Written by me  |  under ZenCart

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Zen Cart is a free, strong and versatile shopping cart software. It is good for online stores that sells products not less than twenty. It makes use of a stand-alone program, and it is possible for one to add his or her own personal customization. Such customization could change the guestbook, PDF Catalog generator, affiliate program, sell downloadable prodicuts, extra link bozes, Froogle Data Feed, among others. With this, Zen Cart can be made to a shopping cart solution that is even more powerful.

Zen Cart shoping cart software solution, aside from easy to customize, is also easy to install. It is PHP based and uses MYSQL database and HTML components. It allows for easy navigation and can do automated tasks. It allows search engine optimization through the use of metatags and keywords that could customized for each product in the website.

Since eCommerce allows your business to be available in a global scope with a global audience, Zen Cart provides multiple taxes, currencies and even languages. This would help your customers to still be able to understand what you are selling and the terms of fees and prices even if they are using a different language. Moreover, Zen Cart shopping cart also gives customers various options on delivery and payment. It accepts credit cards though Authorize.net and Pay Pal or from any online services where you can manually send your credit card information online. However, if credit cards are impossible to use, Zen Cart also gives you and your customers the option to use checks and money orders.

For flexibility, Zen Cart actually allows the shopping cart to be the main page of your online store. Or, you can also build the cart around other pages of your website.

Below are the main features of Zen Cart:

  • XHTML 1.0 compliant template system
  • Quantity discounts
  • Multiple language support
  • Multiple payment options
  • Discount coupons
  • Unlimited category depth
  • Newsletter manager
  • Multiple ad banner controllers
  • phpBB integration through external module
  • Gift certificates
  • Extra pages
  • Multiple sales and discounts
  • Featured products
  • Multiple display modes
  • Multiple customer modes
  • Multiple shipping options

Oscommerce is shopping cart software that can be used in any web server that has installed PHP and MySQL. One of the big advantages that oscommerce has, aside from being free, is its reputation. It has become a trusted shopping cart supported by a lot of people and has been in the business for quite a long time. This combination of support and time are reasons why it is popular among a lot of people and is used by a lot of online stores.

This shopping cart software solution is freely downloaded together with its code/contributions. And since clients who make use of this software solution can modify the codes to make the software compatible with their site, Oscommerce is very suitable for any kinds of online stores. For businesses who are planning to become bigger in the future, oscommerce allows for customization and expansion with the help of professional website developers. Yes, it is suitable for any kinds of stores, from any countries and available to different kinds of nationalities, because of its multilanguage and multicurrency features.

Added to this is its being user-friendly, both to the administration and the viewers. Magento uses a shopping cart model that is very familiar, and the product catalog can be accessed using a lot of ways. Newsletters and emails are sent to customers to notify them about certain products and promos. The software also provides security in their accounts to protect any information data about themselves. This information data includes, but is not limited to, their history of purchase, status of their orders, among others. On merchant’s side, the software makes it possible for merchants to check what is going in their business through report generation, payment processing and back-up tools, including packing slips and even invoices. Merchants have control over catalog content, catalog structure, shipping cost calculations and the products being sold. Aboce all, security on the merchant’s administration are is simple, thus easy to use, and is protected.

Oscommerce also helps in the marketing strategy of your business. It has product catalogs, product specials, reviews, newletters, related product features, and what’s new feature. All of these helps your customers know what new products are being offered and what products are doing well in the market and how these products can help them.