You need to know which among the many list of things to consider when choosing a shopping cart software you should put in your list of priorities. This will help you have a better guide when you start hunting for the template that you would use for your ecommerce business.

1. Balancing simplicity and the features that the sopping cart solution offers. This is like the yin-yang for web sites. Always maintain a balance between the two, always making sure that none of the two gets more than the other. Features are around because they make websites more enticing. They can make your website more interesting. However, you need to make sure that you do not overload your site with too much stuff. It will make uploading very difficult especially for computers that are not so high-end and Internet connections that are slow. This is where simplicity comes in. Just choose those features that can actually be of use to your website and your online store. Those that the customers would appreciate and can actually help improve your site.
2. Check how efficient the customer service and documentation are. There is nothing more troublesome than your shopping cart template going nuts and you do not know what to do with it. Thus, it is very important to have a very reliable support system from your manufacturer’s end. The customer service should be very easy to contact and the response should be immediate. You do not want to feel like a sitting duck when everything starts to look as if they are falling apart.
3. Making the shopping cart template compliment your online store’s web design. What is more frustrating than purchasing a shopping cart template that you cannot install in your web site? Or, if it can be integrated, you experience a lot of problems? You need to make sure that all the features in your shopping cart software can be viewed properly in your site, like how the thumbnails zoom when the mouse is hovered on it, or how your website can be crawled and indexed by search engines, and the likes.

These are but the basics of the lists that you have to consider when choosing a shopping cart template for your site. Simple as they are, they can make wonders for your online business.

There are some common mistakes in web designing that both amateurs and professionals commit. For the former, it is out of being new in the business and for the latter it is more of being too familiar with the playing field. That is why it is best that every now and then you get to have a checklist that you can use to tell you whether or not you have crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s.

1st downside. When you do not make sure that you get what your money’s worth is the first of the many common mistakes that people commit not just in web designing or online marketing but also in any form of business. Always make sure that you know what you get for a certain price because you might just end up paying more for less or paying less for lesser.

2nd downside. If you site does not have any means to be ranked because it lacks search terms that people use in looking for sites, then you have a problem. Always make sure that you have a place in your site intended for keywords, descriptions and contents, title tags, and the likes.

3rd downside. One problem that most sites encounter is compatibility. Make sure that your site renders well in any browser that people use. Being incompatible in some browsers could decrease your visibility and your ranking.

4th downside. Difficulty to access because of the use of outdated computer equipment or slow internet connection is always a bother. Once viewers notice that your website is difficult to access, they forget your site readily. This affects your chances of getting good feedback from prospect customers.

5th downside. Having an unreliable web hosting service is a very big problem, especially if customer supports are not readily available and downtime lasts for long periods of time.

6th downside. Slow upload because of heavy graphics turn off customers. They may be nice to look at but not everybody or every Internet connection type can appreciate such heavy designs. Cut low on flash animations and stick to simpler methods. Always put fast access on top of your priority list at all times.

7th downside. Almost all people who ask to have a website made does not understand the difference between license to use and property rights. If not discussed with the web designer properly, the property rights of a website are owned by the website designer while the license to use is owned by the one paid for the website to be made. If you intend to have full ownership of the website, then you have to make it clear with the developer so that things can be properly set.

8th downside. When customers and web developers do not communicate, some after effects of the website design might not be too good on the side of the customer. Customers ask website designers to make their website because customers are not so good when it comes to computer terms. Thus, always have a discussion with the web developer so that he/she could give you advice as to what design is suited for your taste and how much it would cost you to get your desired results. Some web designers cut back on price without telling the customer and this price cut back might be the reason why some of the desired results of the customers are not achieved.

Cre Loaded software solution gives you all you need and does so with outmost ease. It is a combination of a complete shopping cart program and superb online store software. It is cost-effective, full of features and is the only open-source shopping cart software that complies with all of the PCI’s standards on data security. However, amidst this compliance, you can still easily control Cre Loaded to fashion it according to your store’s needs. And, above all, Cre Loaded is integrated with its CRE Secure payment system which allows your checkout page to mirror how you store look and what your store’s over all feel.

As one of the product of Chain Reaction Web, a leading open source online store management software company, you are assured of global standard quality. Cre Loaded is considered to be an advance shopping cart solution and has many features to help stores in their product promotions. Thus, it does not just help you in creating an online store, but it is also very useful in terms of marketing and of getting people to notice your site and your products or services.

Management of Cre Loaded shopping carts is also an ease. Adding of new products, categories of products and sub-categories of products can all be done easily. Uploading of images of products, description of texts, graphics, special pricing set up, and also processing of payments through credit cards can all be done in a breeze. This encourages more and more people, both the back-end and front-end users to make use of the shopping cart. Also, drop down menus for easier administrative control is also available. This facilitates for much faster and easier control over whatever changes or add-ons the users wish to add.

What makes Cre Loaded very powerful is the flexibility of its template systems. This allows users to switch from using one template design to another template design and then back, whatever is the choice of their whim. This gives more opportunity in terms of making catchy and creative stores through the use of innovative templates.

While I was looking for a shopping cart software that gives me access to expanded functionality with multi-lingual features, I was impressed to see what Creloaded software. Tantalized by the promising features of a software aimed to help my e-commerce business become much easier, I immediately tried it for myself. Considering that I get to choose among free and paid versions, I could actually try the software without paying and then upgrade later for more powerful and paid versions.

What I like about Creloaded is the fact that aside from the wide array of functionality, it offers me add-on modules. Aside from that, it’s very convenient because it has a free online module and customer supports through phone, email and chat. Thus, I did not have problems looking for help when I needed one. The software is also well-supported thus reliability is not an issue.

They also have a report of my customer statistics and reports on my products’ monthly sales and taxes which helps me track everything efficiently. I can also easily upload new product database in one batch without having to worry about impending problems that follow afterwards when I do the same thing using other shopping cart software. The Creloaded shopping software also has meta-tags controller and has a template system that is very graphic. Systems for managing content and file distributions are also fully integrated. And, controlling downloads for management sales is also a breeze.

As for my customers, convenience is also not an issue. They could see multiple images of each product. Thus, they do not have to endure countless clicking and waiting for windows to open just to have a glimpse of what I am selling. Security is also a top-most priority and the modules for payment and shipping are also integrated. Calculating shipping rates are also done in real time. Moreover, Creloaded shopping cart software also has B2B tools such as volume discounts, customers groups, among others.

The software also has a migrating system. Entries such as the order, status of the order, customers, products, categories and attributes of products, images of the products and categories, manufacturers and currencies can be migrated. Information of the customers (shipping addresses and billing) can also be migrated, however each customer’s credit card information is not.

However, all good things come with some set backs. Since it is with osCommerce, some of the osCommerce contributions are difficult to install and the codes used in Creloaded is not so easy to understand owing to the fact that it is somehow messy. And since it has a lot of features, the interface for the administration is a bit crowded.

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.