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After a successful run of sales in your website establishment and cultivating loyal clients through the simple text and image site, isn’t there anything else you would want to offer your customers? The trend for online entrepreneurs is to get an open source selling software that provides you with actual store features, the online version.

To start off, you must envision how you would want your regular website shop to run. Are there some things you have wanted to add but were not sure how to integrate it to your site? Once you’ve identified the changes and the features you know your customers will be pleased with, do a little research on the several shopping carts available. Some are open source, which means its downloadable yet you have to have a web developer program it and install the features. Others are osCommerce based but can be bought through a webhost and you don’t need to worry about installing.

To pick out the best shopping cart for you, do some comparison shopping of your own. Keep in mind the added features and services you’d want to have for your shopping cart site. Some might be dazzled with unnecessary features or complex store-front design, it is advisable to keep focused.

Listed below are the leading online store-front customizers that use osCommerce based software that offers their own terms and shopping cart features & services.

Considering the needs of any store front site, time is an important key to effective sales and client satisfaction.  A shopping cart software that loads the easiest and takes less time or even the effort to update is what you are looking for. Secondary consideration may be given to the price since when your site starts the ROI shows it is worth it.

One of the e-commerce software available in the market is the CRE Loaded, like most there are 3 versions of this that can be used for any virtual store fronts. The Free version is the regular kind easy to install and better to get the hang of for simple purchase-sale transactions. The PRO CRE Loaded includes product attribute support with credit card encryption thrown in. The 3rd version is the B2B wich allows the store-front to have separate pricing level support which makes tracking down sales more organized. 

The CRE Loaded is similar to osCommerce yet with some additional features. The latest we have on this virtual store is its option Affiliate Manager. A store is organized with its bonuses like vouchers and gift checks, yet in lean times it can count on site income from sales affiliates and Google Adsense coding. For shopping convenience, the CRE Loaded has several modules that make browse-shopping a breeze: NewsDesk, FAQdesk and the Wishlist. You get up to date information about the latest sales, easy to retrieve information on site policy and a recorded wish list for those who have registered at the site while browse-shopping.

Is this suitable for your existing image and text web store?  The answer is yes. The CRE Loaded a templating systems installed for easier integration to an existing template. 

For what its worth the CRE Loaded is one of the most stable osCommerce type of software since there are osCommerce already installed. This can be a disadvantage too though when a new osCommerce is to be installed, this can prove tricky. Their latest development is the tidying up of the Admin Interface with more protection for Admin log-in.

The Zen Cart on the other hand is also an osCommerce based software, unlike the CRE Loaded there are no contributions installed nor will there be any you can install directly from the osCommerce site. To do this you have to convert the osCommerce software into ZenCart to be able to upload it. Some see this as an disadvantage, yet it is only logical to have everything in Zen to rather than insatallation glitches. The odds of having an osCommerce software installed in better, no if’s or but’s.

The whole Zen Cart flows smoothly with features that co-exist with each other: product attributes manager , template system and html for regular web page contents make uploading faster. Shoppers are given the option and protection for their credit card payments. Another feature that gives the Zen Cart the in-store feeling is the coupon code system.

The down side of the Zen Cart is its ability to import products from Excel sheets, although it is available, it takes awhile to figure out. Getting a Zen Cart means no licensing fees at all, so unless you are dependent on importing Excel product sheets this can be the cart for you.

If one was to pick on what shopping-cart to use for a virtual store front, one would have to consider what shopping cart allows a store to gain more leads and have an alternative income too. The Cre Loaded wins hands down since its functions favour both the client and the e-store owner.