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Are you planning to start your dream e-commerce project?

In this article, you will learn about best eCommerce platforms for startups to build an eCommerce website based on their features, performance, ease of use and value. Compare and choose the best e-commerce platform that suits your business plans.

What is E-commerce?

E-commerce or electronic commerce, refers to the electronic buying and selling of goods or services over the internet, and the supply chain management, electronic data interchange, internet marketing and electronic funds transfer to execute these transactions. The benefits of e-commerce include  availability around-the-clock, speed of access, easy accessibility, wide availability of goods and services, and international reach.

 

Online Shopping - Features of eCommerce Website Features of eCommerce

The main features of an e-commerce platform are to make a business more engaging and user-friendly.

  • Content management capabilities
  • Promotion and discount code tools
  • User-friendly navigation
  • An easy-to-use checkout
  • SEO code and layout
  • Reporting tools
  • A  blog or articles section
  • Multiple payment options
  • Email marketing integration

How to choose the best e-commerce platform?

An eCommerce platform is a software application that helps online businesses to operate and manage their website, sales, and other day to day operations.

 

Online Payment - Best eCommerce Platform For Startup

 

Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups

1. WooCommerce
2. BigCommerce
3. Shopify
4. Volusion
5. Magento
6. Weebly
7. SquareSpace
8. BigCartel

 

Pro’s  & Con’s of Best eCommerce Platforms To Build An eCommerce Website

 

1.  WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce platform that needs no introduction. It’s a free WordPress plugin designed and developed to turn any website into a e-commerce store. There are  unlimited  good free themes. However, few plugins are charged.  You can  also convert your WordPress based Woocommerce single store into a multivendor marketplace by adding a free plugin like Dokan. Install  WooCommerce, fix your settings and add your own product. Those  who are unfamiliar with WordPress may  struggle with buying , hosting,  WordPress installation, setup of theme and plugins.

Pros

Woocommerce has lots of features such as

    • WordPress is the best platform for SEO content management.
    • WordPress experts available
    • Flexible platform for all sort of businesses
    • Large variety of plugins and themes
    • Fully customizable
    • 1-click selling and shipping
    • Shopping cart that serve really well.
    • A secure  and reliable payment gateway
    • Plugins available for integrating payment gateways, social media, marketing and many other integrations

Cons

    • Good hosting can be expensive
    • Multiple plugins can cause conflicts
    • Few WordPress themes are expensive
    • Troubleshooting
    • Integrating some features to make it more user-friendly can require additional investment
    • Lack of scalability

2.  BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a best eCommerce platform for startup of an eCommerce or who want to expand their  business operations to include online orders. Its search engine makes it ideal for larger retail brands. Its available tools and exclusive software are suitable for crafting best eCommerce website design.

Pros

    • Customizable templates to design, sell and  market your product
    • SEO friendly Performance
    • Excels with multi-channel selling
    • Fantastic Theme Designs
    • Can be used as a pure SaaS solution
    • Drag and drop files to fit right into the pages and templates
    • multiple payment methods, custom shipping
    • a broad community of designers and developers

Cons

    • Inconsistent speeds in consecutive studies
    • Gets expensive for high volume stores
    • Cart abandonment isn’t on entry plan
    • Very  few templates are free
    • No 1-click Selling

3. Shopify

Shopify has become one of the best eCommerce platform. Online stores can be easily  setup even by the website development  beginners with Shopify’s drag and drop interface. It is the best platform for selling if you are using Facebook or Instagram marketing. It is easily customizable for website development without any programming. It has numerous apps, plugins store management and shopping cart functions.

 Pros

    • Easy Setup
    • Lighting fast load time
    • 1-Click selling
    • more than one hundred templates
    • Allows multiple channel and social selling
    • Themes with variety of designs

Cons

    • Weak ranking  in SEO
    • Unable to customize the checkout process
    • Apps can become expensive
    • Web developer is needed for advanced features
    • Not helpful for a large store with many products.
    • Paid themes are expensive
    • Pricing is based around stages of business

 

4. Volusion

Volusion is the best ecommerce platform to set up a store within minutes and edit it whenever required.  It has an easy website builder with drag and drop option and in-page editing. It provides step by step learning materials to build your store and grow your online business.  It has free themes and many premium themes.

Pros

    • Nicely structured dashboard
    • Great flexibility with Sitemaps
    • Built-in subscription/recurring payments
    • SMB friendly
    • Good help center
    • Clear inventory and marketing system

Cons

    • poor URL structure
    • slow SaaS platforms
    • No built-in blogging functionality
    • WordPress and a plugin or other means are required to connect the blog to your store.

5.  Magento

Magento is the best ecommerce platform for expanding small  e-commerce companies into larger ones. Magento is a self-hosted ecommerce system, downloading it and simply taking it. All the hosting costs and set-up efforts are your sole responsibility. It has flexible features and cloud commerce so it grows along with your  business needs. Mostly, all the large brands use Magento. Extensions and themes  can also be used to increase the functionality of your platform.

Pros

    • Scalable and highly customizable
    • Strong SEO
    • 1-Click selling
    • It has a product and payment platform
    • Having many features
    • Many  users and community with network of experts
    • Flexibility  to choose where you want to host the software

Cons

    • Themes are expensive.
    • Development Skills are required
    • Virtually no support.
    • Needs enough  memory  and to perform well

6. Weebly

Weebly is one of the largest platform to build eCommerce website.  It  is easy to start your eCommerce website, customize with design templates with drag-and-drop features making it perfect for those with little knowledge of eCommerce and websites.. It also offers a code editor for the experienced.

Pros

    • Easy-to-use
    • Mobile-friendly
    • Free and affordable plans
    • A variety of pricing plans

Cons

    • Weak SEO
    • Lacks integrations
    • Some features are basic

7. Squarespace

Squarespace have become the go-to sponsor for every popular podcast on the web. It is like the new WordPress with easy to build features, easily accessible to anyone and customizable. It is focused from the beginning towards brand building and selling. It has all the basic features  expected from an e-commerce platform arranged on the side menu and drag-and-drop feature and  have templates and design capabilities.

Pros

    • Easy To Set Up
    • Great For Simple Stores
    • Great Designs
    • Great  SEO tools
    • Access to marketing and other analytic features
    • calculation of shipping rates
    • Integrates with Ship-station and ShipBob

Cons

    • No marketing automation integration
    • No app store for more features and functionalities
    • No extensions to install
    • Complicated back-door coding to slog through.
    • Lack of features
    • Limited payment processors
    • Integrates only  with very few third-party tools

 

8. BigCartel

Big Cartel is simpler ecommerce platform designed  for e commerce services and smaller e-commerce businesses made with artists and creatives in mind to sell their work.  It  is easy to set up and launch an online store without any previous web experience, allowing the artists to focus on their creative side. Other platforms can be customized but will often have too many features that just aren’t relevant for a person who is selling their work on their own. It has a free version with five products limit and goes up from there, so you can monitor how many things are being sold and maintain your budget.

Pros

    • Easy to set up and use
    • Affordable
    • Mobile-friendly
    • Customizable themes
    • Google Analytics
    • Inventory and shipment tracking.

Cons

    • Limited number of products
    • Limited features and scalability

 

You can also read Why Retail Store Owners Should Build An eCommerce Website in 2023?

Contact Web Gen World To Build An eCommerce Website For Your Business

Contact WebGenWorld for Best eCommerce Web Designing and eCommerce SEO Services in Hyderabad India. “Web Gen World” is one such web service provider which understands your specific needs, tailor the services accordingly and presents you with a unique approach towards creating websites.

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