All You Need to Know About OpenCart

Boasting of more than 13,000 themes and modules, the OpenCart marketplace gives you access to all the essential features you need to kick-start, develop and grow your business.

Who is OpenCart For?

OpenCart is a programme that must be self-hosted. Unless you are a web designer or know the ins and outs of eCommerce solutions, you will need professional assistance. Having said that, OpenCart is easy to learn and the admin interface is easy to use right off the bat.

This platform is perfectly suited for small and medium businesses with a limited budget. However, if you are looking to scale things up rapidly, things can soon become expensive and complex. With a professional web design agency in Manchester by your side, you can make the most of your OpenCart website.

Features of OpenCart

OpenCart offers ample features to get you started. However, if you are looking to add additional features and functionality, you will need custom development and add-ons. Here’s a look at some essential features of OpenCart.

• You can add any number of products, categories, and manufacturers.
• You can manage and operate multiple stores from one admin panel.
• OpenCart features restore and backup tools to keep your information secure.
• It supports multiple languages and currencies.
• You can easily view sales reports, reports of products viewed and purchase reports among others.
• All the popular search engines index OpenCart pages. You can customise your category and product meta tags.
• It supports 20+ payment gateways and 8+ shipping methods.
• It’s a PCI compliant platform.
• It offers the ability to apply discount coupons either by flat rate or percentage.
• You can lower cart abandon rates by allowing customers to checkout without registering.

Benefits of OpenCart

Low Cost – The fact that OpenCart is open source means that the platform is completely free. There’s no cost to install and use this platform. Simply hire a reliable web design agency and you can have a robust eCommerce website at low cost. Even the running costs are quite low as Openart does not call for any ongoing development work. This makes OpenCart the perfect solution for small and medium-sized businesses who are working with a limited budget.

Feature Packed – OpenCart is known for the kind of functionality it offers. It comes packed with a variety of features and additional features can be easily added using extensions. With more than 20+ payment gateways by default and an advanced reporting system, this is an all-in-one eCommerce solution.

Manage Multiple Stores from One Admin Panel – With OpenCart managing multiple stores is a breeze. You can manage all your different online stores under one admin panel. This means that you can localise each store for each different country with its own set of default language, currency and taxation class. Moreover, You can manage a single inventory for all your different stores.

Complete Control – Control and flexibility are important ingredients of an eCommerce website. This helps in successfully managing and operating your online store. OpenCart excels in both these aspects with a flourish. It gives you access to a wide array of functionalities that you can use to your advantage and grow your business.

SEO Friendly – OpenCart is a search engine friendly platform. You can optimise your products as well as categories for your target keywords and improve your chances of ranking in the top results of all the popular search engines.

OpenCart Vs Other eCommerce Platforms

When it comes to eCommerce platforms, there’s no dearth of options. The popular eCommerce solutions include WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, Joomla and many others. Of these, WooCommerce, Joomla, and Magento are open source platforms just like OpenCart. Joomla and Magento are based on PHP just like OpenCart.

Shopify is a proprietary software but highly impactful and effective nonetheless. Both Magento and Joomla are much more complicated and ideal for bigger stores with bigger budgets. However, OpenCart is a much easier programme and is ideal for start-ups and small businesses that do not require a lot of bells and whistles.

WooCommerce is a wonderful option as well. The decision entirely depends on your preferences and requirements.

Why Hire a Web Design Agency for Your OpenCart Website

Unless you dabble in web design, it’s best to hire a web design agency to build your online store for you. You have all the time to learn the ropes you say. Well, think about that again. Wouldn’t your time be better used for things only you can take care of? Even if you managed the time, you need a website that will impress your visitors. Do you want to impress others with the fact that you built your own website or do you want a website that would add to your bottom line?

Moreover, a web design agency has the expertise to handle the peculiarities and intricacies of the OpenCart platform. For instance, OpenCart is a PHP language. Every time you visit a site, PHP will require that your server runs through the script content before executing it. This could create affect your website’s performance.

Professionals know how to tackle such issues. In this case, we will use a PHP accelerator to lower the load on the server when processing the PHP code.

What’s more, OpenCart is an affordable solution even when you hire an agency. Hiring an agency doesn’t mean that you have to pinch your pockets. Given that OpenCart is open source and is a popular platform, you can build a website on the platform at reasonable prices. You just need a reliable and professional agency.

Interested in learning more about OpenCart? Looking for a quote to build an eCommerce website on OpenCart? Get in touch with Blue Whale Media today.