Joomla is an award-winning free and open-source content management system specifically designed for publishing web content. It has become one of the most popular website software used by experts for many years, from developers to volunteers. Joomla ensures the platform is easy to use, extendable, highly responsive, multilingual, and search engine optimized as much as possible, with much more to offer.

Today, Joomla powers millions of websites of all types and sizes. It can be utilized for small businesses, corporate infrastructures, online publications, eCommerce, government sites, as well as personal websites. Joomla is known to be a versatile content management system and lives up to its name. Joomla is perfect for those who develop websites regularly for clients and offers a significant amount of unique benefits and features to take advantage of. It is pretty easy to install and set up. Additionally, Joomla provides a massive extensions directory that offers specialized functionality for custom website development.

Since Joomla is an open-source software, this means there will be no random anomalies that will arise once a website is officially launched and running. A few of the notable brands that utilize Joomla are LA Weekly, Harvard University, The Hill, and Linux.com.

What is a content management system (CMS)?

First and foremost, what is a CMS? Outsourcing a content management system (CMS) to help run an online business is critical to the workflow and overall success of how the company operates. A content management system is web-based application software that renders digital capabilities for multiple users to manage content, critical information, data, and virtually almost any type of digital content.

This software is mainly used to create, edit, archive, collaborate, and organize content for a productive workflow, taking automation to the next level. A diverse variety of CMS software can cater to a business’s unique goals, needs, and obstacles. It’s essential to choose a CRM that is the right fit. It could be a daunting task to sift through and compare which is best with hundreds to choose from. This article breaks down the eCommerce industry’s most favorable CMS called Joomla.

Benefits of using Joomla

Being that Joomla is one of the world’s most popular open-source software packages, it is utilized by nearly 2 million active websites. At least 9% are known to be business websites, and 3% are of the entire internet ecosystem. Joomla provides businesses of any size the opportunity to build websites and applications with cutting-edge technology. Here are a few reasons as to why many online companies embrace Joomla:

Easy to use and highly customizable

Joomla features thousands of award-winning template designs. While not all of them are free, there is still a significant amount that is. Typically, the paid versions come with world-class support. The graphical user interface allows users to change even the most minor details such as colors, fonts to overall layouts and key features without having to dabble in code.

Clever search engine optimization

Joomla offers robust SEO tools and resources equipped with metadata and keywords, menu creation, and more. This particular extension of Joomla automatically generates keywords and descriptions for pieces of digital content uploaded to the web. Although Joomla does need a bit of extra attention during the SEO setup, it carries immense potential to rank websites very high.

Free forever

Designed and developed by volunteers, Joomla was created with the intention always to be free for everyone and anyone to use. Considering it is open-source software, it also makes it easy to change web admins if the need arises.

Let’s dive into the best eCommerce extensions for Joomla.

1. VirtueMart

VirtueMart is considered to be at the forefront of eCommerce as an extension in Joomla. It has recently won over the developer hearts of many for the last decade. It is free and open-source software that is significantly easy to customize, possesses a clear architecture, and has a stable interface with speedy performance and effective results. VirtueMart provides support for multiple payment options and supports multilingual sites as well. If you’re looking for a one-stop solution for eCommerce-related issues, VirtueMart is an excellent choice. VirtueMart features 24/7 customer support, maintains all Joomla product support, and is SEO friendly with meta tags built in.

2. DigiCom

Another open-source software, DigiCom, was the first digital commerce extension made for Joomla. The focus of DigiCom is to provide robust software that empowers online businesses to efficiently set up an individual marketplace within just a few minutes. It is a user-friendly structure with additional add-ons that enhance the user experience. It’s important to note that DigiCom caters to selling digital products with a drag and drop file manager. A few critical features of DigiCom include detailed reporting, highly extensible, effortless checkout, order management, and the ability to manage orders with just one click.

3. HikaShop

HikaShop is another fantastic eCommerce solution from Joomla. It is built for simplicity and flexibility. Some of its top features include powerful statistics that help manage a storefront with a built-in dashboard, a responsive layout that is compatible across every device, and marketing tools that help increase sales through affiliate programs, coupons, and email marketing integration. HikaShop is easy to configure and fully integrates with many additional components, including many external plugins. The advanced customization enables users to fully personalize the storefront from checkout, emails to information fields. However, with the use of HikaShop, the user must have a bit of CSS and HTML experience to be able to manage the site.

4. MijoShop

MijoShop is outfitted with a powerful shopping cart and eCommerce element that makes for a rich and user-friendly experience. MijoShop was first developed and launched in 2012, and since then, has grown a substantial client roster. This particular extension is best suited for an online business that sells physical products. Its innovative interface allows the user to own complete control over the website paired with informative sales reports. It offers unlimited categories, over 50 payment gateways, custom order statuses, responsive design, and so much more. However, this software is not free like most of its competitors. There is an investment of $49 billed on a 6-month basis to get these exclusive benefits. There are significant cost savings if purchased in total upfront for just $499 for lifetime access.

5. EShop

EShop is a highly responsive shopping cart and eCommerce extension for Joomla. Like many of its counterparts, EShop is easy to use, highly customizable and offers many great features that are hard to pass upon. It’s as simple as installing the extension, adding unique products, integrating necessary external plugins, and the store is ready to go. Many catalog features behind EShop include, but are not limited to, unlimited categories, unlimited manufacturers, unlimited products, wishlist products, call for price, and notify me when a product is available. EShop is available for only a one-time purchase of $39.99. There are over 60 free payment methods to choose from with EShop. Additionally, EShop enables users to export data for the storefront to keep track of trends and significant findings.

6. J2Store

J2Store is one of the best Joomla shopping cart and eCommerce extensions to date. With over 350k+ downloads, J2Store has proven to be a powerful eCommerce solution for Joomla. The setup is easy and allows users to start selling anything anywhere in less than 10 minutes. It also promotes subscriptions and memberships to turn a website into a money-making machine with recurring customers. It’s easy to sell tickets, book appointments, and offer additional services all online.

Additionally, J2Store has a unique feature that allows for partial payments and deposits from customers with flexible payment plans. This eCommerce solution is available in three different tiers. The basic plan is free, while the professional plan starts at $49, and the Developer plan is $99. If you’re looking for simplicity, J2Store is one for the books. Not to mention it is a 100% Joomla MVC design.

7. redShop

redShop is a free, open-source eCommerce solution compatible with Joomla. It is highly valued for its extensive catalog of convenient features. This all-purpose shopping extension is perfect for creating a stylish shop that embraces everything a brand is about. Since the initial launch in 2010, redShop has been downloaded over 750k+ times, making it one of the most popular extensions for Joomla. A few key features include multiple currencies, unlimited products, statistics, search engine optimization, and easy-to-use and manage web shop. While this extension starts for free, there is the option to upgrade for more substantial benefits with a monthly subscription starting from just $9/month up to $19/month with the pro subscription.

8. Quick2Cart

Quick2Cart helps users manage their online products through a powerful narrative as a product manager. There is a choice between using a CCK, whether it is K2, Zoo, and Joomla. This dynamic eCommerce solution makes for a dynamic storefront that creates intuitive web pages packed with flexibility and simplicity. Quick2Cart provides a simple single-vendor option or a multivendor marketplace that can be integrated to help handle payments, payouts, excellent social integrations, and more. A few key features include stock management, SEO and metadata management, multiple currencies, and efficient product creation. The single price for Quick2Cart is $33.99 every six months or $54.99 for an entire year.

9. Phoca Cart

Phoca Cart is a leading shopping cart and eCommerce extension for Joomla. Phoca Cart provides responsive designs and displays across all devices, whether it is a mobile phone, laptop, or tablet. Phoca Cart successfully merges the world of digital downloads and tangible products into one powerful eCommerce platform. Since it is a free open source software, it can also be used as a gallery or download extension. With unlimited products, categories, images, and more, Phoca Cart is a force to be reckoned with in the industry and a significant competitor for Joomla extensions. This particular extension was built for template overrides which creates limitless possibilities for customization to fit your needs. A few additional essential features include powerful statistics, a PDF invoice generator, multiple currencies, multiple language support, and various shipping and payment methods such as PayPal, Stripe payment, and eWay payment.

10. JoomShopping

JoomShopping is perfect for selling different types of products online. It offers several functions that advertise products with pictures, text, audio, and video files without delay. JoomShopping excels at helping those who want to focus on getting ranked higher in search engine results. Completely easy to install, JoomShopping offers various wholesome features such as wish lists, delivery management, order history, product ratings and testimonials, and much more. JoomShopping is one of Joomla’s most intuitive eCommerce extensions with a free price tag.

11. Sellacious

Sellacious was created to influence the user interface in support of running an online store through Joomla in less than three minutes. It’s simple yet powerful administrator panel takes managing products to a whole new level. There is no limit to how many categories or products can be sold at a time. Sellacious is rid of limitations and operates with ease to make the seller’s job much more manageable. Sellacious offers multiple product types, from tangible products to digital downloads, including child products.

Conclusion

When deciding on the best Joomla extension, you must evaluate and assess the needs of your online business. While most of these extensions are completely free, many offer more benefits than others, making the overall investment promising. By integrating a Joomla eCommerce extension onto a website, it helps remedy any obstacles considerably.