According to Statista, the number of online shoppers in USA will cross 201.7 millions in 2015 and the number will go higher in coming years. The growing trend of shopping online is the result of ever-evolving technology, smartphone revolution, globalization, all reshaping the interests, preferences, and demands of the consumers. Staying in home comforts and shopping from stores across the borders is luxurious. It is forcing local businesses to go global and win over the trust and loyalty of global customers, ultimately leading to piling up profit.
While setting up a global online store, the first important decision is selection of the best CMS platform. Which CMS platform is best as per consumer and business needs in 2015? It is a difficult decision, but can be helped out after having a clear understanding of all possible options. Here is given a list along with short description of popular CMS platforms that can help startups to blossom in 2015.
PrestaShop
With 310 features supporting shopping cart effectively, PrestaShop is the choice of retailers at startup. This platform has excellent functionality, serving the customers in best possible manner, hence tailored to the business needs of online sellers. Catering to the needs of small, medium, and large-scaled businesses, PrestaShop is becoming the popular choice of online retailers due to following reasons:
- Administration is flexible and a merchant can customize the store as per customers’ needs.
- It is lightweight so reduces the load time of web pages.
- Old PrestaShop themes can be easily replaced with new ones, which means keeping the website design updated is easier.
- Checkout process is quicker and efficient.
- Catalogue management is powerful.
- Marketing and security tools are business-friendly.
- Integrated payment system
- In-built search engine optimization features
Magento
Magento has become the trusted choice of online business owners with more than 200,000 online stores already built in this CMS platform. It carries all the smart features to start an online shop. For those at startup or experiencing a sharp growth, Magento serves the best due to enhanced customer experience it provides. The tools available in this CMS help hunting for new customers and building loyalty among old ones. Why to pick Magento for your ecommerce store? Here are given few reasons:
- It has big, talented, and growing community.
- Minimal support is needed for the free community edition.
- Its architecture is powerful enough to meet diverse business and customer needs.
- Out of the box features to sell virtual, digital, configurable, bundled, grouped, and simple products at the same time.
- Bundles of cheap Magento extensions to enhance the ecommerce store functionalities.
ZenCart
It is an open source shopping cart solution. Amazing CMS features for shopping cart make this platform a popular choice of ecommerce business owners. Even newbie business owners can setup a store on this platform without having enough knowledge and support of ZenCart expert. This CMS platform allows easy customization and efficient product management for small, medium, and large scaled businesses. It meets well with the unique business requirements of the startups in a hassle free manner and paving way for future growth. Why to pick ZenCart for your ecommerce store? Here are given few reasons:
- It is free and protected by GNU General Public License.
- It is easy to use and can be developed even by a newbie.
- It has hundreds of plugins and integrations to enhance the store functionality.
- It accepts a variety of merchant accounts and payment gateways.
Shopify
It allows setting up a customizable-hosted shop having bundles of features. Knowing little bit about HTML and CSS will help you customizing the platform as per your business needs. It helps keeping record of inventory and the items sold at your online store. This CMS platform also allows easy management of the ecommerce website blog. Get insight of website visitors, customers, and referrals using Google Analytics as available in this CMS platform. It is secure to handle transactions carried on in different currencies. Advanced SEO features, as available in Shopify, help ranking high at search engine ranking ladder. Main strengths of this CMS platform are following:
- It is easy to use even by a person who knows little about software.
- It has 24/7 design and system support.
- It is reliable, and quick to deploy.
- An online shop owner can edit the theme while having zero coding knowledge.
OpenCart
It takes just few minutes to start a shop in OpenCart. It has customizable layout and gives complete control of shipping features, allowing storeowner to accept coupons, which could be used as incentives for the existing customers. It is perfect for small, medium, and large scaled businesses due to the flexibility it carries. Main strengths of this platform are following:
- It is an open source CMS platform.
- It offers selling related as well as grouped products to facilitate customers.
- It supports multiple languages to facilitate customers from different regions.
- It supports unlimited categories and products.
- Instant support is available from large OpenCart community.
VirtueMart
It is a Joomla eCommerce extension. It takes just few minutes to build a store with thousands of available features. Joomla plugins offering product control, coupons, shipping, and cost calculation are some salient features of VirtueMart. Main strengths of this shopping cart CMS are following:
- It is easy to install.
- It has as many nested product categories as hardware can support.
- Online shoppers can be managed in groups.
- You can keep track of available inventory and virtual stock.
- You can set product attributes like currency, pricing, and dimensions.
WooCommerce
It is the CMS platform for 2015. Basically, it is a plugin or tool that works with WordPress CMS. Just add WooCommerce to your WordPress-based website and start selling your products instantly. Add little description along with the products. Main strengths of this platform are following:
- It transforms a simple WP site into a fully functional online store.
- It has a reliable checkout method.
- You can check store performance with Google Analytics.
- Multiple shipping methods for international selling
osCommerce
This CMS platform has simple and quick installation process, involving
- installation,
- setting up a template,
- product display,
and you are ready to sell.
There are selling options available in this platform to setup a virtual shop. Main strengths of this CMS platform are following:
- Integrated payment gateways
- Unlimited product categories and products
- Support for multiple languages
- Cross browser compatibility
- Free upgrades and support
Pick anyone of the above-mentioned CMS platforms and start selling your products online. Going global with bright success chances is greatly dependent on the CMS platform you have selected. Make it sure, the selected platform is rich in features and will support your online store in the long run.
