As the various market researches indicate, there has been a potential increase in the number of shoppers preferring online medium to shop for the goods of their interests. It has clearly given rise to the popularity of several eCommerce platforms. More and more organizations, whether big or small, are making use of Open Source platforms to save setting up and maintenance costs of their websites. Some of the most popular Open Source eCommerce platforms include Magento, Oscommerce, Prestashop, Opencart, Zencart, Spree Commerce, Virtuemart, Ubercart, Fcommerce, Simplecart, Tomatocart, Cubecart and several others.
Now, with the availability of so many options, it sometimes might be very confusing for new entrepreneurs, and companies to choose the platform best suited for them. The reason is that every one of these Open Source options has its own pros and cons to consider. At the same time, the things like-required functionalities, development language, server capabilities and the size of the product line matters a lot. So, it is always wise to list all requirements before giving any of these platforms a final go. All of these platforms have been designed with a bit different set of users in mind. If you do test runs with at least two or three options, you can be sure to find the best suited one for your need.
Magento and Virtuemart can, by far, be called the two of most popular ones depending on the easy availability of their ready made templates, plug ins, extensions and customization options. However, it does not mean that other platforms do not have the unavailability of such elements, yet when you can find multiple options, it becomes easier to integrate, customize and troubleshoot your online eCommerce shop.
No matter what platform you have chosen for your online shop development, make sure that you are using the most recent version available. If your shop is old enough, make a point to keep it updated. It will assure you of an enhanced security viruses and hackers. If you do not keep your shop updated, it becomes sooner to security hacks which might get you into trouble by forcing you to spend several days to restore. You already know, prevention is better than cure. Why to get into trouble when a few simple steps can keep you updated with latest security patches. If you can not do it yourself, ask your eCommerce web designers or developers to do it for you. They can easily handle this for you.
