Website builders

[Sarah_App]

Hi

Looking to start an on-line store and would like to have a go at creating the website myself. Can anyone recommend a good, ideally free, online shop builder? Someone has suggested MoonFruit but this looks like a general website builder rather than one specialising in e-commerce, has anyone used MoonFruit to create an on-line shop?

Many thanks

Sarah

 

[NewOdyssey]

Hi Sarah,

I would recommend Zen Cart - its incredibly flexible and does not require any programming experience. However because the back end is so feature rich, it does take time to get to grips with all the configuration options.

There are plenty of third party templates available to improve the plain looking built-in templates. There's also a third party application available from Magnetic One which simplifies the back-end product administration.

We are using Zen Cart to power an online e-commerce network of stores. If you are interested let me know.

 

[simpson7647]

Bump all, I would like to also know this but I am willing to pay
thanks

 

[sanjiv]

I usually use CRE Loaded for my clients websites. It is very similar to Zen Cart however the paid versions offer some extra capabilities which can be useful such as B2B.

 

[castus]

Try shopify.com. They seem to be the best. There are probably other solutions that are easy but you end up with poor looking sites. You can go as afr as you like with shopify.

 

[EliteIntegrity]

The best solution depends upon your requirements.

If you want a shop with a modest range that is as easy as can be then go with Prestashop. It is so much simpler than the likes of Zen Cart and osCommerce and when it comes to built in features, in my view is better.It is true however if you are technically savvy you can get loads more modifications for the likes of Zen Cart. But they are not often straight forward to use.

If you are after something all singing and dancing. Perhaps you need to need an advanced feature like multiple stores from one control panel then the way forward is unarguably Magento but this would require better than average hosting because it doesn't work well on the cheap and cheerfull services.

You mention being prepared to pay. I would suggest there is no need whatsoever to pay for the software because the free stuff is so comarable to the expensive stuff but rather save your money to hire a pro if you get stuck during development.

Both Prestashop and Magento have such good community support this might never be neccessary.

Good luck

John

 

[simpson7647]

what about 123-reg.co.uk, anyone used or had any experiences???
thanks
and 8.99 GBP sounds a decent price.

 

[Sarah_App]

Thanks all for your advice, will definately look into them

Sarah

 

[Nathf1505]

opencart mate simple and easy

 

[simpson7647]

sorry to sound stupid but what is opencart?

thanks

 

[Nathf1505]

Its an ecommerce cart.

 

[simpson7647]

o ok thanks, so combine in with a site?

 

[Nathf1505]

Its a whole site, i have pm'ed you

 

[simpson7647]

okay thankyou, ill talk to you on their.
thanks for your help, much appreciated.

 

[Wikki]

what about 123-reg.co.uk, anyone used or had any experiences???
thanks
and 8.99 GBP sounds a decent price.

For domains yes, go for it.
For hosting or dedicated servers, avoid

 

[See Web Solutions]

I recommend Zen Cart

Very easy to use with no knowledge once the site is set up.

PM me if you want more information regarding setup etc.


Craig

 

[simpson7647]

im looking at prestashop but please tell me the comparison between the 2
thanks

 

[swasa11]

With ZS Cart You can create your online store in just minutes.Its very simple to set your online store with ZS Cart - Ecommerce Store Builder.

 

[altwebdesign]

zen cart is always highly reccomended as is oscommerce.
Check with your webhost, some of them offer a shopping cart as a plugin which is generally mega easy to us

 

[sanjiv]

osCommerce is rubbish because it is never updated so there are a lot of security flaws. Zen Cart and CRE Loaded are good.

 

[anditucker]

I suggest Magento it has great flexibility over the zen cart. I have developed and design many ecoomerce sites using zen-cart and magento but i found Magento is very good. Zen cart is good too. For more detail about developing website using different open source you can contact me on my skype mayur.addon or PM me. I'll get back to you very soon.

 

[See Web Solutions]

zen cart is always highly reccomended as is oscommerce.
Check with your webhost, some of them offer a shopping cart as a plugin which is generally mega easy to us

My Business Unlimited package comes with free 1 click install of

Agora Shopping Cart
CubeCart
osCommerce Shopping Cart

and I can add Zen Cart to your account if you pm me.

Regards​

 

[sanjiv]

Never used it but heard CubeCart is also very good.

 

[elisnov]

I would recommend Prestashop