For any e-commerce website, simple-to-advanced, Magento is probably the most complete, free and open source solution out there.

And, it can be improved further so easily with professional extensions in the market.

Magestore, a popular Magento extensions provider, has a fresh extension for improving the checkout process which is called Magento One Step Checkout.

The extension helps minimizing the abandoned cart rate by enabling customers to view the basket and fill the shipping + payment information in only one step.

This checkout page is smart and auto-updates itself when needed without any refreshes (like the change in address, shipping type, etc.).

It also supports applying coupon codes and gift messages or running simple surveys still on the same page and comes ready with multiple payment options (PayPal, credit cards, SagePay..).

1 Step Checkout works with all 3 checkout modes (register, logged in, guest) and has built-in Geo-IP detection for simplifying the process further by auto-filling address details as much as possible.

There is also a unique feature called “Web-POS for admin checkouts”. Using this feature, it is possible to complete offline sales as an existing user or guest. Again on a single page, the store admins can search for the product, add it to the cart quickly and complete sale.

The extension is a must check for any Magento website and there is a detailed comparison of it with other well-known checkout extensions.

How to join the giveaway?

Magestore is giving away 3 licenses and, in order to join, please follow the steps:

• create a free membership at Magestore
• comment to this post using your Magestore e-mail in the e-mail field

Winners will be selected a week later (02 May 2013) with the query below:

SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_id=4020 AND comment_approved=1 AND comment_type='' GROUP BY comment_author_email ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3

Good luck to all.

The winners

Here they are:

• sean (comment #1263084)
• Robin L (comment #1263695)
• webworker (comment #1263886)

robin@rwl.se

For anyone willing to create a modern e-commerce website, Magento is probably one of the best apps around to handle that. Not only because it is free + open source but also it is so powerful yet not-complicated.

Although the Magento core has many features, there will possibly be things that you need but Magento doesn't provide by default. That's the point which you'll be hunting for extensions.

Magestore is a web-shop that is specialized in providing high-quality Magento extensions and themes.

There are 60+ extensions that enhance Magento's capabilities in login, checkout, shipping, marketing and others. For example:

• Affiliate Plus: allows users to create an affiliate program
• Auction: create online auctions
• Gift vouchers: create gift cards for customers to present their friends
• Store pick up: allows customers to select store to pick up purchased products 
• Group Deal: create online group deals

And, there are also free ones.

Magestore not only creates them but also updates and improves these extensions regularly, makes sure they are compatible with the latest Magento release and provides support which is pretty important specially for e-commerce websites.

Affiliate Plus

Affiliate Plus by Magestore is the first and most popular affiliate extension of Magento.

It eases creating an affiliate system for any store where users will be able to refer the website (or products) and get paid for any sales.

Using the extension, you can define the commissions, discount rates and payout requirements. Also, you can add banners in different sizes and it generates the unique tracking links itself for each user.

The extension also automates the payout by using the PayPal API and can send the affiliate payments itself.

Optionally, a Platinum version offers more versions like pay-per-lead, ability to create multiple programs, support for multiple payout methods and more.

The Giveaway

Magestore is giving away 3 licenses of the Affiliate Plus Standard version ($99/each) to WRD readers.

In order to join the giveaway, just comment to this post and winners will be selected randomly (on 14 August 2012) with the query below:

SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_id=3121 AND comment_approved=1 AND comment_type='' GROUP BY comment_author_email ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3

Good luck to all.

And the winners

Here they are:

• Kevin (comment #671680)
• aditya  (comment # 675146) 
• Maik   (comment # 671593) 

PrestaShop, although it is in beta, is a complicated open source e-commerce solution.

Having a very powerful back-end, store admins can manage the inventory, orders, customers & payments easily. System never limits you as it supports unlimited categories, sub-categories & image pictures. Sub-admin users can be created with different permissions so when someone can only track the inventory another admin can be limited to processing the orders.

PrestaShop is a multilingual e-commerce software that any number of languages can be added to the system. As it is in beta status, there are exciting upcoming features like product comparison, wishlist or multiple websites.

This PHP shopping cart offers very nice features in the"front-end" like:

• Special deals (price reductions, gift vouchers)
• Text-message alerts
• Featured products on homepage
• Free shipping offers
• Cross-selling (Accessories)
• Order out-of-stock items
• Unlimited payment methods
• Multiple-recipient contact form
• Product tagging & tag cloud
• Offer gift-wrapping & recycled packaging
• PDF customer invoice
• Sale of services & virtual goods
• RSS feed
• Newsletter opt-in
• Pick up in-store option

Magento is an e-commerce software which is still in the beta version. On the other hand there are already many users loving it because of the way it works and its features.

I had known Oscommerce as the most popular open source e-commerce software since today but it seems like Magento may be the new one.

This is really a smart software which is standards-compliant, has templating, multilanguage features and many more. One of the features amazed the most is "you can manage more than 1 e-shops" from the same admin.

There is already an active community using the product where you can find for support too.

And, here is the admin screenshot. See how nice it is: