Online stores, from large marketplaces to the smallest niche stores, are vital for most people. We need access to products that may not be available locally, whether because of their rarity or cost. However, consumers aren’t the only ones who benefit from ecommerce. Businesses can expand their reach and increase sales, and freelance sellers can grow their customer base and increase revenue.Today we are looking at the best open-source ecommerce software, both for commercial businesses as well as individual sellers.
Are you looking for the best open source java ecommerce software? Or maybe the best open-source ecommerce platform 2021? If so, you’re in luck because I’m about to share with you my findings. You see, there is no shortage of open source Java platforms like PrestaShop, UberCart and OpenCart. Also, Woo-Commerce is a fun and easy way to quickly set up an ecommerce website. It’s not a complex platform to use either. However, this isn’t always the case for other open source Java ecommerce software which takes some getting used to. That’s why I put together this list of best open source Java ecommerce software solutions.
Open source e-commerce software is PHP based e-commerce and shopping cart software, which provides you flexibility and freedom to customize your store according to business needs and requirements.
One of the most important aspects of running an online store is choosing the best open source java ecommerce software. Java and open-source go hand in hand because of their flexibility, ability to run on multiple platforms, low maintenance costs and reduced cost.
Why Choose an OpenSource eCommerce Platform?
Because you can. Though opensource eCommerce platforms will be a tad bit difficult to set up than the likes of Shopify or Wix, they’re very easy. In fact, I’ve personally tried a few of these platforms on our websites and they work flawlessly!https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.501.0_en.html#goog_902820879
So why would anyone choose a paid eCommerce platform instead of an opensource variant?
It’s just easier to set up the paid ones. And most people believe that opensource software is always difficult to work with or not built well (NOT TRUE!).
You’ll see some of the best opensource eCommerce platforms listed are way better in features and functionality as
Why Choose an OpenSource eCommerce Platform?
Because you can. Though opensource eCommerce platforms will be a tad bit difficult to set up than the likes of Shopify or Wix, they’re very easy. In fact, I’ve personally tried a few of these platforms on our websites and they work flawlessly!
Why would anyone choose a paid eCommerce platform instead of an opensource variant?
It’s just easier to set up the paid ones. And most people believe that opensource software is always difficult to work with or not built well (NOT TRUE!).
You’ll see some of the best opensource eCommerce platforms listed are way better in features and functionality as compared to the paid options.
compared to the paid options.
Hybris / SAP Customer Experience
Hybris has become an increasingly popular eCommerce framework offering solutions that support B2B, B2C and B2B2C enterprises, some of which include Nestle, General Electric, Epson US, Levi Strauss, Taco Bell and Nike. It is on the rather expensive side of eCommerce frameworks, but when used to its full potential is most definitely worth the price.
The eCommerce framework offers two major groups of products: commerce solutions and marketing tools. Designed to improve your communication with customers, the Hybris omnichannel commerce solution offers a meaningful and consistent experience across all available channels. As for marketing solutions, Hybris offers a highly agile and scalable tool providing superior customer insight.
Hybris is „multi-everything“, offering multi-language, multi-vendor, and multichannel opportunities which are vital in today’s digital world with the multitude of sales and communication channels. Having a large number of highly configurable components has made the Java eCommerce platform ideal for using out-of-the-box or creating a customised solution for the customers’ needs and its high modularity has resulted in low co-dependency between the modules, making Hybris flexible and easy to use for users throughout the organization.
One of the main downsides of Hybris is its high server startup time, taking around 20-30 minutes each time. With JRebel all your changes can be reloaded without having to restart the server, saving developers an average of 336 hours or 42 workdays worth of development time every year.
Broadleaf
Another eCommerce tool to consider is Broadleaf, currently being used by MLB, O’Reilly Auto Parts, the European Postal Service and ICON Health & Fitness. Broadleaf is easily customized, ensuring that your specific needs are met. As for scalability, Broadleaf can easily grow with your ecommerce business.
Broadleaf is similar to Hybris in that Broadleaf also leverages modern open source technology like Java and Spring, the difference being that Broadleaf itself is also open source. Like Hybris, Broadleaf is also a “multi-everything“ tool, supporting the usage of multiple websites, currencies, channels, languages, and tenants within one ecommerce system — and all manageable from a single administrative console. While Hybris is best integrated with other SAP products, Broadleaf can be integrated with WordPress, Drupal, and Zendesk, just to name a few.
Elastic Path
Just like Broadleaf, Elastic Path is also Java-based and open source. Elastic Path includes a wide variety of tools to use on your eCommerce site, such as merchandising, promotions, pricing, and order management to your clients. These functionalities can satisfy almost all requirements of eCommerce enterprises. It provides a first-class eCommerce experience everywhere from simple mobile applications to the most complicated websites.
Elastic Path offers “Pre-Composed Solutions” for companies with medium digital maturity, and a Headless Commerce Platform for companies with a higher digital maturity who value the option of customization and have technically skilled people in-house who can use Elastic Path to its fullest potential. Even though Elastic Path offers a fairly out-of-the-box eCommerce solution, its real value lies in the its use alongside a complex modular, or microservices architecture approach.
Apache OFBiz
Similarly to the previous frameworks, Apache OFBiz is also Java-based and open source. Its solutions can be used either out-of-the-box or adapted to suit your exact needs. Unlike Elastic Path, both OFBiz solutions are free and not divided up into different tools.
Apache OFBiz comes with a wide range of pre-built core modules, including accounting, CRM, warehousing, and manufacturing. On the business side of features, the eCommerce framework offers catalog management, promotion and pricing management, supply chain fulfillment, and everything necessary for successful payments. This makes it a good fit for any possible needs that a business application might require.
As for the downsides of Apache OFBiz, it has been noted by the users that it lacks project management options and scheduling features. But, with the endless possibilities to customize it, it’s no issue to create your own solutions for these.
Shopizer
Shopizer is 100% open source and 100% headless, built on modern and well known frameworks including Java and Angular. Being completely open source has made Shopizer easily adaptable to the demanding practices and changing trends of eCommerce.
Just as some of the previous eCommerce tools we mentioned previously, Shopizer also comes with a plethora of pre-built components and a variety of features including a built in shopping cart, inventory management, promotion management, content management, security, and order flow — all integrable from Shopizer’s REST API
Hippo
Hippo is a Java open source ecommerce solution with the emphasis on real time data and multichannel experience. The key idea behind Hippo CMS is to turn content into a business differentiator by studying what is important to your audiences. With this insight, the Java ecommerce framework delivers personalized and optimized digital experiences to all your customers.
The usage of real time contextual data provides the ability to refine online business strategy by responding timely to various metrics related to content performance. As for multichannel experience, Hippo provides the ability to create and manage not only several websites, but also a few mobile channels, tablet sites, and social media pages. Thus, it is a complex Java based ecommerce framework.
DotCMS
DotCMS is an open source Java based ecommerce platform, which is extensible, scalable, and quick to deploy. The solution can rapidly deliver personalized multichannel experience based on ecommerce sites, web apps, marketing campaigns, intranets, etc. In order to achieve this goal, DotCMS utilizes the following features:
- supports responsive design as well as various CSS frameworks to satisfy your mobile audience;
- provides the ability to run several ecommerce websites on different servers and in different languages to deliver the best possible experience to your customers worldwide;
- offers high scalability to satisfy the needs of your growing business;
- introduces push publishing to spread your content and web apps to remote servers;
- incorporates comprehensive APIs to provide the ability to respond to your business requirements;
- offers a simple but yet reliable workflow builder to streamline your daily work.
Square Online – Best Overall Free Ecommerce Platform
If you’re not particularly eager to join the Wix premium plan bandwagon, you might want to try out Square Online.
Now, for a long time, Square had fundamentally existed as a versatile payment solution. Until it finally decided to spread its wings by setting up a multi-faceted business ecosystem. You can read our full Square Online review.
So far, quite a number of people are aware that Square increasingly facilitates merchants dealing with physical businesses restaurants, coffee shops, and so forth. While that’s fairly accurate, it turns out that Square has now grown to be much more than that.
In essence, the platform offers a myriad of extensive features plus integrations that not only support brick and mortar businesses, but also ecommerce websites.
And no, we’re not only talking about digital payments here. But rather, the entire ecommerce framework. Square offers tools for pretty much all the critical online store functions- from inventory management and sales, to marketing and team coordination.
All things considered, the most outstanding feature here is the ability to set up a fully-functional ecommerce website for free.
You don’t need to pay anything to build an online store. Not even for hosting. In fact, you can proceed without the slightest bit of knowledge about coding.
Creating free ecommerce websites with Square is as easy as 1-2-3. After you select an ideal theme from the array of predesigned customizable options, just make some tweaks, and voila!
Ultimately, you’ll achieve the full online store experience. And in case the default features happen to be inadequate, you can leverage Square’s integrations to link your free ecommerce website with third-party apps for booking and scheduling, employee and inventory management, accounting, plus much more.
But that’s not all. If you have some coding tricks up your sleeve, you can consider capitalizing on the Square Connect API to build your own specialized integrations. Otherwise, it’s also possible to link free ecommerce sites with their corresponding offline brick and mortar counterparts. This feature alone is particularly handy for streamlined multi-store selling and product management.
That said, I can guess what you might be wondering at this point. How the heck does Square generate revenue from this?
Well, interestingly, there are no ecommerce web monthly plans on this platform. Not even one. Instead, it basically charges a fixed rate of 2.9% plus 30¢ for each online transaction. Therefore, ecommerce sites are genuinely free on a permanent basis.
-commerce for your business
Whether you’re just getting started with your digital storefront or planning and scaling for the long run, having an e-commerce platform is the first step to acquiring online customers. Choose from one of the open-source platforms above, or try them for free to see which solution is right for your business.
Conclusion
Open source eCommerce platforms allow you to utilize and modify the source code as you please. With an open source platform you have complete control over the features, functionality and design of your ecommerce website. If you do not have a lot of money to invest in a software, open source might be for you.
The open-source solution is the best option for those who are on a tight budget and are not willing to spend cash. Many ecommerce platforms have been built on the open-source technology. But truth be told, there is only one that is perfect when it comes to the scale of traffic as well as customization – Magento .