What is Zen Cart?
Zen Cart is a self-hosted, free, and open-source ecommerce system designed to build and manage a complete online store. It provides all the core components necessary to run an ecommerce business, giving users the freedom to customize and modify the software according to their needs.
Key Features and Functionality
Product Management
- Zen Cart allows users to easily add, delete, or modify products without requiring HTML coding. It supports product variants through attributes, which can appear as radio buttons, checkboxes, drop-down lists, text boxes, file uploads, and more. Attributes can also control the price of an item, include one-time fees, and support text pricing such as price-per-word or price-per-letter.
Catalog and Category Management
- Products can be organized into categories and subcategories for easy navigation. Products can also be linked and/or copied to multiple categories, and their sort order can be easily controlled in the admin area.
Payment and Shipping Integration
- Zen Cart supports multiple payment processors, including PayPal, Square, and Authorize, as well as offline options like Check/Money Order and Invoice. It also integrates with major couriers and postal services for shipping quotes and offers non-quoted shipping options such as Hold for Pickup or Free Delivery in a specific area.
Order Management
- The system allows for tracking and processing orders, generating invoices, and handling refunds. It also includes features for quantity discounts, low-order fees, and COD fees.
Promotions and Discounts
- Users can create discounts using percentage-off, fixed amount off, or new price reductions, which can be applied to individual items, entire categories, or the whole store. Coupons and gift certificates are also easily managed.
Customer Management
- Zen Cart supports customer account creation and history, customer access control, and group pricing for specific user groups. It also includes a newsletter system and product notification system.
SEO and Search Functionality
- The software offers basic SEO features such as customizable page titles, meta tags, search engine-friendly URLs, and sitemaps. It also includes intelligent generation of meta tags content for search engines and automatic detection of search engine spiders.
Security and Maintenance
- Zen Cart emphasizes tight security on password handling, login/logout, and other critical areas. It includes administrative activity logging and email archiving for audit trails. The system also allows for easy maintenance, including the ability to take the site offline for maintenance with advance notices and a search-engine-friendly Down For Maintenance page.
Customization and Extensions
- Being open-source, Zen Cart offers extensive customization options. Users can fine-tune how products and services appear without needing to write code. There is also a large marketplace of third-party add-ons to provide additional functionality.
Additional Features
- Other notable features include the ability to mark products as “Featured” or “Free,” multiple image support for products, a shipping estimator, and advertising banners. The system also supports HTML email, multiple email destinations for the Contact Us page, and CKEditor integration for WYSIWYG editing of site content.
In summary, Zen Cart is a robust and customizable ecommerce solution that offers a wide range of features to help businesses manage their online stores effectively, from product and order management to payment and shipping integration, and advanced SEO and security options.