Top 5 eCommerce Platform Solutions For Small Businesses
There was a time when the notion of selling products and services without a physical shop didn’t seem practical. If people were interested in purchasing your stuff, they had to drive to your brick-and-mortar site to find what they needed.
These days, you can find whatever you need online with only a few keystrokes. eCommerce systems make it simple to purchase things, movies, and even meals from your laptop or mobile device.
eCommerce platforms make life simpler for consumers, and they also make it easier for new enterprises to get started. And if you want to build an online shop in 2020, there are lots of possibilities from which to select.
What to Look For in an eCommerce Platform?
Consider sites like eBay and Amazon if you’re trying to decide which e-commerce platform is right for you. There may be other platforms that are more suited for your business based on the kind of store you plan on running.
Here are some of the primary characteristics you should look for while analyzing eCommerce platforms.
Small businesses should use the following five e-commerce platforms:
Consider some options now that you know what to look for in an online shopping cart. Listed below are our top five picks for the best e-commerce platforms of the year ahead.
So, now that you know what to look for, let’s have a look at some of your choices for an eCommerce platform. In 2020, these are the greatest eCommerce sites.
1 . Shopify
Shopify seems to be the best eCommerce platform for small enterprises, according to numerous reviewers. You may use it at any stage of your company’s development.
As if any tiny firm had any intention of being small indefinitely.
When it comes to putting up an e-commerce site, Shopify is the best option. Custom domains, logos, and vendor connections are all available to those who join up.
They provide a free collection of stock photographs where you may locate product images. It’s also possible to utilize Shopify to acquire an online shop that already exists.
You don’t need a credit card to begin your 14-day free trial with Shopify. Any plan will do; all you have to do is join up and get started developing your shop.
With their “Lite” plan, you can get started for only $9 a month. With this plan, you may add a “purchase button” to your blog, website, or Facebook page already in operation.
Shopify allows you to communicate with clients, monitor orders, and issue invoices through the internet. The Lite package includes a point-of-sale app that allows you to collect payments in person.
The prices range from $29 per month to $299 per month when you upgrade and add extra services. In addition, major merchants might benefit from an enterprise solution.
There is no limit to the number of files you can upload or the number of products you can provide, and you’ll always have access to 24/7 customer service and support.
2 . Wix
Despite the fact that most people associate Wix with its free website builder, the company also provides e-commerce options for budding businesses. If you pay yearly, you will get a free domain and $300 in advertising coupons. The lowest-priced plan is $17 per month.
In terms of price, Wix’s most costly plan is $25 per month and includes the following:
- Support by phone
- Support for tickets
- An evaluation of the user experience and search engine optimization of your website
With Wix, you can sell both real and digital goods. However, it has characteristics that will be useful to a broad range of companies.
For example, there are features that enable clients to make appointments or register for curses. Wix Music also lets you construct a personalized music player, offer digital downloads, and keep track of your business’s progress and success.
Guests may place online takeout or delivery orders, make reservations, and get email reminders from restaurants that provide these services. As a result, the
3. Squarespace
Every e-commerce platform on this list is pretty mobile-friendly, but Squarespace takes extra care to ensure that the user experience on a mobile device is top-notch.
Each template design has a unique mobile experience matching the overall style of the store. This feature is automatically built-in but can be disabled in the Website Manager.
Images can often take a long time to load, but Squarespace uses a “Responsive Image Loader” that generates multiple scaled versions of each photo uploaded.
The site can detect the type of device being used and loads the appropriate image for optimal viewing. It even works for Apple devices with Retina Displays.
And the responsiveness doesn’t stop with imagery. The site’s general layout, charts, and graphics are all optimized for mobile devices. Even emails are optimized, so marketing campaigns read well on smartphones and tablets.
4. Magento
eCommerce businesses with a history of success should look no farther than Magento as a starting point for moving their operations online. Some of the world’s most well-known businesses utilize Magento, as seen by the company’s website.
However, it will require a developer to create anything really remarkable with the program. With the support of a number of partners, Magento can help you develop an online shop that smoothly integrates with your brick-and-mortar business.
Adding tools to Magento’s open-source platform is only permitted with the approval of a restricted group of developers. For a seamless omnichannel strategy, the firm offers enterprise-level solutions.
It’s easy for consumers to place purchases online and pick them up in your shop, and inventory is updated in real-time.
One free theme is included with your online shop, and additional themes cost anything from $29 to $500. Additionally, you have the option of adding extensions to assist you with the following parts of your company:
- Accounting
- Management of the content of a website
- Customer service
- Marketing
- Payments
- Security
- Reporting
5. WooCommerce
WordPress powers WooCommerce, an e-commerce plugin. It is simple to include your e-commerce company into your content thanks to the integration with a well-known CMS.
WooCommerce provides plug-ins for your e-commerce site, much as you would for a WordPress blog. There are approximately 300 official extensions in the open-source platform’s shop that cover everything from payments to marketing to accountancy.
These expansions are as easy as checking a box since the platform is built on WordPress. However, certain payment or delivery options do have extra fees attached to them. “
The free WooCommerce theme, Storefront, includes a variety of options to fit your needs. However, Storefront is much like WordPress in that it may be customized solely to the extent of your technical skills.
You’ll need to pick a hosting provider for your WooCommerce site just as you would for a WordPress site. As a result, hosting and domain registration are not included in the product price.
To Sum It Up
There is no ideal e-commerce platform; the only thing that matters is finding the one that’s right for you and your company. When weighing your alternatives, keep in mind that price, scalability, and mobile responsiveness are all important considerations.
Use the free trials to get a feel for the software’s functionality. If you want to deploy any eCommerce solution, feel free to reach our experts.