As you might already be imagining, creating a virtual store requires a lot of work and dedication, and to start off on the right foot you should look for the best E-commerce platforms for your online business.

And once you've chosen the platform, then you can start thinking about how you're going to manage your stock, how you're going to process payments for your sales, shipping and delivery methods and much more. But knowing how to choose an excellent platform, even these items mentioned above will be easy to manage.

And it was with you in mind that we decided to create this content and show you the main functions and features you should look for in an open source E-commerce platform. So let's find out which ones are the best.

Best Open Source E-Commerce Platforms:

As we do not know if you are a beginner and are setting up your first online store or not, then know that there are several different platform options that you can use, just analyze each one and choose the one that suits you. So from now on we will help you choose one by showing its features and also the functionalities of each one of them.

And never forget that before choosing the platform it is good to already buy and register the domain (which will be the name of the online store) and hire an excellent website hosting plan. Follow the platforms:

WooCommerce:

Of all that we will show here in this article, the WooCommerce is the only one that is not a platform, in fact it is a plugin for virtual stores that are made in WordPress. Which is a super content manager (CMS), actually one of the world's favorites.

So when WooCommerce is combined with WordPress, it adds all the features that an E-commerce really needs. To be honest, it's our most favorite option.

And for beginners it's even better, because the administrative panel is so intuitive that even beginners can start setting up their own sales store without complications.

Woocommerce will help you with virtually all tasks, such as registering products in the store, processing payments, reporting, shipping calculations and much more.

Magento:

O Magento It is a very popular open source platform, especially when the topic is virtual store platforms, unlike Woocommerce, Magento is much more focused on extremely large virtual stores.

It stands out and manages to take advantage of other platforms because it is much more flexible. Magento is quite powerful and will allow you to create small or huge online stores.

But if you really want to enjoy all the features of this platform, know then that you will also have good experience and knowledge in programming. And then you know how to program? If you don't know, you'll need a programmer.

In terms of usability for the user, know right away that it is not very friendly or very intuitive, but even so, it manages to stand out in some aspects such as, for example, it is very secure and it is excellent for SEO.

OpenCart:

We can classify the OpenCart as an intermediate open source platform between PrestaShop, which we will see next, and Woocommerce, which we saw at the beginning, both are powerful. Because they offer great functions.

OpenCart stands out in its administrative panel, which is very modern and very intuitive. Not to mention that it provides you with a lot of information to further improve the performance of your virtual store.

It is also easy to customize, and works using a module system, just like WordPress works with a plugin system. Will manage to easily get acquainted with himself without knowledge.

Even though it doesn't offer many features or tools when compared to other more used ones, yes it is a great option, as its ease of use makes everything much simpler.

PrestaShop:

O PrestaShop would never be left out of our list, here you can create your virtual store in a structured way, and leave it with a very attractive layout. Not to mention that creating your store here will take very little time.

Simply because it is a very user-friendly platform, it offers its users a wide variety of features. Such as personalized checkouts, multiple payment methods, product inventory management and much more.

In addition to the PrestaShop platform providing all these functions, you can also make your online store even better using themes and plugins. In short, this online platform is very complete, and provides everything you need to set up your store.

osCommerce:

A osCommerce it's pretty similar to the other platforms we've seen so far. In addition to its easy configuration, it does not require any technical knowledge or previous experience with other platforms for virtual stores.

When using this platform for the first time, you will definitely notice that its interface is a little outdated, but other than that it offers a package of basic and advanced functions. Which in turn resemble the AbanteCart that we will mention below.

The online platform also offers many free templates and extensions for you to make your online store amazing and with a very attractive layout. Not to mention the community of active users where you can ask questions about any subject related to the platform if you need to.

AbanteCart:

A AbanteCart it is much less known than the others, but it offers incredible functions. It's great for beginners, even if it doesn't offer the best interface.

Users like it a lot, mainly because of the ease of inserting and registering new products in the store using the administrative panel. This process can be done in just a few clicks and in minutes. Not to mention that the platform itself gives you tips and guidance at each stage. It is an open source platform and offers full support for its extensions and plugins, even though it doesn't have that many options.

CubeCart:

Don't be fooled by CubeCart, when you enter it for the first time you may even be a little disappointed, but just start configuring your store and you will see several very cool features and features.

The platform provides all the functionalities and tools you need to be able to set up your online store, such as tracking your sales and the complete management of all your products. Not to mention the tool for editing product images.

And it also offers its users a very interesting and important function, which is the creation of your newsletter. Which in turn will allow you to capture contacts (emails), so you can relate to your potential customers through an email marketing system. Which will make your sales increase even more.

Know that it is small details like this that make the difference between the different platforms that are most used. And it also has full support for templates to customize the layout of the virtual store and plugins. Very good platform for beginners or small and medium online stores.

Shopify:

A Shopify it's also great, with its simplicity it allows anyone to create their own online store. But right away we would like to mention that it is not open source. But that doesn't mean it should be ignored.

It offers many tools and functionalities to its users such as business name generator, integration with various payment methods, product shipping system and much more. The platform also provides wonderful themes for you to customize the layout of your store, and leave it your way.

Out of all the online platforms for E-commerce mentioned in this article, we believe that Shopify is the newest among them all. And it already has more than 1 million users worldwide.

Tips for choosing one:

Now that you know which are the best open source E-commerce platforms that exist, then it's time to give you some valuable tips for you to pay attention to when choosing one. Tips and guidelines as fundamental and essential resources and tools that an online platform has to offer.

As you already know, having a sales website is an excellent way to earn money on the internet, because with it you will be able to display your products in your online showcase and start selling sell on the web. It doesn't matter if you sell products or services.

So, know that every self-respecting open source platform has to offer many functions and tools such as the payment process, general stock and sales reports, in short, everything that is necessary to set up, administer and manage a virtual store efficiently. .

So, pay attention to some features listed below when choosing your online platform for your virtual store:

• Payment process: check that the platform has full integration with all possible payment methods, as the more payment methods you offer, the better;
• Store organization: always try to choose one that offers features for defining categories, subcategories and products. Store organization is key.
• Customization of products for sale: see if the platform makes it possible to create individual pages for each item or product in the store, and that these pages are highly customizable with very detailed information about the products.
• Tools to offer discounts and promotions: nowadays, not offering discounts means losing the sale, so see if the platform offers functions for you to be able to offer promotions and discounts to your visitors and customers.
• Visual: the best open source ones nowadays have an attractive and responsive and that work on any device, be it a desktop, a notebook or a smartphone. Also look for this when choosing.
• Reports and information: choose a platform that offers you all kinds of reports, and also shows you as much information as possible about your visitors and customers. Because that way you will have data to analyze and with that you will be able to make improvements in your E-commerce and sell even more.

Nowadays creating an online store is much simpler and easier than it was some time ago, but that doesn't mean that all platforms are identical. So keep this in mind that choosing a platform for you will be an easy task.

Conclusion:

As you have seen, there are many platforms with different functions and resources for you to launch your store in just a few hours. Our recommendation for you could not fail to be Woocommerce. Because it stands out as the best and most complete platform of all those mentioned in our list.

See, it wasn't even that hard to choose a platform, was it? Just be aware of all our tips and guidelines, that with certainty choosing one among the biggest and best open source E-commerce platforms mentioned in this article will be an easy task for you. And never forget that it has to fit your business perfectly.

So that's it, we're done here, we hope we helped, we wish you much success? To the next.