Business owners know the importance of marketing, but what exactly are their options when it comes to ecommerce tools for their online retail business? It’s important for any business owner today to have a clear understanding of what tools are available and how they can help. This will allow them to make the most educated decision when it comes to picking which ecommerce tool is best for their business.
Ecommerce is the most popular business model, so I tried to collect information about popular tools for ecommerce. Ecommerce ecosystem has everything from customer relationship management, analytics to payment processing and much more.
One of the most common questions I get asked relates to tools and platforms. This is something that will vary greatly depending upon the nature of your business, but there are a decent number of commonalities in relation to what most ecommerce businesses will use. These do tend to evolve and change over time, however, so it’s worth checking back and seeing what’s popular or what may have changed since you last checked.
Ecommerece is a rapidly growing industry with a ton of demand for new and inventive tools to help make running an online business easier. There are a lot of popular tools out there that have been used for years and continue to be used. These tools are well known for a reason. Other ecommerce tools are being created all of the time as new technologies emerge to help make ecommerce better. A lot of these new tools have been designed from the ground up to improve various aspects of ecommerce merchant’s life while using WordPress, Shopify, Bigcommerce, and others to sell their goods online.
Shopify vs. WooCommerce: Which is Better for You?
Before we get into our comparison of Shopify vs. WooCommerce, let’s get into the basics of each platform.
Shopify
Shopify is a paid service-as-a solution (SaaS) ecommerce platform that provides all the tools new business owners need to open their online store without touching a line of code.
Because Shopify is a hosted platform, it takes care of everything from site maintenance to security. Users can open an online store in minutes and immediately start adding products.
On the flip side, store owners can only work with the platform’s tools and themes, leaving little room for customization.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source plugin that allows you to add ecommerce functionality to WordPress, the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. WooCommerce is best known for its flexibility and customizability, courtesy of its open-source nature.
However, because it is open-source, site maintenance and security are on the website owner’s shoulders.
Overall, WooCommerce offers control and flexibility at a low cost, but Shopify’s all-in-one store building solution saves time and is simpler for beginners.
If you could combine the best features of Shopify and WooCommerce on one platform, you would have the perfect solution.
WooCommerce vs Shopify: Top Features
WooCommerce and Shopify are popular because they both address ecommerce store builder must-have features. But, each platform has its strengths, weaknesses, and stand-out features.
To determine which ecommerce platform is best for you, consider the following criteria:
- Ease of use: The store owner and customers should be able to navigate the website without much help.
- Support for multiple payment options: The platform should accept a relatively wide variety of payment methods.
- Security: The platform should protect both financial and personal data from hackers.
- Price: The cost of starting an ecommerce shop should fit your budget.
1. Wix
Source: Wix.com
If you want to create an ecommerce business website without having to learn an entire programming language, this popular website builder is one of the best ways to go about it.
Wix offers more than 500 designer-made templates to choose from. These are categorically divided to cater to different businesses. Instead of having to learn how to code, you can use Wix’s drag and drop builder to create a beautiful and engaging ecommerce website.
Founded in 2006, Wix has evolved over time. From its inception, however, it was geared to make website creation extremely easy. It now allows you to view and automatically create mobile-friendly versions of your desktop sites too.
For a hassle-free ecommerce business website builder that will help you compete with major players in your niche, Wix is in your corner. However, if it’s not up to your tastes, you should consider Wix alternatives.
2. WooCommerce
Source: WooCommerce
In 2015, both WooThemes and WooCommerce were bought out by Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.
While you can use it to create and build an ecommerce store, WooCommerce isn’t a standalone site builder; it’s actually an open-source plugin for WordPress.
You can choose dedicated WooCommerce hosting to build your store using conventional drag and drop functionality, and then launch it right away.
The best part is that WooCommerce is completely free to use, though you will want to purchase a few add-ons if you want a competitive store.
Choose Cloudways for a hassle free experience
3. Magento
Source: Magento
It’s hard to beat Magento when it comes to building scalable websites. It’s one of the best ecommerce tools out there.
Magento is free to download because of its open-source design, and can be scaled very easily. It has an excellent backend user interface that gives you a litany of features to choose from. The customization options are endless: you can easily adjust the template or the theme however you wish with minimal hassle. Plus, the community is excellent, and the forums offer plenty of help to first-time website builders.
Magento also supports a series of payment gateway options right out of the box. Thus, as an ecommerce store owner, you can integrate multiple payment solutions with ease, making it one of the best ecommerce tools for growing your store.
You will have to buy hosting separately, however. That limits your support options, unless you choose the enterprise package, which costs a pretty penny.
Research Tools
Without appropriate research into your competition and different niches, how will you create a thorough marketing and selling strategy? Thankfully, there are quite a few tools that you can use for research. Let’s talk about them.
4. Semrush
Source: Semrush
Without a powerful SEO tool, it will be difficult for you to get traffic on your ecommerce store. It doesn’t matter if you are selling something great—no one will buy your product if they don’t know about it!
Founded in 2008, Semrush (formerly SEMRush) is one of the best ecommerce tools that gives you all of the information and data relevant to launching a successful SEO project.
Semrush comes with an array of link building and auditing tools that help you generate more buzz, and to create an effective, traffic-boosting SEO strategy. It gives you a range of traffic analytics and also allows you to cross-compare your ecommerce store with up to 5 competitor websites.
You can choose from three pricing tiers depending on your ecommerce business needs.
5. Ahrefs
Source: Ahrefs
Ahrefs started off as a link building tool, but the company quickly evolved from that being its primary offering. From its range of keyword filters to the massive array of metrics that it can track, Ahrefs is one of the best ecommerce tools for researching keywords and analyzing different keywords.
The Site Explorer allows you to analyze organic traffic and all backlinks to a website. There’s also a Backlink Checker, which creates a comprehensive backlink profile for each of the links leading to your website. You can view backlinks with a higher Domain Authority, or filter them any other way as well.
If you were to invest in a high-quality research tool to comprehensively understand where you stand in an ecommerce niche, Ahrefs is all you need. It’s well worth the cost of entry! Ahrefs is easily one of the best ecommerce SEO tools right now.
6. KWFinder
Source: KWFinder
If you are serious about growing your presence online, you need to invest in a high-quality keyword research tool. For a deep dive into different keywords that lets you make an informed decision about which keywords to target, go with KWFinder.
KWFinder comes with a range of excellent features, like filtering results or analyzing SERPs. It also has an intuitive UI that gives you a bird’s eye view of different variations and their effects. Plus, the dashboard is streamlined for neat data presentation.
It may not offer extensive analyses like Ahrefs does (Ahrefs can also calculate keyword intersect and find virtually every single keyword that your competitors rank for). However, while KWFinder doesn’t give you the big picture like Ahrefs, it still does a pretty fine job of showing you where you stand.
7. Jungle Scout
Source: Jungle Scout
Jungle Scout, launched by a guy named Greg Mercer in 2015, is an ecommerce marketing tool and an extension for Google Chrome. Greg’s aim was to create a tool that would allow sellers on Amazon to achieve greater success in a shorter time period.
The reason Jungle Scout is on this list is because it helps you look for trending products on Amazon, the world’s largest online shopping store. If demand for a product is high there, you will want to focus on selling it.
When it comes to product research, Jungle Scout is an excellent tool. The Niche Hunter is an excellent component of this ecommerce marketing software that allows you to identify profitable niches and then focus on targeting them. It also has an extensive product database and a built-in product tracker. There’s even an extensive supplier database that you can go through to see which supplier is moving more inventory.
It’s one of the best ecommerce tools for people who are launching their business, or those who plan on starting a dropshipping concern.
There’s no trial version, however. You can get a refund if you cancel within the first 14 days.
Business Tools
Without the right ecommerce business tools, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for you to compete with others online. These ecommerce business tools can help you automate mundane tasks and focus on what really matters: growing your company.
Thankfully, we’ve got you covered. Here are the best ecommerce tools that you can use for your business.
8. Rewind
If you use popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce to run your business, there are instances where your business could be vulnerable to data loss.
You could inadvertently delete entire product categories instead of individual items. A theme upgrade or an app update could crash your database; or a disgruntled employee could intentionally delete your entire SKU-line.
Rewind is a tool that captures daily backups of your database and lets you restore deleted files with just a few clicks. This protects your site from hours of potential downtime, and effort in restoring your website.
9. Veeqo
Source: Veeqo
Veeqo is an omnichannel inventory management tool that lets ecommerce business owners manage their orders, ship, and sync inventory from multiple channels.
Veeqo integrates seamlessly with a range of ecommerce platforms and logistics businesses, including Shopify, Rakuten, Magento, WooCommerce, Royal Mail, DHL, and a whole lot more.
If you need an all-in-one platform to keep a strong check on your inventory, you can’t go wrong with Veeqo. The pricing starts from $180 a month per user, so it’s one of the best ecommerce tools for small business owners who are looking to grow their ecommerce presence.
10. Slack
Source: Slack
Slack is a business communication tool that allows employees to communicate with each other through a secure platform. It also integrates well with other apps, including Google Docs. Slack supports video and voice calls, and allows for screen sharing as well.
It is one of the most popular communication tools for ecommerce store owners, keeping teams organized and focused on their objectives. However, it’s not a one-size-fits-all platform and it is quite expensive for startups or small to medium-sized enterprises. Finding Slack alternatives to suit your own business is fine.
11. Monday
Source: Monday.com
If you need a project management tool that has a streamlined UI and can be customized according to your needs, Monday is an excellent option. It comes with an array of templates that you can choose from, and it allows you to collaborate with all team members and keep a check on their productivity.
It has a tiered pricing structure. For a team of five, you pay $49 in a month. Teams of up to 20 will cost $200 a month. The pricing increases accordingly.
Monday allows you to create project boards and assign them to different team members. There’s a Kanban board, as well as an excellent Map view you can use to highlight the physical location of your assignees as well.
However, what makes Monday.com one of the best ecommerce tools is the way it integrates with other tools and how efficiently it allows users to automate different e commerce tasks.
Monday integrates really well with other apps like Stripe, Toggl, MailChimp, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Zendesk, and several others.
It can also sync all your dates to your Google Calendar. You really can’t ask for more!
12. Assembla
Source: Assembla
Assembla is a secure platform for project management, collaboration and version control. It offers secure cloud hosting for Git repositories, Perforce, and Subversion, and also offers integrated project management tools like a task view option and separate cards for tracking progress.
Think of it as the ultimate team building software program that does everything that you need and more. The pricing starts for $9.16 per month for a user. If you need a viable program that allows for code tracking and management, Assembla is one of the best ecommerce tools out there.
13. Quickbooks
Source: TradeGecko
Previously known as TradeGecko, Quickbooks Commerce is one of the leading accounting and inventory management tools available. Naturally, it will integrate very well into your ecommerce business.
This is one of the best ecommerce tools that allows you to view your manufacturing, channels, sales, locations, and currencies, letting you manage each and every order through a single platform.
This program also offers detailed reports, insights, forecasts, and other analyses that you can use to determine your business performance and adjust automatically.
Marketing Tools
Marketing tools help you get the word out about what you are selling in the first place. Here are the best ecommerce marketing tools that you can choose from.
14. OmniSend
Source: Omnisend
OmniSend is an email marketing software program that automates your emails and newsletters.
But it doesn’t just stop at emails. The program works equally well with social media marketing, SMS marketing, and various other channels, all of which it brings together on a singular platform.
Omnisend allows you to optimize and track the efficiency of each different marketing campaign. The program also allows you to create engaging lead forms that will help you capture traffic.
Additionally, you can create multiple lead magnets with OmniSend and then track their efficiency over time. It also has a Content Editor and an A/B testing plugin/tool to analyze the content on your website. You can use it to view reports about the success of your marketing campaigns for analysis as well, making it one of the best ecommerce tools for marketing purposes.
15. MailChimp
Source: Google Workspace
In the ecommerce email marketing category, you will be hard-pressed to find a better tool than Mailchimp. Priced on a freemium model, the program has been consistently ranked as one of the best tools out there. It’s an all-inclusive marketing automation platform that is incredibly easy to use as well.
Mailchimp originally started as an email marketing tool, but quickly evolved into a marketing platform that allows you to integrate with other tools, like the HubSpot Marketing Hub and Facebook.
There’s a dedicated Campaigns tab where you can create dedicated campaigns and then track their success. You can set campaign benchmarks and track them using Highrise, Google Analytics, or even your Salesforce accounts.
With 14 layouts and 90 themes to choose from, you have lots of email templates to choose from. There’s also a dedicated HTML editor that you can use to create a custom template for your ecommerce store.
It’s an excellent ecommerce tool that you can use to maximize the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
16. Campaign Monitor
Source: Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is an ecommerce software for email marketing that is ideal for small to medium ecommerce businesses. It has an array of tools for ecommerce that allows you to automate various marketing processes and also offers lots of flexibility. It’s incredibly easy to use, especially when compared with other ecommerce tools out there.
When you sign up, Campaign Monitor creates a custom URL for your business based on the company’s name. It integrates very well with programs like Salesforce and WordPress.
You can upload contact files or create dedicated contact lists to this ecommerce tool as well. You can then create custom campaigns and track their progress through the program with ease. From templates to designs, you can customize every aspect of your email marketing campaign with this ecommerce tool!
Best eCommerce Platform for Multi-Channel Sellers
If you’re selling via multiple channels such as your own website, Amazon, eBay, in-person, and so on, then you’ll want an eCommerce platform that lets you collect all those different sales channels in one spot.
Of these platforms, we think that BigCommerce is the best option for multi-channel selling because it’s had that focus from the beginning. You can easily connect to all the popular platforms, including social media and various in-person POS systems.
Shopify is also another good option here as it also lets you add multiple sales channels. So if you value Shopify’s other features, you might want to choose it over BigCommerce.
CONCLUSION
Ecommerce is an essential component of online business. Successful online stores exist everywhere – for big and for small online shopping platforms. For this reason, there are a number of ecommerce tools that help the owners of these websites to fulfill sales.
The advance of computer Internet technology has brought both opportunities and risks. It is now much easier to make online transactions, with more online payment gateways, e-commerce platforms and internet mobile payment tools entering the scene.