OpenCart makes it easy for solopreneurs, small businesses and even large corporations to set up a functional, secure, easy to use online store. As an open source software, OpenCart incorporates the ideas and solutions from today's best and brightest technology minds. One of the reasons OpenCart has enjoyed enduring success in a notoriously fickle e-commerce marketplace is because it is simple to install and feature rich for real-time customization.

In this post, learn about the top 3 features in OpenCart today that can make your customers' experience of checking out online even simpler, more secure and easier!

Feature 1: OpenCart makes both domestic and international sales transactions a breeze.

The first feature that makes OpenCart a must-have for e-commerce websites today is the ease of use for both domestic and international customers.

Whether you have a small startup with big international goals or you currently serve an international clientele, OpenCart comes ready to go to work for you in multiple languages, multiple currencies, multiple tax rates and an easy-to-use shipping calculation system.

The shipping options are another part of what makes checkout so easy. You can offer a wide variety of shipping options so customers can control their shipping costs. If you prefer, you can also set your store to offer free shipping, simple flat rate shipping or even store pick-up, which is becoming an increasing popular and in-demand option today.

With 329 languages to choose from, you are also able to serve customers from all over the world without translation challenges. The same applies to payment options. You can select from 41 payment gateway options and many more via the available plug-ins library, mixing and matching payment options to best meet your customers' needs.

Feature 2: OpenCart now gives you the option of managing multiple stores from within a single interface.

If you currently operate multiple online stores or have plans to do so, OpenCart makes it easy to customize each store's setup and look, set product pricing, establish a default currency and tax rate and even split your stores between retail and wholesale customers.

And since OpenCart is now automatically Search Engine Optimized (SEO) and also offers customized meta tag options for individual products, you can feel confident that each page of your store(s) will be indexed by the major search engines, boosting your browser search rankings over time.

The SEO functionality also makes it easier for you to implement, track and manage coupons, discounts, specials and promotions between your stores on OpenCart. OpenCart's modules give customers familiar categories to browse through, such as Bestsellers, Featured, Latest, Specials and Category. You can also add Google Analytics to your OpenCart e-store so you have additional data about where your customers come from and who they are.

In fact, one of the best features about being able to set up and manage multiple stores from within your master OpenCart interface is that you can then run reports and do your analysis from within your back-end administration portal.

OpenCart offers three different sales reporting options to help you analyze your stores' performance from every angle:

Sales Report. Gives you sales by day, week and month.
Products Viewed. Lets you know which products are generating the most online traffic and interest from store visitors.
Products Purchased. This report shows you which products are delivering the highest sales.

Feature 3: OpenCart offers CRM functionality.

If you are now operating as a wholesale (B2B) store, you can also use your OpenCart business administration portal as a customer relations management (CRM) tool to set different prices for different customer groups, show pricing only for customers who have created an account on your store and are logged in and even set up quantity discounts for customers who want to order in bulk.

But perhaps most importantly, you can use OpenCart's open source template system to either select a template that most closely matches the rest of your website or import your current website parameters so there is a clear visual match when customers migrate over to your e-store.

This is a critical facet in maintaining customer trust when shopping online. When your storefront matches the rest of your site visually, customers will feel more inclined to share their sensitive financial data with you and complete their online purchases.

A Sample Customer Check-Out Scenario:
So let's say a potential customer decides to visit your online store, which is powered by OpenCart. You have set up your e-store to look exactly like the rest of your website, so the customer has a seamless experience from the start.

You are running a special, and your visitor browses over to Specials and sees a product he'd like to learn more about. The product information displays in his native language so he doesn't struggle to understand what he is reading. When he adds the product to his online cart, he can choose whether to check out as a guest or create an account.

At checkout, he is offered a variety of shipping options to help him control both delivery time and price. He sees a number of familiar payment options and chooses one he feels safe using. His checkout is seamless and secure, and he instantly gets an email confirmation of his order that matches the look of your online store.

Your customer has sped through his online checkout experience and it is very likely that you have just earned yourself a new happy customer and perhaps a repeat loyal customer as well!

About Hosting.com

The number one complaint many online shoppers have today is an e-commerce storefront that is slow to load or times out mid-purchase. With Hosting.com's OpenCart Hosting, you will never have to worry about losing customers due to slow site speed. With our high performance SwiftServer platform and Turbo Servers that offer up to 20 times faster page loads, your store will be online whenever your customers are!