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VirtueMart

What Is VirtueMart?

VirtueMart is an open-source complete eCommerce solution designed as an extension of the Mambo or Joomla! Content management system. They need to be used together to work. Both are released under the GNU General Public License, which means they are free for download and use by the end.

Joomla! and VirtueMart are written in PHP and created to use in a PHP environment easily. All you must do is download the latest Joomla distribution and the VirtueMart package from their website. 

You may wonder why Joomla is necessary for VirtueMart.

Well, Joomla provides the Core System and the Framework for VirtueMart to use. For instance, you can easily use a complete Shopping Cart Solution within your dynamic Website ("Portal"), together with many other Plug-Ins, called Components and Modules, like Forums, FAQs, Guestbooks, Galleries, and more.

Features of VirtueMart

Here are some of the best features that VirtueMart boasts for merchants:

  • Structure your shop with nested categories
  • Powerful SEM and SEO features such as meta tags, keys, follow policies, customized page titles, and more.
  • Manage your shoppers via shopper groups
  • Efficient inventory management
  • Product Editor - enabling merchants to set different attributes to items such as  pricing in multiple currencies and displaying product dimensions
  • Powerful calculator

Meanwhile, there are also many beneficial features for customers, including:

  • Space for submitting feedback
  • Descriptions of products
  • Multimedia product display options
  • Individualize shopping experience


Why VirtueMart is Great for Merchants

VirtueMart supports countless products and categories. You can even assign products to multiple categories. The software also supports multiple prices for a single product, based around shopper groups or a quantity range, and permits the use of various payment gateways.

Because VirtueMart is an open-source e-commerce solution, all the application code is openly visible in PHP. In turn, PHP developers can view, update or customize the operation of the shopping cart. 

What’s more, VirtueMart itself offers simplified templates (called 'fly pages' in VirtueMart) structure that allows various shopping and cart page(s) to be edited as standard HTML and CSS.

Notably, new to VirtueMart 1.1.0 included quickly changing themes for a category, product, checkout, and cart pages. The cart is also integrated with Rapid 3.0, enabling transaction data to be sent directly from the customer's browser to the payment gateway without passing through the merchant's systems.


How Much Does VirtueMart Cost?

VirtueMart is free software released under the GNU General Public License. There are no fundamental limitations for users, and you can easily create and maintain a site with an unlimited number of categories, products, orders, customers, etc.


Who Manages VirtueMart?

VirtueMart has only a small team at present. There are 3 to 5 active developers who help evolve the Core System and update the Project's Open Program Sources. 


Key Takeaway

VirtueMart allows online sellers to access many features to help them enhance their sites or online stores. There’s a lot of room for customizing and categorizing products, as well as easy inventory management.