The software reviewed below is by no means a complete list of all eCommerce solutions, but many eCommerce sites have chosen these platforms based on their feature requirements, scalability, or compatibility with their existing website platform. The selected options are open-source software, (GPL/GNU or OSL 3.0) and require a knowledge of PHP/MySQL technologies or the services of a professional web developer.

Costs for these can vary, mostly depending on the amount of support needed from software developers and the level of customisation required for your shop. For example, an off-the-shelf template-driven GetShopped WordPress site (ideal for some products) could set you back, whereas a totally customised Magento Commerce site could be in the region of US$10 000 — and offer total scalability and peace of mind as your store grows.

1. Magento

Magento is currently by far the most popular open-source eCommerce system in use today. With $25-billion so far in transactions and over two million downloads, it is truly the most feature-rich and customisable eCommerce platform available. The platform offers complete control over your store front-end, functionality, and order management. The powerful back-end facility controls search marketing, catalogue management, customer administration, and is also backed by a well-supported Magento Connect community. Magento is suitable for meduim to large businesses who need software that has unlimited potential for growth.

Download Magento Commerce here.

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2. GetShopped

This plugin for WordPress is probably the simplest to integrate, provided your website is built in WordPress of course. It is ideal for shop owners with a small budget who do not require extensive front-end features. Activate the plugin in your WordPress backend, customise a couple of theme pages, update your settings and you are good to go.

Take a look at the feature list, documentation, and site showcase on www.getshopped.org

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3. Shopp

Another WordPress eCommerce plugin to look at is Shopp, which offers nice flexibility, and an impressive feature list. It comes at a small price though from $55 per site.

Take a look at: www.shopplugin.net

4. VirtueMart

VirtueMart is one of the the most popular Joomla extensions available, and comes with the advantage of extensive support via their community. It is also highly customisable and well-known as the best eCommerce solution for a Joomla-based website.

View the extension website here: www.virtuemart.net

Follow on Twitter here

5. osCommerce

osCommerce launched in 2003 and was the platform of choice for its time, but due to limited customisation and add-ons as well as some security flaws, it has been mostly out-classed by other software that is currently on the market. osCommerce, despite its limitations, has 12,700 live stores, 6,000 add-ons and 234,000 community members.

Visit osCommerce on the web at www.oscommerce.com

5+1. Zen Cart

It is an off-shoot from osCommerce but offers more front-end customisations through the use of templates. Zen Cart also has quite an impressive array of features and a well-supported community of software add-ons.

View the full feature list at www.zen-cart.com

Magento provides the online store owner, web designer and developer a fully customisable web based platform with a wealth of features for your eCommerce store development including:

- Managing multi-stores off a single Magento installation
- Product Management: Product import/export, advanced pricing rules, customised product attribute sets
- Reporting: abandoned cart tracking, and customer reporting dashboard
- Promotion: integration with Google Sitemaps, URL rewrites, META info for products/categories
- Front-end site: Multiple product images, image zoom, one page checkout, mobile commerce

View the full feature listing here >

These are a few of the fantastic features of the free community edition of Magento commerce – a Enterprise edition is also available at a substantial cost.

Refresh Creative Media have rolled out the development and design several eCommerce stores for Vital Health Foods in the past couple of months including:

- Sister Lilian Remedies – Pregnancy and child remedies
- Bach Original Flower Rescue Remedy – Rescue Remedies for stress and insomnia
- Burgess and Finch Aromatherapy Products and Essential Oils – Aromatherapy products and essential oils

All of the stores above run off the same installation of Magento Community Edition, and what that means for the store owner and user, is that items such as the customer details/products/pages can be easily shared between the stores. In additiona, any setups such as integration with online payment systems, stock integration (XML), hosting environments is done once, and this can save considerable time.

We’ve acquired a wealth of knowledge developing these stores, so why don’t you take your store to the next level with Magento Commerce and Refresh Creative Media?

Contact Refresh Creative Media here for a free consultation and evaluation.

View more on our eCommerce development services.