OpenCart Introduction

What is OpenCart

OpenCart is an open source E-commerce software used to build online stores which provides you to set up your own online business and run your e-commerce cost-effectively.

OpenCart has an extensive set of features that give a strong hold over the customization of your store. With OpenCart’s powerful tools, you can help your online shop live up to its fullest potential. You simply install, select your template, add products and you’re ready to start accepting orders.

OpenCart Features:

• Open Source
• Llifetime free support and free software updates.
• Very good documentation
• Templatable (gives more flexibility over your look and feel)
• Unlimited Categories
• Unlimited Products
• Unlimited Manufacturers
• Multi Currency
• Multi Language
• Product Reviews
• Product Ratings
• Multiple payment gateways
• SEO friendly features
• Sales Reports
• Unlimited Information Pages
• Discount Coupon System

Advantages and Disadvantages of OpenCart

Advantages:

1. It can be easily installed on shared hosting with thousands of products. Initially, you may not need to invest in dedicated server.
2. It has a very active community and is actively developed. Recently, Opencart V2 was launched that has come over a lot of bugs and disadvantages of its previous version.
3. The plugins and extensions are not very expensive as compared to magento.
4. There are a lot of themes and templates are available in the market for free and premium. You can easily customise them with a little knowledge of HTML and PHP.
5. A neat, clean and easy to use admin panel is one of the major advantages of opencart.
6. The V2 version is mobile responsive, supports multiple currencies and languages.

Disadvantages:

1. The basic features available for free are limited as compared to magento. You might have to install third party plugins to get that feature that might be paid or free.
2. The forum is active, but your query might take some time to be answered.
3. It is not suitable for large scale businesses, as it may be difficult to work smoothly with the system at later stages.
4. The loading time of the site may be a bit slow with large number of products, though it can be tweaked with extensions and plugins.