You are a small business owner who wants to start selling products and services online but you feel overwhelmed by the number of ecommerce platforms available. We are here to walk you through the pros and cons of some of the most popular options!
WooCommerce for flexibility and customisation
WooCommerce is the best free ecommerce platform in the market. When paired with WordPress, WooCommerce is probably the most powerful tool in this list. These two platforms allow you to customise almost every aspect of your website design and ecommerce functionalities.
However, with great flexibility comes a steep learning curve. If you are not tech savvy but want to create your ecommerce website by yourself, WooCommerce is not the right choice for you.
The situation in which WooCommerce shines is when you design your ecommerce website with an agency like Digitaliser. It allows us to fully use our expertise when creating the perfect online shop for your customers!
Shopify for a platform with a
proven track record
Shopify is without a doubt one of the most popular ecommerce website design platforms out there. Its main advantage is how easy it is to use, allowing small business owners to understand and efficiently manage their ecommerce website without too much difficulty.
Business owners trust Shopify because it is a dedicated selling platform. Helping businesses sell products is what they are experts at and they have all the features you will need when creating and managing an effective ecommerce shop.
Shopify is not cheap. While your monthly plan will not be very expensive, you need to account for the additional apps you will need for certain features and for the transaction fees that are only waived when using Shopify’s own payment method.
BigCommerce for simplicity at a
lower price
Similarly to Shopify, BigCommerce is a platform focused only on ecommerce web design. It may not be quite as easy to use but it is still a very intuitive way to build your ecommerce website.
BigCommerce is not an inexpensive option but it has two great advantages when compared to Shopify in this area: less need to purchase apps because it has more built-in features and no transaction fees!
Other ecommerce platforms for small businesses
We also want to mention a few other platforms that you may come across and that may be a fit for you: Squarespace, Wix , Square Online Store and Magento.
If you already have a website with Squarespace or Wix, no need to change since both have enough ecommerce functionalities to get you started.
Square Online Store is an option for business owners who have a physical store and want to start selling online. It is not as popular as other platforms but their ecommerce websites have unique capabilities when integrated with their Square card payment devices.
Magento is an open source solution for people who can code. It offers great flexibility and customisation and is free to use apart from the server’s hosting costs.
Conclusion
There is no ultimate ecommerce platform. There are different pros and cons for each and what suits one small business may not suit another. If you feel lost, we can help you choose the best ecommerce platform for your business with our ecommerce web design services!
Please contact us to find out what choice would be best for your business.
