Setting up your own e-commerce business has never been easier: today’s technologically advanced world offers a plethora of tools and B2B services for budding entrepreneurs. All you have to do is choose among a variety of options. This can be a tricky task, though. Technologically speaking, what are the best tools and platforms for launching your own e-commerce store?
Below, we give you an overview of e-commerce web platforms, but first, here’s a brief list of platform features you should focus on before you make your final choice. The best platform will offer you not just a site builder, but other vitally important services: hosting, great design templates, marketing analytic tools and a variety of payment options. Other critical aspects you should always focus on include:
Bandwidth and storage space
Some platforms have limitations as to the amount of storage space they will give you. You might think that’s no big deal since you are not planning to expand your business in the near future. But ones your business starts to grow, it will expand exponentially, and moving an already existing store from one platform to another is no cakewalk. You don’t want to end up in a situation when your website is down because it can’t handle the traffic peaks during holiday season. Running out of infrastructure capacities and having availability issues will have a negative impact on your search ranking and on customer perception of your brand.
Save yourself time and hassle by choosing a service which scales as your e-commerce website grows. Always have an emergency backup plan and don’t let your website fail you.
Security
This is a vitally important aspect you absolutely can’t compromise on. Your e-commerce platform of choice should have top-notch security protection. Period.
No matter how otherwise attractive a platform may look, never choose it unless it has SSL protection. SSL is an acronym for Secure Socket Layer, an encryption protocol for processing online payments, secure credit card transactions, logins, and data transfer. Protect yourself and your customers so that they feel safe as they shop.
Usability and design
Make no mistake, looks are not trivial. One of the things people value most about shopping, both online and offline, is the experience. You do want your customers to enjoy the look and feel of your website. Make sure your e-commerce platform of choice has a number of great design templates you can tailor to your needs.
Also, make sure it allows you to build web stores with great usability: sleek, functional, with easy categorization and search, reducing a customer journey to just a few clicks.
So what are the top e-commerce platforms for your businesses? A recent review from Top10.com suggests top 3 e-commerce site builders in 2019 are:
Wix
Of all the available e-commerce platforms, Wix has made it to the top of the rankings, getting the highest rate of 9.8 in a Top10.com review. So what’s so special about it? Over 500 customizable design templates to give your storefront a sleek and attractive look and a minimalistic mobile version to go with it. The support of 7 most widely used payment systems, industry-standard SEO tools with social media feed integration, and free hosting with the same security packages regardless of a payment plan add up to its popularity. Wix is also widely acknowledged for its scalability and a flexible, all-inclusive management system for tracking orders, managing shipping, promoting sales and accepting payments.
On the downside, Wix lacks 24/7 support, although there’s a wide range of FAQs and tutorials across the web as well as user forums available in many languages. All in all, Wix is considered the best solution for those who are just making their first steps in the e-commerce business.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is another popular e-commerce platform rated 9.5 by Top10.com. It is especially favored by growing brands for its outstanding scalability as well as features previously available only for large businesses with their own on-prem infrastructure solutions. When it comes to accepting payments, BigCommerce is also ahead of most competitors: having PayPal One Touch built-in makes it #1 choice for many PayPal users. Its other prominent characteristics involve support of advanced SEO features (for example, setting the default URL structure for products and categories on the store level and still being able to modify individual products and categories) and Google APMs (accelerated mobile pages). A 24/7 support team also adds to its benefits.
On the downside, BigCommerce has issues with the design templates: some of them won’t display properly on small mobile screens. BigCommerce has four price packages which start at $29.95 per month.
Shopify
Rated 9.2 by Top10.com, Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms for SMB companies. In terms of website design, it has been acknowledged for offering the most attractive looking templates on the market (over 100 templates, most of which are free). It also gives full access to HTML or CSS source in case you want to meddle with the code (you can’t change the functionality of the shopping cart, though).
Shopify is truly a leader when it comes to payment transactions: once you subscribe, the platform instantly grants you access to over 70 existing payment gateways; moreover, it allows you to sell directly from your company’s social network pages. The platform also has excellent 24/7 support, knowledge base and tutorials. The pricing starts at $29 a month and includes transaction fees.
Shopify has a set of basic SEO tools, however, if you want to extend it, you will have to add and buy specific apps from an online marketplace.
As of 2019, Shopify, Wix, and BigCommerce are undisputable market leaders with a large customer base and expertise. Still, no matter how all-inclusive and customizable these platforms may be, each business has specific needs and peculiarities, which require an individual approach. Regardless, which platform you prefer, At VARTEQ we offer tailored solutions and AI tools that integrate with your existing system, help you eliminate bottlenecks and create business value.