OpenCart | #1 Storefronts Open Source Shopping Cart Solution

OpenCart was one of the pioneers in the market for open-code platforms for creating and managing online shops. However, it isn’t the most popular or preferred software nowadays since other platforms are more intuitive to use while offering more functionalities and customization. But it still has certain features that can help webmasters build eCommerce storefront product websites.

The eCommerce industry has transformed businesses’ operations at all costs, enabling them to reach a global audience and conduct transactions online. As such, most companies often rely on robust eCommerce platforms to establish an effective online presence. OpenCart is a platform that provides a wide range of features and functionalities for building and managing online stores.

It has never been easier to set up your OpenCart store until now. In that case, OpenCart Cloud lets you launch your online business in minutes. Name your store and click to create it—no more uploading files and going through an installation process. With that in mind, this review article guideline explores the critical features of OpenCart and their significance in a website store design.

Understanding What OpenCart Offers Ecommerce Storefront Website Designers

On the one hand, OpenCart is an easy-to-use, powerful, open-source online store management program that can manage multiple online stores from a single back end. On the other hand, the administrative area works by simply filling in forms and then clicking on the “Save” options button. Many professionally written extensions are available to customize the store to your needs.

The OpenCart builder allows webmasters to customize their eCommerce websites according to business requirements. This means that OpenCart provides access to its source code to modify and customize the online store. To create an OpenCart eCommerce storefront-powered website, a business must download the OpenCart program and then upload the files to their server.

As mentioned, OpenCart is a free open-code solution for creating an online shop. Generally speaking, the OpenCart eCommerce storefront website builder has helped over 400,000 businesses—manage one or several shops from a single back-end store-based business website. Notwithstanding, an OpenCart Shop can be hosted on Amazon Cloud (AWS) or any other server.

Regarding user management, to successfully organize an online digital marketing storefront website, you must cooperate with many people, each performing different roles. OpenCart allows you to set advanced user privileges and separate access for user groups and users. Manage multiple stores from one admin interface—develop your store products to appear in different stores.

Why Storefront Webmasters Need This Open-Source Shopping Cart Solution

Technically, Opencart is an open-source e-commerce platform first introduced in 1998. Its user-friendly interface, scalability, and extensive features have gained popularity. OpenCart is written in PHP and utilizes a MySQL database, making it compatible with various web hosting environments. The platform is highly customizable, allowing developers to tailor their storefront websites.

An OpenCart store can be ready to take orders soon after installation. All you have to do is install it for free (any web hosts do it for you). Select a template from the many free or low-cost template websites—add your product descriptions and photos. Then, click a few settings, and you are ready to begin accepting orders. The free Installation & Quick Start Showcase Guides will help you.

In layman’s language, the public side, or “Storefront” of OpenCart, looks very professional and ready to sell almost as soon as it is installed. Stick with the modern, responsive default theme, or choose from thousands of layout design themes online to make your products storefront unique and ideally suited for your business. Plus, a vast range of features included out-of-the-box.

On top of that, webmasters also get over 14,000 additional extensions available to download for free. Thus, OpenCart is perfect for eCommerce stores of any size, industry, or budget. Use the quick and concise dashboard to keep track of your sales, or choose from one of the many menu options to view more detail. With that in mind, below are a few more OpenCart features to note.

1. Open Source Software

In this case, the OpenCart application platform is powered by open-source software—a transparent software system. OpenCart comes with free downloads and updates—zero monthly fees. Benefit from its built-in eCommerce storefront features. Easily manage your business products, customers, orders, taxes rules, coupon codes, and more.

2. Extensions And Themes

By all means, OpenCart offers the most extensive eCommerce selections of modules and themes to expand your store functionality. Moreover, they’ve got you covered with a team you can trust—who offer free community or dedicated commercial support.

3. User-Friendly Interface

OpenCart offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy for website owners to manage their online stores. The administrative dashboard provides a centralized control panel for configuring settings, managing products, and tracking orders. The interface is designed to be accessible to users with minimal technical knowledge, simplifying the website management process.

4. Store Products Management

OpenCart provides comprehensive product management features. Website owners can easily add, edit, and categorize products, set pricing options, manage stock levels, and track inventory. The platform supports unlimited product listings and variants, enabling businesses to effectively showcase their entire product range.

5. Payment Gateway Integration

OpenCart supports integration with multiple payment gateways, making it convenient for customers to make secure online transactions. It integrates with popular payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net. The platform also allows for the addition of custom payment modules to accommodate specific payment methods.

6. Customer Order Management

Efficient order management is crucial for an e-commerce website. OpenCart streamlines the order processing workflow by providing customers with features such as order tracking, invoice generation, and automated email notifications. It also supports multiple shipping methods and allows for real-time shipping cost calculations, enhancing the overall customer experience.

7. SEO-Friendly Architecture

OpenCart is designed with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind. The platform generates SEO-friendly URLs, Meta tags, and customizable page titles, helping websites achieve higher visibility in search engine results. OpenCart also provides options for implementing 301 redirects and canonical URLs, improving the website’s search engine rankings.

8. Multi-Language And Multi-Currency 

OpenCart caters to businesses operating in diverse markets by offering multilingual and multi-currency support. Website owners can create localized versions of their stores, allowing customers to view product information and complete transactions in their preferred language and currency. This feature facilitates international expansion and enables businesses to target global audiences.

9. Extensibility And Customization

OpenCart’s modular architecture allows for easy extensibility and customization. The platform provides a vast library of extensions, themes, and templates that can be integrated to enhance the website’s functionality and visual appeal. Additionally, developers can create custom modules and themes to meet specific business requirements, providing a highly tailored e-commerce solution.

10. Dedicated Community Support

OpenCart forums are a great way to get community support. With over 110 000 registered members and 550 000+ posts, you are part of one of the most significant eCommerce communities. Equally important, OpenCart offers dedicated technical support. The service is excellent for anyone who wants to get professional technical support for their OpenCart project right from the source.

How You Can Create An Online Digitial Business Storefront With OpenCart

On the one hand, OpenCart Cloud is a service that offers storage, backups, and the option to have more than one domain, among other additional functionalities, to improve the performance of your OpenCart shop. On the other hand, OpenCart doesn’t charge any fee. Whereby you can migrate your OpenCart storefront to another eCommerce platform using an extension for migrations.

Be that as it may, you can let OpenCart Cloud open your business storefront in a few clicks. Get an Amazon-hosted solution for your business. It does not require you to purchase and configure hosting—it contains several plans, and everyone can choose a plan for themselves, given the size of their business. 7 days of free use are provided to enjoy all the benefits of OpenCart Cloud.

Next, you are also welcome to OpenCart Extensions Store for eCommerce store webmasters. It’s powered by AI and technologically advanced tools with a vast range of features, including out-of-the-box and over 13 000+ additional extensions available to download. All the essential information is available at a glimpse—a complete overview of what’s necessary with total orders.

As well as sales, customers, people online, sales analytics, and many more widgets. Choose a different theme for each store—localize store settings—set per-store product prices. Remember, store products come in various options—some feature sizes, while others entail colors, lengths, and heights. No matter the case OpenCart offers a solution for adding extra important product variables.

Basic Features:

• Open-Source And Free: OpenCart open source is transparent—comes with free downloads and updates—zero monthly fees.
• Powerful Store Management: Built-in SEO, easy-to-manage products, customers, orders, taxes rules, coupon codes, etc.
• Extensions And Themes: The most extensive eCommerce selections of modules and themes to expand your store functionality.
• Support You Can Trust: They’ve got you covered. OpenCart offers free community or dedicated commercial support.

In other words, OpenCart is the best free and open-source eCommerce platforms and business storefronts builder. For one thing, it has everything you need to create, scale, and run your business.  Find beautiful website layout themes for any sector, service integrations, payment providers, shipping methods, social media, marketing, accounting, reporting, sales, and language packs.

If you’re missing a particular functionality, check out OpenCart’s marketplace to find an extension or create your extension. As mentioned, payment gateways and shipping methods are the most proficient integration features. As such, you can integrate the world’s most renowned payment gateways and shipping methods. The good news is that the OpenCart software is entirely free.

The simple steps to get started:

1. Create a unique domain name for your business.
2. Choose the hosting provider you prefer, whether OpenCart Cloud or your server (it will always incur a cost).
3. Download and install free OpenCart system software for your website (a cPanel Dashboard is the best option).
4. To do this, upload the file to your chosen host, set up the database, connect to your OpenCart page and install it.
5. Choose a preset theme or create your own. Check the compatibility of your layout theme with different devices.
6. Lastly, you can upload your products to start selling right away…

That’s it! You are good to get started as you explore the unique OpenCart storefront builder features—jump-start, grow and expand your business. Get 13000+ modules and themes—an online marketplace for all your needs. Their dedicated support service is excellent for anyone who wants to get professional technical support for their OpenCart project right from the source.

No monthly fees and no catches, just a practical and customizable platform for your new eCommerce store. Install, choose your template, and add products, and you’re ready to start accepting orders. You can download it for free—but like with osCommerce, you may encounter additional premium support costs. For instance, you may need a hosting plan and other plans.

Paid Support:

• Password Reset: For admins who lost their password requiring a reset by OpenCart experts within 24 hours ($50 per rest).
• Store Backup: For businesses that want peace of mind by backing up their websites and data (450 per backup).
• Updated Version: Upgrade OpenCart to any release you wish—get theme and module installation support (starting from $300).
• One-Time Bug Fix: For businesses with persistent bugs requiring a specialist to look into and resolve the issue (starting from $100).

In other words, you can let our professional Web Tech Experts and the dedicated OpenCart enterprise taskforce team deliver the best service. Remember, we are here to help maximize your business growth and take your website to a new level. As mentioned, the OpenCart Marketplace offers 13000+ modules and themes to jump-start, grow and expand your business.

OpenCart has a fully mobile-friendly admin area with detailed product, order, customer management, sales reports, marketing tools, and more. Thus, allowing you to manage every aspect of your new online store from any device, anywhere in the World. This makes it the topmost best, free, open-source, and easy-to-use ecommerce platform! Below are its main advantages to note.

The Pros:

• Multi-Store Operation: You can run your multiple stores using a single interface of OpenCart. You’ll need to pick a unique name, configuration, products, theme, and prices for each store.
• Discounts And Coupons: Create deals and coupons to get your customer’s attention. This also attracts your customers’ attention, thus boosting your sales.
• A Highly Affordable Tool: the OpenCart platform provides a free download. Therefore, the only costs you will have to incur will be for hosting or any paid extensions.
• Numerous Extension Options: With abundant opportunities, you can improve the standard of your website.
• Multi-User Management. OpenCart 3 allows the creation of multiple users with different roles and privileges. You can even separate them by groups and individual users.
• Multi-Store. Run multiple shops from a single interface. You can choose a different name, theme, product, configuration, and price for each.
• Affiliate System. OpenCart 3 allows the creation of an affiliate system to promote specific products. Select different commissions and payment methods like cheques, PayPal, or bank transfers.
• Backup And Restore. OpenCart 3 gives the option of creating backups and restoring previous data.
• Multilingual. OpenCart 3 works in more than 40 languages

As you can see, OpenCart has its advantages, yes. But it also has its disadvantages as well. Mainly, the fact that this eCommerce application software system is outdated makes it harder to find resources. Such as extensions to improve the functioning and appearance of shops running with its official storefronts builder. Specifically, OpenCart 3. Below are a few more drawbacks it has.

The Cons:

• Limited templates: It does not provide enough templates that fit all your design needs.
• A few customization features: Compared to other marketing platforms, OpenCart has fewer plugins.
• Self-hosted environment: You are responsible for development, hosting, and maintenance.
• Pre-set shipping methods: Also, its pre-set shipping methods cannot be modified. If you want to add your custom shipping methods, you’ll need the help of developers.
• Deters scalability: Because your OpenCart website depends on large-scale extensions, its growth is restricted.

As you can see, the fact that it doesn’t offer many templates and has fewer plugins than other self-hosted platforms is a turn-off for many eCommerce web-based business application platform designers and storefront website builders. OpenCart forums are a great way to get community support. Still, OpenCart offers other unique Enterprise Services for your OpenCart Storefront.

In Conclusion;

OpenCart is a robust platform that offers a comprehensive set of features for eCommerce website design. Its user-friendly interface, strong product management capabilities, and integration with popular payment gateways make it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes. The platform’s SEO-friendly architecture, multilingual support, and extensibility further contribute to its appeal.

By leveraging the unique OpenCart Features, businesses can create engaging and efficient online stores, maximizing their online presence and driving revenue growth. According to Outvio, OpenCart was one of the pioneers in the market for open-code platforms for creating and managing online shops. However, it isn’t the most popular or preferred eCommerce software nowadays.

Resource Reference: Start Your Free OpenCart eCommerce Store Now!

Perse, this is because other eCommerce software application platforms are more intuitive to use while offering more functionalities and customization; this doesn’t mean that OpenCart 3 might not be the right platform to create your online shop. But before doing so, we recommend having all the essential information on the eCommerce website building application platform features.

In a nutshell, OpenCart is a simple and affordable platform that you can use to jump-start your online store. Its features provide more insight into the operations of online stores and all your business needs to succeed. It’s essential to plan for future expansion in the development stage of your website because the structural backend and extensions limit scalability. Thanks for your time; welcome!

Answers To Most Frequently Asked Questions

1. How much is the OpenCart application software?

OpenCart is free to download and install. But to be able to create an OpenCart store, you might need to pay for some extras: Hosting plan: Those usually start at around $10 / month if you’re on a budget (the quality host will cost you more).

2. Do I have to provide access to my storefront website?

Yes, OpenCart will require access to your website to work on it—you can change your credentials after their team is done. Remember, they support all versions of the OpenCart software system—from version 1.5 onwards.

3. What does the OpenCart Cloud support offer businesses?

As mentioned, OpenCart Cloud is an Amazon Hosted Support Solution for your business. It does not require you to purchase and configure hosting. It contains several plans, and everyone can choose a plan for themselves, given the size of their business. 7 days of free use are provided to enjoy all the benefits of OpenCart Cloud.

4. Can I request to get a customized OpenCart feature?

Sure! You can request a quotation from their support team for the customized feature you require—click on the “Request Quote” button to engage with the technical team. Notwithstanding, for websites on their dedicated support service, their enterprise team helps you pick the best extensions—they install them on your website for you.

5. I have an urgent request. Can I get immediate support?

Of course, the OpenCart enterprise team is available on all working days from 9 to 6 PM (+8 GMT). You can send in your urgent request; if someone is available to take it on, they’ll get back to you promptly. Click on the “Contact Us” button to consult them.