It’s young. It’s dynamic. It’s loaded. The new generation of
commerce is undisputedly E-commerce, which has taken the entire world by
storm. It has not only increased the sales of many a business manifold,
but also helped them grow their customer base worldwide and scale up
their business to new heights. E-commerce has overcome a number of
obstacles that were imposed upon physical store. It has surpassed
physical boundaries and limitations, it has created brand awareness on a
global level and it has given consumers power, freedom and immense
choice; all this while saving a lot of time, money, resources and
efforts of both vendors and consumers. But there is also a certain form
of E-commerce that has gathered a lot of heat lately and is the talk of
the town. It is called open source ecommerce.
What is open source E-commerce?
It is basically open source software that assists in developing online
stores. It is available either free or at very nominal prices because it
is developed by a number of developers and programmers worldwide.
Examples include Magento and Pinnacle Cart, the two most talked-about
and sought-after open source ecommerce software.
How does it help?
It is extremely useful for businesses who are serious about making
their online store their most effective and impactful selling tool.
Since selling online has a number of benefits over selling in a physical
store, most businesses nowadays are shifting their focus towards
developing an online shopping portal of their own. Thus, the software
helps them in the following ways:
It is highly efficient and
very cost-effective. A fully-functional online shopping portal can be
developed for very nominal charges.
It is loaded with features and functionality that not only make
shopping easier but also make it interactive and a lot of fun. These
features include shopping cart, wishlist, express checkout, etc.
It is easy to use, handle and maintain once the website is developed.
After a professional company has developed the store, the business
themselves can regularly update it without needing to hire special IT
staff for that purpose.
It is fast, safe and reliable. Built on a
solid foundation and robust architecture, the software makes online
shopping a quick affair.
There is ample help and support
available on online forums and even professional help available if you
go for the Enterprise Edition of any software.
Open source
ecommerce is certainly the future of shopping. With software like
Magento and Pinnacle Cart already wildly popular, it can be seen as a
testimony to its rising popularity and operational beauty.