New OpenSource Ecommerce Solution that we checked resently is worth looking at. It is called AbanteCart and available at www.abantecart.com.
Interesting to note, the approach to the architecture of the cart and power functions and tools added to the core. We noticed quite a number of features that are new in concept and user interface. We see also focus to flexibility for developers in the community to grow features on top of the platform.
AbanteCart yet have to get more publicity, attention and review, but we think it has pretty strong potential on the market.

Below is the snapshot of AbanteCart:

• Expandable shopping cart application with fast growing number of extensions. Easy extension installation and management with one step installation. This allows to add virtually any feature or service to AbanteCart in the future, that this is very important in current dynamically changing technology environment.
• Upgrade support right from control panel section. Backward supportability in upgrades and backup / restore are followed in every upgrade.
• Virtually FTP Free eCommerce solution. No need to know code, complex programs or programming to manage, upgrade and install modules. Manage your eCommerce application 100% in the slick web based interface using any browser of your choice.
• Fast performing and low computer resource consuming shopping cart application. Can be installed and run in virtually any shared or dedicated hosting.
• Feature reach shopping cart application right out of the box. Standard features allow to set up complete eCommerce site with all the tools needed to sell the products online.
• Large number of payment and shipping modules supported by default or with additional extensions.
• Very secure solution with up to date industry security practices and inline with PCI compliance.
• Flexible layout for pages allows to setup pages and navigation based on best usability practices and improve conversion.
• Sophisticated and easy shopping cart control panel with “Search anything” feature for fast information location and edit. Help instructions embedded right into the control panel pages.
• Flexible resource library to manage media files in the application.
• Fast initial set up and migration from other shopping carts with easy data import from major shopping carts.

Most merchants are always on the look for a new and worthy shopping cart software to meet their customers’ needs. OpenCart is getting more popular and has become the light at the end of the tunnel for most webpreneurs. However, we might ask what exactly is OpenCart and how will it help your online business?

OpenCart is an open source PHP-based online shopping cart system. This robust e-commerce solution makes it easy for webpreneurs to create their own online businesses and participate in e-commerce at a low cost. It is designed feature rich, easy to use, search engine friendly and with a visually appealing interface. Your website would work just like the ones that are created for big companies. With a completely interactive website of your own, you go head-to-head with the competition. OpenCart is feature rich and simple to use so you can get started right away for a minimal cost.

OpenCart comes with a vast set of features out of the box that are perfect for a small to medium sized business. These features include: , Unlimited Categories, Unlimited Products, Unlimited Manufacturers, Open Source, Documentation, Templatable, Multi-Language, Multi-Currency, Product Reviews, Product Ratings, Downloadable Products, Automatic Image Resizing, Multiple Tax Rates, Related Products, Unlimited Information Pages, Shipping Weight Calculation, Discount Coupon System, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Module System, Backup & Restore Tools, Printable Invoices, Sales Reports.

Opencarts accepts multiple payment gateways. It is easier for customers to pay and simpler for you to collect. These payment gateways includes: OpenCart accepts multiple payment gateways including 2Checkout, LiqPay, AsiaPay, Authorise Net, Moneybookers, Mal’s E-Commerce, CCAvenue, PayJunction, Cash On Delivery (COD), PSIGate, BluePay, NOCHEX, SagePay, HSBC WorldPay, CCNow, PayMate, ChronoPay Cheques, Money Order, PayPal, PayPoint, eWay, eGold, Verisign and LinkPoint.

You will have no problem in dealing International customers. OpenCart also supports an array of available languages. Languages supported by OpenCart include English (default), French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Hungarian, Indonesian, Farsi, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish and Polish.

The cart is a lot easier to program with, and in effect will be easier to make changes to and provide extra functionality required by clients. Open Cart is perfect for small to medium sized online retailers like myself, it’s robust, flexible, well designed and best of all it’s free. Opencart is a very useful tool in your quest to make money online.

What does it take to become successful in e-commerce? There are but so many things that people have tried yet most of them have failed in getting the desired results for their ecommerce marketing. That is why, there are a lot of online store owners who are trying their best to look for answers on how they could improve their online marketing.

This might be just the answer that you are looking for. Here are some of the time-tested ecommerce tips that you can use to give you an edge in the competitive world of the e-commerce business.

Since you might already have your own website model that you are already using or you are planning to use, just use this guide as checklist if your plan is able to cover everything. In this way, you can make sure that you did not leave out anything important that might become the reason for your online business to fail.

1. Who would forget SEO? It’s in everybody’s dictionary nowadays. If you do not know it then most probably you have your website somewhere at the nth page drowning under all the other better optimized pages.
2. No, Social Media Marketing not just used to meet new friends. More than anything else, it has become one of the latest and most powerful tools in ecommerce marketing. Not only are these sites free, they can also reach a very wide range of audience.
3. Although not a lot of people like the idea of the Pay Per Click method as an online marketing strategy because it asks you to spend money for your marketing, it has its own benefits. First, it transfers traffic much faster than SEO. Next, you can test new products and promotions when using this method and see which ones actually work or easy to sell and which ones are not. Lastly, in terms of key terms and phrases, you get to cover more and much longer terms and phrases than with SEO.
4. This next tip is ideal for those who has a retail or dropshipping business. Try to include links of popular shopping networks. They help you get more people to visit your site.
5. Have a joint venture with more popular sites that have the same content as yours and promise some form of promo, perks or the likes whenever they get to a customer to use, purchase from, or just click anything in your site.
6. You might think this does not work however it is very effective in informing customers and visitors to your site of the latest developments in your online business. It’s direct, cost-efficient and could reach a very big population of prospect clients.

The importance of having a product page is not anymore questionable. That is why you should be careful with what to include in it. There has been a previous article that has already discussed some of the important things that need to be considered such as the URL, the META Data, the Navigation, the Menu, images, short description, among others. In this article you will read more elements that you would need to include in your product page to make it more effective as a tool in increasing the profit of your online business.

Here is the continuation of the list:

Add to Cart – do not let your customers go into all the trouble of opening a new window and look for their shopping cart and all if you can already include a link the product page to make the shopping cart more accessible with just a click of the mouse. Place the slink to the shopping cart at the top right side of the pageand make sure it is very easy to distinguish by emphasizing on it or highlighting it with its design.

Wish List – the wish list is a very helpful tool to do follow-ups once a customer has visited or purchased from your online store through your product page. In thi sway you can send notifications to these customers about the products that they included in their wish list whenever you have promos and discounts on them.

Prices – always include the price of the product together with the other costs that they would be paying once they purchase the item. Such additional charges include shipping costs, among others. Failure to do so would give an impression on your clients that they were tricked when they see that the price that they saw in the display is different from the price that appears in the check-out counter. Needless to say, this does not promote a positive image for your website.

Stock Status – make sure that you always update the stock status of your products in order to let customers know the availability of the product that they intend to purchase. It would also be much better if you try to include the time frame when the product would be made available once again.

User Rating – customers would like to know some of the feedback that a certain product has from people who have already used them. A product rating would be one of the indications that they could use to tell how good or bad a certain products is.

Social Bookmarking Links – include preformatted links that your visitors and users could use to book mark your page for future shopping and use. In this way, your site is stored for easy access.

There are still more things that are very useful to include in your product page. With all the things that you are planning to include in your product page, there is one thing that you need to remember and that is to make sure that whatever it is that you add it should have some contribution to your internet marketing.

Everything that you place in your website should serve a purpose. That is how you should think when you start conceptualizing what you want to place in your site. A site is comparable to a human body. Aside from completing the aesthetic whole of what a human body should look like, the body parts also have their own responsibilities to fulfill such as walking, hearing, seeing, among others. Similarly, your website parts should also be the same.

That is why when you are designing the site search reports for your website, you should also make sure that it would help your ecommerce marketing.

Google Analytics is a very useful tool to include in one’s online store. By using Google Analytics you would be able to track your internal site search. To incorporate Google Analytics in your site, you need to change the above line of code for your array into Dim mySearchArray as array = split(Request.QueryString(“SearchTerms”),” “).

Why is it important to track down your internal site search? Well, for one it gives you the to most important information that you need to improve your online marketing. Among others, here is the information that Google Analytics could provide to you.

1. Search terms and phrases that are commonly used – by having an idea what terms and phrases are used by your customers, you would have an idea what key phrases and terms you should concentrate on. It is like knowing what would be the most sought out bait that costumes are most likely to be caught and using these keywords to help you get more customers to come to your website.
2. Products or set of products in your site that are commonly frequented thus creating their own set of search term or phrase – by knowing which of your products are commonly searched, you would be bale to develop new set of catchy terms and phrases to increase your visibility in the web. These key terms and phrases are very target specific since they are directly sought after by customers, you are assured that your site will be visited.
3. Search terms that were used and made sales – this is quite similar with the previous one. Aside from commonly searched terms from your site, what else could have higher chances of luring customers in than those products that are commonly purchased? Since they are commonly bought, they are commonly searched, thus making them ideal terms and phrases to use in getting customers.
4. Searches that did not have any accompanying clicks – by having this kind of information, you will know what you should not be focusing on. This would help you identify which terms and phrases are not that ideal to use as lure for customers.