7 Useful Free Zen Cart Mods For Your Ecommerce Store
Zen Cart is a great shopping cart by itself, but like any great outfit, adding some accessories here and there can definitely take it to a whole new level and increase your websites productivity.
Here are some modules, handpicked by Diva Designz, we thought you might find useful, because they certainly have come in handy in making our online ecommerce presence more effective.
1. Column Layout Grid for Product Listing
The default product listing view in Zen Cart is the row layout where each product is listed line by line. Typically, we are accustomed to viewing products in the column layout grid when shopping online. This module will make available the column grid view and you can customize how many columns you would like to display in a row. It can also be adjusted to only display certain details on the product listing page such as price, image, title, description, buy now button, etc.
Click here to view this Mod in Action: http://diva-designz.net/templates/index.ph...
2. SlimBox Image Viewer
Slimbox is for aesthetic purposes only but can really make a significant difference to your customers. The default in Zen Cart is the external pop up window. Slimbox makes it easier for your customers to view product images by opening on the same screen. It can be easily closed by clicking on the “close” button in the bottom right corner or clicking anywhere on the faded areas outside the box. Slimbox opens and closes images in a very sleek and stylish fashion.
Side Note: SlimBox is written using the Mootools javascript framework. Mootools may have some conflict with other javascript scripts but may easily be fixed by upgrading to Slimbox2 which uses jQuery. Slimbox2 is not available as a Zen Cart module but we can help upgrade it if needed. Diva Designz is currently operating Slimbox2.
Click here to view this Mod in Action: http://diva-designz.net/templates/index.ph...
3. Easy Populate
Easy populate is a must have module for any eCommerce store owner that has more than just a few product items. If you are already familiar with Zen cart’s product editing system, you should know by now that it is easy, but a very slow task. Imagine having about 20 products that you would like to change prices for. That could take about 30 seconds to a minute per product. Easy populate makes it super easy to edit products by downloading all the data of your products and export it to a .csv file which is editable in Excel as a spreadsheet. All your products can be viewed in one window and are separated by columns making editing a breeze. Think about the amount of time you will save from editing products that you can commit to promoting and marketing your online business.
4. Checkout Without Account (COWOA)
Checkout without an account allows customers to purchase items without having to create a permanent account on your Zen Cart website. This reduces checkout time, gives customers a peace of mind about identity theft, and our online laziness. Online shopping has really made it easier for us to shop, but like any retail outlet, customers are there to shop and not to fill out forms. You would be surprise to see how much of an impact it is to not make your customers fill out a couple more lines of information. The less obstacles you give your customers, the more likely your customers will convert to buyers.
This mod will display in Zen Cart admin customers that are without an account. None account holders will still be able to track their order status using their email address and order number. Users can checkout without an account as many times as they like using the same email address. They may also use the same email address to create an account if customers ever decide to later on.
5. Newsletter Subscribe
If you’ve used Zen Cart for a while now, you will notice that existing customers can unsubscribe from the newsletter, but there is never an option to just easily subscribe to your newsletter. Currently, Zen Cart only allows users to register for the newsletter only by creating an account. Again, touching on what I mentioned earlier, you want to make every process as easy as possible for customers. It’s unrealistic to expect customers to provide you with their home address, telephone number, date of birth, and other personal information for a newsletter when all you really need is their name and email address.
Newsletter subscribe mod can make this possible by enabling you to display a subscription link either in your sidebar or header. It will automatically merge accounts if the customer with the same email address decides to create a full account later on.
6. Printable Pricelist
The printable pricelist mod is very useful for different purposes. It can be great for inventory, providing customers with information, a simple catalog, and other things you decide it can be useful for. There are many settings available as to what information you would like to print. Settings for customer view can also be customized if you want it to differ from what the admin views.
7. Dual Pricing – Wholesale Pricing
If you offer retail and wholesale prices stop before you decide to create two separate websites for each. If you weren’t thinking of creating a separate site for wholesale customers but decided to just display on your website “call/contact/email us for wholesale pricing” then this is the mod for you. Again, with the keeping it simple line, you have to make it easier for customers to find the information they want – when they want. If wholesale prices are not listed on your website, you increase the chance of prospective customers going to the next listed site on the search engine who offers similar products. Dual Pricing allows you to define four price levels beyond retail and you can set what each customer sees. Customers need to create an account and be logged in before they can view wholesale prices. The default for all account and non account customers is the retail pricing.
These are only a handful of modules we chose but Zen-Cart.com offers hundreds more. If you have any questions about these Mods or any from Zen-Cart.com, feel free to contact us at sales@diva-designz.net.
Here are some modules, handpicked by Diva Designz, we thought you might find useful, because they certainly have come in handy in making our online ecommerce presence more effective.
1. Column Layout Grid for Product Listing
The default product listing view in Zen Cart is the row layout where each product is listed line by line. Typically, we are accustomed to viewing products in the column layout grid when shopping online. This module will make available the column grid view and you can customize how many columns you would like to display in a row. It can also be adjusted to only display certain details on the product listing page such as price, image, title, description, buy now button, etc.
Click here to view this Mod in Action: http://diva-designz.net/templates/index.ph...
2. SlimBox Image Viewer
Slimbox is for aesthetic purposes only but can really make a significant difference to your customers. The default in Zen Cart is the external pop up window. Slimbox makes it easier for your customers to view product images by opening on the same screen. It can be easily closed by clicking on the “close” button in the bottom right corner or clicking anywhere on the faded areas outside the box. Slimbox opens and closes images in a very sleek and stylish fashion.
Side Note: SlimBox is written using the Mootools javascript framework. Mootools may have some conflict with other javascript scripts but may easily be fixed by upgrading to Slimbox2 which uses jQuery. Slimbox2 is not available as a Zen Cart module but we can help upgrade it if needed. Diva Designz is currently operating Slimbox2.
Click here to view this Mod in Action: http://diva-designz.net/templates/index.ph...
3. Easy Populate
Easy populate is a must have module for any eCommerce store owner that has more than just a few product items. If you are already familiar with Zen cart’s product editing system, you should know by now that it is easy, but a very slow task. Imagine having about 20 products that you would like to change prices for. That could take about 30 seconds to a minute per product. Easy populate makes it super easy to edit products by downloading all the data of your products and export it to a .csv file which is editable in Excel as a spreadsheet. All your products can be viewed in one window and are separated by columns making editing a breeze. Think about the amount of time you will save from editing products that you can commit to promoting and marketing your online business.
4. Checkout Without Account (COWOA)
Checkout without an account allows customers to purchase items without having to create a permanent account on your Zen Cart website. This reduces checkout time, gives customers a peace of mind about identity theft, and our online laziness. Online shopping has really made it easier for us to shop, but like any retail outlet, customers are there to shop and not to fill out forms. You would be surprise to see how much of an impact it is to not make your customers fill out a couple more lines of information. The less obstacles you give your customers, the more likely your customers will convert to buyers.
This mod will display in Zen Cart admin customers that are without an account. None account holders will still be able to track their order status using their email address and order number. Users can checkout without an account as many times as they like using the same email address. They may also use the same email address to create an account if customers ever decide to later on.
5. Newsletter Subscribe
If you’ve used Zen Cart for a while now, you will notice that existing customers can unsubscribe from the newsletter, but there is never an option to just easily subscribe to your newsletter. Currently, Zen Cart only allows users to register for the newsletter only by creating an account. Again, touching on what I mentioned earlier, you want to make every process as easy as possible for customers. It’s unrealistic to expect customers to provide you with their home address, telephone number, date of birth, and other personal information for a newsletter when all you really need is their name and email address.
Newsletter subscribe mod can make this possible by enabling you to display a subscription link either in your sidebar or header. It will automatically merge accounts if the customer with the same email address decides to create a full account later on.
6. Printable Pricelist
The printable pricelist mod is very useful for different purposes. It can be great for inventory, providing customers with information, a simple catalog, and other things you decide it can be useful for. There are many settings available as to what information you would like to print. Settings for customer view can also be customized if you want it to differ from what the admin views.
7. Dual Pricing – Wholesale Pricing
If you offer retail and wholesale prices stop before you decide to create two separate websites for each. If you weren’t thinking of creating a separate site for wholesale customers but decided to just display on your website “call/contact/email us for wholesale pricing” then this is the mod for you. Again, with the keeping it simple line, you have to make it easier for customers to find the information they want – when they want. If wholesale prices are not listed on your website, you increase the chance of prospective customers going to the next listed site on the search engine who offers similar products. Dual Pricing allows you to define four price levels beyond retail and you can set what each customer sees. Customers need to create an account and be logged in before they can view wholesale prices. The default for all account and non account customers is the retail pricing.
These are only a handful of modules we chose but Zen-Cart.com offers hundreds more. If you have any questions about these Mods or any from Zen-Cart.com, feel free to contact us at sales@diva-designz.net.