Best E-Commerce Platforms To Build an Online Store [2023]
Many companies see selecting an e-commerce platform as the basis of their business. And… it is 100% correct! It’s not difficult to build an e-commerce website, but your business will suffer fast if you start with a bad platform.
To assist you in selecting the ideal e-commerce platform for your company, we’ve compiled this list of the best platforms available today.
E-commerce platforms are software applications that allow merchants and customers to do business online. E-commerce solutions may handle everything from website hosting to inventory management to payment processing to marketing to order fulfillment.
Good e-commerce platforms are more than just tools for selling and accepting payments online. Your e-commerce platform must serve as a command center from which you can manage all aspects of your organization. As well as providing you with the ability to handle payments, it should also provide you with all of the necessary tools for selling online, such as your online shop.
Top E-Commerce Platforms
1.
Shopify is a web-based e-commerce solution that includes a mobile point-of-sale system that allows users to manage their businesses and conduct transactions in-store, and at markets, pop-ups, and trade shows. It includes inventory management features that can sync with an e-commerce store, allowing users to monitor real-time inventory for both assets. It also includes tools like reporting and analytics, personnel management, order histories, and customer management for retail management. The e-commerce software’s website builder and blogging platform make it simple to set up an online store.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.shopify.com/pricing
2.
WooCommerce is a WordPress e-commerce management plugin that includes a bunch of functionalities such as website management, order and customer management, sales optimization, and cost calculation. It empowers users to develop e-commerce websites using personalizable themes, product page layouts, and checkout page designs. WooCommerce also allows users to handle customer checkouts, refunds, and return orders thanks to its order management features. WooCommerce has a shipping cost and sales tax management tool that helps users to estimate taxes based on sales volumes and local tax laws.
3.
BigCommerce is a sophisticated SaaS e-commerce solution that allows you to create an online store from the ground up or migrate from an existing platform using the easy-to-use store builder, which includes industry-leading templates that are designed to convert sales. BigCommerce is jam-packed with features and integrations for running a full-fledged business, with advanced customizations available through a simple user interface. It offers strong SEO capabilities, charges no fees for transactions, and is simple to set up for multi-channel commerce.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.bigcommerce.com/enterprise-pricing/
Adobe Commerce formerly Magento is a cloud-based solution for managing eCommerce websites and optimizing the entire order process flow. It analyzes visitors’ activity automatically, allowing managers to make appropriate product suggestions based on popularity and similar content or items. Sales professionals can aggregate data from many sources using Adobe Commerce’s BI capabilities to get a comprehensive view of all operational activities. It provides functionalities such as brand management, analytics & reports, regulatory compliance, design themes, shipping, data visualization, inventory monitoring, and more.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/pricing.html
5.
Shopwired is the UK’s best e-commerce platform, enabling retailers to create stunning storefronts, allowing them to sell across different sales channels, and design, launch, and grow their online store. Merchants can administer every part of their online business using their comprehensive administration system, and access comprehensive reports to improve marketing and profitability in order to create and grow a profitable business. ShopWired is developed using enterprise-level infrastructure and technologies from Amazon’s AWS hosting platform for reliability and scalability.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.shopwired.co.uk/pricing
6.
Wix is a cloud-based landing page platform that allows users to easily build and administer websites and offers several templates with video backgrounds, fonts, and animation. Users may create an e-commerce portal using Wix that allows them to showcase products, and manage orders and payments. The platform has an artificial design intelligence feature that builds text and image-based customized websites for users. Wix’s code module provides cloud hosting coding, allowing users to create their own database collections, content websites, and custom forms.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.wix.com/upgrade/website
7.
PrestaShop is a cloud-based open-source e-commerce platform that lets customers build their online stores. PrestaShop allows businesses to deploy their business on a broader scale thanks to PrestaShop Essentials, a suite of modules that offer secure payment options worldwide, e-commerce performance monitoring, as well as hosting features. It doesn’t only come with adjustable themes and a comprehensive set of integrations, but it also enables professionals to manage e-commerce SEO and set up customizable tax policies.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that helps companies optimize marketing campaigns, merchandising, order fulfillment, and other activities. It enables businesses to access product catalogs, merchandise, and prices on a single platform and provides shoppers with AI-powered recommendations to increase customer loyalty. Administrators may use SEO optimization to monitor organic traffic, build mobile commerce apps, and use the analytical dashboard to obtain insight into consumers’ shopping behavior. Users can also arrange order fulfillment processes by delivery locations and employ payment accelerators to complete transactions.
Pricing: Paid
9.
Shift4Shop, originally 3dcart, is a sophisticated cloud-based eCommerce platform that enables businesses to build online stores with all essential functionalities pre-installed. Businesses can develop online stores utilizing their own designs or use fully customizable, readymade website templates. Users can develop product catalogs after establishing a store by uploading images, product dimensions, and other associated information to a centralized dashboard. It empowers users to handle orders, monitor invoices, and calculate shipping charges, among other things.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.shift4shop.com/pricing.htm
10.
Squarespace is a website builder platform that also provides an e-commerce solution for SMBs to develop online stores and enables users to sell products and services, as well as administer inventory, shipping, accounts, and taxes. Users may organize and manage their products using an interactive drag-and-drop sorting tool, as well as tags and categories. Squarespace’s in-built analytics tool allows customers to analyze consumer behavior, revenue, units sold, orders, and traffic in real-time. Squarespace e-commerce websites come with high-security features such as unlimited hosting, PCI compliance level 1, and 128-bit SSL encryption security.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.squarespace.com/pricing
8 Key Features of an E-Commerce Platform
The following features can help you pick a winning e-commerce platform:
- E-commerce platforms should provide a single, cloud-based platform for all aspects of the business, including eCommerce, accounting, point-of-sale systems (POSs), inventory and order management (IOM), marketing, customer care, finance, and merchandising functions.
- Good e-commerce platforms should be able to provide customers with consistent experiences, targeted marketing, and high-quality customer support. Customers should be able to see all of their interactions and transactions in one place, regardless of the channel they use.
- Create the most straightforward approach for customers to buy and return things with intelligent order management. Maximize profits by centralizing order management. Your firm’s supply chain units and channels should have the same perspective of their inventory.
- Provide exceptional customer experiences. If you want to make your shop stand out and live up to customer expectations, use a platform that offers responsive, helpful, customized, and rewarding mobile and in-store customer experiences.
- Fully support numerous business types, channels, regions, currencies, and languages on the same platform.
- It’s essential to seek platforms that allow you to produce content on new or current websites and contact forms. Creating and posting content on your business should be a breeze. If you don’t have a lot of supporting information for your store, it will suffer significantly in search engine results.
- “PCI compliance” or “eCommerce SSL certificates may give you a headache if you’re a first-time online business owner. However, you won’t have long to wait before you’re comfortable with them. Secure your store’s data and that of your customers by using a platform that comes with an SSL certificate and is PCI compliant.
- Your platform supplier must have a team of experts ready to answer your questions whenever you need them. Email, live chat, tickets, and direct phone calls are all common ways to get help from a company. You can then contact your platform provider if you have any issues with your chosen platform.
What To Consider When Choosing an E-Commerce Platform?
What to consider when choosing an e-commerce platform? It’s never simple to choose an e-commerce platform. If you’re considering your alternatives, keep these four things in mind:
1. Budget
Many organizations mistake merely budgeting for certain platform activities without considering the hidden expenses of sustaining or supplying e-commerce choices. An e-commerce platform requires an initial investment, and the costs may rise as your market share grows. This includes everything from web design to platform development and integration to creating customized apps.
2. Targets
A key goal of e-commerce platforms is to reach your target audience where they are online and generate revenue. A platform that makes it simple to promote to your consumers via the channels they prefer is what you’re looking for. The importance of omnichannel delivery cannot be overstated.
3. Scalability
How well-suited is the platform you’ve selected for your company’s growth? If your company is small now, one choice may be more cost-effective, while the other allows for growth in the future. You should steer clear of an e-commerce platform that can’t grow with your business!
4. Customer service
Choose a SaaS or headless e-commerce platform that offers reliable customer service and maintenance choices. For emergencies, you want to make sure your company gets the help it needs as soon as possible. In the end, both customers and employees will benefit from your efforts. Choose a reliable, well-known, and proven service provider.
Wrap Up
E-commerce platforms have a wide range of options for functionality and pricing. Regardless of the opportunity, you take while developing your website, keep the following considerations in mind at all times:
- You need a platform that can keep your website up-to-date and manageable.
- Pick a reliable web host.
- Easy-to-use and secure payment processors and shopping carts.
- Helpful for customer support and the overall user experience.
- Protect your website and its users’ personal information
Be careful while building your website’s foundation, especially for the first setup.