If you’re a small business selling products to consumers, you’d better have an e-commerce site and operation. But where to begin? You can choose a solution like Shopify or BigCommerce and risk spending top dollar. You can also go the open-source route and use a product like CubeCart.
With CubeCart, you can develop and maintain an entire e-commerce platform and install it on your company server or use a web-based solution like Hostinger. I did this recently when I wanted to set up an online store.
What is CubeCart?
CubeCart is a popular open-source e-commerce shopping cart solution that enables businesses of all dimensions to develop and manage their online commercial platforms. The British company provides a full suite of online store management tools, including product and order management, customer account features, and reporting capabilities. All CubeCart versions are free and don’t require licensing keys.
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CubeCart’s primary advantage stems from its ability to adapt to specific business needs. The Smarty engine, together with user-friendly templates, enables users to design and modify their online store appearance with ease. The platform features a responsive design that guarantees both form and functionality across every device, including desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets.
CubeCart allows users to organize their inventory easily, manage products by category, and upload detailed product information and digital download content. The platform’s central order management interface simplifies order processing, order history viewing, and customer information management.
The platform enables global e-commerce because it supports both multi-currency and multi-language functionalities. It also supports secure transactions through various payment gateways, SSL encryption, and payment transaction log capabilities.
The platform delivers improved online visibility through SEO optimization, which produces search engine-friendly URLs alongside manual metadata controls. The CubeCart marketplace provides users with numerous plugins and integrations that help expand platform functionality through shipping methods, social plugins, abandoned cart recovery, and marketing tools.
The intuitive admin interface of the system makes managing an online store easy for both beginners and experts. The platform features an analytics dashboard that tracks sales performance and customer activity. You can run CubeCart as a self-hosted system or choose official optimized hosting solutions.
What is Hostinger?
Hostinger provides compelling benefits tailored for small businesses, making it a popular choice for establishing an online presence. One of the most significant advantages is its affordability. Hostinger offers competitively priced plans with essential features such as a free domain name, SSL certificates, and professional email accounts. This combination can significantly reduce initial setup costs, making it an ideal option for budget-conscious entrepreneurs looking to launch their websites without breaking the bank.
In addition to cost-effectiveness, Hostinger prioritizes performance. With features like LiteSpeed web servers and SSD storage, users benefit from fast loading times, crucial for user experience and search engine optimization. A website that loads quickly is more likely to retain visitors, enhance engagement, and improve search engine rankings. This focus on performance ensures that small businesses can create a seamless online experience for their customers, which can be a deciding factor in today's competitive digital landscape.
Hostinger also makes website creation and management accessible, even for those with limited technical expertise. Their user-friendly hPanel control panel and intuitive drag-and-drop website builder allow anyone to create a professional-looking website without extensive coding knowledge. This ease of use empowers small business owners to focus on their core operations rather than getting bogged down in technical details, enabling them to bring their visions to life quickly and efficiently.
Customer support is another vital aspect in which Hostinger excels. With reliable 24/7 customer support via live chat, small business owners can promptly address technical issues or questions, ensuring minimal downtime. This level of support is crucial for businesses that rely on their online presence to attract and retain customers, as delays can lead to lost sales and damaged reputations.
Security is a top priority for Hostinger. The platform includes robust security measures such as daily backups, malware scanners, and DDoS protection to safeguard valuable business data and customer information. By prioritizing security, Hostinger helps small business owners gain peace of mind, knowing that their websites and customer data are well-protected against potential threats.
Finally, one of Hostinger’s standout features is its scalability. As small businesses grow, so do their online needs. Hostinger offers the flexibility to easily upgrade hosting plans as traffic and resource demands increase. This scalability ensures that businesses do not have to worry about outgrowing their hosting solutions, allowing them to confidently focus on growth and expansion.
Installing CubeCart on Hostinger
You can install CubeCart manually on a company server or use an auto-installer tool if you are a Hostinger customer.
To get started using the Auto Installer:
- Log in to your Hostinger account on the official Hostinger website.
- From the left-hand menu, click on Websites.
- Next to your account name, click Dashboard.
- In the left-hand menu, go to Websites again and select Auto Installer.
- Under the "Other" section, click Select.
- From the dropdown menu, choose CubeCart.
- Click Select.
- A pop-up window will appear to configure your CubeCart installation. To keep it separate from your main site, it’s recommended that you install CubeCart in a subdirectory of your website (e.g., `yourdomain.com/store`).
During these next steps, you must assign a Website Title, Administrator Email, Administrator Username, and Administrator Password at the top of the pop-up window.
Next, click Advanced, then:
In the Enter Subdirectory box, type the name you want for your subdirectory (e.g., `ls`, `store`, `cubecart`).
Ensure "Create new database" is selected, and then assign a strong password for this new database.
Final steps
It’s time to set up CubeCart using the new site’s administrator control panel. This page is tricky to find because of how it’s set up. Many installations include an “admin.php” file for this, but CubeCart does not. For security purposes, it changes the name of this file to something like “admin_xkdlsdf.php.” That’s the location where you’ll find the control panel.
You can go into the FTP section of Hostinger to find the example name of this file.
In my example, I installed CubeCart as a subdirectory for my website called “store.” Therefore, the control panel is located at http://mywebsitename.com/store/admin.xkdlsdf.php.
You can log in from this page using the credentials you created above. On the next page, you can set-up CubeCart to your liking.
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