Magento or osCommerce – Choose Your Platform

Online business has become extremely popular globally in the last few years. Most enterprises are into building online stores to reach out to millions of potential buyers worldwide. But when it comes to choose the right platform they get stuck. In this competitive era it is not an easy job to choose the correct eCommerce software for your business. As there are various options available right now it becomes quite challenging to select the one that suits your business requirements and as per your budget. Though there are many open source solutions but each has its own pros and cons. So one needs to choose the option which have certain features like cost-effectiveness, compatibility with your current resources, easy transfer of existing data, acceptance of various payment methods, detailed reports on customers and easy administration of the online store.

Magento and os Commerce, both names in this regard are widely used in the world have various common as well as unique features in them. Here is a detailed description of each which will help one to compare and choose the correct platform for his e-commerce website.

Magento :

• It is extremely efficient open source CMS under GPL which can be downloaded for free. It also has a huge number of developers and programmers in its community. It runs on the Apache/MySQL/PHP platform. Though it requires much storage space because of its complex application but it can be run on shared hosting and low storage space.
• It has some remarkable features that make it a sure-shot winner in the first place.
• Magento is the most extensible ecommerce system in the world. The API or Application Programming Interface of this helps it to connect with all kinds of web and independent applications.
• It is flexible in the sense that it has the ability to accept different payment methods like from PayPal, Amazon, Google. It also has the options of setting various shipping rates such as Table Rates, Flat Rates and also Free Shipping.
• It also allows you to create multiple stores using the same installation. It helps to create stunning ecommerce themes as it encourages one to keep all the aspects of the store in control.
• Extensive customization in design and usability is another marvelous feature it offers.
• It is easy to import products, customers and order information from other online shopping carts such as osCommerce using the tools Magento offers.
• Wide collection of widgets and tools are available with Magento.
• Regular updates keep us informed of new features or bug fixes.
• Other features like nice default template, one-page check-out, SEO url, SEO friendly also add value to its service.

OsCommerce :

• It is the most comprehensive and popular open source Shopping Cart system. It runs on PHP/MySQL. It has the most available number of contributions and modifications.
• There are many useful features osCommerce has to offer.
• It can manage a huge number of products by using an indexed data-base.
• It can be installed easily even thought the hosting company does not do it.
• It has product reviews, catalogs, newsletters, product features and what’s new feature which help in the marketing strategy of one’s business.
• Because of its multilanguage and multicurrency features it is suitable for any kinds of stores from any countries.
• Database backup and restore options are available with osCommerce.
• It helps in displaying products in a customized way.
• It has both static and dynamic banners.
• PSD to oscommerce conversion helps you to transform your current files into cross browser compatible and search engine optimized osCommerce themes and templates.
• An OsCommerce Integration solution helps you to expand your business.

With other features like automatical updation of currency exchange rate, setting up of username and password, ability to contact customers via email or newsletters, object oriented backend, automatic installation and upgrade through Business Web Factory, Printing of invoices and packaging lists from the order screen, ability to make the order history,order status visible to the customers, fast and friendly search, secure transactions with SSL, osCommerce provides you with a total online store solution.

Magento or osCommerce :

I. Magento requires dedicated servers from a specific hosting provider to be able to run fast shops but osCommerce can function from shared web hosting account.

II. Magento offers all the features of osCommerce and has many add-on features like coupons, order editing, SEO URLs, editable order mails, product summary and many more.

III. Magento is complex to manage and one needs to help of Magento experts which are rare to find. But osCommerce is easy to use and can be managed without any technical knowledge.

IV. As Magento is a newer version of osCommerce, bug fixes or new product informations are updated every 10 to 15 days but in case of osCommerce updates are done after a long period of time.

V. Magento has the ability to accept almost all kinds of payment methods but osCommerce has fewfewer options to receive payments.

VI. It is possible to create and manage multiple online stores using Magento but osCommerce does not give any option like that as you can only establish and manage one store.

VII. Magento runs very slow compared to osCommerce.

VIII. OsCommerce is easier to install than Magento but the customization and configuration in osCommerce is much more difficult than Magento which is more flexible and powerful than it.

IX. Magento is SEO friendly that helps to attract quality traffic to the website.

X. It is easier to find discounts and coupons with Magento but not with osCommerce.

These can be understood from the above discussion that though both Magento and osCommerce are unique in their own ways to create a successful online store but Magento because of its flexible nature and ability to offer many add-on services and multiple online stores and its acceptance of various payment methods is becoming immensely popular day by day. However, it is said that if one has a small business osCommerce is the best solution and in case of a very large business Magento is the best option.

‍