Ecommerce websites are built on different platforms according to the needs and requirements of the business owners. Different platforms offer different solutions to various requests for building and customising ecommerce websites. The best platforms for ecommerce websites are:-
- Shopify
- Woocommerce
- Wix
- SquareSpace
- Big Cartel
- BigCommerce
Contents
1. Shopify
Shopify is the one of the best ecommerce platforms for stores having large inventories. Over 600,000 online stores and 1 million active users are using Shopify to power their online stores.
Shopify scores a massive 4.5 out of 5 stars in its category, thanks to the variety of high-quality add-on tools offered by them which support your website. It offers multi-channel selling options.
The only issue that Shopify poses to its users is that it is not very easy to use. It lacks some points here, in terms of user testing, where many users find it difficult to navigate as opposed to Wix and SquareSpace. Despite this flaw, it is still one of the most popular platforms among users.
It offers three price plans to choose from, however, these are not the cheapest of options. Regardless, it is fair in terms of the quality you receive with these options. You get a fair value related to the amount you pay. This is the platform which supports your growth and grows with you, offering support to the trajectory of your business.
It offers a 3-day free trial, if you are not sure about the money being spent and you can also opt for the 3 month plan for just $1, giving you more than enough time to decide which platform works best for your business.
Pros
- Massive options to choose from
- Highly customizable
- 24×7 Support
- Multi-channel selling is an option
Cons
- Only 3-day free trial
- Not very easy to use
- Complex to navigate through
2. Woocommerce
Woocommerce is one of the most famous platforms especially among the people who are familiar with WordPress. WordPress is generally used for content-based websites and not ecommerce websites, so Woocommerce is the perfect add-on for those who are willing to use WordPress for an ecommerce platform.
WordPress being a content management system (CMS) primarily and an ecommerce platform secondarily, many features are add-on apps. While there are many apps and plug-ins which can be added, the risk of breaking something keeps on increasing with each additional plugin.
And in most cases it is not worth taking a huge risk because of limited support options.
Summing up all the factors, Woocommerce is fragile and unreliable in terms of building an online store and maintaining it. Also, it is not hosted, so the additional task and cost of managing the hosting.
Pros
- Best option for WordPress users
- Highly Customizable
- Over 6,000 WordPress plug-ins
Cons
- Self-hosted
- Efficiency in WordPress is a must
- Additional costs for hosting and maintenance
Average monthly fees is $30; WooCommerce estimates the cost to be around $120/year for hosting, $15/year for domain registration, up to $150/year for the theme of your choice and up to $65/year for SSL certificate.
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3. Wix
Wix is a drag-and-drop website which is highly user friendly and it offers customizable templates, web hosting and domain registration. A basic website can be built for free on Wix, but the plan has to be upgraded to use Wix’s ecommerce features.
As far as the functionality of the ecommerce store is considered, Wix offers many helpful tools. With the help of these tools, the owner can keep a track of the orders, accept online payments, have multiple channels for selling their products, and create abandoned cart campaigns.
But, it lacks certain important features, which are important for ecommerce stores. Some of the features it misses are low-stock alerts and other inventory management features. You will need to use third-party apps for social integrations.
Pros:
- Fully hosted
- Easy to use
- Free forever plan
Cons:
- Tracking and analytics require paid plan
- Site isn’t transferrable
- Inventory management features missing
Price: Business Basic Plan: $23/month; Business Unlimited Plan: $27/month; Business VIP Plan: $49/month.
4. SquareSpace
Squarespace is a drag-and-drop website builder requiring a little technical knowledge. Both SquareSpace and Wix are primarily website builders and not online ecommerce platforms, so they require some amount of tweaking to add ecommerce functionality.
Setting up an online store in SquareSpace requires time and patience. Also, one of the biggest drawbacks is that it has only two payment integrations, Stripe and PayPal. Once the store is set up, it offers decent inventory tracking tools.
Just a small payment of $5/month, you get a small embeddable code from Shopify for your SquareSpace website. It helps you in leveraging Shopify’s advanced ecommerce tools to handle all the hassles of ecommerce websites.
With this, you get an unlimited number of products and apps, secure checkout with more than 100+ payment gateways, track sales and growth trends, integrate orders and shipping, get global support and currency support.
Pros:
- Hosted, no worries about maintenance and server costs
- Professionally designed templates
- No transaction fees
- Good customer support
Cons:
- Not just focused on ecommerce
- Limited multichannel sales
- No phone support
- Hard to override themes CSS and HTML
Price: Personal: $16/month, or $12/month when paid annually; Business: $26/month, or $18/month when paid annually; Basic Commerce: $30/month, or $26/month when paid annually; Advanced Commerce: $46/month, or $40/month when paid annually; Enterprise pricing also available.
5. Big Cartel
Big Cartel is a fully hosted website builder and an ecommerce platform, specifically designed for artists, crafters and makers, the businesses you would typically see on Etsy. It offers customizable templates, marketing tools, and domain registration.
The customisation of the look and feel of the website can be easily done but it limits the images of each product to five images for each product. Payment channel and integration options are also limited, making it much harder to scale as a multi-channel business.
Pricing is directly based on how many products you sell, making it costlier as the business grows.
Pros:
- Free to set up and sell online
- Easy-to-build store
- Perfect for artists
Cons:
- Low levels of customization
- Lacking quality and in-depth features
Price: Five products: free; 50 products: $9.99/month; 250 products: $19.99/month; 500 products: $29.99/month.
6. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an enterprise ecommerce solution used by many multinational and multi-billion companies like Ben & Jerry’s. It offers a plan called the BigCommerce Essentials, which provides a similarly powerful platform but at a much more affordable price for new or small stores.
BigCommerce Essentials is aimed at businesses whose sales are huge, either in numbers or in currency. This means that it is only meant for businesses who are willing to launch an online store and start selling their products immediately.
Listing the products is super simple and easy. It is as easy as on the other marketplaces like Amazon, Facebook, etc. so the customers don’t have to buy from your store. This gives the option of multi-channel sales which increases the growth of the business.
BigCommerce price: It is free for 15 days; from $29.95/month Standard Plan for unlimited products; transaction fees depend on payment gateway.
Pros:
- Listing products is really easy
- Multi-channel sales is also available
Cons:
- Perfect for huge businesses who are already established
If you have a small business or want to open a small business online, Shopify is the platform you must build your website on. If you have a well-established business offline and want to make your presence online, with a digital store, BigCommerce is the answer for your search.
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