Magento Vs WooCommerce Vs OpenCart: Which Platform is Best for eCommerce Startups?
Today every new business or startup turns out to be growing in the eCommerce industry. And why not, since it’s the most profit-spinning realm found across the globe. At the same time, with big sharks like Alibaba, Amazon, the competition is growing harder than ever. One of the obvious reasons for the success of the eCommerce industry could be you are getting a wider reach at low operational costs.
Do you think the eCommerce industry developed overnight? Obviously not! The industry was set back in 1960 but its popularity began when Amazon jumped on the bandwagon. Fortunately, today setting up an eCommerce store is not a big deal, all you need to do is consider a reliable team of Magento developers in India who have the knack to provide unmatchable services and deliver such outcomes that can help you to grow in online marketplaces.
Now when you think of developing an eCommerce store, the first and foremost thing that comes to mind is which platform to consider for creating a successful eCommerce store. Fortunately, eCommerce platforms are many from Magento to Shopify, Woocommerce, Opencart, X-cart, etc out of these Magento, Woocommerce, and Opencart have been pretty much in demand. However, it’s insane of you if you end up making a random choice. So here’s a detailed post for you. Read away to know what Magento, WooCommerce, and Opencart and how these platforms differ from each other. Also, the post will certainly help you in making the right choice.
Let’s Get Acquainted with The Trio – Magento, WooCommerce, and Opencart
1. Magento
Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms that ensure businesses store and manage hundreds and thousands of products seamlessly. Being open-source in nature, the platform turns out to be extremely scalable and offers a user experience like never before. In fact, since its inception, Magento has grown and become popular across the globe. At present, do you know how many merchants are using Magento? It’s more than 250,000 merchants and the number is still growing! The way eCommerce has become the need of the hour and so has Magento.
Now the question is why businesses must opt for Magento to develop their eCommerce business? Well, We have found a very well and briefly written answer to this question. It is taken from the Hire Magento developers India page of etatvasoft.com.
Why do you suggest Magento over other eCommerce solutions?
When you start an eCommerce business, it’s important to choose the right platform for the website that will perfectly suit your needs and goals. Magento is one of the most popular and best platforms to choose from because it offers:
- Ease of use
- Offers advanced features like integration with Amazon, eBay, ElasticSearch, etc.
- Modules and extensions
- Supported inventory size
- Open Source version along with commercial
- Best fit for any business from SME to Enterprise
Source – Magento developers India page at eTatvasoft.com
How is this beneficial? Well, to begin with, it is the most powerful eCommerce development platform that is available for free. Any Magento developer can access the source code and come up with an intuitive-looking eCommerce website for their clientele. Other than being open-source, Magento offers faster loading web pages. If your website doesn’t load in 3 secs, that’s it your user has switched to your competitor. A slow-loading website is a big no-no if you want to succeed. Fortunately, Magento is one such eCommerce platform that not just understands the importance of website loading time but also ensures the creation of fast-loading web pages. Another interesting benefit offered by Magento development is that you get complete control over the source code to the developers.
One of the most intimidating benefits of Magento is that it offers a safe and sound experience. The eCommerce platform has indeed succeeded in the prevention of security hazards.
2. WooCommerce
Apart from Magento, WooCommerce is another contender that is used to deliver the best possible eCommerce solutions. If you want to create simple yet power-packed digital solutions, WooCommerce is the perfect choice to consider. Now you must be questioning why WooCommerce developed when we already have Magento.
One of the obvious benefits of WooCommerce development is that here you get a wide range of customized themes that can be either free or paid (depending on your choice). In addition, a WooCommerce store can be installed and opened in a very short span of time. Some of its key features include unrestricted customization, built-in blogging system, one can manage product categories seamlessly, adding tags and attributes conveniently, whether you want to sort out different products or filter them – it’s possible, location can be customized, you can create a successful store irrespective of different currencies, languages and measurement units. When it comes to security, WooCommerce turns out to be extremely safe and reliable. Lastly, WooCommerce is pretty much SEO friendly. This means you don’t have to look for an SEO or digital agency to rank your website. With WooCommerce development, SEO optimization becomes way simpler and more effective.
3. OpenCart
Our last but not the least contender is Opencart. As the name implies, the platform is open-source and works as a perfect one-stop solution when it comes to creating online stores (the successful ones). Much like Magento and WooCommerce, even Open cart offers SEO-friendliness and turns out to be 100% transparent in nature.
In comparison to Magento and WooCommerce, Working on an Open cart turns out to be pretty much easier. Further, I would like to emphasize the aspect that makes OpenCart different from Magento and WooCommerce development?
Opencart is pretty easy in regards to installation and setting up! Here you don’t have to deal with any troubles or headaches even if you are a non-techie. And since it’s fully open-source, it means the platform is free to use. So your overall eCommerce development cost will be lowered significantly. From the business perspective, it is very crucial to choose platforms that do provide some control and Opencart is highly recommended here.
One of the unusual benefits offered by the Ecommerce platform is that handling multiple retail platforms turns out to be a cakewalk. And not just multiple stores but stores can be created in multiple languages as well.
Magento Vs WooCommerce Vs OpenCart
Well to begin with Magento is one such eCommerce platform that is designed to create medium and large stores, OpenCart is an open-source platform and WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin to be precise. Some of the key features of Magento include product management, order and inventory management, SEO, seamless payment, Accurate shipping, etc. Some of the key features of WooCommerce development include advanced order editing, payment gateways, delivery settings, stock tracking, SEO, email marketing, and so forth. Some of the key features of OpenCart include multiple store management, multi-language support, easy payment gateways, endless shipping features, complete control over the eCommerce store, precise sales reports, and so forth.
Apart from these features, what else is the possibility here? For instance, Magento development includes 300+ successful integrations whereas for WooCommerce it’s 500+ and Opencart it is 200+. Now today, cybersecurity has been pretty much in talks. As a result, businesses are no longer willing to compromise when it comes to security. Speaking of which, Magento is the clear winner here. Though this one is open-source in nature has the potential to deal with all vulnerabilities like none other platforms. WooCommerce and OpenCart do lack some features but I am sure they will cope soon.
Apart from security, Magento is pretty known for its performance. Some of its core features include better retention of data, an enhanced address system, excellent and quick page load optimization.
Are There Cons Too?
Since we have been talking about the pros, advantages, and benefits offered by each platform. Now let us see if there are any cons or disadvantages?
For Magento
One of the biggest disadvantages is that you must be tech-savvy or at least knowledgeable even when it comes to operating the platform. And that’s the reason why you must consider hiring Magento developers in India who can create the best eCommerce stores from their space. Another con of Magento is that it offers a steep learning curve and limited customer support.
For WooCommerce
One of the biggest disadvantages of WooCommerce as an eCommerce platform is that several extensions aren’t available for free. Other than developing the website owner has to focus on maintaining as well or he must hire an expert for that. Here you are the one who is responsible for regular upgrades and improvements. And most importantly, the eCommerce conversion funnel can never be fulfilled.
For OpenCart
Lastly, when it comes to OpenCart since it’s developed using CSS and Javascripts, it turns out to be a nightmare for non-programming merchants. Here features and functionalities are pretty much moderate and while updated, you are more likely to encounter errors.
Final Thought
Each eCommerce platform is of a kind whether you choose Magento, WooCommerce, or OpenCart. The answer to choosing the right platform highly depends on what your exact requirements are. So choose wisely. I hope you enjoyed reading the post. Keep watching the space to know more regarding the same.
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