Templates-Master team is pleased to present you the latest collection of Magento free themes. All of them have been developed by different developers and comes in different styles and under different liceses types. You can use these templates as baseline whether if you are new to online shops or you are already an experienced user. The collection is provided as filtrable grid. So you can sort the themes by compatibility with different Magento versions, responsive and multicolor design support, etc. If you are interested, please check complete collection bellow. Also feel free to contact us if your theme is missing in this post.

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In the current post of our case studies we are really excited to to tell story story of our client http://scalemodelshop.co.uk/.

Introduction

I started Scale Model Shop in 2010 because I already had a established model forum which gave me a good customer base to get things off the ground. Working on it part time while also having a full time just I was able to give up my job at the end of 2012 to concentrate fully on my own site.

Can you tell us more about your business and ecommerce experience?

I first started the shop using cscart which was ok but I soon found it wasn’t for me, I was introduced to Magento by a SEO company and liked it from the start as it seemed feature rich out of the box.

Why you have chosen Magento?

Magento is not only feature rich but it is also resource hungry, and because of that I have thought about moving away from it, but with a bit of sever tweaking it does get better and I’ve yet to find another e-commence software that has so much going for it, in regards to add-ons and information found on the Internet to help if you get stuck.

There are dozens of companies on the market. Why did you decided to start working with Templates Master’s extensions and templates?

I found the support I have got to be good and reasonably priced add-ons, any problems I’ve had are fixed quickly.

What our products do you use?

• Fire Checkout 2.0
• Argento theme
• Page Cache extension
• Layered navigation 2.0 extension

What is your favorite product?

Firecheckout: It looks neat and tidy, works with other 3rd party addons I have installed and makes it easier for the customer to complete their sale.

Can you give advice to beginners in ecommerce?

Know your market and good communication with your customers is vital, I send out emails during different stages of the order keeping them informed at ever stage, it put’s your customer at ease.

What other extensions that are not available at Templates Master you would suggest to focus on?

As above, I used followup emails, these are automatically sent out to customers. Also follow up review emails, great way to get fresh content on your site, good for SEO.

Do you have any special offer for our clients?

If you have an interest in scale modelling and would like to try out my site use promo code TM13 for an extra 10% off your first order.

In case you are interested in posting your store about using our products then you can contact us at our contact form.

Are you looking for a way to make your Magento store faster? Tired of paying more and more for expensive hosting packages? Try using our Magento Page Cache solution and it will help you. It was created with only one purpose - make your store faster. Page cache is based on core magento architecture that supports both static and dynamic blocks. Installation is really easy and it works right out of the box. But real power is hidden in additional extension settings that allow to set flexible cache rules based on page, block or any module.

Magento Page cache will help you:

• Increase your site speed up to 400%.
• Reduce your server resource usage up to 50%.
• Improve your customers experience.
• Improve your SEO performance with faster site load.

Please find more information on the Page Cache extension page.

We were working hard in June to bringing update to our most popular extensions. No you can check results our our work in detailed changes list provided bellow. Two our veterans extensions now become 2.x and offer much more features then in previous version. So if you are eligible for free update or you have any product ideas or suggestions then simply send us a message at our contact form.

Extension updated

Products Questions extension AskIt 2.o

Customer usually ask same question again and again. Transform this frustrating task to your store's advantage with Askit. Instead of answering questions again and again you can create you own products knowledge base. AskIt will save countless hours spent on customer support answering same questions. Already answered products questions and answer will help to increase chance of converting your visitors to customers.

In the 2.0.0 extension version next new features were added:

• Allow to place discussion block on cms and categories pages
• Added page with all products discussion at your store
• Added products question search on all products page
• Widget for recent discussion was added
• Added folded or unfolded default states for products discussion
• Added notifications for additional responses by other visitors

Find out more about AskIt! 2.0 at customers questions extension page.

Ultimate Layered Navigation 2.0 is now available

Layered navigation is one of most popular magento features created in order to make shopping quick and easy. Now you can improve your store layered navigation with additional great features! Ajax Layered Navigation will help you to use layered navigation block on home page and allow to use multiply attributes choice for more prices navigation. Also additional attributes display type such as images and dropd down will help you to improve your store look.

In the 2.0 extension version next new features were added:

• SEO links for layered navigation
• Optional non-follow element
• Performance update - works 80% faster!
• Optionally show search form if there is larger then x number of attributes
• New layered navigation styles added

Check more details about recent Magento Layered Navigation 2.0 release at layered navigation extension page.

Increase your store sales with Firecheckout 2.4.3

The checkout process is by far one of the most complicated, yet most important parts of any e-Commerce website. With out one step checkout you’ll be able to offer your customers a quick and easy way to complete their transactions that they will appreciate.

In the 2.4.3 extension version next new features were added:

• Check for minimum amount when removing item from cart fixed.
• No more unnecessary captcha refreshes, when updating page content.
• Fixed optional and hidden region field for Magento 1.6.2 and earlier
• Fixed hidden postcode field
• Fixed bug when Mage_Persitent was disabled with etc/modules file
• Improved compatibility with third-party themes, that used height style for input fields
• Added parsing of System is busy message from VIES validator
• AheadWorks Newsletter module integration added
• Integration with Irvine DeliveryDate and JapanPost added
• Partial uSplitRates integration added. Still needs to edit app/code/local/TM/FireCheckout/Model/Quote/Address.php
• Partial integration with Stripe payment methods added. Need to edit stripe/form/stripe.phtml

Find out more about Fire Checkout 2.0 at checkout extension page.

Today we are glad to continue case study blog series and tell about great story of our client Muller Wenskaarten.

Introduction

Muller Wenskaarten, located in Almelo in The Netherlands started in 2007 with a small collection of greeting cards of own design. Our company has now grown and we carry more than 20 brands. Customers can select between 2.000 different cards. We also carry about 500 small gifts in stock for our customers to choose from. Delivery takes place by mail within 24 hours on weekdays.

Can you tell us more about your business and ecommerce experience?

Back in 2007 we started with eCommerce. Most of our customers like to send a handwritten greeting card with a personal message. We concentrate on the Dutch language market. Not surprisingly most of our customers, consumers as well as businesses are situated in The Netherlands and Belgium.

Why you have chosen Magento?

We started with oSCommerce and in 2010 we looked for an alternative. At that time Magento was the only alternative which was ahead of its time and had all the features we wanted. It is not the easiest platform in terms of setup and maintenance but once it is running it is easy to use. More important, customers can easily find what they are looking for. Bottom line: customer ease is what counts!

There are dozens of companies on the market. Why did you decided to start working with Templates Master’s extensions and templates?

We chose for Fashion template as it suits our company. It also has features which still are ahead of the game. Another very important reason for selecting Templates Master is their excellent support desk. Questions are answered within a day, sometimes within 30 minutes!

What our products do you use?

• Fashion Star Theme
• Mobile Star Theme
• Navigation Pro
• Quick shopping
• Ajax Pro 2.0
• Easy Slider
• Highlight
• Ajax Search

What is your favorite product?

Ajax Search is our favorite product. This enables our customers to search for and find the greeting card they like. For our customers the images popping up in the search screen is a major help.

Can you give advice to beginners in ecommerce?

Starting with eCommerce is the same as starting a brick and mortar shop. Do not underestimate the effort needed to keep the shop alive. Magento helps a lot, but bear in mind that you will need to keep your shop up to date with new products and also make seasonal changes. The most important is, just like Templates Master, to have a fast support desk.

What other extensions that are not available at Templates Master you would suggest to focus on?

Most of the extensions focus on front-end experience. I would like to bring an extension to your attention which makes life a lot easier. We use “extended product grid with editor" in the back-end. This enables easy changes of the stock levels and status of many of our products at once. It saves a lot of time!

Do you have any special offer for our clients?

Templates Master customers can use coupon code TM042013 for a free magnetic bookmark with any order at Muller Wenskaarten.

In case you are interested in posting your store about using our products then you can contact us at our contact form.