The Antropy OpenCart Blog
Apr 12, 2024
Why a Full Rebuild Is Often Necessary for OpenCart Updates
We often get a lot of questions asking why we typically recommend rebuilding a site when it comes to updating the version of OpenCart. Transitioning from earlier versions, such as the leap from OpenCart 1 to 3, is not as simple as running a quick script.
Mar 28, 2024
How to Use OpenCart's Built-in Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the (if not the most) powerful tool for businesses to engage with customers, promote products, and drive sales. OpenCart provides a straightforward way to send marketing emails to different user groups directly from the admin panel. In this guide, we'll walk you through...
Mar 21, 2024
Outsourcing vs Insourcing eCommerce Fulfilment
Many businesses are successful because their founders are willing to ‘get their hands dirty’, and involved with every facet of business operations. During the early stages of an eCommerce retailer’s growth, this can be beneficial because it means leadership better understands the intricacies...
Mar 15, 2024
How to Start a Successful OpenCart Ecommerce Business
Are you considering launching your own online store using OpenCart? Follow the key essentials for a successful launch in our guide below!
Mar 8, 2024
OpenCart vs WooCommerce: Which One Should You Choose
Are you grappling with the decision between OpenCart and WooCommerce for your online store? In our recent article, we delved into a comparison between OpenCart and Shopify. Now, we're turning our focus to the battle between OpenCart and WooCommerce, to help you make an informed decision. You can...
Mar 1, 2024
How to Install an OpenCart Extension
OpenCart extensions can add functionality and enhance the features of your e-commerce website. Installing these extensions is relatively straightforward, especially with OpenCart's user-friendly interface. Follow these steps to successfully install an OpenCart extension:
Feb 23, 2024
How to Set Up Facebook & Instagram Ads for Your OpenCart Ecommerce Store
You want to make more online sales. Great! A good step in the right direction is to leverage social media advertising. With Facebook and Instagram being two of the most popular platforms, tapping into their advertising capabilities can significantly boost your online store's visibility and sales....
Feb 16, 2024
Best OpenCart Themes to Use
When it comes to setting up your online store, choosing the right theme can make a world of difference. OpenCart offers a plethora of themes to choose from. However, not all themes are created equal. In fact, many of them fall short in terms of coding standards and compatibility, leading to...
Feb 9, 2024
How to enable SEO Friendly URLs in OpenCart
Want to enhance your OpenCart store's visibility and drive more sales? It's time to start enabling SEO URLs – a simple yet effective strategy that can make a significant difference in your site's performance.
Feb 2, 2024
Antropy's Recent Interview with Starter Story
In a recent discussion with Starter Story, Paul provided valuable insights into the secrets underpinning Antropy’s growth, the origin story, and the key steps taken to launch Antropy:
Jan 26, 2024
The Impact of Marketing Audits on Ecommerce Growth
Reviewing and addressing the marketing efforts of your e-commerce store is an effective strategy to ensure your online presence is at its peak performance.
Jan 19, 2024
Best Extensions for Your OpenCart Store
OpenCart thrives on its extensive range of extensions that enhance functionality and streamline operations. We have put together some of the best free, and paid, OpenCart extensions below.
Jan 12, 2024
Why Choose Antropy for Your OpenCart Hosting?
Website hosting, who do you choose? As devoted OpenCart developers with more than a decade of hands-on experience in leveraging the capabilities of this robust ecommerce platform, we recognise the distinctive requirements that come with it. Here are key reasons why opting for our hosting services...
Jan 5, 2024
3 Actionable Strategies to Increase Conversion Rates For Your OpenCart Store
As an online shop owner, you’re probably always on the lookout for new ways to increase sales, conversions, and reduce cart abandonment. Ecommerce opportunities are vast, but competition is fierce. If you're running an online store using OpenCart, you're already on the right track. However,...
Dec 20, 2023
Most Viewed Blogs of 2023
Here is the roundup of our most popular blog posts this year! We have written a range of blogs from "how-tos" to "top tips", but here are our top 5 most read blogs of 2023:
Dec 15, 2023
Why do you need a robots.txt file?
SEO can be complex at times, and the robots.txt file is an aspect that's very often overlooked, but extremely important for website optimisation.
Nov 24, 2023
OpenCart vs Shopify: Which One Should You Choose?
OpenCart? Shopify? Do you find yourself stuck deciding between which platform to choose? Deciding on the right platform is crucial for the success of your online business, and here's why we think OpenCart stands out:
Nov 17, 2023
Antropy Hourly Rate from 2024-01-01
As described in a recent blog article, we started reviewing our rates twice a year starting from the 1st of January 2021 to allow us to hire the best staff and use the best tools to deliver the best work for our clients.
Nov 3, 2023
How to Set the Robots Meta Tag in OpenCart
In the digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for the success of any e-commerce business. When it comes to SEO, one of the often-overlooked but immensely valuable tools is the Robots Meta Tag. These unassuming HTML tags play a significant role in controlling how search engines...
Oct 27, 2023
The Importance of Mobile Optimisation for OpenCart Ecommerce Websites
The rise of mobile devices as the preferred choice for accessing the internet is no surprise. Mobile phones are portable, convenient, and readily available, allowing users to browse, shop, and interact with online businesses on the go. As a result, mobile devices have completely transformed the...
Oct 20, 2023
How to Take Exceptional Product Photos for Your Online Store
In the fast-paced world of ecommerce, product photography plays a large role in captivating potential customers and securing the sale. In the absence of a physical shopping experience, your product photos are the closest your customers will get to feeling and experiencing your offerings. That's why...
Oct 2, 2023
Antropy Attends the Ecommerce Expo in London
On the 27th September Alex, Project Manager, and Jack, Digital Marketer, embarked on an exciting journey to the ExCel in London. With Antropy specialising in the development of online stores using OpenCart, the ecommerce expo was the ideal destination to explore the latest trends and gather...
Sep 26, 2023
Protecting Your OpenCart Store: Insights from Antropy's Senior Developer
Recently, our senior web developer, Tyler, had the opportunity to talk with SafetyDetectives for an in-depth interview on how we approach security in the world of OpenCart. Some of the key insights from Tyler's interview shed light on common vulnerabilities, prevention strategies, reaction plans,...
Sep 15, 2023
How to Remove the Category Product Count Within OpenCart
Having the amount of products within your category pages in your dropdown list can be very useful for customers to see. However there are drawbacks to having these enabled such as if your store has a lot of subcategories, then it can cause a performance hit on your website (this is highlighted in...
Sep 12, 2023
7 Tips To Boost Sales In OpenCart Using Social Media
In the ever-evolving world of e-commerce, finding effective strategies to boost your online sales is crucial for the success of your OpenCart store. With the right approach, you can leverage various tools and techniques to drive more customers and revenue. In this blog, we'll explore seven tips to...
Aug 15, 2023
How to See Monthly Sales Trends in OpenCart
Analysing trends in your sales can be a valuable asset when it comes to forecasting and making data-driven decisions for your business. Alongside utilising the Product Reports feature, you can assess your companies seasonal trends. During months when sales might be slightly lower than others, this...
Aug 8, 2023
How to Enable Estimate Shipping in OpenCart
Enabling the Shipping Estimator feature on your OpenCart site can greatly enhance the user experience for your customers. This tool empowers them to receive a quick quote for the shipping cost for items in their shopping cart.
Aug 2, 2023
How to Apply a Limited Time Offer on a Product Within Your OpenCart Site
Limited Time Offers (LTOs) can be a game-changer for e-commerce websites. By creating urgency, they drive action, increase conversion rates, attract new customers, encourage repeat purchases, generate buzz, and clear out excess inventory. Let's explore how you can implement this on your OpenCart...
Jul 21, 2023
How to Copy in the Store Admin on all Customer Emails
In default OpenCart, when a customers makes a purchase, a minimum of two emails are sent. One email is sent to the store owner and another is sent to the customer. If you've ever seen the store owner's email, it's in plain text and, more importantly, doesn't contain all the information in the...
Jul 6, 2023
How to Alter Your Dashboard Layout Within the OpenCart Admin?
Your OpenCart Dashboard is a useful first port of call to quickly see some key statistics. It is automatically configured to include the following:
Jun 9, 2023
Unleashing the Power of VPS Hosting for OpenCart
In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, e-commerce has emerged as a driving force for businesses worldwide. To succeed in the competitive online marketplace, it is essential to leverage the right technologies and tools. One such tool that can significantly impact the performance and growth...
Jun 1, 2023
What Payment Gateway Can I Use for My OpenCart Vape Store?
The vaping industry has faced significant challenges when it comes to finding payment providers that are willing to support their businesses. However, with the emergence of alternative payment gateways like Viva Wallet, the vaping sector now has access to a versatile and reliable solution. In this...
May 24, 2023
When Should You Get Custom Work Done on OpenCart?
OpenCart offers a wide range of features and extensions to help businesses create their online stores. However, there may be instances where the available options do not fully meet your specific requirements. In such cases, getting custom work done on OpenCart becomes the best solution. This blog...
May 11, 2023
How to Send Abandoned Cart Emails from OpenCart
The best way to send emails to customers who may have exited your website is through the OpenCart MailChimp Integration Pro extension by Clear Thinking. Here are some of the key benefits to this extension
Apr 18, 2023
What's the best One Page Checkout for OpenCart?
As an online retailer, you know that a smooth and seamless checkout process is crucial for converting visitors into customers.
Apr 13, 2023
How Do I Find What Version of OpenCart I’m Using?
This bit of information is very important to know about your OpenCart store; as well as being for your own personal knowledge, it is crucial to know what OpenCart version your website is on when you come to purchase extensions so that you download the correct one.
Apr 3, 2023
OpenCart Builds From Enquiry to Go-Live
Whether it's modernising your out of date OpenCart site or looking to move from another platform to OpenCart, you will go through our process of getting an estimate through to getting your new site live. This blog gives you the step by step guide of how we go about this:
Mar 22, 2023
OpenCart PayPal Checkout Integration Upgrade
Recently, PayPal has released an upgraded extension for the OpenCart e-commerce platform. The upgrade provides many new features and enhancements to the existing module. In this blog we take a look at what has been upgraded and what version of OpenCart this applies to.
Mar 6, 2023
What Happens if You Let Your Error Logs Fill Up Within OpenCart
If you let your error logs fill up within OpenCart, it can have several negative consequences.
Feb 24, 2023
How to Add and Edit Return Actions in OpenCart
When a product is returned either due to a fault or not being quite right for the customer, it can be frustrating for any business. That is why having a good product returns conveyor belt is critical! You can read further understanding how Product Returns work within OpenCart in a previous blog....
Feb 17, 2023
What Are the Drawbacks of Moving Away From OpenCart to a New Platform?
Moving away from OpenCart does have some significant downsides, depending on your specific situation. Here are some potential drawbacks to consider:
Jan 27, 2023
Should I Work on My Opencart Store Myself or Pay Professional Developers?
Whether you should work on your OpenCart store yourself or pay professional developers depends on your own skills, resources, and goals for your online store. However here are some factors to consider when making your decision:
Jan 16, 2023
How to Set Up Weight Based Shipping in OpenCart
Setting up weight based shipping for your OpenCart store is a very useful exercise to undertake if your store requires it.
Jan 6, 2023
Aquafayre OpenCart Rebuild
We have worked with Aquafayre for many years and undertaken numerous smaller projects over this time.
Dec 16, 2022
Quick Checkout Extension
We get asked quite frequently about how you can improve the OpenCart checkout and potentially reduce the risk of customers abandoning their cart.
Dec 2, 2022
Facebook Extension for OpenCart
OpenCart is working directly with Facebook and has a free of charge extension that is available to all OpenCart users. They have been working with Facebook since 2017 and at the time of writing it has a mammoth 61852 downloads!
Nov 25, 2022
Our Meeting With OpenCart
On Thursday 24th November, we enjoyed a splendid lunch with OpenCart's Marketing & Partnership Director Ben Ajenoui. We had a lovely meal courteous of The Parsons Pig in Crawley and it was a great occasion to talk all things tech!
Nov 16, 2022
How to Refresh Your Statistics Within OpenCart and Why This Is Important
Making sure your store statistics are up to date within OpenCart is a very useful process to undertake. This blog will highlight where you can find this up to date information and how to keep it up to date
Nov 1, 2022
How to Contact OpenCart Extension Support
We always ask clients to buy extensions for various different reasons and our blog Why do we ask Clients to Buy Extensions highlights this.
Oct 14, 2022
How Product Returns Work Within OpenCart
There are two ways product returns are added within OpenCart, either by the customer or manually by yourself. So, let's start with the customer:
Aug 17, 2022
Where to Locate the Sales Statistics List Within Opencart 3.0.3.8
You can get a good overview of your sales within the OpenCart Dashboard but in order to get more in depth analytics on your sales then the Statistics List within OpenCart 3.0.3.8 is a very useful page to go to.
Aug 1, 2022
Mercers Furniture OpenCart Rebuild
We always enjoy undertaking rebuilds for current clients and this one was no different.
Jun 17, 2022
How to Add a New Image Banner on your Homepage Within OpenCart
Rolling banners on your homepage are a very important visual representation of the products or brands that you sell on your site. Being able to add a new banner on your homepage is a pretty important task to know how to undertake yourself and this blog will highlight exactly how this is done
Jun 6, 2022
Derails OpenCart Rebuild
We have worked with Derails for many years and undertaken numerous smaller projects over the years.
May 26, 2022
Team Antropy Attends the Three Bridges Networking Event
On the 25th May, Alex, Paul, Joe and Adem went to a local networking event held at Three Bridges Football Club.
May 18, 2022
Sparks Electrical OpenCart Rebuild
Near the end of 2020 we were tasked with updating a very tricky custom built OpenCart store for a company called Sparks Electrical.
May 6, 2022
Blocks of Hours vs Support Retainers vs Fixed Price
So we have a number of different ways of working on a project basis with clients. In this blog I will highlight the different ways we can tackle your project
Apr 29, 2022
Antropy’s Most Downloaded Free OpenCart Extensions?
‘Nothing in this life is free’, the old saying goes but we beg to differ when it comes down to our most popular free extensions. Here are our top 3 most downloaded free OpenCart extensions:
Apr 21, 2022
Hawkins OpenCart Rebuild
We have worked with Hawkins Hobbies since the middle of 2019 and we were very happy to rebuild their OpenCart site.
Apr 4, 2022
How to Send an Opencart Extension to Us?
So as per a previous blog of ours, we always ask clients to buy extensions and the reasons for that can be found here - Why do we ask Clients to Buy Extensions? However, in this blog I want to highlight how you go about sending the extensions to us.
Mar 16, 2022
Antropy Subcategory Images Extension
Adding images within subcategories has been a request we have had a fair bit recently, so we decided to package up our fix into a free extension that you can download here.
Feb 22, 2022
Antropy OpenCart Blog Extension
There are a lot of downsides of using Journal as an OpenCart Theme but one of the plus sides is the blog feature that comes with it.
Feb 11, 2022
Top 5 Payment Gateway Extensions for OpenCart
We often get clients ask us what is the best Payment Gateway to use for your OpenCart store. So here is a rundown of who we would recommend:
Feb 4, 2022
Opayo Update Deadline for your OpenCart Store is Looming
As I am sure those Opayo (formerly SagePay) users have seen, the SCA Deadline is set for the 14th March 2022. There are a number of updates that need to be put in place before this deadline and these should be implemented sooner rather than later.
Jan 17, 2022
Antropy's 2-Step Strategy for Handling Complex OpenCart Rebuilds
The normal way rebuilds run is we undertake a Phase 1 and then put the site live, if any further work is needed after this then that goes into a Phase 2. However with some sites where they are heavily customised this process isn’t one we would recommend or follow.
Jan 12, 2022
PayPal Search Transaction History within OpenCart
A useful feature within the OpenCart Admin is to be able to search the transaction history of current or previous PayPal orders. This can be found by:
Dec 22, 2021
How to Update Your Information Pages Within OpenCart
The Information page within the OpenCart Admin Panel is a little hidden and you could be clicking around for some time if you don’t know where to look. This is where you can find the following pages: About Us Delivery Information Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions
Dec 16, 2021
Vape Liquid UK OpenCart Build
We have recently built a brand new website for a new vaping company called Vape Liquid UK. We once again based the new site on our iStore theme and tried to keep the design as simplistic as possible.
Dec 8, 2021
Most Viewed Blogs of 2021
Just like in last year's blog, we go through the most viewed blogs written this year according to Google Analytics.
Nov 19, 2021
British Land Rover Parts Website OpenCart Rebuild
We were asked to rebuild the British Land Rover Parts website as they were running on version 2.0.3.1 of OpenCart which was in need of a recharge. For the new site we upgraded their theme based on our Multipurpose Theme.
Nov 12, 2021
How Easy Is It to Switch to OpenCart?
A question we get asked a lot when clients are potentially looking to switch from one platform to another is a) how hard is this to achieve and b) how much disruption will it cause to my current site?
Nov 2, 2021
Master Plastics OpenCart Upgrade
We were asked to rebuild the Master Plastic website as they were running an older version of OpenCart which was in need of an update and refresh. For the new site we upgraded their theme and mirrored the design based on their old site.
Oct 13, 2021
Organic Textile Company OpenCart Rebuild
We were asked to rebuild the Organic Textile website as they were running an older version of OpenCart which was in need of an upgrade and refresh.
Oct 6, 2021
Total E Liquid OpenCart Rebuild
We were asked to rebuild the Total E Liquid website as they were running an older version of OpenCart which was in need of an update.
Sep 29, 2021
Plantex OpenCart Rebuild
We were asked to rebuild the Plantex website as they were running off an older version of OpenCart and in need of an update.
Sep 17, 2021
Quay Traders OpenCart Rebuild
We were approached to update and rebuild the Quay Traders website as they were looking for a fresh, yet simple new site.
Sep 7, 2021
Cold Spring Website Merge
This was a website merge and update that we are very proud about.
Aug 20, 2021
Onion Reporting OpenCart Website Rebuild
Onion Reporting Software are a Belfast based company who specialise in putting your Sage accounts in Excel format. They were running on the old 1.5.5.1 version of OpenCart which made the website look outdated and in need of a refresh.
Aug 6, 2021
Crawley Sheds & Cabins Website Rebuild
We always enjoy helping local companies with their ecommerce websites and the Crawley Sheds & Cabins rebuild was no different.
Apr 1, 2021
Missing Orders Mysteries
A comprehensive guide on OpenCart's 'Missing Orders' - what they are, their causes, and how to solve.
Mar 16, 2021
How to Add Reward Points to Customers Within OpenCart
Keeping customers happy and making them feel valued is very important. One way to go about this is by rewarding them with Reward Points. In this blog, I highlight how to go about rewarding customers with reward points within OpenCart.
Mar 8, 2021
How to Enable or Disable Payment Methods in OpenCart
What payment methods you want to use on your OpenCart store is a very important decision to make. It is very easy to select which payment methods you would like to use and below I have listed the steps to do this.
Mar 3, 2021
How to Enable or Disable Reviews on Your Site
This may sound like something you should know how to do but I had to squirrel around the admin to find where you enable or disable reviews on your site.
Feb 8, 2021
How to Add a New Voucher Theme in Opencart
Themes/ pictures on vouchers are important when sending a voucher or when a client purchases a gift voucher. The default themes are Birthday, Christmas and General. The below blog highlights how you can add a new theme.
Jan 18, 2021
How to Add a New Weight and Length Class in OpenCart
Adding a new weight or length class is a useful exercise to know within OpenCart. It could be that you notice that in correspondences with customers they keep referring to a specific weight or length metric that you feel could be useful to add to your website.
Dec 15, 2020
How to add an IP for an extension that uses the OpenCart API
Sometimes a 3rd party extension or developer will need to access your OpenCart API, for this to happen they will need to get their IP added. I have highlighted below how you undertake this:
Dec 4, 2020
Our Most Viewed Blogs of 2020
Just like in last year's blog, we go through the most viewed blogs written this year according to Google Analytics. This year we have really tried to focus on blogs that will help you as OpenCart users and giving you more 'how to' guides.
Jan 26, 2020
Error Messages not showing up and how you can check these in OpenCart
Blank white pages or 500 Internal Server Errors are a PHP error. For some reason the error messages do not appear due to the server not being setup to display the errors. So how do you go about rectifying this? Well it is actually a relatively simple process.
May 19, 2014
OpenCart Currencies
There seems to be some confusion about how multi-currency works in OpenCart, so here's a short article to clarify some of the main points.
Sep 6, 2013
OpenCart Customer Review Email
Selling online is all about trust. If you can increase the trust your users have if your site, your company and your products, you will increase your sales in turn. There are many ways to do this but customer product reviews are one of the most effective.
Feb 22, 2013
Setting Up Your OpenCart Product Feed with Google Shopping
One of the best ways to increase sales through your OpenCart shop is to get your products automatically listed on Google Shopping. It's pretty easy to do and will probably only need about 30 minutes, yet many OpenCart store owners don't know they should be doing it!
Jan 18, 2013
One Quick OpenCart SEO Tip to Avoid a Duplicate Home Page
So here's a quick code change that you can do to your OpenCart shop to improve its Search Engine Optimisation.