Review: Virtuemart Ecommerce Component for Joomla
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
I have looked long and hard for a reliable, easy-to-use shopping cart, ecommerce component for the Joomla Content Management System (CMS). More specifically, I looked for a shopping cart, ecommerce component that integrates seamlessly into Joomla. This means that you can administer the shopping cart from within the Joomla administration screens, and that the shopping cart pages blend into the current Joomla template’s design. My conclusion is that such a component DOES NOT EXIST.
Of course there is Virtuemart, the free, opensource shopping cart built to integrate into Joomla. But after implementing Virtuemart for a client, I have to say that Virtuemart is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.
Many claim that Virtuemart is easy to use, and it is, at least for the cart administrator. But I found that the installation and configuration of Virtuemart to be full of bugs and gotchas. First, there is really NO Virtuemart documentation. Instead, I had to search the forum and sift through dozens of unanswered questions to find answers to problems and bugs that prevented Virtuemart from working without error messages or failures.
Virtuemart is just too difficult to install and get working correctly. For example, I can install and configure Joomla in about an hour, and that includes installing several components. But Virtuemart took days to work out all the bugs. The amount of bugs in the program is unacceptable to me. Unless I have a client whose bottom line is “Low Cost” I cannot justify using this unstable program. It’s much easier and less stressful to install and configure X-Cart or Ecommerce Templates, two popular commercial shopping carts. And, ultimately, it costs less to install and configure these carts, even though I have to do a LOT of work to integrate them with Joomla, because I don’t have to spend days searching a forum for answers and editing the source code to fix bugs. Plus, the commercial products have documentation to explain how to use them, such a helpful feature.
Virtuemart could be a GREAT program and become the default Joomla Ecommerce component, but the developer is overworked and under-staffed. If this project could get some support, it could be great, but I think someone will develop a more reliable and powerful program before that happens. At the end of the day, Free is not the most important thing, especially if you’re trying to make money on the web: what’s important to ecommerce is reliability, support, and a large and flexible set of ecommerce functions.
I have been keeping my eye on Joomla Equipment’s ecommerce component (joomlaequipment.com/content/blogcategory/13/67/). This component is still under development, but it promises to be a GREAT Joomla ecommerce solution. Because this component will eventually be integrated with their JContentSubscription - Pay and Read Content Component, it could be the ultimate Joomla ecommerce component. I have many clients who want to sell products AND subscriptions using the same checkout process, and this tool might eventually provide that capability. If it does, I’d gladly pay for it.
The willingness to pay for a reliable Joomla ecommerce component make me think that “Free” is one of the flaws of the Joomla licensing structure. Developers need to be paid for their time. If they can make enough money by developing free products, great. But I think the reason that Virtuemart is an unfinished and unreliable product is because its developer has to have a day job to afford working on Virtuemart. As a web designer, I am glad to pay for products that work and that are documented. Whether it’s a subscription payment, like with JCE Editor or JCal Calendar tool, or an outright purchase of the software like Philaform, I don’t care. I just want software that works so I’m not left on my own when I encounter bugs and issues and have nowhere to go for help.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope that someday soon, I can find a rebust, reliable, and full-featured Joomla ecommerce component.
