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Online retail is an increasingly competitive area, even for the e-commerce platforms that are being discussed to support it. According to G2 statistics, there are currently more than 370 e-commerce self-built platforms available for use by enterprises and individuals.
You may not have enough energy to look through hundreds of options to find the right solution, so we’ve reviewed some of the most popular options and compared them in detail so you can make a decision based on your needs.
Originally founded by a group of skiers in 2004, Shopify has grown into the world’s leading e-commerce solution with over 1 million customers in 175 countries and across a wide range of sizes and industries.
This should be one of the best e-commerce platforms for beginners. Everything you need is already integrated into the system, including store design, content marketing, performance analysis, and so on. Once you’ve set up the basics, it’s easy to add more functionality and features using third-party extensions, or even change the site code.
Code-free site-building tools and an intuitive interface make the learning process a breeze, and there are plenty of resources available if you run into difficulties. Most users can choose from a variety of existing templates or create one themselves. To provide even more flexibility, Shopify also provides full code access for power users, while independent developers can create add-ons to extend the functionality of the store.
Support industry
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- Consumer electronics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Household decorates
- Digital products
Site features
- An unlimited list of products
- Custom domain name
- Real-time sales statistics
- Inventory tracking
- AI/Personalization
- More than 70 themes/templates
Shopify Plus is an upgraded version of the base Shopify platform for enterprise users, offering services and advantages that are more suitable for large multinational companies in addition to the e-commerce platform itself.
Thanks to its ability to simplify complex technologies, Shopify Plus is emerging as one of the best e-commerce platforms for corporate customers, capable of handling large product line-up across multiple channels. Larger groups will receive higher levels of technical frameworks, entry level support and automation tools to make it easier to operate at scale.
Although built on the same platform as the lower-priced product, Shopify Plus’s focus on the enterprise market means it is more complex in terms of feature sets and customisation. To customize your e-commerce site, you’ll need to learn the proprietary front-end programming language Liquid or hire an experienced third-party agent.
Support industry
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- Consumer electronics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Household decorates
- Digital products
Site features
- An unlimited list of products
- Custom domain name
- Real-time sales statistics
- Inventory tracking
- AI/Personalization
- More than 70 themes/templates
BigCommerce was founded in 2009 by Two Australians, Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper, but has moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas, and employs 600 people in offices around the world. To date, the company has helped online retailers make $25 billion worth of sales in 120 countries.
With its rich features, BigCommerce is best suited to small and medium businesses, the basic package plan is suitable for most entry-level users, and advanced features like scrap shopping cart and shipping integration are among the best in the industry, but must be upgraded to a higher plan to enjoy them. In addition, BigCommerce doesn’t cap fees per transaction, but based on your subscription plan.
This is the most professional e-commerce platform, a little better than Shopify in terms of usability, but with far fewer preset templates. BigCommerce makes it easier to edit and modify seo related features (such as custom urls, page titles, etc.), but the biggest difference so far is the ability to sell in multiple currencies, which Shopify and other platforms lack.
Site features
- Unlimited product listings, unlimited traffic and file storage
- Custom domain name
- Multi-currency sales
- 12 free themes and 160 + paid themes
- Integration with shipping and POS software
One of the most popular open source e-commerce platforms in the world, it was first released in 2009 and then replaced by Magento 2.0 in 2015 with an improved code base and more usability/stability features. Shortly after that, in 2018, Magento was acquired by Adobe and is now available in two versions: Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce.
Magento is best suited to small and medium sized businesses with established needs — specific time, manpower, and skills. The open source platform is very powerful, with thousands of extension libraries, but it takes a lot of time to learn to use, takes longer to develop and has a larger budget than most of its competitors.
Support industry
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- Consumer electronics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Household decorates
- Sports goods
Site features
- Integrate checkout, payment, and logistics
- Global sales
- Directory management
- Expand functionality through App marketplace
- Instant purchase
- Site search
WooCommerce is a free open source shopping cart plug-in owned and developed by WordPress and one of the most popular e-commerce options on the market. For individuals and businesses that already have a WordPress site or are on a tight budget but still want a strong online store, WooCommerce is the best e-commerce platform with thousands of third-party themes and plugins that offer great flexibility for most needs.
Like most open source e-commerce platforms, WooCommerce has a tough learning curve for those who have never created a site like it before. While the plug-in is relatively simple to install and use, users must use community forums and online guides to improve their expertise, but once they have mastered this, customizing the site becomes very easy.
Support industry
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- Consumer electronics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Household decorates
- Digital products
Site features
- Geographic support
- Inventory management
- Directory management
- Shipping methods and calculators
- Search engine optimization
- Coupons and discounts
Squarespace is a SaaS (software as a service) company that creates and hosts business websites and online stores, allowing you to create web pages with preset templates and drag-and-drop operations. The platform is best suited for individuals and businesses with basic e-commerce needs. While functional, it can only be used as an assistant to primary site building tools. If you need a more specialized platform to handle larger inventory and orders, Shopify or BigCommerce will be better.
With one of the most compact design interfaces on the market, creating and modifying an e-commerce platform is a breeze, regardless of your experience level. However, there are not many add-ins available in the default builder and there is no app store for third-party extensions, which can limit the functionality of your e-commerce site.
Support industry
- Art and design
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Toys and Games
- Digital products
Site features
- Auto recovery when shopping cart is abandoned
- Product import and export
- Real-time freight and logistics tracking
- Upsell and cross-sell
- Search engine optimization
- Gift cards, automatic discounts
Wix is a cloud-based website building platform that allows users to create online stores with drag-and-drop tools. With a wide range of preset templates and layouts, even beginners and resource-poor businesses can easily build compelling, functional websites. Beyond that, it’s the best e-commerce platform for small businesses that can’t afford to hire a professional web designer, with site building tools that are easy to use and e-commerce components that are powerful enough to meet basic needs.
The most famous feature is its ease of use, which ensures that your site works perfectly all the time. Wix has a lot of templates for your online business, and the e-commerce module has most of the functionality that an enterprise needs, but it doesn’t scale consistently on dedicated platforms like Shopify or Magento.
Support industry
- Art and design
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Toys and Games
- Sports goods
- Digital products
Site features
- Product gallery
- Logistics options
- Promo code
- Inventory management
- Shopping cart scrap recovery
- Terms of payment
Big Cartel is an e-commerce platform for artists that started in 2005 and focuses on selling art, clothing, jewelry, photos and more in one place. For individuals and businesses looking for an alternative to Etsy, The Big Cartel is a simple and intuitive tool to help artists maximize their potential.
Setup wizards can get you up and running quickly and can get you up and running faster than sites like Shopify, but this simplicity is a trade-off, and the platform has a very limited feature set that isn’t suitable for businesses that sell a lot of products.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is an enterprise-class e-commerce solution that offers a wide range of features, perfect for multinational companies handling multi-million dollar orders, powerful and with enough customization scope to cover almost any online business — be it B2B or B2C. As a Salesforce ecosystem product, Commerce Cloud can benefit from integration with all other Salesforce products.
As an enterprise-level e-commerce platform, the Salesforce Commerce Support cloud offers depth and flexibility unmatched by most other platforms, which brings a steep learning curve best handled by experienced programmers, hired consultants, or Salesforce developers.
Support industry
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Sports goods
- Toys and Games
- Automobiles and automotive supplies
- Chemical products
Site features
- Product and catalog management
- Marketing and advertising tools
- Customer segmentation, social media integration
- AI/personalization, A/B testing
- One-click mobile payment
- Complete development platform, including API support
- Multiple channels and retail locations
Founded in 1999, Volusion is one of the oldest e-commerce platforms on the market, and despite the entry of competitors like Shopify and Wix, it has remained popular and stable, currently supporting more than 30,000 stores and more than $28 billion in sales.
Volusion is a great choice for startups and small businesses that want to get started quickly and have room to grow. Unlike other platforms that require you to install extensions, where many important features are already included as part of a standard dashboard, Volusion has a long history in many areas, but it’s still a powerful system that meets most business needs.
Support industry
- Beauty and Cosmetics
- fashions
- Food and beverage
- Sports goods
- Consumer electronics
- Household decorates
Site features
- Drag-and-drop page editor
- Free and paid themes
- Inventory management
- Discounts and coupons
- SEO tools, social media integration
- SKU import/export
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