We’ve been doing lots of eCommerce shop upgrades lately. These are small business shopping sites that have become outdated, with falling traffic and sales. Many are running on older open source platforms like Cubecart, Opencart, Zencart, OSCommerce etc.
Once considered good DIY platforms that were easy to establish but are now being overtaken. It’s a bit like being seen driving around in a 1986 Ford Cortina. Yes, it can do the job, but it’s time to look for something more modern and reliable.
Key complaints of the older online shopping systems are:
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hard to update the coding and generally maintain
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they look clunky, with a default 3-column layout
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not very ‘Google friendly’ with few SEO tools
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no banking gateways to DPS/Payment Express
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hard to navigate for both owners and shoppers
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no easy way to add in blog articles or social media
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lack surveys or multiple forms to interact with customer
A Better, Easier Ecommerce Platform is Here
We’ve built sites using Magento, opencart, oscommerce etc, but found them frustrating, hard to manage and maintain. Frankly, if a ‘high end’ cart is really needed, a way better option is the lesser known CS Cart platform that has far better ‘bang per buck’. Yes these ‘high-end’ carts do have a place where you’ve thousands of products and complex shipping options to work out. But 90% of small business just don’t need all this high cost and complexity.
We’re using an amazing solution. WordPress (In terms of cars, think 2014 Subaru Legacy, not a monster truck).
WordPress is the world’s most platform for a small business CMS (content-managed) website. WordPress is not only easier to develop for, meaning lower costs, it’s an inherently a very Google-friendly platform. The WordPress development community is immense, with some stunning add-on plugins. One such plugin we’ve fallen in love with is WooCommerce.
Like WordPress and other open source software, the raw Woo shop scripts are free. But it’s the ability to enhance and adapt to user needs that has developers and business owners excited. It’s like giving a mechanic a new v6 engine for free. We now just need to build the body and add in creature comforts.
Unlike the limited choices for Cubecart and others, in the hands of a developer, the design and layout options are almost limitless. Even those ecommerce developers previously hooked on and recommending the default industry eCommerce solution Magento are now looking seriously at WordPress + Woo for their smaller clients.