We’re happy to introduce CS-Cart 4.21.1—a release focused on making everyday shopping and marketplace management more convenient. This update improves the storefront experience, expands structured data for better search visibility, introduces new promotional capabilities for marketplaces, and delivers several technical enhancements across the platform.
Highlights include a more interactive product list, new JSON-LD markup, vendor-based catalog promotions for Multi-Vendor, improvements to pickup point architecture, and updates to integrations and developer tools.
Here’s what’s new in CS-Cart 4.21.1.
1. Better Storefront Experience on Product Lists
We continue refining the CS-Cart user experience with small improvements that have a noticeable impact on everyday shopping. This time, we’ve focused on the product list—the part of the storefront customers interact with most.
A More Interactive Shopping Cart
Adding products to the cart is now more intuitive: customers can see directly in the product list which items have already been added. Added products are marked with checkmarks, and customers can adjust quantities right there.
If a product has required options—such as color or size—CS-Cart opens a pop-up before adding it to the cart and prompts the customer to select the required option. Once selected, the product is added and marked accordingly in the product list.
For B2B and wholesale scenarios, you can also enable Compact list under Settings → General → Appearance.
In this mode, as customers add products to the cart, a list of selected items is displayed directly on the catalog page. They can quickly review the selected products and adjust quantities. This is especially useful for wholesale buyers who need to add many different items to a single order.
In this example, all products require a size selection, so clicking Add to cart or In cart opens a pop-up where customers can select the required option and quantity.
Faster Product Image Preview
CS-Cart has long supported multiple product images on category pages.
With version 4.21.1, customers no longer need to click navigation arrows. Simply moving the mouse cursor over the product image cycles through available photos.
The result is a cleaner interface with fewer controls and fewer clicks.
Note: The product list displays the first six product images. Additional images remain available on the product page or in the Quick View window.
Optional Sorting Controls
A new Show product list sorting setting allows store owners to remove the sorting selector from product lists entirely.
This option is available under Settings → General → Appearance and provides greater control over how products are presented to customers.
Availability: all plans.
2. Improved JSON-LD Markup for Better Search Visibility
Search engine optimization remains one of the areas we continuously improve.
Version 4.21.1 expands CS-Cart’s built-in Schema.org support by adding two new structured data types.
Organization
The new Organization markup provides search engines and AI services with additional information about your storefront, including:
- business name;
- logo;
- email address;
- phone number.
Some values are populated automatically, while others can be configured on the new Website → SEO → JSON-LD page.
BreadcrumbList
We’ve also added BreadcrumbList markup.
Instead of displaying raw URLs, search engines can now show the navigation path to a product, category, or blog article directly in search results, helping users better understand your site’s structure before they visit.
Availability: all plans.
3. Vendor-Based Catalog Promotions
Marketplace owners now have more flexibility when creating promotional campaigns.
Starting with CS-Cart Multi-Vendor 4.21.1, catalog promotions can include Vendor as a condition.
This allows you to create promotions such as:
- discounts for products sold by selected vendors;
- discounts for products in specific categories while excluding particular vendors;
- more sophisticated promotional rules that combine vendor, category, price, and other conditions.
This feature gives marketplace operators much greater control over promotional campaigns without requiring custom development or complex configuration.
Below is an example of a catalog promotion with a discount for products in the Electronics, Sports and Outdoors, and Apparel categories from all vendors except ACME Corp. and CS-Cart.
Availability: all Multi-Vendor editions.
4. New Architecture for Pickup Point Integrations
We’ve redesigned how CS-Cart stores pickup point information behind the scenes.
The new architecture provides a unified way to store and manage pickup locations from different shipping providers. In version 4.21.1, we’ve reworked the default “Stores and pickup points” add-on to use this architecture. This has already improved performance on the checkout page when pickup points are involved. It also lays the groundwork for possible future improvements, like:
- pickup points from multiple carriers on a single map;
- simpler shipping service integrations;
- more consistent pickup point management across the platform.
In the future we’ll be using the new pickup point architecture in future integrations. We’ve also provided instructions for developers on how to use a new architecture, so that third-party solutions could benefit from it as well.
Note: When you upgrade to Multi-Vendor 4.21.1, if you have a mobile app for your marketplace, we recommend updating it to the latest version as well. This ensures your customers have access to pickup point selection after the upgrade.
Availability: all plans.
5. Google Maps API Usage Warnings
Interactive maps have become an essential part of modern eCommerce, but most mapping providers now charge based on API usage.
To help store owners avoid unexpected costs, CS-Cart now displays a warning next to the Google Maps API key settings, reminding administrators to configure spending limits and usage alerts.
We’ve also re-examined and made additional optimizations to how CS-Cart communicates with Google Maps APIs. This will reduce unnecessary requests and improve bot protection even further than before.
Availability: all plans.
6. Stripe Restricted Key Support
CS-Cart now supports Stripe Restricted Keys alongside traditional Secret Keys. This is especially useful for marketplaces that rely on Direct Customer-to-Vendor Payments add-on and payment model.
Restricted Keys allow vendors to grant only the permissions required for payment processing while limiting access to other Stripe resources.
This provides a safer way for vendors to connect their Stripe accounts when configuring payment methods within a marketplace. Stripe also recommends this approach to new vendors. So, offering a way to use Restricted Keys will alleviate security concerns from your sellers, and remove friction.
CS-Cart also includes guidance explaining which permissions should be enabled for the Restricted Key to work correctly.
Availability: Multi-Vendor Plus and higher.
7. Updated UPS Integration
We’ve updated the built-in UPS integration to the latest supported API version.
Shipping providers regularly update their APIs, and staying current helps ensure accurate shipping rates and continued compatibility.
If you use UPS, we ask that you review your UPS shipping method both in the admin panel and on the checkout page after you update to CS-Cart 4.21.1.It is best to verify that shipping calculations continue to work as expected.
Availability: all plans.
CS-Cart 4.21.1: Better Shopping, Better SEO, Better Marketplace Management
With version 4.21.1, we’ve focused on practical improvements that benefit both merchants and customers:
- a smoother shopping experience on product lists;
- richer structured data for search engines and AI;
- more flexible promotional tools for marketplaces;
- a modern architecture for pickup point integrations;
- improved payment and shipping integrations.
As always, we’re rolling out update packages in limited batches for the first couple of weeks. If you don’t see an update in your Upgrade Center, please check again later. Also, make sure your upgrade subscription is active.
eCommerce expert with 10+ years of experience in marketplace management and consumer behavior. Gayane tracks the latest industry trends to provide businesses with analytical, actionable insights.
