If you decide to start your business on the Web, then you will need a web trading platform or simply an online store. You can create the latter both from scratch and through special engines - CMS (Content Management System / Content Management System). The last option in a good half of the cases will be preferable to a full-fledged layout. CMS is fast, simple and usually inexpensive.
Such software is a set of tools that allow you to manage content: create it, edit it, and also change the appearance of the site. In the vastness of the Web, you can find both universal engines and specialized ones. Some are designed for portals and blogs, while others are designed for corporate websites and trading platforms. We are also interested in choosing a CMS for an online store.
Experienced users have long identified the ideal engine (or even several) for themselves and work closely with it. But beginners in this business are tormented by doubts and ask quite natural questions: “And which CMS for an online store to choose in this orotherwise, and what should you pay attention to in the first place? And if ten years ago, normal engines could be counted on the fingers, today the number of proposals has exceeded a hundred.
So, let's try to figure out which CMS is better for an online store, how they generally differ and how not to miscalculate with the choice of system. We will consider the most popular solutions that have received a lot of flattering responses from both the owners of trading platforms and specialists servicing the engine.
Which CMS to choose for an online store?
First of all, let's determine the critical qualities of the engine. By taking into account the characteristics that are important for your marketplace, you can choose the perfect tool that will move your business forward. Answer the question "Which CMS to choose for an online store?" we will be keeping an eye on Russian realities.
Engine cost
CMS come with a paid distribution license and a free one. But in addition to the cost of the engine, you also need to take into account the prices for the services of a programmer. For example, if you choose the WordPress CMS for an online store, then you can find a more or less intelligent specialist on every corner. Moreover, the latter will ask for a very modest fee for his work due to the great competition.
If you choose Bitrix CMS to create an online store, you will see that there are noticeably fewer programmers offering services for maintaining this shell and they ask much more, because this engine is much more complicated than Wordpress.
Easy to manage
Here for the most part available inmind adding content to the site through CMS. You can find complex engines that only a knowledgeable specialist can deal with, but there are lighter options - with an intuitive editor and a simple administrative panel.
Before deciding for yourself which CMS to build an online store, be sure to pay attention to such important parameters as mass price changes and ease of editing cards. There are both automated solutions, and with only manual stuffing. Naturally, with an impressive range of goods, it is better to stop at the first option.
Functional
To answer the question "Which CMS is best for an online store?", you need to decide what kind of functionality you want to see on your site. You can choose fairly simple options or fancy solutions with an abundance of anything and everything.
Here, first of all, you need to look at the needs of your business, and not at your own "Wishlist". If a couple of photos and descriptions are enough for effective sales, then there is simply no need to overpay for fancy functionality. Not only will you lose money, but also load your site with unclaimed scripts.
Integration with third-party programs and services
Be sure to pay attention to the ease of importing and exporting supplier price lists. With a wide range of products, manually stuffing thousands of items is very difficult. First of all, you should find out if the engine can work with Excel files, because it is in this program that most of the lists andprice lists including.
The same can be said about integration with third-party services. It will be very useful if the CMS is able to read the export or import data, for example, from the 1C program. This will greatly simplify the accounting of goods and work with the web store as a whole.
You should also pay attention to integration with Yandex. Metrica and Google Analytics services. Both have a special section for entrepreneurs - "E-commerce". There you can track a lot of useful points not only about the state of sales, but also about the behavior of buyers on your site.
Easy to edit templates
If you need a specialist to remove or add some block in the body of your store, then you can easily go broke on the maintenance of the engine, especially when it comes to a trading platform with modest financial turnover.
So when choosing from the next top CMS for an online store, be sure to check whether it is possible to seamlessly change the order of blocks, set up pagination and other actions with the template. In many engines, including free ones, such functionality is implemented very intelligently.
Payment and delivery
It would not be superfluous to clarify whether the engine can calculate the cost of products and whether it has its own modules for organizing payment acceptance and generating delivery data. If you look at the reviews of CMS for online stores, we will see that only a small part of the systems has such functionality. Moreover, additional money will have to be paid for the introduction of such blocks, whilenovice entrepreneur, every penny counts.
Next, consider specific offers that can be found on the Web.
Best CMS for an online store for 2019:
- "1C: Bitrix".
- OpenCart.
- CS-Cart.
- PrestaShop.
- NetCat.
- UMI. CMS.
- Joomla.
- WordPress.
- MODX.
Let's take a look at the notable qualities of each engine.
1C: Bitrix
In the first place in our CMS rating for an online store is a universal and paid solution from 1C. Here we have one of the main advantages of the engine - this is a seamless integration with 1C products.
The CMS has an excellent ability to manage orders from users and has its own CRM. "1C Bitrix" was in first place in our rating of CMS for online stores also due to the presence of a very intelligently organized delivery process. The engine itself sends a request for the delivery of goods and independently monitors the status of the parcel, notifying the buyer of all movements.
One of the most popular CMS for online stores offers the widest functionality and an abundance of presets for almost all occasions. The only negative that novice users complain about is the high entry threshold. It is very, very difficult for a beginner to cope with self-configuring the engine.
Yes, the official website of the developer has a lot of training materials, both in text and video format, but even oninitial acquaintance with the features of CMS will take a lot of time. So you will need a specialist to support the site.
OpenCart
The second place in our rating of CMS for online stores is the engine distributed under a free license. The product is open source and was developed specifically for creating web trading platforms.
One of the best free CMS for online stores allows you to set up automatic saving of all information available on the engine, which will protect the entrepreneur from accidentally deleting important data. In the basic version, the calculation of the cost of the order and delivery is available, taking into account the specified data (taxes, region, etc.).
Free CMS for online store OpenCart attracts primarily with its flexibility. With the help of additional modules, you can turn the engine into a real monster, which is in no way inferior in functionality to the same Bitrix.
A lot of modules are at your service on the official resource of the developer and on specialized forums - almost 10 thousand of the most diverse solutions for businesses of any direction and format. But it is worth clarifying that you will have to pay a lot of money for especially advanced add-ons.
As for the entry threshold into the free CMS for the OpenCart online store, you can't call it low. You will need to understand and get used to the engine interface, and it is better to familiarize yourself with the functionality through video instructions. The latter are presented in large numbers both on the official resource of the developer and onthe ubiquitous YouTube service. Nevertheless, OpenCart is easier to understand and master than the same Bitrix.
CS-Cart
This is a professional solution for serious marketplaces. The engine is distributed under a paid license and has several modifications. Judging by user reviews, the interface of this CMS is simple and intuitive. Many do not even have to look into the help system. And the latter, by the way, is organized as it should and carefully chews all the details of the engine.
The system is easily synchronized with third-party solutions and products from 1C as well. It is possible to fully export and import price lists and set access rights. Blocks are added in a couple of clicks and it is not necessary to invite a specialist for customization.
Basic modification has all the necessary tools for organizing payments and delivery. It is also worth mentioning the possibility to “attach” promotions and some bonuses to individual products or a whole group.
As far as security is concerned, the engine is in perfect order with this. Protection is organized at the highest level. Numerous user reviews confirm that the system is highly resistant to both hacking and heavy loads. So the engine can be trusted with serious projects.
Of the minuses, users note not the most stable work of technical support. She can answer the question both in a few minutes and in a couple of days. But this minus is leveled by an extensive community. On forums dedicated to the engine,local specialists respond very quickly and solve almost all problems very quickly.
PrestaShop
Fourth place in our rating of CMS for online stores is also a very flexible solution that has gained wide popularity among domestic web entrepreneurs. The basic version of the engine has everything you need to get started.
If this is not enough, then you can find additional modules on the developer's website and thematic forums. The latter are noticeably fewer than those of OpenCart, but still there are plenty to choose from. The engine occupies a leading position in a variety of "Top 10 CMS for an online store." The fact is that this solution is being developed by enthusiasts from all over the world and almost any problem is solved in a matter of minutes with the help of the local community.
The engine has also received a lot of praise for its implementation of the merchandise function. This is really a very convenient management of names. You can create catalogs, groups, massively disable products and perform other manipulations that greatly facilitate the routine of a merchandiser. There is an import of products from CSV, a variety of forms, and there is also intelligent integration with CRM systems and related analytics.
Besides, one of the best in the top CMS for online stores offers wide settings in the field of delivery and payment. Judging by user reviews, the engine is stable, well protected and works great on all popular platforms. It is also worth noting that the basic version of the CMSdistributed under a free license, which is important for start-up entrepreneurs.
NetCat
This is the brainchild of domestic developers with wide functionality and a flexible administrative panel. The engine appeared not so long ago, but thanks to the efforts of the owners, it continues to develop steadily, acquiring new and interesting features.
The solution is paid, so support and maintenance are carried out at the proper and quite decent level. The engine can be easily connected to a variety of CRM systems and analytical databases. Specifically for trading platforms, there is a special extension, which is called “Online Store”.
One of the main advantages of this CMS is its intelligent integration with 1C products and My Warehouse, which greatly facilitates the export and import of goods. There is also a functionality for working with delivery and currency accounts. The last point has been worked out from and to, so with the help of NetCat you can easily export goods for Yandex. Market.
The defense did not let us down either. Project security is organized at a professional level. Some serious cases of hacking or data loss are not discussed on thematic forums. The engine has shown itself well both in working with small projects and with larger ones.
The only critical disadvantage that users often complain about is the confusing interface. It takes some getting used to, especially if you switched from, for example, OpenCart or PrestaShop. The creators of the engine were a little too clever with the menu branches, but again to the location of the toolkityou can get used to it. In addition, the developer promised to bring the appearance of the CMS to a more or less classic style in the near future, scattering categories and items in intuitive places.
UMI. CMS
This is a free engine on which you can easily organize a medium-sized trading web site. One of the main features of this CMS is the ease of management. The engine received an intuitive interface that any newcomer to this business will understand.
This approach allows you to save the lion's share of funds on the services of programmers. In the case of Yumi, it is not at all necessary to turn to specialists to solve even serious problems. In addition, the engine has a very large-scale community that uploads training videos on YouTube, including those on organizing trading platforms.
It is also worth noting that the CMS has a solid set of features for customization. You can customize almost all elements of the engine to your taste and color. Even in the basic version, the developer has included a huge number of templates and presets, so in most cases, there is no need to install or buy add-ons.
In addition, the Yumi engine offers a unique opportunity for this segment to edit content directly on the site itself. This greatly simplifies the routine, because there is no need to constantly switch between the administrative panel and the web resource.
Users were also pleased with other advantages of Yumi, where, among others, seamless integration with products from 1C and Mywarehouse”, as well as the availability of a mobile application. The latter is distributed free of charge and allows customers to work with orders directly from their smartphone.
Of the minuses, users note not the best organization of engine protection. On thematic forums, they often complained about the leakage of confidential data of both customers and the entrepreneur. The problem is solved by installing advanced add-ons that significantly increase the level of engine protection, but all sensible extensions are distributed only for a fee.
Joomla
This is a universal engine on which you can organize a website of any direction, including a trading platform. For this, a special and multifunctional add-on VirtueMart has been developed. The latter significantly expands the capabilities of the engine in terms of organizing sales and transforms Joomla into a full-fledged online store.
In addition, thousands of extensions and plug-ins can be attached to the engine. The latter change both the functionality of the site and its appearance. Most add-ons are distributed free of charge, like Joomla itself. But there are also more advanced paid solutions that are supported by developers and designed for commercial use.
The interface of the engine may seem complicated to someone, but after a couple of hours of study, you begin to quickly navigate it. In any case, there are a lot of training materials on the official website of the developer and on the same YouTube. It is also worth noting the numerous and friendly community, which very quickly sorts out the questions that have arisen.
This engineperfect for small and medium projects. If you are planning to create a large and serious online store, then it is better to give preference to the options described above. And the point here is not so much in functionality, but in data protection. The engine is open source and security issues are often complained on thematic forums.
WordPress
Wordpress is a free engine tailored for blogs, forums and news sites. But just like in the case of Joomla, you can install a large WooCommerce add-on on it. The latter significantly expands the functionality of the engine and turns CMS Wordpress into an online store.
The interface here is convenient and simple. If in Joomla you had to spend more than one hour analyzing the main functionality, then in the case of WordPress, as such, there is no entry threshold. But simplicity played its part. This engine is inferior to Joomla in customization.
In addition, the basic version of the WooCommerce add-on has little specialized functionality. Yes, you can build a simple store on it, but for more serious projects you have to download a lot of related plugins and extensions. I am glad that on the thematic forums of the latter there are a huge number for everything and everyone.
Wordpress also does not have a good security record. You can find attached modules that are responsible for security, but sensible options will cost a tidy sum. Moreover, if you hang a lot of extensions and plugins, then the online store will slow down. So forserious projects, this option is also not suitable.
MODX
This engine is distributed under a free license, and on its basis you can create almost anything, including organizing a medium-sized web trading platform. The default modification has all the necessary tools for this, and also supports well-known payment systems.
The engine offers the user wide functionality and flexible settings for customization. The CMS interface is by no means complicated, despite the abundance of menu branches. Each item is located in an intuitive place and there is no need to search for something by category.
Besides, the engine is quite flexible in terms of workflow. Here is all the necessary list for the sale and support of the transaction. Moreover, the package of documents is periodically updated with an eye to the user's region.
Template design is a fly in the ointment. You can choose the appearance of the site from a modest set of presets. Serious visual customization of the latter is not provided, so you have to be content with what you have. Alternatively, you can find solutions from third-party layout designers, but they are already paid.
For some money you can also hire a programmer who will "finish" the administrative panel specifically for your needs. Fortunately, the source code of the engine is open and there are no problems with this. If you plan to organize a modest marketplace, then you can limit yourself to basic presets.
In closing
This segment offersa huge selection of CMS for organizing trading web sites. Each engine has its own advantages and disadvantages. When choosing a system, it should be taken into account that a good half of free products boast impressive functionality and wide customization options, but with security they are not so smooth. Therefore, serious projects should not be trusted to them.
While paid systems are secure and offer the highest level of security. Moreover, developers are responsible for their product and organize high-quality (in most cases) maintenance of your projects. So paid engines are the place for large marketplaces that need solid capacity and 24/7 technical support.
