Why choose Joomla for your e-commerce website

Joomla is one of the most popular open-source CMS platforms used by individuals as well as businesses. With a large number of extensions and plugins available to extend the functionality of the core platform, Joomla has gained penetration in many niches including e-commerce.

Most businesses when setting up E-commerce platforms want to minimize the setup cost and look for solutions that are easy to use by the end-users and data entry operators etc. Joomla has a strong community that is dedicated to continuously improving the core Joomla platform. Here are some core features to look for when planning on setting up an E-commerce website

1. Cost of setting up the website, managing the store on an ongoing basis, and a transaction fee on the transactions

2. Community support for the platform and extensions installed

3. Community reviews for the products (extensions) installed for E-commerce 

4. Customization features in the extension to fit your specific needs. 

5. Availability of plugins to provide extended functionality like payment gateway integration, check-out pages, shipping modules, pricing modules based on weight, user feedback and review, image galleries, modules to display products in CMS

6. Community support to fix any unexpected error

7. Ease of use for the data operators and website managers

8. Templates to support the E-Commerce Extension

Key features to look for in a Joomla e-commerce extension

When choosing a Joomla e-commerce extension, it's important to consider the following key features:

1. Compatibility with the latest release of the Joomla Platform. Review community support and reviews. 

2. Payment gateway integration. Most businesses use a wide range of payment gateways ranging from online payment platforms, to local banks and COD. Congifuration of the most popular payment methods ensures that orders are not canceled. 

3. Product management and customization; This includes the creation of a product category hierarchy, interlinking products, and adding various features of the products including product images. Custom fields are essential to include cross-selling various other products to increase the overall price of the order

4. Shipping and tax options: Various taxes are applicable in different regions including GST. Shipping can vary potentially based on product type. A module to calculate the price based on weight and distance can be integrated with local shipping services. 

5. SEO-friendly: Choose an extension that includes built-in SEO features to help optimize your e-commerce website for search engines.

By considering these key features, you can ensure that you select the best Joomla e-commerce extension for your website.

Virtuemart; the best Joomla e-commerce extensions available online

There are several top Joomla e-commerce extensions available in the market that can enhance your website's online shopping experience. Some popular ones include:

1. VirtueMart: VirtueMart is a widely used ecommerce extension for Joomla. It offers a range of features such as product management, payment gateways, shipping options, and more. The best reason to use Virtuemart is that it is available for free. 

2. HikaShop: HikaShop is another popular choice for Joomla e-commerce websites. It provides a user-friendly interface, support for multiple languages, and various payment and shipping options.

3. J2Store: J2Store is a lightweight and easy-to-use ecommerce extension for Joomla. It offers features like product management, flexible pricing options, and integration with popular payment gateways.

4. DJ-Extensions: DJ-Extensions is a versatile extension that allows you to create an online store with various functionalities, including a product catalog, shopping cart, and payment integration.

These are just a few examples of the top Joomla e-commerce extensions available in the market. It's important to research and compare different extensions to find the one that best suits your specific needs and requirements.

How to install Virtuemart Joomla e-commerce extension

Virtuemart is one of the most popular extensions used by our team at fusionweb.com based on high performance and ease of use for non-tech clients who want to have an easy-to-use interface and should be able to add products themselves. Updating the store regularly is the most common activity.

For starters, it's best to buy a template with Virtuemart already configured to the template. This will save substantial configuration time. The Kickstart template bundles are popular for most Virtuemart installs. As the default Joomla template or third-party template, not desinged for Virtuemart will lack a graphical interface to display products and various check-out step pages.  Here are some basic steps in setting up a Virtuemart Store

1. Unpack the Virtuemart-Joomla kickstart bundle on the root path of your hosting. If you are installing the latest version of Virtuemart with your current install of Joomla, make sure that the Joomla version supports the Virtuemart version. The latest stable version of Virtuemart is 4. x (https://virtuemart.net/downloads)

2. Navigate to the configuration section of Virtuemart and configure your store. This includes setting up the address, logo, contact emails, contact numbers, etc.

3. Create product categories or category hierarchies.

4.  Add products with images, prices, descriptions, product categories, and related products. Enter meta content for SEO purposes

5. Configure a one-page checkout extension to make the check-out process very easy. The default check-out has several steps which can lead to bounce-offs. 

Useful Tips for maximizing the performance of your Virtuemart E-commerce Store

To maximize the performance of your Joomla e-commerce website, consider the following tips:

1. Create an easy-to-use interface for the user. Capture user emails in the checkout process to engage for remarketing and promotions etc. 

2. Configure messages, emails, and invoices with proper branding and business details. 

2. Enable CSS compression. Use web-friendly image formats. 

3. For E-Commerce Websites use reliable and high-performance hosting. I highly recommend using the Hostinger Platform for high-performance websites. 

4. Regularly update Joomla and extensions: Keep your Joomla installation and extensions up to date to benefit from bug fixes, security patches, and new features.

5. Optimize your database: Regularly clean up and optimize your Joomla database to improve website performance.