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There's a wide choice of free or commercial software available to drive an online store.
Commercial (Bought) Software
 Actinic Catalog
- Software price: £399.00 + VAT
- Easy to use and intuitive Windows interface with Start Up and Design Wizards to get you up and running quickly
- Flexible product catalogue supports up to 20,000 products including digital products.
- Complete design and store layout flexibility to create your own unique, customised store.
- Extensive store management functionality for easy and efficient store operation.
- Powerful marketing and merchandising features to assist in growing your online business.
- Independence to integrate with the leading online payment gateways such as HSBC, WorldPay, PayPal, Protx, NetBanx, NoChex
The Actinic software is stable, relatively straightforward to use, albeit like all new application software (including free cart systems below) it's likely that you will spend a few hours getting your head around the interface before you are comfortable with it. Actinic Catalog is a Windows desktop based application, with automated FTP that syncronises or updates your online shopping cart, and the standard software supports up to 20,000 products so has enough capacity to serve large online retailers as well as small to middling ones.
There is versatile a built in theme changer, and if you understand website design, and/or CSS, you can edit the built in themes to create your own bespoke 'look & feel'.
All in all, this software represents a good buy, and you are unlikely to need to buy any additional, addon software, or templates. Click Here to See a Demo Actinic Catalog Store
Click Here to visit the Actinic Website for more information
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Free 'Open Source' Software
 osCommerce
Software Price: FREE
osCommerce Online Merchant is a free, open source complete online store solution that contains both a catalogue frontend and an administration tool backend which is easily installed and configured using a web-based installer.
The osCommerce software has a well proven and stable e-commerce engine, and the standard software can be extended using many of the use 100's of free addon contributions that are available on the osCommerce contributions website
The standard osCommerce software installation is automated, after that, installing and managing any osCommerce extensions or addons will almost certainly require the end user to have PHP & MySql knowledge and skills. Similar skills will be needed if you want to modify the shopping cart front end (interface).
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 Zen Cart
Software Price: FREE
Zen Cart is a free, open source complete online store solution that contains both a catalogue frontend and an administration tool backend which is easily installed and configured using a web-based installer.
Similar to most open source e-commerce applications, Zen Cart uses the well proven osCommerce e-commerce engine used in thousands of online shops worldwide. Overall the software has enough functionality to get an online shop up and running, including the ability to set discount pricing for multiple purchases, and integration with PayPal standard, or pro. There are plenty of free addon extensions to Zen Cart available on the Zen Addon's website
Zen cart uses a templated system to change the look-and-feel of the shopping cart front end, and the standard 'classic' template isn't that difficult to modify, albeit some PHP skills and familiarity with CSS will be a distinct advantage.
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- CRE Loaded
Software Price: FREE (advert supported)
CRE Loaded Standard is a scalable shopping cart for Ecommerce sites developed primarily for the SOHO (small office, home office) store owner who wants to add transactional capabilities to an existing website. You can organize, manage and ship your products, and you have the the flexibility you need to run a successful online business. It includes shipping, payment, marketing, security, design, and admin features, as well as customer and product management tools.
You can also buy the non-advert supported version at around $300 USD
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The Verdict...
There are 'vices and virtues' with all free open source software, but out of what is available we tend to lean towards Zen Cart as being the best all round performer, with enough functionality to suit most businesses.
There's a good range of templates available for branding the front page (free & bought), and the vendor's website has plenty of documentation to help you with getting your store set up, or with problem solving.
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