The pandemic has resulted in a massive gain in online shopping worldwide. And eCommerce shows no signs of slowing down in the near future. According to Statista, by 2022, the global eCommerce market is predicted to reach $6.54 trillion in sales, up from $3.53 trillion in 2019.
Whether you are darting to start a new eCommerce business from scratch or exploring ways to expand your current business in the online world, you need an eCommerce platform to accomplish your goals.
When searching for an extensive eCommerce platform, you need to remember that not all of them are created equally. A variety of platforms are available, including all-in-one website builders, email service providers, shopping cart software, and plug-ins.
So how do you select the best eCommerce platform for your business? That depends on your business necessities and requirements. We have collected a list of some of the best eCommerce platforms for you and your business.
The Top 5 eCommerce Platforms
Shopify
Shopify is one of the most prominent eCommerce platforms for any business. You can find nearly everything for your online business – quick customizations, themes, simple product management, order monitoring, shopping cart software, payment processing, etc. All of these features are blended into the design of your store, and you get high security for your eCommerce store.
Shopify is easy to use platform regardless of your technical knowledge. It supports social media selling, third-party marketplaces, and in-person sales with Shopify POS (Point of Sale) software. Shopify themes are optimized for mobile devices and are a great fit for all kinds of businesses – from startups and small businesses to large corporations and enterprises.
Shopify also offers its services for enterprise clients – Shopify Plus. It costs more as it includes premium features like advanced functionality, flexibility, improved customer support, and better customization on the code level.
Pros:
- Fast loading and easy-to-use features
- Multiple payment options
- Support different categories of eCommerce Business
- Variety of themes
- An excellent option for drop shipping
- 1-click selling apps available
Cons:
- Weak at the SEO and content marketing
- The checkout option is not customizable
- Apps can become expensive over time
- No Email Hosting
- Difficult exit
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a huge name in the eCommerce market and is used by businesses in 120+ countries across the globe. BigCommerce is another all-in-one eCommerce platform provider that offers everything for your online store.
BigCommerce comes pre-loaded with the most native features. They provide you with various conversion tools, SEO, and inventory management tools. They also offer 24/7 customer support via phone, email, and live chat.
BigCommerce supports B2B wholesale websites and has solutions for enterprise-level eCommerce stores. The platform offers the best uptime, page loading speed, and security of any platform on the market. BigCommerce offers more design customization than Shopify.
Pros:
- Offers flexibility and scalability
- Excels with multi-channel selling
- Strong SEO performance
- No transaction fees
Cons:
- Inconsistent loading speed
- High-volume stores offer more pay
- No 1-click selling
- Limited free themes
- Annual sales threshold
Wix
Wix is the most intuitive website builder that allows you to build a new website from scratch without any technical knowledge or coding experience. Drag and drop builder lets you design a high-quality website with text, images, and videos in minutes.
You can customize your eCommerce store easily with 500+ templates. Wix allows you to optimize your website for SEO and mobile devices automatically. Wix has a greater number of customizable templates compared to Shopify or Magento.
Wix counts features like related product galleries, a quick add-to-cart button, mini-carts, and a shopping wishlist to your website with a fully customizable storefront. It also allows you to set up your own shipping rules to control international shipping orders.
Pros:
- Offers lots of free themes
- Simple to set up and use
- Offers marketing automation
- Intuitive drag and drop feature
- Good site speed
- Massive template collection
Cons:
- Poor SEO performance
- Weak upselling capabilities
- Weak integration with Amazon
- Template can not be interchanged
- Premium plans are single-site only
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source customizable platform for entrepreneurs. It is built on WordPress and can be used through the WordPress site. You can convert it into an eCommerce store with just the WooCommerce plugin.
WooCommerce provides everything that needs to be added to eCommerce capabilities to WordPress, including product catalogs, memberships, and subscriptions. The tool is fully customizable with extensions for printing shipping labels and integrating with your email marketing platform.
To develop a usable WooCommerce website, you will require extensions with payment gateways like Amazon Pay, Authorize.net, PayPal, Stripe, and Square.
Pros:
- Free and open source
- Advanced features for larger online stores
- Best for SEO
- 1-click selling apps available
- Multiple service providers
Cons:
- Expensive hosting
- Sometimes difficult to troubleshoot
- Needs lots of extensions
- Lack of Support
- Difficult to use.
Magento
Magento is an all-in-one eCommerce platform offered by Adobe that processes more than $100 billion in gross inventory sales annually. It lets you create an eCommerce store regardless of the size of the website. They support small businesses, mid-market, enterprises, and B2B online sales.
Your eCommerce store in Magento will automatically display content, product information, promotions, and prices based on customers’ data like location, gender, order history, and wish list items. Unlike Shopify and Wix, Magento doesn’t offer any themes of its own, you just get the main software and have to depend on third parties for designs.
Pros:
- It is mobile friendly
- Scalable
- Robust and feature-rich
- Strong SEO
- 1-click selling apps available
Cons:
- Themes are expensive for small businesses
- Slows down quickly
- Users need development skills to use it
- Bad product support
Conclusion
Every eCommerce store has different needs and requirements depending on the product categories, target market, and the business’s journey. An eCommerce startup won’t have the same needs as a small business looking to expand online. Ecommerce is easy to get started but challenging to be successful.
I hope this guide will help you choose the platform best suited for your online store. Let’s roll the dice!