We have been developing, hosting and providing solutions for OSCommerce ( and more recently Zen-cart) for over 3 years. Over the last year though, we have been favouring Joomla’s Virtuemart in place of both Zen-cart and OSCommerce.

The reason for this move is that we have found the learning curve for customers to manage their E-commerce shops is much shorter with Virtuemart, whilst still providing sufficient features for all but the most demanding shops. Additionally, a customer is able to utilise the vast amount of components, modules and ‘mambots’ that Joomla offers – our own website is powered by Joomla!

Administration (Backend) Functionality

• Supports unlimited products and categories
• Add/Edit/Remove categories, products, manufacturers, customers, and reviews
• Contact customers directly via email or newsletters
• Statistics for products and customers
• Multicurrency support
• Support for physical (shippable) and virtual (downloadable) products
• Easily backup and restore the database
• Print invoices and packaging lists from the order screen

Customer (Frontend) Functionality

• Customers can view their order history and order statuses
• Customers can maintain their accounts
• Addressbook for multiple shipping and billing addresses
• Temporary shopping cart for guests and permanent shopping cart for customers
• Fast and friendly quick search and advanced search features
• Product reviews for an interactive shopping experience
• Secure transactions with SSL
• Number of products in each category can be shown or hidden
• Global and per-category bestseller lists
• Display what other customers have ordered with the current product shown
• Breadcrumb trail for easy site navigation