Zen Cart

What is Zen Cart

Zen Cart is a free, open-source shopping cart software. It allows anyone to build and manage their own online store. The software is self-hosted, which means you must install it on your own web hosting server. This gives you complete control over your store's data and design. Zen Cart was started in 2003 as a branch of another e-commerce project, osCommerce. The main purpose of Zen Cart is to provide a stable, secure, and customizable platform for e-commerce that is free for everyone to use. It is built using PHP and uses a MySQL database to store information. Because it is open-source, a large community of developers and users contribute to its improvement and offer support.

Zen Cart Features

Zen Cart offers a wide range of features to run a complete online store. Many functions are built-in, and more can be added with free or paid plugins.

• Product Management: You can add an unlimited number of products and categories. It supports product variants, like different sizes or colors, each with its own price and stock level.
• Pricing and Discounts: Set up various pricing rules. This includes special sale prices, percentage discounts, group pricing for wholesale customers, and volume discounts for bulk orders.
• Coupons and Gift Vouchers: Create discount coupons and gift vouchers to attract more customers.
• International Sales: The platform is ready for global business with multi-language and multi-currency support.
• Payment Gateways: It integrates with many payment processors. Built-in options include PayPal, Authorize.Net, and bank transfers. Many more, like Stripe and Braintree, can be added with plugins.
• Shipping Options: Configure multiple shipping methods. You can connect with major carriers like UPS, USPS, and FedEx using plugins to get real-time shipping rates.
• Tax Configuration: Set up complex tax rules based on country, state, or product type.
• Mobile-Ready Design: The default template is responsive and works well on mobile devices.
• Full Customization: As it is open-source, you have full access to the code. You can change anything you want about the design and functionality of your store.

Zen Cart Pricing Plans

Zen Cart is a 100% free software. There are no monthly fees, subscription plans, or transaction fees charged by Zen Cart itself. You can download and use the software without any cost.

However, you must pay for other services to run your online store. These costs include:

• Web Hosting: A server to host your website files and database.
• Domain Name: The web address for your store (e.g., www.yourstore.com).
• SSL Certificate: To secure your website and customer data.
• Premium Plugins: While many plugins are free, some advanced features may require a paid plugin.
• Developer Help: If you are not technical, you might need to hire a developer for installation, customization, or maintenance.

Zen Cart Free Plan

Zen Cart does not have a 'free plan' because the entire software is free. It is not a trial version. You get the full, unrestricted software from the beginning. There are no limits on the number of products you can add, the number of customers you can have, or the amount of sales you can make. You have complete ownership of your store and data. The only costs are for your own hosting and domain name.

How to use Zen Cart

Getting started with Zen Cart involves a few technical steps. Here is a typical process:

1. Get Hosting: First, you need a web hosting plan that supports PHP and MySQL. Most basic hosting plans are sufficient.
2. Download Zen Cart: Go to the official Zen Cart website and download the latest version of the software files.
3. Upload Files: Use an FTP client (like FileZilla) to upload the Zen Cart files to your web hosting server.
4. Create a Database: In your hosting control panel (like cPanel), create a new MySQL database and a database user.
5. Run the Installer: Open your web browser and go to your domain name. The Zen Cart installation script will start automatically. Follow the on-screen instructions, providing your database details and store information.
6. Configure Your Store: After installation, log in to your admin panel. Here you can add products, set up payment methods, configure shipping options, and change store settings.
7. Customize the Look: You can change the appearance of your store by editing the template files or installing a new template.

Pros and Cons of Zen Cart

Pros

• Completely Free: The software costs nothing, with no monthly fees or transaction fees.
• Full Control: You own your data and have complete control over every aspect of your store.
• Highly Customizable: With access to the source code, you can modify the store to fit your exact needs.
• Large Community: A very active support forum where you can get help from experienced users and developers.
• No Limits: You can add unlimited products, categories, and customers.

Cons

• Technical Skill Required: You need some technical knowledge to install, manage, and update the software.
• Dated Interface: The default admin panel and storefront can look old compared to modern platforms.
• Manual Maintenance: You are responsible for all updates, security patches, and backups.
• Finding Developers: It can be harder to find skilled Zen Cart developers compared to more popular platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce.

Zen Cart integrations

Zen Cart integrates with many third-party services through plugins, which are also called add-ons. Most integrations are for payments, shipping, and marketing.

• Payment Gateways: You can integrate with dozens of payment providers. Popular integrations include PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.Net, Square, and Klarna.
• Shipping Carriers: Connect your store to major shipping companies like UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, Canada Post, and Royal Mail to automate shipping calculations.
• Marketing Tools: Integrate with Google Analytics to track visitors, Google Merchant Center to list products on Google Shopping, and various tools for creating XML sitemaps.
• Accounting Software: There are plugins to export order and customer data for use in accounting software like QuickBooks.

These integrations are installed by uploading the plugin files to your server and configuring them in the admin panel.

Zen Cart Alternatives

• WooCommerce: A free, open-source plugin for WordPress. It is very popular and has a huge library of extensions. It is a good alternative if you already use WordPress or want a more modern system.
• Shopify: A fully hosted e-commerce platform. It is very easy to use and requires no technical skill. However, it has a monthly fee and transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments.
• Magento Open Source (Adobe Commerce): A powerful and scalable open-source platform. It is more complex than Zen Cart and is better for large businesses with developer resources.
• PrestaShop: Another open-source e-commerce platform. It has a more modern interface than Zen Cart and a large marketplace for themes and modules.

Zen Cart API

Zen Cart does not have a built-in, modern REST API like many SaaS platforms. It is a self-hosted PHP application. Developers who need to connect other systems to a Zen Cart store typically do so by:

1. Direct Database Interaction: Accessing the MySQL database directly to read or write data. This requires careful handling to maintain data integrity.
2. Creating Custom API Endpoints: A developer can write custom PHP scripts to create their own API. These scripts can handle requests from external applications, interact with the Zen Cart database and functions, and return data in formats like JSON or XML.

There is no standard process to get an API key because the API must be custom-built. Developers have full access to the codebase to create any integration they need.

Zen Cart Affiliate program

Zen Cart, the open-source software project, does not have an official affiliate program to pay commissions for promoting the software itself. It is a free project supported by a community.

However, if you have a store built with Zen Cart, you can run your own affiliate program for your products. You can do this by installing an affiliate marketing plugin. There are several free and paid plugins available that allow you to:

• Recruit affiliates to promote your store.
• Track clicks and sales from affiliate links.
• Set commission rates (percentage or flat fee).
• Manage affiliate payouts.

To start, you would search the Zen Cart plugins directory for an affiliate or partner program module, install it, and configure it from your admin panel.