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For many designers, the task of creating an eCommerce website for a client can be a daunting one. If you are at your wit’s end from trying to handle the technical side of getting an eCommerce website created, I know how you feel. Most designers want to be able to focus on the creative side of their work, instead of getting bogged down in working out little technical details. Fortunately, there are a lot of great open source eCommerce solutions that are available for you to use. By choosing one of these solutions, you can stop worrying about the technical side of an eCommerce solution and get back to what you do best: creating amazing designs that are visually appealing and user friendly.

WordPress: You may think that WordPress is just a blogging platform, but thanks to a lot of contributions from the WordPress community, it’s now possible to use the WordPress platform to create a full-blown eCommerce website. Although there are some paid solutions for creating an eCommerce website with WordPress, you can actually create a secure eCommerce site with WordPress for free. All you need is the eCommerce plugin. In addition to this plugin, you can download the free Crafty Cart theme (which was designed for the eCommerce plugin) and modify it to your specific needs.

Magneto: This is a robust eCommerce solution for websites that want to be ready for future growth. With the ability to control and customize every aspect of an online store, the features in the Magneto platform range from marketing through the creation of targeted micro-sites to built-in SEO features to fully functional order management. And as a designer, you can take advantage of the free designer’s guide to Magneto, which gives you all of the necessary documentation to develop top of the line themes for Magento.

Zen Cart: As its name implies, the Zen Cart is all about making the process of creating an eCommerce website as simple as possible. The Zen Cart was developed with the main requirements of both merchants and shoppers in mind. In addition to a laundry list of great features, on the design side of things, the Zen Cart uses an XHTML template system. On the Zen Cart website, you will find over fifty different articles that are related to the subject of template customization for the Zen Cart platform.

Freeway: Although Freeway is the last solution on the list, it is still worth checking out. What sets Freeway apart from other platforms is its inclusion of features that were previously available in enterprise class or niche bespoke systems. In addition to selling products, Freeway allows you to sell events, services or subscriptions. To get an idea of what’s possible with Freeway, you can take a look at the Freeway showcase page.