It’s that time of the year again. Down with the 2011 version and up with the 2012 version of which shopping cart is best. As always this is my list and based on the last 12 months developing and optimising shopping carts so you need to take it as gospel. Feel free to use the comments below to disagree with me (or heaven forbid agree with me) your experiences provide valuable tips and guidence to veryone that comes here wondering what shopping cart to use.
As a bonus this year I have built a question and answer community built around the guide. Go to ask.whichcart.com to get one on one help with deciding what ecommerce platform to build your business on.
5 Best Shopping Carts for 2012.
BigCommerce
The most features, very good looking, very stable and 24/7 support. Only two real downsides. No wholesale customer supprt (I don’t care what they say) and you need a seperate account for every store you setup. [Read BigCommerce Review]
Shopify
Very simple to setup and use. If you have beautiful products you need Shopify to do them justice. If you just want to sell products checkout Shopify before you check the others. It generally costs more by the time you buythe addons you need but the user experience is unparalleled. [Read Shopify Review - coming tomorrow]
Americommerce
Have more than one store? Wish you could run them all from one backend? Get Americommerce and you can. You also get excellent SEO, built in newsletters and affiliate programs, lots of reports and statictics, marketing and promotional tools [Read Americommerce Review]
CoreCommerce
CoreCommerce updates more frequently than any other shopping cart software. If you want to stay at the cutting edge of ecommerce and give your sales every new benefit CoreCommerce is the cart you want to be on. [Read CoreCommerce Review]
Pinnacle Cart
The best marketing tools in the industry make Pinnacle a must have on every top 5 list. Drift marketing, Global Price Sales and Product Update Emails will send your sales through the roof. If your sales have been weak consider a look at Pinnacle Cart. [Read Pinnacle Cart Review]
Notable Mention for 2012
Ashop Commerce. Wonderful cart, includes an Australian version for the Aussies (including toll free support, Australia Post and all major banks supported). Beautiful free themes and solid SEO basis and tools. No matter where you are in the world Ashop will give you excellent ecommerce, I can not wait to work with this platform again. [Read Ashop Commerce Review]
Volusion is back in favour. It is still the most difficult shopping cart to make look good but they have made some dramatic changes in the latest release to make the back end administration much easier to use. It is still rather overwhelming but at least if you need to use Volusion you will not go crazy in the process. [Read Volusion Review]
Best Licensed Shopping Cart Software in 2012
Interspire – although i suspect it will be gone soon, the updates are getting fewer and further between. I love the cart and you can still use it but yo might need to find a developer to back you up when BigCommerce engulfs Interspire and they can it.
Lemonstand – still a massive memory hog though but a good server can take it. Don’t use it at a budget shared host though
Pinnacle Cart – same reasons as hosted
KonaKart – A solid Java entry – don’t move to Java just to use it, but if you are on Java it is a great product with a solid feature set
AspDotNetStorefront – the best cart for a windows environment (without PHP), even supports multistore wonderfully. Worth a look for any organisation.
Best Free Cart of 2012
None. Thats a trick question. Ecommerce software is something you should invest in. If you try and do it cheap you will suffer and so will your sales. Hosted shopping cart platforms cost on average $25/month if that is too much to spend you need to rethink what you are planning.
Best Shopping Cart for WordPress
WP e-commerce
It costs less than a case of beer, has a huge list of eager supporting developers and has been continually improved by it’s New Zealand developer until it has seamless integration into WordPress and a very consistent interface.
Best low cost ecommerce platforms
WP e-commerce Gold Cart – $40.00
BigCartel – $9.99/month
CoreCommerce – $19.99/month
Shopping Carts to avoid in 2012
Magento and Magento GO
Simply put magento in any form is the most complicated and expensive shopping cart experience you can have. Give it a wide berth.
osCommerce
osCommerce was old 8 years ago, in 2012 it is just plain sad. On the bright side it hasn’t had a new release in almost a year so perhaps it is finally on it’s way out.
ZenCart
ZenCart, like osCommerce is just plain old. Worse though than osCommerce is that ZenCart designers and store owners all seem to be colour blind. I still have a headache form the last Zencart site I had to fix.
Conclusion
There is no conclusion I just didn’t want to end the article on ZenCart that would be tragic. I will come back to this in a couple of days once you have all picked my recommendations to pieces. In the meanwhile head over to ask.whichcart.com if you have questions about what cart to use or leave a comment, I love comments.
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Tags: americommerce, BigCommerce, CoreCommerce, pinnacle cart, Shopify, Volusion
Your 5 best picks are hosted carts. What about self hosted carts for users who want more customization, better cost control, and their own hosting etc. I would rather see more reviews of shopping cart software we can actually own like lemonstand, magento, or interspire.
Sorry that was a cut and paste error Kurt, I will add the licensed top 5 shortly. until I do the list went
Interspire – although i suspect it will be gone soon, the updates are getting fewer and further between. I love the cart and you can still use it but yo might need to find a developer to back you up when BigCommerce engulfs Interspire and they can it.
Lemonstand – still a massive memory hog though but a good server can take it. Don’t use it at a budget shared host though
Pinnacle Cart – same reasons as hosted
KonaKart – A solid Java entry – don’t move to Java just to use it, but if you are on Java it is a great product with a solid feature set
AspDotNetStorefront – the best cart for a windows environment (without PHP), even supports multistore wonderfully. Worth a look for any organisation.
Totally agree with your comments on Interspire. A few years ago I was using most their software and thought is was great! Next thing I know they offer everyone 12 months free support. Nice of them, but suspect! I later find out that all the updates they created every month or two stopped. Obviously the reason for this was Big Commerce and the likes of Interspire Email Marketer could no longer compete with the likes of Mailchimp. I understand this decision by Interspire as Big Commerce is easier to support when they host it, plus thier cash flow is better with monthly money. However I did invest thousands of pounds and a lot of time in Interspire and I now I have websites which need converting to another solutions. This is why I am worried about Big Commerce letting me down in a year or so as it is run by the same people. I am looking at Magento now. It’s early for me still, but finding it a nightmare at the moment. Having lots of issues with the installation. MagentoGo seems sooo slow too. The main reason I am tempted by Magento is it looks the best for growth and integration, however if it continues to be a headache I may need to give up a stick with what I know. i.e. Big Commerce
Magento only has the most growth potential because it is so far behind the rest of the shopping carts in terms of features and usability. They should be world leaders with the funding and backing they have.
I personally am very worried that using Paypal for checkout with Magento or MagentoGO will become compulsory (or at the very least like eBay, you will be penalised for not using PayPal) – of course that is there right, they own it, but as a small business PayPal is a terrible platform to base your checkout.
Hi Andrew
Thanks for the reply. I think the main reason that I am tempted by Magento is that it is a self hosted solutions. I.e So if I need to do any special bespoke development I can get access to all the files, plus the MySQL database. Also there seems to be more integrations to add on. I suppose magneto is similar to WordPress in this way that there are lots of other companies / developers to can create the add ons (without being user friendly!
). I am right in saying that with Big Commerce I will not have this flexibility and it’s only themselves that create any add ons / extensions?
I have recently been trying to contact Magento to enquire about the level of support I would get with the professional edition. Bear in mind that it was a sales enquiry, not support and I was considering to spend $3000 USD no one replied for over a week, then I only got a reply because a later email i sent was a bit stroppy. I basically got a call from a customer services rep that seemed as though someone higher up had seen my email and had asked her questions! It seemed like the call was to defend her position rather than answer my questions and be friendly and helpful. I said I was worried about the support I would get and she said I would get 90 days, then I am passed on to the Magento partners which will be an additional cost. I said I might as well save $3000 USD and proceed alone with the community edition, then pay a Magento developer where needed if required. I also asked what the support response time would be and I got emailed what looked like a terms and conditions. It felt like it was more of a legal document to protect them, rather than a clear and helpful documention to help me.
Andrew I would be interested in your thought’s? Also if I can you please tell me your opinions on the best self hosted solution if I wanted to go down that route? I am already an owner of a couple of licences for Interspire shopping cart and would happily continue with this route, but it seems like they are no longer developing the updates for this product in the same way as Big Commerce, even though it’s the same product.
Keep up the great job and I appricate your straight to the point opinions. Obviously I not going to trust solely your opinion and do extra research on the web, but I had found that your website is the best resource for people comparing eccomerce solutions as proved with the amount of comments and replies you have received!
Lately I have been using Pinnacle Cart and putting it through it’s paces. I like the company and the cart is good and always getting better – it may or may not be ready for you now, but keep it in mind it will be shortly.
I enjoyed Lemonstand – it lacks a few features being so new but they are making great progress. You need a decent server to run it properly because it hogs a lot of memory. They have recently announced a SaaS hosted version so I am a little suspect on the future of the licensed version.
Magento is fine if you accept you need to relearn a lot and are happy to make the dollar investment in getting it setup properly. The learning curve is very steep, but once you get your head around it it does the job. Needs a high end server to run properly so look for a quality host.
Interspire is still my cart of choice – I have just accepted that I need to add any new features because it doesn’t look like they will. Interspire is just so easy to use.
I agree with your assessment on Lemonstand and Interspire. I’m using interspire right now but planning to switch to lemonstand once it matures a bit. I like what I see so far. After the way interspire has treated me, I would never switch to bigcommerce.
I really hope they revive Interspire it was my favourite shopping cart – I just wish I knew what it’s future holds.
I agree. I would definitely use Interspire Shopping Cart. I spoke to a sales person at Interspire last week and asked a direct question if they are still going to produce updates as I haven’t seen any for over a year, even though Big Commerce is the same solution and is still getting updates fairly regularly. Let’s just say he didn’t deny Interspire shopping will be gradually phased out and all efforts will be with Big Commerce. He avoided the question well like a politician.
Hi, I am looking for an e-commerce host or cart that will allow me to load up my own html front web page and also allow me to load up my own content pages. Linking into the service/product sales where I like. SEO is fundamental.
I am using Volusion for an online product store. And I don’t mind it. It is giving me pretty good SEO. I would use it for company I am asking about, but I do not want to be locked into their template. I need the freedom to adjust my home and content pages to what I like using dreamweaver.
Any ideas? Thanks
Hi, I’ve been researching shopping cart software for weeks because I want to move from amazon to my own site.
I want to be able to control every aspect of the site from one place.
The main feature that I can’t seem to find is free printing of USPS shipping labels, and also automatic email sending of tracking info to the customer and tracking info showing up in the customers account.
I am interested in hosted
non hosted
monthly payment
one time fee
or free
Shopping Cart Program
I would appreciate any advise you may have.
Free printing of UPS labels? Not sure any cart does that. Several including BigCommerce integrate with ShipWorks to provide that functionality for about $15 a month though.
I was reading your core commerce review and It says something about integration with USPS united states postal service.
Are you able to print USPS labels on core commerce and have the tracking info sent to the customer automatically.
Core Commerce prints USPS mail labels for most mail types. Email notifications can be done manually – not automatically for tracking numbers
As sad as it may be – you are one of my favorite sites on the web. Love your reviews
Back in the day, any new cart that came along on hotscripts I would have to download and install. Now its easier to simply follow you.
Angus
Thanks Angus – just saw your auscommerce site – looks great – I will register shortly and start making some noise.
Sounds good. Funny how there are so few ecommerce communities out there despite the hype – especially in Aus. Thought I’d have a crack at one as a hobby
Developers very welcome.
Hi, really appreciate your reviews.
We are trying to decide between Americommerce and 3D Cart (switching from XCart). Am wondering why you do not review 3D Cart and what your opinion is.
Thank you in advance.
I totally agree with your reviews above, especially with Magento. I can confirm, working with Magento is a complete nightmare. The learning curve + resources it requires just isn’t worth it.
I wish I could say there’s a cart I’m totally happy with, but so far, it just doesnt exist.
I a robust WordPress solution was ever developed, I think the combination of WordPress’s CMS + a solid engine could be an amazing thing.
I think since Magento has been mentioned, Prestashop is worth mentioning as well, as it seems to be another active open source solution that isn’t anywhere near as bad as Magento.
I too am interested in Prestashop. Planning on doing my first testbed install today. Looks to have some pretty visually appealing templates.
Anyone ever worked with VPASP? I’ve had good luck with them. Its a bit clunky looking out of the box, but with proper templates it isn’t bad.
I was delighted to come across your website today when doing a search for shopping carts. Thank you for this review – it’s excellent and very informative!
For the last couple of years we’ve been using Zen Cart for our online shop – the learning curve for me in setting it up was huge and the time involved considerable! Every time there’s an upgrade, it’s another painful process, taking more time than I want to spend and usually more than I can afford. And from your post, I gather I’m not the only one to be frustrated with its complexities.
So I’m looking for an alternative – hence my web search this afternoon in which I came across your post.
As our site is WordPress based, we need a solution that will integrate well with WP – or at least play happily together with it.
I wanted to ask if you’ve come across Tribulant’s WP shopping cart plugin – a commercial plugin I also found in today’s search. Their site is at http://tribulant.com/plugins/view/10/wordpress-shopping-cart-plugin
It appears Tribulant and its collection of WP plugins are the work of a group of enthusiastic young developers, based in South Africa.
I wasn’t sure if you hadn’t mentioned this because you’ve not come across it or because you wouldn’t want to recommend it.
Thanks to your post, I’ve also discovered the existence of the WP e-commerce plugin, which sounds very promising. Along with the usual requirements, we need a cart that will handle Australian GST and postage options (for both Australian and international purchases) easily and smoothly.
You did make the very valid point hat there is no such thing as a “best free shopping cart”. The WP e-commerce plugin is free, but I’m assuming you’d recommend their Gold Cart Plugin or some other addon to go with it?
Cheers
Sue