Want to earn online? But you are still confused about which platform to choose from. As you know, OpenCart and Shopify are two of the most popular eCommerce platforms in today’s market. Let’s test and compare their key features to let you know which one works the best for you, whether you are looking for a simple online store or a more advanced one. First, We will have a little bit of insight into both platforms if you aren’t aware of them.

What is OpenCart ?

OpenCart is a popular e-commerce platform that offers many great features for online merchants. Some of the key advantages of OpenCart include its powerful store management system, a wide range of payment options, and customizable designs.

What is Shopify ?

Shopify is another popular e-commerce platform that allows businesses to set up and manage their online stores. Similar to OpenCart, Shopify also offers many useful features, such as an intuitive admin dashboard, multiple payment options, and a wide range of customizable themes.

OpenCart vs Shopify:Which One is Right for your Online Store?

Opencart vs Shopify which one is better? While both OpenCart and Shopify are powerful e-commerce tools, there are some key differences between these two platforms that you should consider when making your choice.

OpenCart vs Shopify: Pricing Comparison

Even though Opencart is free, you need to buy web hosting to use the software. Shared hosting plans are usually $5-$10/month and will suffice for new websites. However, if your site becomes popular, you’ll more than likely have to upgrade to e-commerce hosting with PCI (Payment card industry) compliance which costs around $30 a month.

Shopify, on the other hand, has a wide range of pricing plans. The cheapest plan costs just $19/month and includes unlimited products with no transaction fees. If you need more robust features such as shipping integrations or advanced reporting, you can upgrade to their higher tiers that start at $49/month.

OpenCart vs Shopify : Free Trial Policy

If you want to try Opencart for yourself, keep in mind that it is open-source software. This means that you’ll need to buy some hosting and install Opencart before getting started.

Shopify makes things a bit simpler by offering a 14-day free trial of their platform with no credit card needed upfront.

OpenCart vs Shopify: Setup and Management

OpenCart is a versatile e-commerce platform that is free and open source, making it an attractive option for businesses. With OpenCart, users can easily customize their storefronts to create a unique shopping experience for their customers. However, it can be challenging to manage large inventories on OpenCart, and the platform can be difficult to set up, especially for beginners. Additionally, OpenCart does not provide an integrated shipping solution or support for multiple currencies, which can make it challenging to manage your store’s global reach.

Looking for a simpler e-commerce platform with more built-in features? Shopify may be the right choice for you. As a hosted solution, Shopify takes care of all the technical details of running your store, including payment processing and security. With Shopify, you also get access to a wide range of customizable themes and apps that can help you build and manage your business more effectively. In addition to this, Shopify offers integrated shipping and inventory management features to help you streamline your operations, as well as support for multiple currencies.

OpenCart vs Shopify:Which Offers Best Support ?

OpenCart is an open-source platform, while Shopify is a subscription-based service. Both OpenCart and Shopify offer similar core functionality, such as the ability to create product catalogs, set up promotions and marketing tools, and manage customer data. However, OpenCart tends to be less user-friendly than Shopify and may require more technical knowledge to customize and maintain.

OpenCart vs Shopify:Which One is Best for SEO ?

When it comes to SEO, several factors can impact your rankings on search engines like Google. These include things like the quality of your website’s content, backlinking strategies, site speed, site architecture, and more.

To implement SEO best practices, the platform allows you to modify the metadata, product descriptions, categories, and individual web pages.

Since Shopify provides marketing tools such as email promotions, social media posts, and SEO settings, you can confidently focus on areas of your business that better match your strengths. And don’t worry if these areas aren’t your strong suit; the platform takes care of all the complicated technical details for you.

Shopify vs OpenCart: Final Verdict

Well, in the race of OpenCart VS Shopify, we have a clear winner—Shopify. OpenCart is a popular open-source e-commerce platform widely used by businesses all over the world. Shopify, on the other hand, has quickly gained popularity for its ease of use and robust functionality.

OpenCart is typically seen as more suited for small to medium-sized businesses, while Shopify offers enterprise-level features that make it a great option for large businesses. OpenCart is open-source, which means that it has a much larger community of developers and users and can be customized to meet the specific needs of your business. However, Shopify also allows for extensive customization options with its vast library of apps and themes.

Another key advantage of Shopify is its excellent customer support. OpenCart is also known for having great customer support, but Shopify’s help resources are much more robust and easily accessible. Whether you’re just getting started with OpenCart or are an experienced e-commerce veteran, Shopify offers the features and support you need to succeed in today’s competitive online marketplace. So if you’re looking for the best e-commerce platform for your business, look no further than Shopify!

We are incredibly proud and honored to announce that we have been fast growing Brand of the Year 2021 . We won the award in the category of “Web and Ecommerce Development.” Such awards and appreciation give us recognition. Not to mention, they increase our dedication to work much harder. 

These awards are more like a realization that we are on the right track. Mean3 is dedicated to the industry of web development and e-commerce, and we want Pakistan to grow more towards prosperity.

Why were we Awarded the Fastest-Growing Brand of the Year?

In our eyes, we are a team of dedicated people contributing to prosperity. We believe in providing top-notch customer services to our clients. We go beyond our lengths to satisfy our affiliations. Customer is the king, and customer satisfaction is the key to success; and that’s our chant. Our clients greatly appreciate our services, which in turn made us win such a prestigious award. Our services include:

• Website design and development
• Graphic Designing
• Mobile App Development
• Digital Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Game design and development

Managing Director Message

“ 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑨𝑯 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔. “

Abdul Hadi Siraj , Managing Director (Mean3)

Importance of Recognition and Awards?

To word productivity and to route outcomes; an organization needs appreciation and recognition. Especially, when it comes to new ventures and start-ups—brand awareness is necessary. The industrial sector of Pakistan is coming back to its root; and we all must contribute towards creating a positive image of Pakistan. 

These awards make us even stronger. They inject a boost of motivation to perform better. Having said that, it is not about winning or losing; it is about getting the right kind of recognition. Getting nominated for a prestigious award is no less than a win. 

The ecommerce industry of Pakistan is booming. As per the local sources, Pakistan has transacted around US$4 billion in 2020; and it’s been increasing ever since. In such a tight competition; Mean3 was recognized and nominated for the efforts. We won the award of fastest growing brand of the year; and we believe that it is a huge achievement.

These awards also encourage healthy competition. We loved how we were praised by our competitors. Such events all enhance the brand market research, and give a power boost to the upcoming entrepreneurs. To create a mindset of brand empowerment and awareness in Pakistan; such events are essential. 

About Brands of the Year Award

Brands of the year awards are held on an annual basis. They are amongst the most anticipated awards in Pakistan. These awards promote healthy competition between national brands. Such events also promote the brand culture of Pakistan. Brands of the year contribute to maintaining a positive and progressing image of Pakistan. The mission of Brands foundation is to promote the local brands of Pakistan through brand culture. Furthermore, they also play an important role in creating a powerful and positive identity of Pakistan; by highlighting the image globally. 

Shopify is an all in one integrated cloud based eCommerce platform that helps you to start, expand and run your business across multiple channels, which includes social media to even online marketplaces. You need someone who understands its technicalities and modifies the operations according to your business needs.

Understanding the market demand, Mean3 has built a credible capacity for Shopify developers and is currently offering Shopify Developing Services within the region and abroad. Shopify itself has accredited us as Official Shopify Experts in Pakistan. This is due to the existing strength of our client portfolio, team, and overall trust of our clients that come from different industries. 

As we ensure seamless integration between development, user experience, design, and overall conversion rate optimizations – we efficiently strive toward achieving your brand’s goals. That is why we have the largest brands/clients portfolio within the region on Shopify.

Don’t believe us? Hear it from our clients themselves:

Habitt

“Habitt has always been the pioneer and trendsetter in the home decor and furniture industry in Pakistan. We wanted to move to a better website to enhance the customer experience and conversion rate. So we approached Mean3 and it was our best decision. Mean3 helped us throughout the process and met all our business requirements to develop an amazing user friendly website.”

• Owner Of Habitt

Royal Houseware

“Our new website created by MEAN3 has just launched. It looks professional and very easy to navigate. They’ve done a great job of creating exactly what we wanted. Our experience with customer service at MEAN3 has been great. They handle things very efficiently and are available for any questions we have. They met all of our expectations and had a lot of insight regarding marketing tools. We would highly recommend them to anyone looking to build a new website.”

• Owner Of Royal

Mantra

“Team is very knowledgeable and delivers on time. They recommend the latest tools to deploy and share information about our traffic and customers with us that we didn’t know existed. They understood our requirements and adapted the process to our needs.”

• Owner Of Mantra

E-lite Appliances

“My experience with Mean 3 was outstanding. We have also got our other sites made from them and we are very satisfied. The team is extremely professional. They also have a very good customer support team.”

• Owner Of E-lite Appliances

E-lite Cigs

“We are very happy with the content and service provided by mean3, everything went very smooth and they have delivered what they committed. They even handled our old website problems which was not part of the contract. The guidance regarding apps was very helpful and it has increased our overall sales. We recommend everyone to try them out”

• Owner Of E-lite

Masarrat Misbah

“The best experience working with an agency. On top of it and extremely knowledgeable. Open to feedback always willing to go above and beyond to make the client super satisfied. Our first experience with Shopify has been great thanks to them”

• Owner Of Masarrat Misbah

Chester Bernad

We appreciate the time mean3 spent on understanding our needs in terms of the look and feel of our website. they are accessible and open in their communication with their clients and are visibly committed to assisting them to understanding the major and  subtle features of Shopify. 

• Owner Of Chester Bernad

Personalized After Sales Care:

Our development team ensures that you get the most out of Shopify’s platform. We take account of the swift process of setting up and launching a site that cuts down your overall development costs. Furthermore, familiarization with the platform’s customisation allows us to tailor the best for your brand. Our team ensures to optimize your Shopify platforms according to your needs by adding apps such as customer wishlists to shipping programs and many more spanning from 1000+ apps. Once your site is ready, intensive regard is given to the importance of it being mobile friendly – to ensure your site looks stellar on all devices. Moreover, our marketing team keeps a close check on the Shopify shopping cart – taking note of abandoned checkouts and reaching out to potential customers through email marketing. 

However, a stellar website without traffic is no good! Thankfully, Shopify has powerful SEO (search engine optimisations) which Shopify Experts at Mean3 understand and integrate to improve your website’s ranking. This makes your website easily accessible to customers and hence brings in traffic. The customer data gathered is then used to understand customer behaviour for effective marketing through emails, social media integration, and product reviews. Whilst ensuring overall site performance and security, where server maintenance costs can be insured, our team keeps you updated. Furthermore, any technical issues are catered to through 24/7 Shopify customer support making the eCommerce experience seamless. Get started with your eCommerce business today and get a free quote to accomplish exceptional milestones!

Magento (now an Adobe firm) – a major player in the eCommerce industry has been around for more than 10 years now! It deals with small and mid-sized businesses, mid-market, and enterprise eCommerce platform markets. It’s a platform powerhouse that consistently appears on shortlists and requests for proposals (RFPs). As the fastest-growing brand, Mean3 understands the difficulties of deciding what platform to use. We have dedicated professionals to suggest which is the best fit for your upcoming or current eCommerce business. There are several factors you have to consider before switching to Magento – with the most critical one being which to use: Magento Open source, Magento Commerce or Cloud. From the perspectives of features, pricing, and flexibility & stability – this guide is intended to highlight significant differences between all to help you make a better decision.

Why Magento Open Source is the Good Option for Small Business

Magento 2 Open Source, also previously known as Community edition, is the most popular among businesses. This is because Magento allows you to self-host on an open platform that enables your retail software to run on your established server and network maintenance.

However, when it comes to features there are a few basic tools for building a Magento website: 

• Integrated checkout, payment, and shipment systems
• Optimizations for shopping on mobile devices 
• Worldwide selling 
• Company account management system 
• Inventory management 
• App marketplaces enable further functionality if required
• Site search
• Immediate purchases

This version of the platform will enable you to understand the core service offerings. It is best acquainted with being cost-effective – with the help of trained professionals at Mean3 we can develop a reliable B2C online shop for your small business. Although, it is not often the case that a small startup may use Magento Open Source and later switch to Commerce for more scalable solutions. 

Why Mid Size Businesses Prefer Magento Commerce over others

The prior version of Magento Commerce, also known as Magento Enterprise Edition, is essentially a licensed version of the open source one with additional functionality. It is broken down into two further versions, an on-premise and a cloud version (explained further below). The added functionality will allow you:

• Business development dashboards
• The functionality of B2B
• More advanced marketing tools 
• The ability for content staging and previewing 
• Access to customer loyalty tools
• A more expansive page builder
• Visual merchandising options 
• Customer segmentation
• Product recommendations

In retrospect of the features in Magento Commerce, it may be best for medium to large businesses that have to handle a plethora of transactions. It assists while ensuring that business growth and efficient digital expansion are not compromised. Furthermore, it offers enhanced scalability and security but not like how Magento Cloud does it.

Why Magento Commerce Cloud is the Good Option for Large Size Businesses

Magento Cloud, previously called Enterprise Cloud, is Magento Commerce, but with cloud infrastructure hosting. Its functionality focuses on scalability and enhanced security with these added features:

• Easy deployment and global availability
• Global and cloud availability that has an SLA up to 99.9%
• Fast page loading and performance monitoring tools 
• Web application firewall, which also includes fastly WAF and DDoS services which are also PCI compliant
• Streamlined updates and testing

Initially, looking at the features only gives an idea that this version of Magento is best suited for large businesses. They need an infrastructure that is suitable for high traffic, has a stable platform for stable growth and processes large amounts of requests daily.

Core Differences between the Magento Open Source and Commerce platforms:

The initial difference between Magento Open Source and Commerce. In Magento commerce there is additional functionality of page builder, security, b2b functionality, the way content is staged & previewed, and more marketing features. 

Therefore, Magento Commerce has more power and flexibility over Open Source. But Open Source can allow you to develop at a certain cost. 

Accordingly, when it comes to Magento Cloud and Commerce. Both are highly dependent on large businesses and the dev team. For example, you already have a dev team, but not experienced like Mean3, but you believe you need a newer scalable solution that may have predictable costs, security, and stability that may not be reliant on an in-house option. 

Lastly, the time required to develop, set up, and implement an online store takes around 8-10 weeks on Magento Open Source. Whereas, it would take about 14- 16 weeks on Magento Commerce. Development time is often associated with how efficient your development team is, that is where Mean3 come in ensuring to cut down this time and ensure your site is functional and reliable at our earliest.

How to Choose the Right Magento for your Business?

Choosing the right Magento, completely depends on your business requirements. This includes certain aspects of price (such as the cost of licensing which may need to be justified if you are a high-volume merchant or retailer), and the right need for features (whether the features on Commerce can be developed for a cheaper cost). Or if you have the budget to attain and feel like your business is on par with being a large-scale operation. Then you can let Magento handle all your burdens that are accustomed to self-hosting using Magento Cloud.

Regardless, if you are still on the fence on what platform may be best suited to you, get a consultation today and ease your eCommerce developing needs with Mean3! We can help you with Magento-managed services, develop the right software for your needs and provide continuous consultations on your eCommerce needs.

What color springs to mind when you hear the word Apple? Renowned brands have used color psychology to forge strong associations between color and their product in consumers’ minds.

A brand’s signature color is just one aspect of brand color psychology; other factors contribute to it . These include how a color makes us feel and affects us emotionally; The iconic Red of Coca-Cola associates positive, enjoyable, and energizing emotions with it. It’s also challenging to imagine McDonald’s golden arches without thinking of joy, optimism, and French fries.

What is Brand Color Psychology?

Brand color psychology investigates how color influences our brand perceptions. Colors have a significant emotional impact on us as these feelings significantly impact how we act as consumers.

Why is Psychology of Color Important in Branding?

Considering color psychology while branding gives you a tool to influence consumer perception and behavior. Various color psychology studies have supported some broad principles, the impact of colors on emotions varies from person to person depending on gender, cultural background, personal experience, and neurological variations. At Mean3 we pay regard to associate a meaning with your brand and consider every aspect while taking you on board.

Color Psychology Chart

The Psychology of Colors in Branding

There are significant advantages to incorporating color psychology in branding. To understand this concept to its core, you can refer to prominent brands globally that are similar to your own.

Keep in mind that none of the feelings are inherently tied to any one color. Context and culture are essential to the psychology of color in branding. Therefore, it’s essential to first identify your audience and take transitional steps. Making the proper color choice for your brand may be a thoughtful, informed choice if you clearly understand your brand positioning and personality.

Color psychology creates a significant impact when it comes to branding, and it is also beneficial in future projects. However, choosing a color and implementing it is a one-time thing until and unless you want to add some changes to your brand’s outcome. Our team partners with many brand owners to educate them regarding the importance of having a brand identity and walk them through the process of choosing the right color. Here is a quick break down of primary colors to better understand how brands use them to their advantage.

The Psychology of the Color Red

The psychological impacts of red, arguably the most stimulating hue, are not subtle. It’s therefore crucial that it be used wisely for branding objectives. Red has been demonstrated to decrease analytical thought and increase our reflexes – to drive an impulsive decision from its consumers. Therefore, red tags are purposefully used to indicate clearance sale prices.

The Psychology of the Color Green

The most exact color for our eyes is green because it doesn’t require any correction when it strikes the retina – as a result, it is relaxing, appealing, and tranquil. Green is the color of balance as it sits comfortably in the middle of the color range. It stands for sexuality as well as nature and fertility. The legend around the green Star Bucks is persistent for it being luscious and tempting.

The Psychology of the Color Blue

While red appeals to the body, blue inspires the mind. It is a serene, peaceful color that symbolizes clarity and communication. According to brand color psychology studies, blue is the most popular hue in the world. Blue is non-threatening, traditional, and conservative due to its widespread acceptance and environmental omnipresence. When a brand chooses a particular shade of blue for its identification, they are not taking any chances. Blue is frequently used in financial brandings, such as private equity, to imply reliability and security.

The Psychology of the Color Brown

Brown is a robust and dependable color representing abundance in nature and the land. It is frequently among the hues that are more common amongst men and is associated with leather or wood. It can be nostalgic while also having subtly supportive connotations. Brown is a valuable and practical color, but it can also look classy when done correctly.

The Psychology of the Color Black

The absence of all colors makes the color black. This information alone has significant psychological effects. Black represents strength – it acts as a barrier, absorbing energy and enveloping the person. The lack of light primarily causes its dark undertones – therefore, it never goes out of style and always looks good. 

How Brands Integrate Colors?

Our brain associates colors with different emotions and behaviors – this is because of diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Therefore, it’s important to first understand your audience before integrating any color.

As an international brand, Valentino shifted its red color scheme to an aggressive hot pink to break the color’s association with femininity. This marketing tactic gave people a new association of the color pink and was successful as the Valentino audience shares the same ideology. 

Similarly, some brands are consistent with singular color schemes like Supreme – their shopping bags, sweaters, and even skateboards feature the vivid Supreme Red. While looking to integrate your brand’s identity with a color, you have to be mindful of the prospects of it which our team helps you decide carefully

How To Find The Right Color For Your Brand

Color hunt has to be a rigorous process that involves research, ideas, and patience. Finding the right color for your brand requires a massive strategy. All the future campaigns, marketing, and ads would be aligned with the identity you decide with your brand’s color. For this, you need a team of dedicated professionals who understand your brands and the market’s needs – to deliver the best. 

This process is even more crucial when it comes to eCommerce brands. As interaction with customers is virtual and to deliver a message you need to adapt to different queues. This is where color psychology plays a massive role. While finding the right color, decide your brand’s story and align yourself with a professional team that can translate the impact of your brand’s color through effective marketing and campaigns. Our marketing team is solely dedicated to ensuring that every brand is unique and every design speaks for itself – so your brand stands out while building an association in the minds of your consumers.

Choose your brand’s color today!

Your brand is unique – so has to be the color associated with it. Give your brand meaning, and a background story today through understanding your audience, taking into account color psychology, and choosing the right one. Make this process smooth, seamless, and efficient with the right team! We have the country’s finest creative minds to walk you through the process, develop the idea, and implement it – contact us to get a free quote today.