10+ years of experience in active shop development and maintenance.
There are numerous options for creating an online store.
The e-commerce platform Zen Cart is one of them and offers an interesting solution due to the following listed features.
Zen Cart is an open-source “shopping cart management system”, suitable for all types of shops. Zen Cart is also suitable for larger shops.
Table of Contents
- License
- Themes
- Law
- Languages
- EZ-Pages
- Updates
- Performance
- Lighthouse Test
- PageSpeed Insights
- Developer Tools
- Costs
- Download
- Links and Support
License
Zen Cart is one of the few truly free shop systems left. No subscriptions, no dependencies - just the General Public License with the motto “Free as in Freedom”.
Zen Cart comes with a variety of shop-relevant features out of the box and is designed to efficiently manage (even) a large number of products.
Anyone who has ever had to create or edit a large number of items will appreciate a fast and efficient backend.
A variety of basic shop functions are pre-installed. Numerous extensions are available in the form of plugins.
Zen Cart offers a highly comprehensive and e-commerce-specialized backend functionality. It is a dedicated shop system – not a CMS with a shop extension.
What cannot be configured through the extensive backend options can be edited with a simple text editor. Files can be uploaded or downloaded via a well-organized file system through FTP or edited in Secure Shell (SSH).
Smaller changes can also be made directly in the Control Panel using the fairly useful file editor.
The requirements for hosting are, in contrast to many other shop systems, remarkably low.
Real Benefit of Good Performance
Optimized shop performance allows content scaling. If the homepage loads with 20 product thumbnails in 1.0 seconds, the loading time would increase to just 2.0 seconds when displaying 120 thumbnails, which is still a really good value. This would be because 120 thumbnails would be unusually many.
A Look Under the Hood - A Zen Cart Shop Test
Lighthouse
The Lighthouse Report is a standardized test to assess usability, performance, implementation, and SEO on mobile devices.
Scoring
poor
fair to satisfactory
good to excellent
Date: 07/10/2023
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights is a standardized test that measures the areas of performance, SEO, accessibility, and best practices. An optimized shop achieves the maximum score in all four categories for desktop.
Status: 07.10.2023
Templates and Themes
Zen Cart comes with the “responsive_classic” template, which, as the name suggests, is fully responsive.
Alternatively, the officially supported “ZCA Bootstrap Template” is available.
Template sets should be considered a foundation through which all functionalities of a shopping system can be represented.
Themes, on the other hand, are modified template sets whose appearance has been altered through fonts, colors, and other enhancements.
Structure
All areas of a shop can be easily edited through clearly designed template files. Key sections of the shop frontend include:
- Home Page
- Category Page
- Blog Page
- Product List
- All Products
- Featured Products
- New Products
- Special Offers
- Product Page
- Registration
- Contact
- My Account
- Overview
- Coupon Code Check
- Order History
- Address Book
- Shipping Addresses
- Billing Address
- PDF Downloads of:
- Terms and Conditions
- Withdrawal Policy
- Invoice
- Package Tracking
- Advanced Search
- Shopping Cart
- Checkout
The developers focus on the two templates mentioned above since they are actively maintained. A variety of themes is available but often requires customization, which should be considered for a productive shop.
Styling
Styling is done via CSS directly in the stylesheet files. Smaller changes can also be made using the file editor integrated into the Control Panel.
Unlike page builders for platforms like WordPress, Zen Cart requires some experience with a text editor. However, the stylesheet files are structured and less complex, allowing quick adjustments.
Legal Compliance
The Zen Cart Pro is tailored for the German-speaking market with:
- Adjustments to the shop frontend for German law
- GDPR-compliant data disclosure with a single click
- An integrated interface for the optional “IT Recht Kanzlei” service
Languages
The German Zen Cart version is already multilingual (German and English). Additional language packs (Spanish, French, Dutch) are available as extensions.
- Translation of text strings
- Additional fields for product titles and descriptions
- Translation of categories and category descriptions
- Translation of meta-data (Title, Description, Keywords)
- Translation of attribute names
- Translation of EZ-Pages
No duplicate IDs, URLs, or entries – everything remains consistent, reliable, and convenient.
Payment Methods
Various payment methods are pre-installed as modules in the official release. These can be activated or deactivated with a single click.
Updates
Regular updates ensure secure and functional usage of the shop software. New versions include code optimizations and expanded features (e.g., new options for the Image Handler, text editors, etc.).
Google SEO Optimization
- Convenient sitemap generator with notification features for Google and Bing
- Extensive meta-tag functionality
- SEO-friendly URLs available as a download
Product Features
Comprehensive built-in grouping functions for products:
- All Products
- New Products
- Featured Products
- Discounted Products
- Customers also bought
- X-Sell
Images
A flexible “Image Handler” offers:
- Watermarks for defined image resolutions
- Systematic directory structures for complex categories
- Server-side caching with adjustable image quality
- Quick replacement and automatic re-generation of images
Cache Management
- Server-side cache optimizes uploaded images on the first request.
- Browser cache keeps images locally on the user’s device.
CRM Features
Extensive built-in features:
- Visitor activity tracking (e.g., online time, last clicks, popular products)
- Revenue statistics (day, month, year)
- Internal newsletter feature or integration with Mailchimp/Brevo
Error Analysis
The integrated debugging tool shows detailed PHP error reports independently of web server log files.
Independence
Zen Cart is secure, fast, functional, efficient, free, and easily customizable.
It does not rely on accounts, subscriptions, or external services.
Example
Performance
Long loading times negatively affect user experience and are penalized by Google.
Optimized loading times improve efficiency for both customers and administrators.
Status: 19.10.2023
Scalability
The specified load time refers not only to loading content but also includes the processing time of the end device. The chart clearly demonstrates the shop’s excellent scalability. While under (very) slow 3G (with only 1.6 Mbps downstream speed), all devices remain close to still usable 4 seconds of total load time (Document Complete). With better internet connections, all devices scale effectively.
The performance of newer devices is also evident. While the almost 10-year-old Galaxy S5 (released in 2014) downloads all content in about one second with a Cable 100 connection, it spends an additional second rendering the JavaScript library jQuery. A detailed analysis of the collected data clearly shows that the old device’s CPU performance is the bottleneck. Although the loading of jQuery begins early, its execution, being heavily CPU-dependent, takes time even when the website is already fully loaded.
It’s not just about sufficient usability on older devices and slower networks. It’s also about perfect scalability and outstanding performance on newer devices with faster network connections.
Newer devices not only effectively utilize faster internet connections and scale well, but they also leverage their better CPU performance to enable excellent load times of well under 1 second. Even the 5-year-old iPhone X (released in 2018) can display the homepage of our example online shop within an impressive 0.75 seconds total load time. This happens at “Document Complete” and for the first uncached request. With cache enabled on subsequent visits, the load time is even faster.
The 3G connection at 1.6 Mbps is almost a theoretical value (and is further undercut by many places with even lower speeds), making it rare to find in Germany. However, even in these areas, the Zen Cart example shop can still load with 4 seconds, which, while not blazing fast, remains sufficiently quick and fully functional.
Using devices such as the iPhone X / Galaxy S8 or newer, the CPU performance of mobile devices is sufficient to not negatively impact the loading time.
An optimized shop system, fast hosting, and an LTE smartphone from 2017 enable load times of one second or less.
Much depends on the goals. The example online shop is intended to be visually appealing and target a user base with average infrastructure.
Theoretically, even our example shop could still load with Edge (240 Kbit). For shops targeting audiences with weaker network connections, it would certainly be possible to create custom shops with lower load times.
As a web designer, I create e-commerce solutions with Zen Cart.
Even with a 9-year-old Galaxy S5 and a very poor network connection “Edge” (240 Kbit / 0.24 Mbps), usage is theoretically possible. Many other shop systems fail much earlier in such conditions.
Status: 19.10.2023
Is Zen Cart Suitable for Me as an E-Commerce Solution?
The Zen Cart shopping cart management system is suitable for e-commerce shops that want the following features:
- Independence through open-source software.
- No dependency on the provider (keywords: subscription, ID, marketplace).
- Ideally, selling at least a three-digit number of products.
- Want a variety of visual settings in the backend.
- Desire high customizability or are aware of the need for customizations.
Zen Cart is less suitable for small shops that:
- Only offer one or very few products for sale.
- Only need a checkout page.
- Want a “storytelling” landing page with an additional shop feature.
- Want to run a blog with an additional shop.
- Just want to buy a theme for the shop to look good.
EZ-Pages
In Zen Cart, new pages – called “EZ-Pages” – can be created for custom content. These pages can be used for any content, such as an “Impressum,” an “About Us” page, or even for publishing blog posts. EZ-Pages can be set up to be automatically placed and sorted in specific locations, such as the footer, by the CMS. This saves the manual linking process.
EZ-Pages can also be used to publish blog posts and place them at any location in the shop (such as in the description of a subcategory). Unlike using a separately installed blog, EZ-Pages provide a consistent look across all areas of the shop. Pages can be edited in plain-text or using a visual editor.
Costs
Beginners often hope for low costs with a small shop. Zen Cart makes this possible. However, this is often noticeable in a negative way. Nonetheless, Zen Cart allows even beginners to have a functional and secure system without professional help. Zen Cart is regarded as a secure shop system.
Free, secure, fast, and with a “To-the-Edge” design don’t work – at least not “out-of-the-box.”
Many Zen Cart shops don’t look particularly appealing “out-of-the-box.” However, the provided free template is a valuable base.
A competing shop has disadvantages if the design and functionality are lagging. It’s not enough to set up a shop once. Ongoing maintenance and development are required to stay competitive in the market over time.
The cost of a website doesn’t depend on the number of products but on concept creation, functionality adjustments, testing, and post-launch support.
A Zen Cart shop is not only affordable but also relatively inexpensive.
Developer Tools
The integrated graphical developer tools in the backend allow searching through the file system directly from the backend. This allows you to find the files that contain the desired search term. The search can be limited to:
- Frontend
- Backend
- Files for language definitions
- Files for templates
- Files for classes
- Selected languages
Debugging
The available and configurable debugging tools generate log files that can be comfortably read directly from the Zen Cart backend. These contain hints, warnings, and errors generated from interactions with PHP.
Tips for E-Commerce Beginners
The complexity of a shop should not be underestimated. Only continuous revisions of all areas provide a consistent, professional impression.
Having a shop “made” is just the beginning.
A market analysis helps to assess:
- Market size
- Competition
- Future outlook of the industry
If you can positively answer the majority of the following points, you have good prospects:
- Your products/services have one or more unique selling points.
- The market is large enough.
- The market’s future outlook is positive.
- Only “I” am able to offer the products in this form.
- There is a patent on the products sold.
- There are binding sales prices.
Without unique selling points, the competition from other shops that are already well-established in the market will cover the entire product field (“One-Stop-Shop”), have a functioning infrastructure, and trained staff to handle all business processes efficiently.
Such shops have everything in stock and can withstand a price war over a long period. These shops have a loyal customer base and therefore regular revenue.
A price war does not necessarily have to stem from the desire to drive a competitor out of business but may also arise due to weak consumer behavior during economically challenging times.
The stronger the unique selling point, the better the chances of success in e-commerce.
Download Zen Cart
DE Version
US Version
Links and Support
Zen Cart DE
- Zen Cart Pro Homepage
- Bugs and development of Zen Cart Pro on GitHub
- German-language Zen Cart Pro Forum Archive
Zen Cart US
- Zen Cart US Homepage and the English-language Forum
- Zen Cart US Documentation
- Development of Zen Cart US on GitHub