Free Shopping Cart Reviews
Are you looking for a some free shopping cart software? Instant-e-Store.com have reviewed a few of the major players in both the free & paid shopping cart software arena.
Do you need a shopping cart? Maybe you already have an online shopfront but would like something with more features, better security & easier to maintain? Give our Basic or Professional Instant-e-Store a try. You can even get it installed and completely customized to your liking.
Zen Cart Review
Pros –
One of the main pros of Zen Cart is the fact that you have so many more options. The plug ins are endless and again this is an open source software so you have heaps of people working behind the scenes. I found that the security was relatively easy to install therefore giving your instant secure credit card processing. Zen Cart handles the credit card processing well but you need to insure that you have the options clicked and you will need to adjust files to get all the features working. Design again you can get a lot of templates for Zen Cart and you can do a lot of the design adjustment from the admin panel.
Cons –
Again you need to know a lot of PHP code and at times Zen Cart would get a bug and I would be stuck with issues in my store. A lot of the plug ins like easy populate that helps you upload multiple products at once, you have to pay for, last time I looked it was $60 US and to me it really isn't worth spending that time or money when you could buy a shopping cart for $100 US that has a lot more features and that you have a lot of control over.
Features -
Why should you choose Zen Cart™ to power your e-commerce site? Let's face it. There are 100's of shopping cart programs around, all with different strengths and weaknesses. Zen Cart™ is superior to most in ease-of-use, features and price.
Zen Cart™ is built for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. The program is built by programmers and designers who understand the online selling process from start to finish. Zen Cart™ has included all the necessary tools required to build a successful online store and we are constantly improving and upgrading the software based on our users requirements.
Below is a list of the major features included in Zen Cart™.
Easy Installation
- checks the database and server for requirements before installing
- installs using a built-in installation tool
- prepopulates the basic store information
- optional demo products
Global E-Commerce Ready
- multiple language support
- multiple tax support
- multiple shipping methods
- multiple currency support
- multiple payment methods
Customer Status Modes
- unrestricted shopping
- must register to view prices
- must register to view prices and merchandise
- showroom only
- Catalog Status Modes
- showcase mode without prices
- showcase mode with prices
- normal shopping mode
- down for maintenance mode
Categories and Products
- unlimited category depth
- physical merchandise
- downloadable virtual products
- products can reside in multiple categories
- product options as dropdowns, radio buttons, checkboxes, and text input
Customer Retention Tools
- periodic newsletter in plain text or HTML
- order status emails and records in the customer account
- referral tools
- gift certificates
Promotions, Sales and Discounts
- individual special prices
- global sale reductions
- category-wide sale prices
- discount coupons
- customer group discounts
- quantity discounts
- one-time charges
- minimum and maximum purchases per product
- prices by attributes
Fully Customizable Catalog Templates
- XHTML 1.0 compliant - nearly table-less layout
- change the colors, fonts and many graphics using Cascading Stylesheets
- add, move, remove sideboxes via the Admin Tool
- template overrides that do not get overwritten during upgrades
- override functionality without having to learn PHP
- create as many different looks as you would like and choose them from the admin
Powerful Administration Tool
- configure your minimum and maximum values, image sizes and customer details
- choose which layout settings to use for the spotlight listings
- pick which details to show on your product details page
- edit your policies pages with HTML (if desired)
- add, delete, move, link or copy your products
- create and manage your product attributes
- manage product reviews, featured products, specials and storewide sales
- shipping and payment module installation and management
- price and taxation control
- banner advertising controls
- newsletter creation and sending
- content management tool, easily add new content pages
Overall Experience –
Truly I did enjoy 90% of my experience with Zen Cart but again my business out grew it and I needed something with more support and backup and that I didn't need to be fiddling with code all the time. I would defiantly recommend it to anyone that really wants a shopping cart but doesn't want to pay for it.