Pros and Cons of eCommerce Solutions

Comparison Chart

[dailypress]

Hello all,

I have been reading different threads and realized members suggesting different solutions based on different needs for running an eCommerce business.

I was wondering if we can all list down the pros and cons of the different software or CMS that we have used.

Here are a few names to start:

Magento, OpenCart, Volusion, Shopify, Bigcommerce, Yahoo! Stores,
Virtuemart, Joomla, ZenCart, Drupal, osCommerce, CubeCart, PrestaSoft, FatFreeCart, UberCart, BrandLive, DigiStore, FreeWay, GoodBarry, Vendio

eCommerce: Name
Pros: ...
Cons: ...

(Please feel free to discuss alternatives)

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,
DP

[lorax]

This sort of thread can easily get out of hand so I'm going to set some additional rules.

Please keep your comments on topic or they will be removed. Please keep your comments professional.

If you have additional comments for a cart already mentioned, please use the same format so we can keep track comments/cart

[JackieBlue]

All of them have the same basic features, but here are my Pro for Volusion along with a Con for Volusion.

Pro: Volusion API - easily synchronize the inventory using XML. Download orders, update shipping status, etc. No need to use spreadsheets or CSV files to upload.

Con: Password changes on XML are a pain. Nothing to indicate that the feed failed if the password is wrong.

[dickbaker]

I'm currently using Magento. The front end (if designed well) looks extremely professional. Checkout is as painless as it gets. There's a ton of features, and tons of aftermarket plug-ins to make it exactly what you want.

The downside for me is the overwhelming number of files. I don't know php, and it took me a long time to figure out how to do even the simplest things. I had pro's design it, but I was left with changes that I had to do myself. If you don't know coding, you're going to need someone who does.

I used Ecommerce Templates for my last store. I don't think that's who you're referring to, though. It was simple to use, but didn't have the real pro look and feel of other shopping cart systems.

[oliondor]

Drupal Ubercart is great because very simple and actually who needs more than this ?

Most CMS are filled with thousands of totally useless functions for most.

[Solid Commerce]

Great question!

VOLUSION

It's been around for a really long time, which makes a lot of sellers feel very comfortable.

Many sellers also use it because it's a fairly simple plug-and-play system. You might need to buy yourself a template...but most everything else you can do on your own, without necessarily needing to hire a developer (a designer might be a better choice, actually).

On the other hand, their API can be a little tough to use sometimes.

MAGENTO

There's a strong community for discussion, as the "Community Edition" of Magento is the most widely-used. It's free, and totally open source.

Of course, this means that there is ZERO customer service. But you'll have a strong and active community talking about how to figure things out.

Magento also has a huge developer community surrounding it, which is a good thing.

It's also very, very robust and very flexibile. This is the reason that some of the larger companies use it for selling online.

There are various packages, and the more expensive ones come with support. Either way, you will likely want a developer to actually build your storefront and have it looking the way you want.

3DCART

Perhaps the best thing about 3dcart are its price points. It's got some of the most affordable options around, which accounts for a lot of its popularity.

The user interface is very well-liked, and the API is very modern, which makes it incredibly easy to connect with outside systems.

Hope this helps!

[Kendo]

Most suggestions so far are for use with PHP and/or mostly as a plugin for PHP driven CMS. For Windows servers one shopping cart system that has been around for a very long time and most sophisticated is VP-ASP.

We used and recommended the VP-ASP solution 15 years ago and still have clients using versions that are 10 years old. In fact only a couple of weeks ago I migrated one site from Windows server 2003 (that once was on Windows 2000) to 2008 and also imported their Access database into SQLExpress with no problems whatsoever. In fact I was surprised by that and had expected at least some compatibilty errors when changing to a DSN connection.

VP-ASP includes everything that one could need and can serve as a complete web site.

***** It will never be outdated.