency or can turn to the large community of online developers for support.
The examples of WP E-Commerce are Mayrun’s Goods, MollyMeg, and Cronut.
The PrestaShop may be a newer E-Commerce platform, but it is getting popular because of easy installation, accessibility, and provision of the amazing interface.
You do not have to be technically sound to install its plugin and start designing your store.
According to W3Tech, PrestaShop is used by nearly 1.4% of all the online shopping websites. It is quite beneficial for small businesses to start with it.
PrestaShop has a user-friendly interface with seamless inventory management system and store maintenance process. It also provides a multi-vendor support system with easy navigation across the site.
If you are not a skilled developer, then also with the usage of ZenCart, you can upscale your E-Commerce store.
It has around 150,000 members in its support community.
According to the latest study, ZenCart is used by 0.1% of all the online shopping websites.
ZenCart includes the following features:
ZenCart is a great decision, for business owners who decided to enter the online market or if you are looking to sell internationally ZenCard has some great multilingual options available.
The system is user-friendly, although ZenCart is free it offers powerful features and services, making it a top contender in the shopping cart market.
This platform has a global functionality and is known for its robust nature. Drupal can integrate with the third-party platforms without any hassle.
This free, open-source content management (CMS) platform is secure, mobile-friendly responsive development, with a great integration capability, and with a large supportive community.
Even Drupal Commerce is becoming a powerful contender amongst the online retailers.
According to W3Tech, Drupal is used by 3.5% of all the present websites. Its version 8 is used by 13.4% of the users.
The developers are working to release its version 9 by the year 2020.
Another benefit of this platform is that it keeps tracks of the orders, invoices, receipts, and payments.
This is one of the popular PHP E-Commerce platforms that combines flexibility, simplicity, and multi-functionality.
It has a great manageable interface with 23 gateways for payment, 8 shipping methods, and 100 of gateways for shipping process.
With OpenCart ‘s tools, you can help your online shop live up to its fullest potential.
If your company does not have the most tech-savvy employees, then also you can opt for this method.
It is simple, runs quickly on your server, possesses numerous plugins, and has plentiful themes to customize your online store.
It’s impossible to say what the ‘best’ platform is, as your specific needs will determine which features will benefit you most.
One thing we know for sure is that by applying the right open-source E-Commerce platform, will help your business grow and change your online website look.
You can even hire some reputed agencies to work on your behalf too.
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