SimpleGreat Ecommerce is a premium responsive theme for OpenCart, the open-source shopping cart platform, sold on ThemeForest for $35. It bundles a visual admin panel, a blog extension, two slider systems and a set of layout options aimed at store owners who want to change how their shop looks without editing code. It suits small and mid-sized merchants running OpenCart 1.5.5.1 through 1.5.6.x who want a broad feature set at a low one-off price, and it has attracted 1,165 sales from developer dedalx.
What SimpleGreat Ecommerce Actually Delivers
The headline claim is control without code. The theme ships with its own admin panel that the vendor says exposes more than 300 configuration options, and that figure is the thread running through most of the feature list. Colour management is the clearest example: eight colour skins are built in, but the panel also lets a store owner build new ones, save them and reload them later. Fonts come from a library of 500 Google Fonts, backgrounds from a set of 206 textures, and both are selectable from the same interface. The practical effect is that a merchant can restyle a shop repeatedly — seasonally, for promotions, or per brand — without hiring a developer for each change.
Two bundled extensions do more than cosmetic work. The Blog Manager adds a real blog to the OpenCart installation, with comments, user accounts, multi-level categories and frontend modules for latest posts, latest comments and category lists. For stores that rely on content marketing or buying guides to attract search traffic, this removes the need to bolt on a separate CMS or a third-party blog module. The Quick View feature is the other functional addition: shoppers can add a product to the cart from a category or homepage grid without loading the product page. Fewer page loads between a shopper and the cart is a reasonable thing for a store owner to care about.
On the merchandising side, the theme includes Revolution Slider and Flexslider, with the choice made from the admin panel, plus full-width or boxed slider layouts. Product grids can run three per row or four per row. Homepage product blocks — latest, featured, specials and bestsellers — support an Ajax “show more” pattern instead of pagination. Navigation gets a multi-level mega menu with a brands menu, custom top links, a custom HTML block and a floating fixed header that can be switched off. Product pages support a right sidebar with a related-products slider, custom tabs, Cloud Zoom, an additional-images slider and a lightbox.
Smaller details round out the list: Ajax live search, Ajax add to cart, a catalog mode that disables cart and checkout so the site works purely as a showcase, grid and list product views, a newsletter signup module with MailChimp integration, a scroll-to-top button, a floating Facebook like box, a Twitter slider, custom payment and social icons, and a footer that carries no copyright notice. The theme is multi-language, multi-currency and cross-browser compatible, and PSD files for the theme, sliders and banners are included.
Where SimpleGreat Ecommerce Fits, and Where It Does Not
The strongest fit is an established OpenCart 1.5.x store whose owner wants a visual refresh without a rebuild. Because the theme installs over an existing OpenCart installation and exposes layout, colour and typography through the admin panel, a merchant can change the storefront’s appearance while keeping products, customers and orders in place. Freelancers and small agencies building brochure-style or catalogue sites also benefit from catalog mode, which turns off the transactional machinery entirely — useful for a distributor that displays products but takes orders by phone or email.
Content-led stores are the second clear fit. A shop that publishes buying guides, comparisons or news alongside its catalogue gets a native blog with comments and categories rather than a separate WordPress installation to maintain. Stores that sell through visual merchandising — electronics, fashion, homeware — will get more from the mega menu, promo banners, brand menu and homepage module set than a store selling a handful of near-identical SKUs.
There is one situation where this is the wrong purchase. Anyone running a current OpenCart release, or planning to upgrade to one, should look elsewhere. The vendor states compatibility with OpenCart 1.5.5.1 to 1.5.6.x only, and the last update was in June 2015. OpenCart has moved a long way since then, and a theme built for that branch will not simply drop into a modern installation. The same applies to merchants who need a theme that is actively maintained against current PHP versions, or who expect ongoing feature development — the release history describes upgrades as a matter of adding new files and replacing changed ones, which is a manual process rather than an automatic one.
What Setup Involves
Installation assumes a working OpenCart 1.5.5.1–1.5.6.x store already in place, along with the usual hosting requirements: PHP, MySQL and a web server capable of running OpenCart itself. The theme is installed as an extension, after which the admin panel becomes available for configuration. The vendor advertises a setup time of about ten minutes, and that is plausible for the mechanical part — uploading the theme and activating it. The realistic time investment is in configuration rather than installation.
Deciding on a colour scheme, choosing between Revolution Slider and Flexslider, setting the slider to full-width or boxed, picking a font from 500 options, selecting a background texture from 206, building the mega menu, arranging homepage modules and populating promo banners is where the hours go. None of it requires HTML or CSS knowledge, which is the point of the panel, but it is a series of decisions rather than a single switch. A store owner should budget an afternoon for a first pass and expect to revisit the settings over the following weeks. Full installation and configuration documentation is included, and the vendor provides a demo login for both the theme panel and the Blog Manager panel, so the interface can be inspected before purchase.
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths
- Genuinely broad feature set for a $35 one-off licence, including the Revolution Slider, which is normally sold separately.
- Native blog with comments, users and multi-level categories, avoiding a second CMS.
- Deep visual control through the admin panel: colours, fonts, backgrounds, layouts and menus without touching code.
- Catalog mode makes the same theme viable for non-transactional showcase sites.
- PSD source files for the theme, sliders and banners are included, which matters to designers customising further.
- Documentation and demo credentials are provided, so the admin experience can be evaluated before buying.
- No copyright notice in the footer or on orders, which some commercial themes impose.
Limitations
- Compatibility stops at OpenCart 1.5.6.x. This is the decisive constraint and rules the theme out for current OpenCart installations.
- The last vendor update was June 2015. There is no indication of maintenance against newer PHP versions or security patches.
- Upgrading between theme versions is manual — new files are added and changed files replaced — with no automatic update path.
- The bundled Revolution Slider is the version current at the time of the theme’s release, not a licence for the plugin’s later releases.
- Demo product photography is not included, so a store needs its own imagery before the layout looks complete.
- Configuration is decision-heavy. The 300-plus options are an advantage only for someone willing to work through them.
How It Compares With Other OpenCart Themes
Within the OpenCart theme market, products generally split into two groups: lightweight themes that change styling and little else, and full frameworks that bundle extensions and a control panel. SimpleGreat Ecommerce sits firmly in the second group. Its closest comparisons are other all-in-one OpenCart themes that include a slider, a blog and a visual options panel, and against those the feature list holds up well — the blog manager in particular is not universal at this price.
The comparison shifts once maintenance is factored in. A theme’s value is not only what it ships with but how long it stays usable, and on that measure a theme last updated in 2015 competes poorly against alternatives built for OpenCart 2.x and 3.x. For a store already committed to OpenCart 1.5.x, the feature-to-price ratio is strong and the compatibility question does not arise. For anyone starting fresh, the sensible comparison is against themes written for the OpenCart branch currently in use, even where those themes offer fewer bundled extras.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which versions of OpenCart does SimpleGreat support?
The vendor states compatibility with OpenCart 1.5.5.1 through 1.5.6.x. It is not advertised as compatible with OpenCart 2.x or 3.x, and the last update was in June 2015, so it should not be expected to work on a modern OpenCart installation without significant development work.
Does SimpleGreat Ecommerce include a blog?
Yes. A Blog Manager extension is built into the theme, with support for comments, user accounts and multi-level categories. Frontend modules for latest posts, latest comments and blog categories are included, so a store can publish articles alongside its product catalogue without installing a separate content management system.
Can the store be run without a shopping cart?
Yes. A catalog mode setting in the theme admin panel disables the cart and checkout, leaving the site as a browsable product showcase. This suits distributors, wholesalers or manufacturers that display a range but handle orders through other channels such as phone, email or a sales representative.
Do I need to know HTML or CSS to customise the theme?
No. The admin panel exposes more than 300 options covering colours, fonts, backgrounds, layouts, menus and homepage modules. The vendor states every theme element can be changed from the panel. Custom HTML can be added to specific blocks if wanted, but it is optional rather than required.
Verdict
SimpleGreat Ecommerce is a well-stocked OpenCart theme at a low price, and for a store already running OpenCart 1.5.5.1 to 1.5.6.x it represents good value: the blog manager, the bundled Revolution Slider, catalog mode and the depth of the admin panel together justify the $35 far more easily than a styling-only theme would. The 1,165 sales suggest a reasonable number of merchants reached the same conclusion. The problem is timing. A theme last updated in 2015, tied to a branch of OpenCart that is no longer current, is a hard sell to anyone building a store today, regardless of how complete the feature list looks. Buy it to refresh an existing legacy store; do not buy it as the foundation for a new one.
