An e-commerce platform is one of the most relevant tools for any business, especially in today’s digital world, where every aspect of the business depends on its online version as well. No matter how small or large your business is, what makes you a well-established player in the market is the selection of the right e-commerce platform.
The article will outline the 12 best e-commerce platforms in order to give the reader an overview of which they might be suited best. Before moving on to the list, let’s define an e-commerce platform and what features to look out for when selecting one.
What is an Ecommerce Platform?
Thus, an e-commerce platform would be software that allows businesses to design and operate an online store and sell products or services online. It includes all the tools one would need to run their online business hassle-free-from website designing to inventory management, payment processing, and even support for customers in case of any queries.
Best Ecommerce platforms vary from small startups to large enterprises. Still, these types of platforms can be self-hosted you would have to do all the setting up and then maintain control.
Key Features of the Best E-Commerce Platforms
While choosing the best ecommerce platform, there is some specific feature that makes your online store efficient easy to use, and adaptable as your business grows. The following are some of the major qualities that characterize a good e-commerce platform:
1. User-Friendly Interface
Access to the e-commerce platform is also required to be user-friendly both for customers and business owners alike. Frankly, the platform should be capable of presenting a simple, intuitive interface when creating your online store and then on afterward managing products, customers, and orders without much technical knowledge.
2. Customization and Design Flexibility
Customization to suit your e-commerce site is very important in creating an experience or shopping environment unique for your brand and what will keep the customers coming back to your site. The better programs have a large number of templates or themes and enable further editing via design tools or, for the more adventurous, HTML/CSS code.
3. Mobile Responsiveness
With the increasingly increasing number of users who surf through their tablets and smartphones, you will find the need to have a mobile-friendly store. A proper e-commerce website should ensure that your site is responsive and works well on all screen sizes, from desktops to smartphones.
4. Payment Gateways and Transaction Security
Another important function of an e-commerce platform has to do with payments. The best possible platforms are integrated with several payment gateways and allow capacity for customers to take advantage of a preferred mode of payment, be it a credit card, PayPal, or other digital wallets.
5. Inventory and Order Management
Actual inventory management for your product is probably one of the most important things you will have in running an e-commerce business. HUNT for services that support powerful tools for managing stock levels, and low-inventory warnings, variant management.
6. SEO and Marketing Tools
A decent online presence is little more than a good storefront design. But the best e-commerce systems also come with built-in SEO tools to help you rank better inside the major search engines, including Google, such as customizable URLs, meta tags, and product descriptions.
12 Best E-commerce Platforms for Your Online Store
1. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is one very powerful, highly scalable e-commerce solution for any business startup, medium-sized or large. It is known widely for its flexibility and scalability; it gives a lot of options regarding customization and connectivity. It stands out with such strong SEO capabilities, multi-channel selling options, and excellent site performance. The easy-to-use interface of and a rich set of merchant tools make it very simple to create an online store, manage it, and grow it.
Key Features
- Responsive themes; editable storefronts
- Built-in SEO and marketing tools
- Sell on Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Instagram
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Product Variants and Inventory Management
- 24/7 Customer support
Best for
- Medium to big business size, looking for a scalable and feature-rich platform.
Pricing:
- Standard: $29.95/month
- Plus: $79.95/month
- Pro: $299.95/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Website:
https://www.bigcommerce.com
2. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an extremely popular open-source e-commerce solution based on WordPress as a friendly interface. This makes it very flexible and easily accessible as an entry point for a business of any size to create an online presence. Its greatest strength is its seamless integration into WordPress users, which allows it to call up the broad ecosystem of WordPress themes and plugins. The system is highly customizable and hence suits businesses that come with specialized feature requirements or need special layout designs.
Key Features:
- 100% customizable through WordPress themes and plugins
- Different payment gateways
- Managing products as well as inventory
- Search Engine Optimized structure
- Responsive mobile layout
- Massive community for support and extension
Best For:
- High customizer and for site owners who are on WordPress
Pricing
- The free plugin has a cost for hosting and some extension
- Premium extensions and themes have different prices
Website:
Homepage
3. Shopify
Shopify is an inclusive, user-friendly e-commerce platform for businesses of all sizes nowadays. The merits of Shopify include ease of use and sleek design options. Shopify offers a full solution for creating and managing online shops. It has great features, from professional themes and a wonderful app store expanded through third-party functionality to built-in marketing and SEO. Shopify is suitable for both beginners and experienced merchants. It combines everything all at once: hosting, payment, checkout, etc. All these services are very integrally embedded into any project.
Key Features:
- Friendly store builder by drag and drop
- Over a thousand professional themes
- Integrated payment system: Shopify Payments
- Extensive app store to offer additional functionalities
- Multi-channel sales support
- Support for customers is available 24/7
Best for:
Of Any size but great for new e-commerce businesses
Pricing:
- Basic Shopify: US$ 29/month
- Shopify: US$ 79/month
- Advanced Shopify: US$ 299/month
- Shopify Plus: This is available at custom-made prices in accordance with large business ventures.
Website:
https://www.shopify.com
4. Wix
Wix is that all-in-one web builder that has become a powerful website for e-commerce. Wix is very popular because of the drag-and-drop editor and the stunning pre-designed templates. This is a very accessible platform to create beautiful online stores. Tools for e-commerce include inventory management, secure checkout, and multiple payment options. This is strong in user friendliness and flexibility in design. It’s, therefore, an excellent choice for small businesses and creative entrepreneurs who emphasize aesthetics during their presence at online stores.
Key Features:
- A drag-and-drop website builder with e-commerce functionality
- Thousands of templates that can be easily customized
- Site-wide SEO tools and marketing tools
- Secure checkout option with multiple payment options
- Mobile-friendly stores
- Application market for more functionality
Best for:
- Small businesses or design-oriented entrepreneurs interested in design
Pricing:
- Business Basic: $23/month
- Business Unlimited: $27/month
- Business VIP: $49/month
Website:
https://www.wix.com/ecommerce/website
5. Squarespace
Squarespace is a fashionably designed web platform that, aside from site building, also includes an e-commerce feature. Many clients praise this system because of its beautiful templates and clean and modern look. This makes it an all-in-one web solution to create your own online shop. That’s further amplified by the strength of the user-friendly, design-centric platform that is offered in its wide variety of e-commerce features, such as inventory management, tax tools, and abandoned cart recovery. This will be perfect for business houses that basically rely on branding and storytelling in their web presence.
Key Features:
- Winner’s design templates
- Ready SEO and marketing tools are built-in
- Inventory management and order tracking
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Mobile stores are optimized for mobile
- Connected with social platforms
Best For:
Business firms that are small to medium and design-conscious
Pricing:
- Business: $18/month (annually billed)
- Basic Commerce: $26/month (annually billed)
- Advanced Commerce: $40/month (annually billed
Website: https://www.squarespace.com/ecommerce-website
6. OpenCart
OpenCart is one of the solid open-source e-commerce platforms that are known for their flexibility and array of features. OpenCart has also integrated itself with very high features and boasts interlinking capabilities between developers and tech-savvy users that can show high customization degrees and scalability. System features include a full range of tools for managing products, customers, and orders and multi-store features. The biggest strength of OpenCart is that it has a humungous community of developers that extend their libraries of extensions and themes so it can be put to use for any business of e-commerce business.
Key Features:
- Open source platform that is fully customizable.
- Multi-store functionality
- The greatest variety of payment and shipping methods available
- Mass marketplace for extensions and themes
- Integrated SEO
- Reporting and analytics
Best For:
Tech-savvy users and businesses that have serious customization needs.
Pricing:
- True, free download and use where hosting and some extensions are paid
- Premium themes and extensions by price
Website:
https://www.opencart.com
7. Shift4Shop
3dcart is one of the oldest e-commerce platforms, and Shift4Shop offers plenteous features in its package. Everything from inventory management to marketing tools is included within it as part of the online business solution. Shift4Shop has ample customizable themes and allows for multiple channels of selling. That is what makes Shift4Shop different, with its extensive feature set and aggressive price positioning, which makes it perfect for businesses that are looking to have a robust e-commerce solution on a shoestring budget.
Key Features:
- Comes with an exhaustive in-built feature set
- Its themes are customizable, and, it is mobile-responsive.
- Businesses can sell via multiple channels.
- Its SEO features are advanced.
- Built-in blogs with CMS features.
- Online 24/7 technical support.
Best For:
- Small and medium-sized ventures whose goal is the attainment of a platform that possesses the most features
Pricing
- Shop Basic: $29 / month
- Shop Plus: $79 / month
- Shop Pro: $229 / month
- Enterprise: Custom Pricing
Website:
https://www.shift4shop.com
8. Square Online
Square Online is an e-commerce store that can easily connect with the famous Square’s point of sale system. In this respect, it can be ideal for both online and offline businesses. Creating an e-commerce website has never been easier, as user-friendly interfaces help in creating simple, yet effective online stores, synchronizing inventories across multiple online and offline sales channels, and much more. The strength of Square Online shines bright on its integration point when it’s easy to work within Square’s ecosystem, which is managing many aspects of sales, payment, and inventory across various channels.
Key Features:
- Integration with Square POS is extremely seamless
- Inventory synchronization with online as well as offline platforms
- Card payments are built right into this feature
- Order management and fulfillment tools
- SEO and marketing
- Mobile responsive design
Best For:
- Small businesses that have both an online and physical presence.
Pricing:
- Free plan
- Professional: $12
- Performance: $26
- Premium: $72
Website:
https://squareup.com/us/en/online-store
9. Volusion
One of the older companies in the e-commerce space, Volusion offers many different features for an online business. Indeed, Volusion is known for its interface and powerful order management system. It includes inventory tracking, customer management, and marketing tools. With it, a selection of customizable themes and multi-channel selling exist as well. The strength of Volusion is in its data and analytics, which enables merchants to gain direct access to the most important insights for growing businesses.
Key Features:
- Extremely easy to operate the store interface
- In-built SEO tools
- Manage and track inventory
- Customer Relationship Management
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Customer Support Available 24/7
Best for:
- Small to medium-sized businesses with data-driven growth
Pricing
- Personal $29/month
- Professional $79/month
- Business $299/month
- Custom quote for large business
Website:
https://www.volusion.com
10. Adobe Commerce (Magento)
Adobe Commerce, previously known as Magento, is an e-commerce platform used by medium or large business enterprises. Adobe Commerce is one of the high-customization platform options that suit the complex needs of an online store—advanced personalization tools from the platform help in B2B functionality and multi-store management. Adobe Commerce is recommended for middle-sized to large companies with a lot of requirements for its ability to accommodate huge catalogs and high sales volumes.
Key Features
- Very customizable and scalable
- Highly well-stocked B2B functionality
- Multi-store and multi-language functionality
- Powered by a solid admin panel and product management
- Equipped with built-in SEO and marketing
- Extensive third-party integrations
Best For
- Medium to Large Businesses and Enterprises with complex needs
Pricing
- Magento Open Source comes without cost. It is self-hosted.
- Adobe Commerce: Business-specific pricing
Website: https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/magento-commerce.html
11. Big Cartel
Big Cartel is an intuitive e-commerce solution that, first and foremost, aims at artists, makers, and small creative businesses. Big Cartel has become especially in demand as an e-commerce solution since it’s the most artist-friendly and easy-to-use tool with an enlarged set of features for independent creators. Big Cartel allows for the choice of themes and basic tools for managing products and orders. This site is proud to be simplistic and focused on the creative community, a good place for artists to sell their work online, free from cluttering it with complicated, bigger e-commerce platforms.
Key Features:
- Simple, friendly user interface
- Artist-designed customizable themes
- Basic product and order management
- Real-time statistics and analytics
- Stores can be optimized to appear good on mobile
- Social media integrations
Best For:
- Artists, crafters, small creative businesses
Pricing:
- Gold (up to 25 products): $9.99/month
- Platinum (up to 100 products): $19.99/month
- Diamond (up to 500 products): $29.99/month
Website:
https://www.bigcartel.com
12. Ecwid
Ecwid is an e-commerce platform that supports businesses of any size. Its implementation has also been appreciated for integrating it with existing websites and social media platforms. Ecwid is one of the flexible solutions supporting businesses in easily adding e-commerce functionality to their current online presence without requiring full overhaul. Ecwid is among the most diverse e-commerce platforms, containing all kinds of features, from multi-channel selling and inventory management to mobile point-of-sale. The best feature of Ecwid is its adaptability and friendly user interface, making it the best option for any business wanting to expand its ability to sell through multiple channels online.
Key Features:
- Easy integration into already existing websites and social networks
- Multi-channel capability to sell
- Mobile responsive
- Calculated tax automatically
- Manage inventory through all sales channels
- Multilingual and Multi-currency
Best For:
- Businesses wanting to add ecommerce functionality to their existing sites or wishing to sell through multiple platforms
Pricing:
- Ecommerce plan available for free up to 10 products
- Venture: $15/month
- Business: $35/month
- Unlimited: $99/month
Website:
#1 Free E-commerce Shopping Cart & Online Store Solution – Try Ecwid!
Factors to Consider When Choosing an E-Commerce Platform
Of course, that matters when trying to make the best choice as far as the best e-commerce platform goes for your online store. Do not forget this will either break or make your business at the least.
1. Ease of Use:
Of course, the ease of use of the platform is important because most probably you are a beginner or a small business owner who does not have a whole IT team. Thus, you will prefer a platform that is easily set up and managed.
2. Price:
The price in an e-commerce platform is determined by the type of plan chosen. While some charge on a monthly price, others give their service, which comes as a percentage of your sales, and others will not charge any money. Actually, as much as one would think this could be very cheap to go free, there are other hidden costs, such as add-ons, that could be imposed on the conditions.
3. Personalization
No two e-commerce sites are alike nor two websites so you need a store platform that allows you to customize the look and feel of your store to look like your brand. Some platforms offer pre-designed templates, while others offer more advanced customization abilities with an ample amount of coding flexibility.
4. Payment Option
This gives you flexibility at the point of checkout and, simultaneously increases your chances to close a sale. Ensure that your website allows different types of payment gateways that include credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and more online money transfers or even cryptocurrency if relevant to your target audience.
5. Security
Selling from an e-shop requires the highest security hosting: clients will entrust personal and financial information to you. Platforms shall be PCI DSS compliant with an SSL certificate and fraud protection tools.
6. Scalability
Your business will be scaled up, so a platform should scale with your company. Some platforms are small business designs, and others are built enough to handle massive traffic or transactions. So make sure you get the kind that can scale with your store.
Conclusion
Select the appropriate e-commerce platforms for your business, given your business size and requirements and the feasibility within your technical capability; compare its scalability relative to that of Shopify and BigCommerce. Consider how easy it would be to customize the solution if needed where you need to customize WooCommerce or Magento. Consider how easy or hard it will be for someone without programming skills to use Wix and Squarespace when you weigh the viability of Wix and Squarespace. Let your current needs and future plans determine your best online store platform.
FAQs
1. What is the most user-friendly e-commerce platform?
The easiest, if I’m honest, are probably Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace, arguably the ones with intuitive designs and drag-drop facilities.
2. Which one has scalability?
Bigcommerce and Shopify are the scale-up ones; they are perfect for a company that is growing at a breakneck pace.
3. Is free e-commerce possible?
Yes, WooCommerce and OpenCart are free, but sometimes you must pay more for features or hosting services.
4. Which one will be the best to offer customization?
WooCommerce, Magento, and PrestaShop are the best customer choices for customization. However, it varies explicitly concerning the ability to code within those choices.
