INTRODUCTION:
Building a brand new e-commerce shop is indeed fascinating for all. You can choose your customized shop name, unique logo, branding as per your liking and create your very own shopping portal. While it might look very simple, it is actually a complex process as it involves choosing a top-notch online store builder. The key here is to identify a tool ecosystem that integrates effortlessly and thereby gives you full control over all your business aspects.
OUR TOP PICKS:
An ideal e-commerce platform for your firm totally depends on your long-term growth plan and proposed business model. Here are the best-in-class e-commerce platforms that are currently available in the market and the reasons for choosing each one of them:
1. Shopify:
Shopify is by far the leading Software-as-a-Service e-commerce platform. It comes with its own set of complementary features and tools for supporting drop-shipping and multi-channel selling. As an icing on the cake, you will gain immediate access to hundreds of free themes as well to initially start with upon successful registration!
Additionally, Shopify aids its clients by handling all complex business processes at an incredibly low fee that you wouldn’t have ever imagined. Add-on services such as In-person sales and Shopify fulfillment, extensive 3rd party apps, abandoned cart recovery, email marketing service, search engine optimization, and a plethora of native tools are a blessing in disguise for small start-ups. Further, the dedicated mobile application will enable the business owners to add products, sell and update inventory on a real-time basis.
2. Wix:
Wix is an easy to use drag-and-drop interface website builder which provides web hosting, customizable templates and domain name registration.
Wix’s specialty includes availability of useful tools to enable merchants to track orders, sell products, accept online payments and run abandoned cart campaigns.
3. BigCommerce:
It is tailor-made for large enterprise-level software organizations. BigCommerce consists of a vast selection of web hosting and customization tools to aid its users.
A few of the stand-out features include SEO tools, international selling options, and multi-channel selling on 3rd party marketplaces and social media websites.
4. Magento Commerce:
Magento is exclusively designed for developers who require a flexible and powerful system that can be easily modified as per specific requirements. Being a non-hosted e-commerce platform, Magento offers various benefits for brands that are in need of an entirely tailored shopping platform.
Over the years, Magento has proved to be the best e-commerce platform for established retailers to venture into the online sales landscape. As a matter of fact, it is no wonder that a majority of the world’s biggest e-commerce brands of recent times are built on this platform.
5. WooCommerce:
It is particularly popular among WordPress developers since it is basically an add-on to its parent concern’s prominent Content Management System. It aids you to add various apps and plug-ins to your store at any time as per your wish.
There are a host of extensions that covers almost all aspects of e-commerce such as marketing, shipping, payments, and accounting. Since they are all based on the WordPress framework, they could be instantly added to your online store in just a few clicks.
6. Squarespace:
Squarespace makes sure that the experience of its platform’s users on a mobile device is ever so smooth as possible. Also, all the template designs of Squarespace render a unique mobile experience in accordance with the overall store’s style.
Its Responsive Image Loader creates multiple scaled versions of each uploaded photograph. Using its advanced technology, the site can even detect the device type of the customer and load a suitable image to the display for giving an optimal viewing experience. Even Apple devices with Retina displays are supported.
7. Episerver:
Episerver’s platform is completely based on personalization and content. It is a headless commerce solution that strives to combine content management, digital marketing, and digital commerce solutions under a single umbrella.
This solution is a famous choice for enterprise-level and mid-market merchants. The platform works well in combination with other Episerver offerings like the Episerver Campaign and Episerver Find.
8. OpenCart:
OpenCart is an online Open-source store management program. It is well known among small businesses, freelancers, and mid-market merchants.
Using this platform, the merchants can set up multiple payment options and storefronts, manage various product attributes & options and add numerous products.
9. PrestaShop:
It is a customization-friendly online commerce platform. With its host of basic features and easy setup procedures, it is ideal for smaller businesses. Supporting 40 global languages, Prestashop is home to an enormous collection of cool templates, themes, and modules. The out-of-the-box solution includes payments, tax systems, catalog management, and product listing. SEO and customer-oriented back-office service add value to its service.
PrestaShop is much sought after by merchants who are not tech-savvy. It comprises an easy-to-use backend system, which can be quickly installed with customizations at an incredibly low charge. To add more, PrestaShop has a free and helpful community support forum too.
10. Shopify Plus:
It is Shopify’s upgraded version. By utilizing it, you can leverage the power of enterprise-level capabilities without worrying much about long lead times and high costs. Shopify Plus's hosted solution is a perfect option for medium to enterprise-level businesses to increase the rate of sales online. Further, you can customize it to integrate customer rewards programs and email marketing into it as well.
The PCI-compliant Shopify POS system guarantees the safety of customer data. In addition, it can be launched in a flash and supports migration at zero cost. Shopify Plus UI is extremely easy to navigate and can work with 3rd party applications with utmost ease. Also, it is backed by a vast pool of experienced users and a highly skilled developer community.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT SOLUTION:
No matter, whatever e-commerce platform you prefer, the actual responsibility lies in your hand to select the right solution for your business. One way to sort it out is to perform a competitor analysis to find out what set of tools and techniques worked best for them. Hence it is highly recommended to make a well-informed decision through thorough planning and research as per your company’s nature of requirements and operating size.
CONCLUSION:
Always pick an e-commerce platform with an intuitive and simple-to-use user interface. Then, ensure that it can run smoothly without any technical hang-ups that could in turn drastically hamper your productivity. Finally, make sure that all the specific plug-ins and apps needed for your store are compatible with the platform you choose, for a hassle-free overall experience.
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