When you start an eCommerce shop first of all you need to choose your content management system. Content management system is a computer application that allows you to publish and edit you eCommerce website. It allows you to organize your content, to modify it and even to delete it.
There are a lot of content management systems, so you need to choose wisely. This article will provide a comparison between two content management systems and we hope that this will make you choose easily.
Ubercart
First, let us talk about Ubercart. Ubercart is an open source e-commercial solution. It has fully integrated open source content management systems. Ubercraft is a shopping-cart software. With Ubercart you can set up your shopping cart relatively quickly. It provides you with everything you need to start selling your products online. It has a lot of modules that can satisfy your needs. Some of them are:
- Configurable product catalog which includes catalog pages and a product categories.
- Flexible product attributes system.
- Flexible product creation system. Create normal products by default.
- Single page checkout
- Simple order processing. Order screens are configurable and extensible to accommodate a wide variety of e-commerce applications.
- Simple order creation and editing
- Automatic account generator. Based on the customer’s e-mail, emails and accounts are automatically generated.
- Activity logging. This will enable you to see all changes made to an order, including payment processing.
- Integrated payment system that acts as a bridge between the acceptable payment methods and payment gateways
- XML import/export which allows you to import or export products, orders, attributes and customers from your old Ubercart store.
Drupal Commerce
The second software is Drupal Commerce. Drupal Commerce is also an open source e-commerce solution that augments the management system. You can use it to build websites and applications of all size. At its core it is lean and mean, it was developed with a framework mindset, focusing on satisfying your needs for online store. As Ubercart, Drupal Commerce has a lot of features. Here are some of them:
- Drupal commerce can adapt with your business as it grows. The business logic and layout of your site will always be ready to change right along you
- Design Freedom. You have complete control of how you want you store to look.
- Truly Flexible. There are not hard-coded assumptions about your product display need. You can build your site the way you want it, the way it will meet your needs.
- Full featured. The core system offers a full administration system, shopping cart and checkout form. It has multiple languages and multiple currencies support.
- Other features are: create product types with custom attributes, order management, tax calculation, discount pricing, file download, PayPal, shipping, stock and coupons.
Ubercart vs. Drupal Commerce
Now let us see the differences between these two softwares
- Product management. Ubercart is easier to use in product management because it treats each product as a same node, and the different attributes of the product as color of pant, or size of hats, it treats them as attributes of the nodes. On the other hand, Drupal Commerce has different nodes for each combination of the products. For example: if you want to sell dresses with the sizes L and M, and with the colors blue, red and green you will have to create six nodes. The advantage of this is that you won’t have errors with the shipment and tracking, because you have the variation of the product as one node, were as in Ubercart you have one node for all the variations so it is likely to generate some errors with the order.
- Shipping and payments. Drupal Commerce does not come with a payment and shipment module; you will have to install additional modules. As of Ubercart, it comes with the two modules and you can choose from a lot of payment methods, and with Drupal Commerce you cannot implement payments with Google Wallet and no shipment with FedEx. This is the same with other modules because Ubercart keeps its functionality inside the core, however in Drupal Commerce you will need to install additional modules. The idea behind this in Drupal Commerce is to divide and conquer concept, i.e. it allows the user to install only the modules that he will use in his e-commerce shop.
- Learning Curve: Drupal Commerce is more complex to learn, were as Ubercart is much easier to learn and it is more similar to other e-commercial software.
- Configuration: in both of them is fine to leave it with the default configuration. In Ubercart you need to change address, currency and contact, were as in Drupal Commerce you need to check settings for payment method, pricing rules and currency.
- Documentation: It is far better of Drupal Commerce than that of Ubercart.
- Long term: In long term projects it is better to use Drupal Commerce because you can expect more enchantments in the future, were as Ubercart restricts you from designing large stores and might be outdated in future.
It’s time to make up your mind
So, these are some of the main characteristics and differences that we have found are important when you are trying to make your mind up when choosing whether to use Ubercart or Drupal Commerce. Drupal Commerce has an advanced architecture and forward looking integration that make it a strong candidate for new owners of eCommerce shops. It offers and amazing amount of power to handle tax, shipping and inventory.
But also keep in mind that it is a new package and there is still work to be done to make it perfect. There are a lot of things that are limited such as payment gateways and shipping options.
On the other hand, Ubercart system management is far easier than Drupal Commerce’s. Ubercart integrates beautifully in highly complex websites. It can be used out of the box for intangible goods. It supports all types of files, and you can get paid when people download some of those files.
So, it all comes down to what you want and what you need. You need to seriously think about your requirements and see whether Ubercart or Drupal Commerce can live up to your expectations. If they both completely meet your needs then lucky you, you have a choice to make.