OpenCart: Open-Source E-Commerce Platform for Online Stores

What is OpenCart?

OpenCart is a leading open-source e-commerce platform designed for online retailers and merchants. Built with PHP and designed for simplicity and ease of use, OpenCart enables online stores to manage products, process orders, and grow their business without expensive commercial e-commerce platforms. Over 400,000 online stores use OpenCart globally for commerce operations.

Unlike Shopify ($29-299/month) where stores are hosted on Shopify infrastructure, OpenCart provides complete control on self-hosted infrastructure. Merchants maintain ownership of product data, customer information, and business processes.

OpenCart serves as the e-commerce platform for online retailers. Merchants manage product catalogs. Customers browse and purchase products. Orders are processed and fulfilled. Sales are tracked and analyzed.

Key Features and Capabilities

Product Management

Product Catalog: Manage unlimited products with categories
Attributes: Add product attributes like size, color, option
Related Products: Suggest related products to customers
Reviews: Allow customer reviews and ratings
Images: Multiple images and zoom functionality
Inventory: Track stock levels and low stock alerts

Sales and Orders

Shopping Cart: Full-featured shopping cart with calculations
Checkout Process: Multi-step checkout for easy purchase
Payment Gateways: 50+ payment gateway integrations
Shipping Methods: Support for multiple shipping options
Order Management: Track orders from placement to fulfillment
Invoices: Generate and send invoices to customers

Promotion and Marketing

Coupons: Create discount codes and promotional coupons
Special Offers: Create special price promotions
Email Marketing: Send promotional emails to customers
Analytics: Track sales, traffic, and customer behavior
SEO Optimization: Built-in SEO features

System Requirements

Server Requirements

PHP: 5.6+ (7.0+ recommended)
Database: MySQL 5.0+
RAM: 256MB minimum, 1GB+ recommended
Storage: 10GB+ for store and products

Installation

Linux Installation

wget https://github.com/opencart/opencart/releases/download/latest/opencart-latest.zip
unzip opencart-latest.zip
sudo mv opencart /var/www/html/

# Run installation wizard
# Access at http://your-domain/opencart/install

Use Cases

Small E-Commerce Stores

Small retailers use OpenCart to launch online stores. Low costs enable business launch. Easy product management simplifies operations.

Niche Products

Retailers of specialty products use OpenCart for complete control. Customization supports unique business models. Full data ownership ensures customer loyalty.