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The Must-Read Pros and Cons of Zen Cart Software

Website Mockups

If you’re looking for shopping cart software to use to manage products, then consider Zen Cart. There are pros and cons to using this platform as your ecommerce cart software.

Zen Cart is used for ecommerce as checkout software. It is open sourced and uses PHP and MySQL. The software is free to install as a base, but certain modules and add-ons cost extra. The set up of the software also requires an expert to install and set up for the design.

The Pros of Using Zen Cart

Zen Cart has many add-ons available, but they all cost extra. Depending on what is needed, the system can be set up to function like any other shopping cart.

It makes for a good product management system by allowing several product options that include:

  • The ability to sort products into categories and sub-categories
  • Enter in the stock level of products
  • Create attributes for products that include color, size, and more
  • Add products in bulk
  • Create coupons and specials
  • Feature products
  • Collect and display reviews of products

The software is flexible enough to turn off and on each function as you need it.

Templates Available

Our expert designers have experience installing the software along with a website template of your choice. There are many free and paid ones.

Support for Using Zen Cart

The support forum is responsive to those seeking help with this software on their site. Once it is set up, a business owner can manage it with the help of support. Updates are needed often for the platform and are something the business owner, web master, or web programmer can perform.

Cons of Using Zen Cart

  • The site appearance of Zen Cart is not visually aesthetic. Just out of the box, the appearance is lacking. Instead, our web developers have experience in customizing the look of Zen Cart to match the custom design of the website or to give it a look of its own.
  • The site reporting system is very basic and keeps track of the viewable products, purchases, and orders. This feature could be improved to provide more specific product sale reports and profit. The reporting does give an overview for managing the information in terms of how much.
  • The most difficult aspect of Zen Cart ecommerce solutions is when you have to upgrade or add an add-on. The modifications can take a long time and sometimes require a start-from-scratch. Any upgrade and add-on costs money to improve upon the basic foundation.

The pros do outweigh the cons for having an effective ecommerce solution. Contact us for when you’re ready to install Zen Cart.

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