AlgoZone is known for creating high quality shopping cart templates. They are able to stay on top of the competition despite the growing number of companies offering the same service. Below are just four of their Zen Cart templates creation.

Zen Cart Template 101

Zen Cart Template 102

Zen Cart Templates 103

Zen Cart Template 104

Fore more ZenCart themes you may visit the official ZenCart page of Algozone.

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

If one talks about ZenCart, one of the many things that is associated with it is its being shoppers and users centered. In fact, the developers of the software had the users and the shoppers in mind while they were designing this shopping cart.

Most user problems can be attributed even before the use of the software itself. In fact, installation of any programs, shopping cart software or not, comes as a bother for most people. Since ZenCart’s developers wanted to develop something that would put shoppers and users eases as the main priority, they made sure that even if a person is not much of a technical literate, he or she can still install it without experiencing a lot of problems.

Aside from not having to pay any license purchasing fee, this shopping cart software allows users to use unlimited extra pages. Gone are the days when you are forced to cram everything up because you have to save up when it comes to page use. Users can also have control over ad banners, shipping options and payment options. And most importantly, the ZenCart software is very stable amidst all the features it can give.

It is quite interesting to note that ZenCart has some of the osCommerce features available in its system. Users can even directly install contributed features from osCommerce to ZenCart. With these and all of the other perks that ZenCart can offer, what more could customers ask?

Yet, ZenCart also has some problems that are very difficult to bypass, especially if you are the kind of shopping cart software user who has some specific wants and necessities.

Though osCommerce features can be directly installed to ZenCart, users still have to convert them. If, on the other hand, the user fails to convert these add-ons from osCommerce, these add-ons will not be used. For users that worry too much about how the interface is organized, then ZenCart might prove to be a disappointment. Since it has a lot of features, the interface comes out as messy and disoriented. The Easy Populate contribution which can import products from Excel is not available in ZenCart.

Though ZenCart might have some problems in one end, what shopping cart software has not? If users can find a way to beyond these disadvantages, then, they can enjoy using ZenCart and whatever it offers.

There a lot of things about ZenCart that really made my head turn and decide to try the shopping cart software.

Since I am not much of a risk-taker when it comes to software, I really like ZenCart because I don’t need to pay any licensing fee to use the product. Added to this treat is the fact that ZenCart was designed to make a difference in shopping cart software. The developers of ZenCart have put shopper’s need as the top-most priority. Usually, when it comes to using software, most of my major problems start even on the installation stage. But with Zen Cart, even if I am not much of a technical wiz, I was able to install the software with ease. That’s how efficient ZenCart is with regards to usability.

Designing is also not difficult with the software. For the template, I use XHTML and I do not have to worry about the number of pages to include because with ZenCart, extra pages are unlimited. It also has a lot of ad banner controller, shipping options and payment options. There are also features available in osCommerce that you can also find in Zen Cart. In fact, you can install contributed features from osCommerce directly onto your ZenCart. In addition, along with some of osCommerce’s features, ZenCart also has its own added perks. But even with this wide array of features, you do not have to worry about some problems with the software’s performance because it is very stable.

However, there are also things that you should be very particular about ZenCart especially if you are the type of users who have some specific wants and necessities with the shopping cart software you are using.

On the negative site of the software, although you can make use of osCommerce contributions, you still have to concert them to be usable in ZenCart. Also, if you go for organized admin interface, then ZenCart is not the one for you because there are some areas that look like a little bit disoriented owing to too many features installed. Another thing that I find troublesome about ZenCart is the Easy Populate contribution. It should allow you to import products from Excel. However, in ZenCart, it still does not work.

Getting your shopping cart running is like preparing your store for its opening. There are some settings you’d have to check. Keep in mind, an organized shopping cart is an easier one to maintain. There are 15 configuration options that you will be asked to set under the Admin> Configuration, this is setting up the foundation for your store billing and shipping and your market overlay. 

Admin> Configuration> My Store

This is where you set computations for both level taxes for every purchase made and shipping done.

Basic of Product Tax  - tax calculations for products purchased

Basis of Shipping Tax – tax calculations for shipped products

HTML Editor -There is also the matter of what editor you choose for your product descriptions and customer service related activity (e-mails and newsletters).

Admin> Configuration> E-Mail Options

E-mail to customers can be text or you can choose HTML based. If this is the case, enable USE MIME HTML When Sending Emails.

Settings for Admin receiving e-mails are found under the E-mail Admin Format

Settings for Admin receiving copies of messages automatically sent to your customer.

Admin> Configuration> Images

This is where you set image sizes best for your set-up

Admin> Configuration> GZip Compression

Page upload and display is faster using the GZip Compression. Some servers support this. As we have written from the start, knowing how you want your site to look helps you choose the features you need in a server. A virtual store site that is image heavy needs GZip as opposed to a moderately image based one.

Admin> Configuration> Customer Details

This is where you choose to have displayed/requested components or not.

Customer access authorization settings are found here. It is advisable to enable this setting for Customer Service purposes

Admin> Configuration> Credit Cards

Preference for card acceptance is enabled here.

Admin> Modules> Payment

Payment methods for your clients can be set under here.

Admin> Configuration> Shipping/Packaging

Setting indicating the Country of origin is enabled here.

Settings for Postal / Zip Codes are also enabled here.      

*keep in mind Zip codes can effectively assist you in shipping cost quotations.

Admin> Modules> Shipping

This is where you choose your preferred shipping providers.        

Admin> Locations/Taxes> Zones Definitions

There are tax zones in some regions and countries where taxes are required.

Admin> Locations/Taxes> Tax Classes

Some merchants have different tax combinations for every product, especially for distributor sites that deal with several suppliers from different locations. In lone product or solo brand sites one category is advisable.

Admin> Locations/Taxes> Tax Rates

This is where you link tax classes and zones. After this you can enter the tax rate for those combinations here.

Admin> Localization> Currencies

Currencies from the regions and countries you sell products to are set here for accept and process

Admin> Localization> Languages

The Zen Cart supports languages aside from English.

Admin – Catalog – Manufacturers

This setting is to link products on your site to its manufacturers, some online shops prefer to extend link as such.

Admin> Catalog> Categories/ Products

After setting all the information you will need for keeping track of your customer carts, now is the time to name categories for your products and assign products per category. For online stores that sell only one product, you could organize this by size or flavor or even variant.

These settings are set at the beginning of opening your store online, once made this would only be changed when needed. Some are eager to get started with their online cart with the thought that there is only product information to be uploaded. The set Admin> Configuration settings are put for your shopping cart to do the computing and assigning that needs to be done. If possible, have settings done before you even open your virtual store to save you time from having to go back once you site is online.