5 Best Ecommerce Platforms to Kick Start your Online Store

Are you looking to start an online store? With the right ecommerce platform, you can easily create a professional website and have your products up for sale in no time. There are tons of ecommerce platforms out there, so it’s important to choose one that best fits your needs.

In this article, I’ll cover the five best ecommerce platforms available today and compare their features, user experience, popular stores using them, and more. So if you’re ready to kickstart your online business journey with a reliable platform – read on!

Importance of Choosing the Right Ecommerce Platform

The success of any online business venture depends on the right choice of ecommerce platform. An ecommerce platform is a web-based system that enables an organization to create, manage, and maintain an online store. The right ecommerce platform can provide you with the necessary tools to build your site quickly and easily, and also make it possible for you to manage and monitor the performance of your business.

Furthermore, the right ecommerce platform should offer a wide range of features such as product catalogs, payment gateway integrations, order tracking, inventory management, and more. With a reliable ecommerce platform in place, you can focus on expanding your business and optimizing its performance without worrying about technical issues.

It’s also important to choose a platform that offers excellent support and customer service, as this will come in handy when you encounter any technical difficulties.

In brief, it is very important to choose the right platform for your online store to ensure your success.

Five Best Ecommerce Platforms

Below are my top ecommerce platforms for beginners, small businesses, large businesses, or dropshipping.

1. Wix – Best Ecommerce Platform for Small Businesses

Wix is the perfect choice for those that want to make their website just how they want it; everything from the design, layout, features, and elements are all fully customizable.

It gives you the freedom to be as creative as you want with your website, allowing you to scream “This is me!” loud and proud.

Even if you don’t possess any sort of technical or coding knowledge, Wix makes creating a stunningly well-crafted site easy with their user-friendly drag and drop technology.

Creating a top-notch site has never been easier and more personalized than ever before – so check out Wix today if you’re looking for the perfect online home for your vision.

Key Features

• Stunning templates for creating a beautiful eCommerce website.
• Advanced SEO tools
• Unlimited fonts available for selection.
• Media galleries lets potential customers explore your products before deciding whether or not to make an order.
• Last but not least, the mobile optimization feature ensures that your website looks great on any device – crucial for those who shop on their smartphones and tablets.

Pricing

The following are different pricing options you can get with Wix –

• VIP: $39 / month
• Pro: $23 / month
• Combo: $14 / month
• Unlimited: $18 / month

What I Like

If you’re looking for an easy website builder that gives you the convenience of creating your website quickly and saving money in the process, then look no further. With economical annual plans, you don’t have to worry about spending more than necessary to give yourself the website of your dreams.

Plus, with access to a great range of templates, you get a lot of flexibility when it comes to design. Making sure your site looks exactly how you want without having to write any code or learn any complicated software is easier than ever.

What I Dislike

Sometimes, loading time of Wix websites can be slower than other website building platforms. This not only affects user experience but can also lead to customers leaving before they even get a chance to take a look around.

But I think, this could be fixed with the help of a developer.

2. BigCommerce – Best for Big Brands or Businesses

With BigCommerce, you get a fully-featured platform ready for enterprise-grade growth without spending more money on add-ons.

If your business is growing steadily and quickly, you need tools that can scale to larger turnover levels and demand.

BigCommerce provides the complete solution from listing products, shipping them to multiple channels, managing orders and analytics — all while keeping it profitable with 40+ payment gateways and advanced product options.

Plus, you can rest assured knowing that it comes with 24/7 support!

Key Features

• Multi-storefront feature allows to start selling your products on multiple platforms.
• Thrive in the marketplace by leveraging cutting-edge technology to overtake your rivals.
• With a versatile framework, your website can incorporate any feature you desire.
• Robust analytics allows you to gain valuable insights into who your customers are and what they need.

Pricing

Selling online has never been easier! With just a $29/month fee, you can establish your own branded store and start selling your products on multiple platforms like Amazon, eBay, and popular social media sites.

What I Like

• Great and quick technical support
• The interface is very user-friendly.

What I Dislike

• Set-up time might be longer then expected.
• Non-techie users may find template customization a little complex or confusing.

3. Shopify – Best for Dropshipping Businesses

If you’re wanting to start your own online store or dropshipping business, you should look into Shopify as your go-to choice. Trusted by millions of ecommerce businesses, Shopify offers a full spectrum of online store building tools.

From the initial setup and design, to custom domain names, creating and selling products is simple with Shopify’s easy to use platform. It also allows you to link up your business with just about any other selling platform out there giving you wider access and more control over how you run your business.

Additionally, they provide powerful solutions that can attract customers and help boost sales as well as attentive customer service support in case you need assistance.

All in all, it’s no wonder why so many people choose Shopify when looking for a versatile ecommerce service.

Key Features

• With more than 70 professional themes, you can easily find the perfect template for your website.
• Transform your website effortlessly by editing HTML and CSS to suit your preferences. With this easy-to-use system, you can tailor the design of your site exactly how you desire it!
• Maximize your website’s potential by enlisting the help of a knowledgeable specialist.
• Allows you to buy a domain.
• With a comprehensive blogging platform, you can create meaningful connections with your customers and share stories that will captivate them.
• With automatic taxes, you can put your worries about calculating taxes for your merchandise to rest.
• Fulfillment centers are the ideal solution for streamlining your inventory and quickly fulfilling customer orders.

Pricing

Shopify offers three different monthly/yearly plans to cater to different size of customers and their requirements.

• Basic – $39/month
• Shopify – $105/month
• Advanced – $399/month

Users may get 25% discount for annual payments.

What I Like

• Easily connect your product catalog to Google Merchant Center and enable customers to purchase directly from your website – with just a few clicks!
• Create e-commerce web applications that are tailored to the stylistic elements of your brand, allowing for a more seamless and personalized experience.

What I Dislike

• If you’re looking to use a variety of apps, the app marketplace can be costly. Nevertheless, it is an excellent resource for anyone who wants access to multiple applications.
• Navigating around different elements can be a tedious and lengthy process, not to mention that it requires patience and skill in order to master.

4. WooCommerce – Best for Wordpress Users

Since its release in 2011, WooCommerce has become the go-to plugin for those looking to add an ecommerce function to their WordPress sites.

The ease of installation along with its free pricing makes it a popular choice and, with over 74 million downloads, it’s no surprise that it now powers around 25% of online stores worldwide.

However, more advanced features as well as scalability may come at a cost.

I found that when I installed the plugin on my site four plugins were established and they did slow down my site significantly. As such, you may need to think outside of the box and try paid extensions or other options if you’re looking for something faster or more functional.

Nevertheless, the convenience and versatility of the plugin is why so many people use it in the first place – since it is one of the most customizable solutions available today.

Key Features

• With Woocommerce, customers can pay with ease and security. The platform provides flexible payment options that cater to any customer preference.
• Woocommerce provides store owners with the capability to effortlessly manage orders from their mobile devices, staying up-to-date with real-time data and notifications.
• Sell any product of your choice – be it a physical item, digital service, membership subscription or more – the options are limitless! With an all-encompassing platform to offer what you want in terms of services and products.
• Maximize your store’s potential with a variety of free and paid extensions, from payment gateways to shipping and marketing apps. Utilizing these add-ons will give you the resources needed to increase revenue opportunities while providing customers an unbeatable shopping experience.
• Woocommerce offers a comprehensive suite of digital marketing solutions such as SEO optimization, email campaigns, and social media integration to skyrocket your store’s visibility.
• With WooCommerce, you can easily set up your store to expand its reach beyond borders. It’s translation features and language support make it easy for customers around the world to access your content in their native tongue – no need for multiple versions of stores! Not only that but built-in currency conversion allows customers everywhere to purchase from you with ease. Globalize today and take advantage of all that WooCommerce has to offer!

Pricing

It is a freemium ecommerce platform. However, some advanced add-ons and extensions may cost you a small amount of fee.

What I Like

• It can be integrated with your existing website effortlessly.
• 60+ Different templates.
• 791 extensions.

What I Dislike

None

5. Square Online – Best Ecommerce Platform for Local Businesses

Square has long been hailed as one of the world’s most popular Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, and they’ve now extended their reach to the ecommerce market with their newest offering: Square Online.

With many retailers scrambling to move their businesses online in our current times, this offering is a great way to do so quickly and easily. Not only that, but Square Online also includes some great features for local businesses, such as curbside pickup, local delivery and even order tracking capabilities that can be shared with customers.

It is an overall fantastic solution for businesses of all shapes and sizes looking for an easy way to get set up with a digital platform.

Key Features

• It provides plenty of pre-build website templates to choose from or one can start from scratch too.
• Maximize your reach and attract an even greater audience to your website with the help of SEO tools, social media integrations, and effective marketing campaigns.
• Make your online presence stand out with a professional website designed to look stunning on all devices. With custom fonts, colors, and layouts at your fingertips, you’ll be free to craft the perfect site that looks exactly as you envision it!
• Enjoy competitive prices for website plans and purchases without any surprise costs or long-term commitments. Start and stop your service whenever you like!
• Tailored for small businesses seeking to swiftly move online, the setup is both simple and adjustable.
• Not only is their secure online payment system incredibly reliable, but customers also have the added convenience of being able to pay with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Pricing

Square Online makes it easier than ever to begin selling products online with their free plan. This plan offers unlimited products, on-demand delivery, gift cards and coupons, SEO tools, an SSL certificate, integration with Instagram, inventory sync with Square POS and more – at no cost!

For purchases made through the store one simply pays the 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fee, plus a piece rate of $0.50 per delivery.

However, while this free plan certainly has great features, it does have a drawback — you aren’t able to use your domain name for your store. Still though it’s a fantastic way to ease into the world of online sales without having to invest too much money upfront.

Besides, it has three different paid plans too for those who want to scale up a step ahead –

• Professional – $12/month
• Performance – $26/month
• Premium – $72/month

What I Like

• Launch your website quickly with minimal effort and start seeing results right away!
• Square’s payment processing is infallible and consistently reliable.
• With Square Online, creating a website with eCommerce capabilities has never been simpler. With just a few clicks, you can have an effective online store up and running in no time!

What I Dislike

• Compared to the other options on this list, store designs are not as flexible and customizable.

How to Select the Best Ecommerce Platform?

When selecting the best ecommerce platform for your online store, there are a few important things to consider.

First, you need to make sure that the platform offers all of the features you need to run your business. These features might include product catalogs, payment gateway integrations, order tracking, inventory management and more.

Second, it is important to ensure that the platform has good customer service and technical support so that if any issues arise they can be taken care of quickly.

Thirdly, make sure that the ecommerce platform is user friendly and easy to navigate so customers can find what they are looking for with ease.

Finally, choose a platform that fits within your budget but still meets all of your needs!

Benefits of Building an Ecommerce Store

According to one study, over half of all Americans like to shop online. This means that more and more people are buying things online instead of going to stores.

If you have a website, you can get a part of this profit. But your website needs to look good if you want people to buy things from you. Having an ecommerce store has a lot of benefits and can help your business grow.

Below are some major benefits of having an ecommerce website –

1. Better Room to Scale Up

Running a traditional brick-and-mortar shop makes it quite challenging to reach a wide audience that is located in distant locations. Unless you become very successful and possess the same powerful status as Walmart and other industry leaders, with the resources of setting up multiple outlets around different regions, this can be an expensive proposition.

Small or medium businesses do not have such resources to expand their networks in this way. Fortunately, with ecommerce platforms, they can now cost-effectively target global customers while scaling up their businesses manifold.

Such services allow entrepreneurs to set up their online stores easily and quickly for a nominal monthly fee of $15-$50; typically covered at around $30.

The world literally becomes your playground when you go online, without needing to focus on just one particular locality in order to generate sales income.

2. Great Customer Support

Customer experience plays a huge role in the success of any business and it is one of the most useful metrics to measure competitive firms. Making sure customers receive great service should be a priority for any business, especially ecommerce businesses.

Ecommerce platforms such as BigCommerce understand this and provide their customers with an array of support services such as 24/7 chat, email and US-based phone support. This allows business owners to quickly resolve technical issues that may affect their website and keep them running smoothly at all times.

In addition, they also offer range of premium services that can help customers take their business to the next level and also solve any technical issue they might face.

This kind of exceptional customer care can give businesses an edge in terms of customer experience and ultimately result in higher annual revenues.

3. Easy Integration of Multiple Social Media Platforms

With more than 3 billion people using social media, it is no surprise that it has become an incredibly effective marketing tool for businesses.

Not only does this provide businesses with a huge market to tap into, but the behavior of shoppers is also rapidly changing, and users are increasingly open to making purchases through these platforms.

Ecommerce platforms make it easy to integrate with popular social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest – enabling businesses to showcase their products wherever its target audience is present.

4. Provide Powerful Built-in Marketing Tools

Social media integration is a great way to reach your target audience, but it shouldn’t be the only marketing you do. Building an online presence should also involve capitalizing on high quality in-built marketing tools that ecommerce platforms have to offer.

Popular ecommerce services like Squarespace have excellent built-in marketing features such as newsletter capabilities, exit-intent pop-ups, coupon codes, and promotions.

All of these options will provide you with data analytics to track success and draw up a roadmap for future sales.

Keeping up with these ecommerce marketing trends can help you create an engaging and eye-catching platform where users will flock to purchase products or services – driving lifelong customers along the way.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Ecommerce platforms are great tools for businesses looking to expand their online presence. Many of them come with pre-packaged SEO tools that help your website rank higher on search engines, giving you an advantage over the competition.

Features like sitemap integration, meta titles and descriptions, keyword usage and optimization are all essential for improved search engine visibility.

For those familiar with WordPress, WooCommerce is a great choice as it has numerous SEO plugins at your disposal. Yoast SEO, MonsterInsights, All in One SEO Pack, and Google XML Sitemaps are just some of the invaluable tools that help you manage your website’s SEO.

Platforms such as BigCommerce and 3dcart also have powerful built-in optimization features that make managing your site’s search engine visibility a breeze.

6. Upgraded Shopping Cart Functionalities

An ecommerce platform can be an excellent tool for businesses, providing a number of benefits including scalability, reliable customer service, social media integration, and built-in marketing and SEO tools.

An important factor to consider when choosing the right platform is its user experience. Customers should find it simple to locate products they need and have access to safe payment methods.

From easy navigation to secure checkout processes, every aspect of the store should be designed to make shopping a breeze.

Additionally, powerful shopping cart functionality allows customers to keep track of their orders, add items with ease, and checkout quickly.

By investing in an ecommerce platform that offers enhanced usability and convenience for customers, businesses can move closer towards success in the digital world.

All-in-One Marketing Strategy Guide for Using Ecommerce Platforms

Ecommerce has revolutionized the way we buy and sell goods, offering a combination of convenience, cost-effectiveness, and speed that traditional retail stores cannot compete with.

This is evidenced by the staggering amount of $9.12 billion that US shoppers spent during Black Friday online sales in 2022 – a testament to the popularity of ecommerce!

Furthermore, a whopping 96% of all Americans have made an online purchase at least once in their life, emphasizing its hold on consumers.

However, with the intense competition among different ecommerce sites, standing out in such a crowded market can be difficult. Therefore, it’s important to build an effective full-funnel ecommerce marketing strategy from day one that goes beyond simply having excellent software.

Taking advantage of strategies such as discounts or rewards programs could make all the difference when trying to maximize outreach while still saving money.

Below are some proven marketing strategies anyone can implement to grow their ecommerce store –

Target Mobile Audience

Today, having a website tailored to mobile platforms is no longer an option – it is a requirement for doing business online.

Google has declared mobile-first indexing as the new standard in online ranking; this means that the mobile version of your site is now the primary factor in search engine optimization and ranking.

To match modern user behavior, considering over 63% of users now browse on their phones, businesses must shift their focus from desktop optimization to focusing on providing an exceptional browsing experience on a smaller web platform.

Luckily, technologies such as Shopify offer intuitive tools for handset optimization and scaling down for smaller screens.

Skilled developers can also make use of design elements like buttons and intuitive navigation to craft excellent user experience for mobile visitors.

In summary, if you want to maintain or improve your rankings and stay relevant with current market trends, optimising your site for mobile devices needs to be high on your agenda.

Your Website Design Should Eye-Catchy

Studies have found that you only have 0.05 seconds to impress a website visitor and capture their interest, otherwise the user will bounce back.

One of the most important things you can do to make sure this doesn’t happen to your website is to create a visually appealing and intuitive website theme.

You should also make sure your logo and other imagery are carefully chosen, as this is one of the first elements site users will interact with as soon as they enter your website – it’s also an excellent way for people to gain an understanding of who you are as a brand quickly.

To make your design for maximum impact, be creative, but at the same time ensure that browsing your site remains a smooth experience.

One example worth looking at is the user interface of the website overflow.io, which has managed to combine eye-catching aesthetics with excellent user navigation.

Easy-to-Use Navigation

Setting up an effective ecommerce platform is crucial to the success of any online store. As such, it’s essential that your ecommerce site is well-structured and easy to navigate.

To make things easier for your website visitors, you can add plugins with the help of the ecommerce platform you’re using.

For example, WooCommerce offers a plugin that can let your users go back to the items they recently viewed.

Furthermore, leveraging product navigation with suggested products can increase your ecommerce conversion rates, providing customers with a better user experience and increasing the likelihood of generating sales.

Leverage Built-in Tools

With approximately 18 zettabytes of data circulating today, businesses have a prime opportunity to tap into this information and increase their business performance.

When it comes to ecommerce platforms, such as Wix, harnessing visitor data can be an incredibly powerful tool if done correctly.

Through in-built visitor analytics tools like that provided by Wix, companies are able to track a variety of important metrics, including the number of visitors and frequency along with country and IP addresses. This allows for better informed decisions that can help convert more visitors into customers.

Provide Exceptional Customer Service

According to Zendesk, excellent customer service is a key factor customers take into account while deciding how to allocate their money.

Moreover, this sentiment reflects on the Kano model which states that a website with features such as reliable customer service and live chat options create ‘delighters’ – resulting in improved business performance and more satisfied customers.

One example is SquareSpace, which integrates their platform with Pure Chat, a live chat software that provides instant responses for queries and complaints.

As can be seen from the example provided, providing efficient customer support is an integral part of any e-commerce strategy if the aim is to keep customers satisfied.

Also Read – 5 Best Web Hosting Services for Small Businesses

Wrapping it Up…

Overall, the best ecommerce platforms will help you create a visually appealing and intuitive website theme that’s easy to navigate.

Leveraging built-in tools such as visitor analytics can provide insight into customer behavior and preferences which in turn can help increase conversions.

Additionally, providing exceptional customer service with features like live chat options is an integral part of any successful ecommerce strategy if the aim is to keep customers satisfied.

With these tips in mind, businesses should be able to choose from one of the Best Ecommerce Platforms available on the market today for their business needs.