The
ecommerce field is always changing when it comes to software. While
there are many shopping cart programs, only a few reign on high. Not
only that, but there is one definitive winner that is used by almost a
third of webmasters in the Alexa top one million. If you are thinking of
joining the growing number of ecommerce businesses or if you want to
change to a better system, then it’s good to understand which shopping
carts are the most popular among the Internet’s top players.
Magneto
is currently the undisputed winner when it comes to popularity. Magneto
Community Edition is currently used by about 30 percent of top
webmasters. This is a favored program for newcomers and seasoned users
because it’s easy to configure, install and use. You can also build a
professional store in under an hour with this shopping cart.
If
you are looking for more power, then look no further than Magneto
Enterprise Edition. This shopping cart has become much more popular
recently. It’s currently used by about 5.8 percent of top Alexa
websites, which gives Magneto control of 35.8 percent of the market.
The
reason for this large increase is because Magneto offered a limited
free upgrade from Community Edition to Enterprise Edition. This move
proved useful in converting more customers.
Zen
Cart used to be a close competitor with Magneto, but times have
changed. It seems that many people don’t like the simplistic approach of
Zen Cart, or they have just forgotten about this shopping cart due to a
lack of marketing. While Zen Cart has many features, it’s not nearly as
powerful as many of the other leading shopping carts.
It’s
currently fourth in terms of popularity and it controls 7.4 percent of
the market. While that’s great when you compare all of the other
shopping carts, it spells dark days for Zen Cart if it can’t capture
more website owners.
In
a surprising move, Prestashop has been able to catapult itself to
second place with 12.3 percent of the total market. Much like Magneto,
Prestashop is built on the premise of allowing new online business
owners to develop an ecommerce website in an hour or less. It also offers many advanced features that are easy to use, such as catalog management and maintaining a list of clients.
While
Prestashop’s gains haven’t been nearly as dramatic as Magneto’s, it’s
still a large leap for this relative newcomer. Many are even thinking
that it will eventually become the leader in this close race.
Shopify
offers many popular features, and it has dramatically jumped in
popularity. Though Shopify is not used as frequently as Zen Cart or the
others, an analysis of Google’s search results shows that many people
are searching for Shopify, which can lead to a wealth of new users in
the future. Shopify is currently third when it comes to search results,
but it only controls about 3.7 percent of the market.
This is another shopping cart to watch out for because it can easily rise through the ranks to become a top contender.
The
osCommerce cart is definitely the veteran in this field. It has been
around longer than most of the other leading shopping carts, and it
still has a strong following considering its age. osCommerce controls
about 6.3 percent of the market, putting it in fifth place.
While
osCommerce’s popularity has consistently waned in the last few years,
it will still be a long time before this shopping cart is extinct.
VirtueMart
is in third place with about 11.3 percent of the market, but it isn’t
gaining much attention for various reasons. It almost seems like luck
that VirtueMart is so popular. Not only has it slipped from second to
third, but its search popular is also decreasing. It’s currently right
behind Shopify.
This
is a great ecommerce platform, but it seems like many people aren’t
taking it as seriously as the other ones. As an interesting side note,
VirtueMart is the most popular platform in Russia, but only a handful of
people are using it in Japan.
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