Ecommerce platforms have ushered a brand new way of doing business for SMEs by allowing them to go online and sell their products or services to a global market. Ecommerce platforms have transformed commerce as a whole, making things so much easier and cost effective. According to Forrester Research, in 2013, B2C ecommerce sales are expected to tally $1.3 trillion worldwide and will jump to $1.6 trillion in 2014. Here are the top 3 ecommerce platforms in 2021.
Ecommerce platforms have given us the opportunity to skip the process of creating a full ecommerce backend through code. Using a pre-made template, you can build your store quickly, while still retaining the freedom to customize it and make it unique.
What are the top 3 ecommerce platforms? Almost every day, I get asked by my clients this question. The e-commerce platforms play a key role in assisting their business to remain competitive in the market and boost their sales, profits, and ROI. As an e-merchant, you should be able to convert your interested customers into paying customers while being able to reduce the cart abandonment rate.
Ecommerce platforms stand at the very foundation of any solid ecommerce business, and picking the right one is no easy task. Even seasoned merchants, who’ve been in the field for years, will tell you that there is a multitude of platforms to choose from, and selecting one that best serves your needs can be a daunting and confusing process.
Shopify vs. WooCommerce: Who Controls Your Data?
Website security is paramount to ecommerce platforms because you’re handling your customers’ financial and personal data.
Websites owners need to take steps to make sure their customers are safe. This includes installing SSL certificates and ensuring Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Compliance.
An SSL certificate ensures encrypted connections between networks, while PCI-DSS compliance provides an added layer of protection by ensuring that credit card information is transmitted and stored securely.
Below we look at how Shopify vs. WooCommerce fares in terms of website and data security.
Shopify Website Security
Because Shopify is a hosted website, the platform takes care of security, so its users don’t have to worry about it. Shopify already comes with an SSL certificate and is PCI DSS-compliant.
Shopify also extends website protection to your customers’ data. However, since it lives on Shopify’s platform, you don’t have full access to it.
These are the only ways to access your data on Shopify:
- Export a CSV file of your products.
- Back up your website via the Rewind Backups app.
- Connect with your data via an API.
WooCommerce Website Security
As a self-hosted website, WooCommerce does not come with built-in security features — it’s the website owner’s responsibility to make sure their customers are safe. You need to take the right preventative measures, like installing web host security plugins and implementing multi-factor authentication methods.
WordPress is generally a secure platform, but WooCommerce users will need to purchase and install an SSL certificate separately and sign up to be PCI-DSS compliant.
Here’s the good news:
WooCommerce users can get a free SSL certificate by signing up for a hosting plan with Bluehost. Your hosting company is crucial to your website’s security because you’ll need secure web servers — which you’ll also get from Bluehost.
As a self-hosted website, WooCommerce also offers more control over your customer data. That data is handy when you want to create specialized offers.
Website Security: Shopify vs. WooCommerce Verdict
Although WooCommerce is generally a secure platform, users don’t have to worry about website security when using Shopify. However, WooCommerce gives you more ownership over your data.
What Are the Costs of Each Platform?
Cost is often a major consideration when choosing an ecommerce platform. Below, we look at the associated fixed and variable costs for Shopify vs. WooCommerce.
Costs to Use Shopify
Shopify offers different plans that start at $29/month. Prices depend on features and levels of service. However, these plans don’t include the cost of any additional third-party tools you may need.
Costs to Use WooCommerce
As an open-source plugin, WooCommerce is free to use. However, it requires a WordPress website to run. Setting up a WordPress website requires buying a domain name and getting a hosting plan, which adds up when purchased individually.
Thankfully, hosting providers like Bluehost offer specialized WooCommerce hosting plans that include free domain name registration and SSL certificates on top of web hosting.
Your WooCommerce website may also need extensions, plugins, and themes to run smoothly. Some of these are free, while some come at a premium, so it’s hard to estimate the final cost to run a WooCommerce store.
Price: Shopify vs. WooCommerce Verdict
Although cost depends on the features you want for your ecommerce store, there’s no doubt a monthly WooCommerce hosting plan is less expensive than running your store on Shopify. Even better, WooCommerce doesn’t charge additional transaction fees everytime you make a sale.
Wix.
Best Ecommerce Platform for Small Business ($17/month).
Adam’s Take
I recommend Wix for those that want to develop their online site just the way they want to. If you don’t want to be boxed in, but rather express yourself by creating a website you can be proud of, then Wix might just be the right solution for you.8.8out of 10
Best For
Full Customization
Price
$17/mo-$35/mo
Annual Discount
No
Promotion
Wix is a fast-growing website builder that allows users to upgrade to full ecommerce functionality for $20 per month. They boast hundreds of designer-made templates, promotions and gift cards, beautiful product galleries, and easy order management and shipping.
They automatically optimize your online store on mobile, including iPhones and Android devices (Apple and Google). You can also customize the look of your mobile ecommerce site with their online store builder tool. You don’t need to dive into HTML or CSS to create a stunning website with Wix.
They have an excellent array of product galleries to layout your products in a beautiful (and conversion-optimized) way.
These product galleries layout great on mobile devices too and adapt in a stacked format.
Wix is also known as one of the easiest tools to use in both the website builder and ecommerce space.
There are literally only seven steps needed to build your online store:
- Log in to your account or sign up for free.
- Pick a template from the Online Store category.
- Edit the text and add your business name.
- Click “My Store” & “Manage Your Store”.
- Add products to your store.
- Select “Business Setup” to add Payments, Shipping & Store Settings.
- Publish your site & connect to your own domain.
Finally, Wix offers a secure checkout, 24/7 customer support, multiple payment options and solutions, global tax and shipping, and coupons, and discounts to help you sell more.
BigCommerce.
Best Ecommerce Platform for Large Businesses Built to Scale ($29.95/mo).
Adam’s Take
BigCommerce provides the full solution to online commerce. Starting from listing your products, all the way to fulfilling orders on more than one hundred channels, I recommend BigCommerce if you want to scale using simple solutions.8.4out of 10
Best For
Scaling Businesses
Price
$29.95/mo-$299.95/mo
Annual Discount
Yes – Save 10%
Promotion
15-Day Free TrialTry BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an enterprise-grade ecommerce platform with best-in-class SEO features, 40+ payment gateways, advanced product options, 24/7 support, and can scale with your ecommerce business up to over $100 million per year.
Here’s what typically happens.
A small business owner decides to get into ecommerce and chooses a platform like Shopify because of their name recognition. After 6-12 months, they start growing sales and paying extra for apps and add-ons to help their ecommerce business grow.
After some time, they hit a growth ceiling. These users may realize they are paying hundreds of dollars every month for apps, their SEO is lacking, or they’re outgrowing their platform.
Enter BigCommerce:
They are the most open SaaS ecommerce platform on the market – open APIs, zero transaction fees, and an open partner ecosystem.
BigCommerce has two product offerings: BigCommerce (their enterprise offering) and BigCommerce Essentials (built for small businesses). Both are built to scale with your growth.
On the one hand, they are an accessible platform for small business owners because of their features and built-in functionality. However, there is a slightly higher learning curve than an easier tool like Wix.
They’re also perfect for enterprise brands looking to leave expensive on-premise solutions like Magento and move to software as a service (SaaS). Brands like Ford, Toyota, Skullcandy, and others in the Fortune 1000 use BigCommerce and can easily bring in over $100 million in annual sales without hiccups.
In December 2018, they launched BigCommerce for WordPress, a “headless commerce” product, allowing users to manage their front end content on WordPress and their backend ecommerce with BigCommerce.
This use of APIs allows for faster WordPress site speed than you find with other WordPress ecommerce options like WooCommerce, which installs multiple plugins to work and hinders performance.
Their plans start at $29.95/month, and with that, you get a branded online store and domain name with the ability to sell on Amazon, eBay, and social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
They have a simple user interface to build your online store, including sections for your orders, products, marketing, analytics, taxes, and your storefront:
With the newly launched BigCommerce Shipping features, you get discounted carrier rates and gain the ability to print shipping labels and manage fulfillment right in your dashboard.
Their themes are fully responsive and optimized with conversion rates in mind. They also offer free SSL certificates, have a clear pricing structure, and again – zero transaction fees.
BigCommerce receives my highest recommendation for medium to large businesses and you can get started with a 15-day free trial.
Shopify.
Great Ecommerce Software for Dropshipping ($29/month).
Adam’s Take
If you’re looking for a platform that’s trused by millions of online ecommerce stores, then look no further than Shopify. Backed by powerful tools that can drive customers to your store, I’d recommend Shopify if you’re looking for one platform to sell from everywhere.8.2out of 10
Best For
Ecommerce POS
Price
$29/mo-$299/mo
Annual Discount
No
Promotion
Shopify is an ecommerce powerhouse, hosting over 400,000 merchants worldwide. When you think of ecommerce, your mind might go right to Shopify. They’re a Canadian company that launched in 2004 and quickly became one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in North America.
Dissatisfied by existing mobile apps and ecommerce products on the market, Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake built their open-source web application with Ruby on Rails and launched after two months.
That program became Shopify.
One reason Shopify gained massive brand awareness was by appealing to the audience of “dreamers” – new users who want to strike it rich in ecommerce.
With their integrations, even the most inexperienced users can set up a dropshipping store with relative ease. I tested it out. After picking my inventory, I integrated a few dropshipping suppliers with Shopify and test-launched a store.
It was easy to design a cool-looking website and add products. But just because you have an online store doesn’t mean it is a successful one – you need to market your business.
A few drawbacks to Shopify are their SEO rules. Your URL structure locks into their format. For example, instead of category pages located at campingsite.com/tents, Shopify forces you to use their format of campingsite.com/collections/tents. This structure is not ideal for search rankings, especially considering “category” is a higher-level subfolder than the more critical keyword “tents.”
Second, they have fewer product options than BigCommerce. If you are selling t-shirts, for example, and have different colors, materials, and sizes, your SKUs add up quickly. Shopify is limited to only 100 product variants – not enough if you have a lot of different product combinations.
Limitations aside, Shopify is a reliable ecommerce platform that works well for small businesses.
Shopify has three plans ranging from $29 to $299. Additionally, its enterprise Shopify Plus platform offers its own custom pricing.
All plans include unlimited products, free SSL, discount codes, inventory management, multilingual support, easy buy buttons, abandoned cart recovery, marketing features, and 24/7 support.
To test them out for yourself, they offer a 14-day free trial.
You can also read my full Shopify review or my articles with comparisons of BigCommerce vs. Shopify and Wix vs. Shopify.
Other Top Platforms
Bluehost + WooCommerce
The WordPress ecommerce solution
TODAY’S BEST DEALSWoocommerce StandardUS$12.95/mthWoocommerce PremiumUS$24.95/mthVISIT SITEat Bluehost
REASONS TO BUY
+Very easy to use+Already installed+Lots of features+Simple to start
Rather than being a standalone ecommerce platform, WooCommerce is a free plugin that can turn your WordPress website into a fully functional ecommerce website. The basic WooCommerce plugin is easy to install through WordPress, and even better is that the plugin is free to download and use.
However, to get the most from WooCommerce you will need to install a number of third-party plugins. This is to add features such as payment processing, inventory management, and stock control.
Bluehost simplifies the process by providing a read-made Woocommerce platform with everything you need already installed, and that includes a shopping theme and essential plugins. Although two different plans are offered, even the Standard plan offers almost every feature you could possibly need.
Features include not just the online store with the store-front theme installed but also a blog, along with Jetpack free, payment processing, email marketing, and discount codes. The Premium plan adds online bookings and appointments, subscriptions, product customization, as well as local & country tax management.
Of course, there’s web hosting undlying everything as well, meaning that you have a fully functional ecommerce platform already online as soon as you sign up to Bluehost – all that’s left for you is to add your products and set up marketing and you’re good to go.
All in all Woocommerce is one of the best ecommerce platforms for those looking to ease themselves into starting an online retail business, whether for physical products or even digital ones, and the web hosting platform deal provided by Bluehost makes it incredibly simple to get started.
CoreCommerce
Service which focuses on SMBs
TODAY’S BEST DEALSCorecommerce PersonalUS$19/mthCorecommerce PioneerUS$41/mthCorecommerce ProgressiveUS$71/mthVISIT SITEat CoreCommerce
REASONS TO BUY
+All features offered across every plan+Secure hosting with 99.9% uptime guarantee+Prides itself on transparency
CoreCommerce was set up in 2001 and focuses on providing ecommerce services to small and medium-sized businesses. The company places an emphasis on simplicity and transparency, promising that its platform is easy-to-use and that customers will not fall foul of any hidden charges.
Perhaps CoreCommerce’s most unique aspect is that all of its features are offered to all customers regardless of what plan they are on. Price plans are determined by the number of products, the number of email addresses, the amount of bandwidth and the amount of storage required by the user (and higher-end plans also benefit from additional support).
As with other ecommerce providers, CoreCommerce offers functionality for store design, product management, order processing and marketing. Of its headline features, the platform offers unlimited product customization options, a built-in blogging engine, and secure hosting that is provided by Rackspace and comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You can try CoreCommerce out with a 15-day free trial.
How to create your own ecommerce solution
Of course if you want complete control over every aspect of your new online store, building each page yourself will be the best course of action. Hiring someone to code your website is one option. If you decide to do this follow these steps:
- Ask the company for live examples of their work to look at
- Write a detailed brief of the site you want created. The more detail the better to avoid confusion
- Ensure you understand the price you are being charged and how many revisions this price includes
- Always have a signed agreement or contract before work commences
- Ask whether the designers will host your site and if you will be able to make updates yourself or if all updates must go through the design agency at an additional cost
- Ask for the copyright of your design to be assigned to your company, as your website is an important part of your business’ intellectual property
- Put into your contract, details of how the agreement can be amicably dissolved if things go wrong
Conclusion:
One of the most popular online business ventures among entrepreneurs today is selling online using an ecommerce platform. The field has grown rapidly in recent years, and there are a lot of options to choose from. If you’re interested in getting started in ecommerce, you’ve probably already researched and identified what specific kind of platform you want to use.
Ecommerce platforms are a central part of online ecommerce business. Ecommerce platforms make it easy for businesses of all shapes and sizes to sell online – you don’t need to have any coding skills or website building skills at all!