If you wanted to create an ecommerce site years ago, it would have cost you a pretty penny. Now, people can build fast, solid, and visually appealing ecommerce websites by themselves, only with the help of an ecommerce platform. Here are five top choices for your ecommerce site.
1. Shopify
Shopify is used by over a million vendors across 1.5 million sites, but it's not only for enterprises. It offers a quick and easy way to deploy an ecommerce platform with an inbuilt CMS, blogging options, and multiple themes.
Intuitiveness is Shopify's most notable feature. Businesses just starting can set up a store quickly. Shopify Plus caters to bigger businesses.
Among the payment gateways compatible with Shopify are Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and many more. Shopify Payments, the proprietary payment gateway, is available in North America, the UK, some European countries, Japan, Australia, and more.
Depending on your plan, you'll have different analytics and reporting levels available. The basic plan features real-time reports, overviews of orders, sales, and sessions, analytics for campaigns using a UTM, financial reports, inventory reports, acquisition reports, and user behavior reports, including conversion and checkout rates.
You can create custom reports with Shopify Plus, the most expensive plan, or connect to Google Analytics.
2. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a customizable, open-source platform built on WordPress. If you already have a WordPress site, it's a very feasible option.
The platform allows unlimited product types and versions. In terms of payment processing, it has Stripe and PayPal. You can add Braintree, Amazon Payments, and other gateways using WooCommerce extensions. There might be a fee.
WooCommerce's inbuilt reports include reports on inventory, site views, orders, taxes, customers, downloaded files, and much more. It's free to integrate with Google Analytics.
The platform is compatible with Yoast, All in One SEO Pack, and other external SEO plugins. Its SEO-friendliness is its best feature. This feature is essential for new businesses as it raises their sites in search rankings, making them accessible to prospective buyers.
The WordPress basis means your site will be powered by the world's most solid content management system.
For further details, see this WooCommerce guide.
3. Square
Square enabled credit card payments almost 15 years ago. Users have been able to accept such payments via a smartphone app right from the start.
This platform is best for independent businesses with small, uniform catalogs, such as artists, crafters, and small service businesses. It is very user-friendly. You can set up a basic site in several minutes.
You can link Square with WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or another platform to set up your store there. Square is integrated with Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Square Pay. You can accept payments via PayPal on the Performance plan.
In terms of SEO, Square lets you add SEO titles, permalinks, and descriptions and use an optimized HTML format or a mobile-friendly design.
4. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is another beginner-friendly ecommerce platform that walks you through the steps to launch a store. The first step is adding your products. The platform displays links to files with additional information. You can install any third-party apps you need right from the admin console.
The platform's app store has over 800 apps, with which users can add extra features to their stores depending on their needs.
BigCommerce accepts Stripe, PayPal, 2Checkout, Authorize.net, and more. The only fees you'll pay are the ones the payment gateway charges.
Regardless of your chosen theme, the platform is mobile-optimized and friendly until checkout.
Support is one area in which BigCommerce truly excels. It offers 24/7 support via live chat, telephone, and email. There's a community forum and a BigCommerce knowledge base.
5. Adobe Commerce
Adobe features two options: Magento Commerce and open-source. It has an in-depth features list and an expansive backend interface, allowing endless customization. Magento is not the best for beginners, but people with a technical background will find their way around quickly.
With Adobe Commerce, you can accept checks, purchase orders, and money orders out of the box. To accept credit card payments, you must add a payment gateway. Adobe integrates PayPal and Braintree, but there are others you can add.
Free and paid integrations in the Magento extension store can enhance your site's functionality. There are thousands of extensions related to marketing, inventory, shipping, accounting, and other categories.
Adobe's open-source version has no support, but there is an active user community and DIY resources, like tutorials, developer documents, user guides, webinars, and a knowledge base.
Best Hosting for Ecommerce Platforms
Ecommerce stores require a high level of security as they store sensitive financial information. The best hosting would be a dedicated server. You can opt for managed or unmanaged hosting. You'll take care of updates, glitches, and other errors if you manage the server.