Choosing the right eCommerce platform is vital to the success of your business. You are choosing the features that you need, but on the other hand, you are choosing the challenges that will be faced as your business grows or changes. The versatility, flexibility, and cost of your platform can probably work in your support.

Before you compare eCommerce platforms, it’s a smart idea to have a lot of your capabilities and strategies sorted out already. For example, there are some platforms that are better suited to those that are SEO-focused. You may not want to build your own e-commerce site and realize later that it is not optimized for your strategy. While some platforms will feel restrictive to those with coding abilities, those who do not have that expertise can greatly benefit from the straightforwardness of similar platforms.

Keeping your priorities as the primary concern, follow along with us as we take a look at the six best e-commerce platforms currently available.

WooCommerce

For quite some time, WooCommerce dominated its market. As a direct WordPress plug-in, it really has a lot to bring to the table, especially for businesses that have a website and are unexpectedly booming in e-commerce. WooCommerce has high customizability and built-in analytics. Similarly, the platform holds customers throughout the day, every day, like practically all e-commerce platforms.

The plug-in itself is free, yet you need to actually build your site and pay for some associated expenses. In the event that you need the full board package, competitors, for example, Squarespace may make more sense to you.

Shopify

Shopify is highly renowned. It is the e-commerce platform of choice for those who rely on social media marketing to sell or who do outsourcing. The platform is simple, flexible, and scalable for small to medium-sized businesses. Additionally, you don’t need to bother to know the knowledge of any coding language to use it. Instead, the platform has a drag and drop interface that allows you to build your own site.

Shopify focuses on sales and offers a ton of customer experience management (CEM) and up-sell features. However, Shopify struggles to handle the biggest stores. Shopify Plus can help you grow as a larger store, yet if you’re already a large retailer, it may not be the right choice for you.

Big Commerce

Many businesses are narrowing their choice between Shopify and BigCommerce. Not only can Big Commerce handle the big stores that Shopify struggles with, but it also offers strong SEO performance. It has a one-page checkout experience that can help with your conversions, yet it falls short of the one-click up-sell that Shopify does so well.

Whether or not BigCommerce will work for you on Shopify depends on your own strategy. If you choose BigCommerce, you can expect high customization capabilities (if you have coding abilities) and stable customer support. However, you can likewise expect a higher price tag for many of the features that other platforms include in their basic plans.

OpenCart

If BigCommerce’s big price tag isn’t feasible, you might appreciate OpenCart instead. It’s open-source and free-to-use, despite the fact that you can invest in addons, which range in cost from free to $100. There are many additional options, with some features you’ll have to pay for elsewhere.

Likewise, the platform requires a lot of coding knowledge, not because it is exceptionally customizable, but because its support is not quite as solid as other platforms. In case something goes wrong, you may need to tinker with your website yourself, while OpenCart refuses to contact you.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the best eCommerce platform for your business will be the one that matches your coding capabilities and growth expectations, both in quantity and the number of items offered.

The right platform should also allow you to use the marketing and customer experience strategies you need to flourish.

Whatever you choose, don’t overwhelm your decision to choose the right e-commerce platform—it’s a complicated decision that will have a significant impact on your business.

Free E-Commerce Platforms

E-commerce can be considered as a means of using the Internet as a medium of online business transactions. The Internet is creating a lot of momentum and the world is becoming a digital addict. This makes it very important to give emphasis on different types of e-commerce or e-business.

E-commerce can be divided into five major classes or platforms.

1. Business-To-Consumer: Otherwise known as B2C for short, this is the most common part of e-commerce that involves both businesses and their consumers. When it initially emerged, it really had no effect on the market. After the year 1995, it saw an increase in growth. The basic rule guiding B2C is that retailers sell their goods to consumers through specialized tools used for marketing in an online community.

2. Business-To-Business: This is also called B2B and is the largest form of e-commerce ever. This class generates up to hundreds of billions of dollars. In this case, there are only sellers and buyers; And there is no room for consumers. If you know how a manufacturing company distributes its products to wholesalers, you can understand what I am saying. For example, Dell, which buys computer products from various business enterprises such as Microsoft and eventually sells them.

3. Consumer-To-Consumer: The abbreviation for this class of e-commerce is known as C2C. C2C online simply enhances the transaction of business products between two groups of individuals. In this case, a visible middle-man does not exist. Such a free platform is very disadvantageous as both parties cannot transact online.

4. Peer-To-Peer: Also known as P2; It is not just an e-commerce platform. It involves a process by which people can directly share files and resources without the need for a central server. The use of this Platform requires that both parties install the necessary software required for communication. It is a free platform that should not be used for e-commerce website design and development as it generates less revenue.

5. M-commerce: This includes the use of mobile devices to conduct business online. The users of such mobile devices can comfortably carry out any business transaction after interacting with each other. Websites can also be viewed properly on these devices. The disadvantage of M-commerce is that it requires more time to complete because of the inconvenience arising due to prolonged usage.

Many other platforms are used in the e-commerce business. We have like a business from government; otherwise known; Government to Citizen, also known as G2C and last but not least Business to Employee, also known as B2E. There is no difference between these platforms and the ones mentioned above. There is no need to wholeheartedly implement free e-commerce platforms in online businesses. A corporate web design consulting firm will tell you that your only business needs only one of them. So if you don’t consider going for free it will pay off.

Consider When Choosing an E-Commerce Platform

Although there is a range of e-commerce platforms readily available today, choosing one requires utmost care and is certainly an extremely challenging and time-consuming endeavor. Well, instead of feeling helpless and spending money on professional help, business owners should buy some time and go through the following write-up, where I have given some essential tips to ease the said scenario.

Every modern-day entrepreneur wants to get maximum traffic, conversions, and sales, all of which are possible through business expansion. It is essential to select an e-commerce platform that has the potential to grow with an organization and successfully meet the trials and tribulations that come along the way.

While deciding on a platform, make sure to keep the budget in mind. While some options have exceptional features, some can be purchased at exorbitantly low costs. Well, entrepreneurs need to do extensive research and find a perfect amalgamation of quality as well as affordability.

Always try to choose solutions whose approach can be changed by incorporating amazing design components. This is because apart from being functional, a digital store must have an attractive presence, and only then can it reach a large segment of the population.

User experience is one of the most important factors to keep in mind. E-commerce is an exceptionally competitive field and business owners can only be successful when they meet the changing needs and expectations of modern customers, thereby helping them to shop with ease. Thus, look for platforms that can engage consumers for a long time and convince them to return.

Selling products and services online is a difficult business and one can achieve prosperity only through a few essential tools. E-commerce platforms are definitely growing on-demand with a range of best-in-class features like backend management perspective, practical discounts, and suggested products.

It doesn’t matter whether you are an expert or a hobbyist, the solution should give everyone the support they need. Before making a decision, check if the platform has support options like live chat, online documentation, forums, etc.

Now the last aspect that one should consider is the security quotient. The solution business owners are opting for should offer utmost security especially in the form of keeping customer details encrypted. Checking credentials and registration are major tasks by PCI or the Payment Card Industry.