Business owners are constantly looking for the best ecommerce platform so they can convert more of their traffic into customers. The best ecommerce platforms allow you to set up an online shop quickly and conveniently. If your goal is to place orders, get donations, and maximize your profits, it is important that you choose a shopping cart software that works for your business.
Finding the best ecommerce platform for your small business can be a daunting task. With numerous platforms to choose from and various features offered by each, it can be difficult to know where to start. You could waste hours pouring over different blogs and endless forum threads, but why? We’re here to help you make the process painless.
What Makes a Great Ecommerce Platform for Startups?
Ecommerce was once just about recreating the in-store experience, but today customers expect more: personalized shopping experiences featuring rich media and video on any device at any time. And with consumers becoming increasingly impatient, high performance issues and no downtime are playing a big role in brand perception and customer loyalty.
Thankfully, there are a wealth of eCommerce platforms for startups to choose from that can make their small business look like a big player. You simply need to find the one that offers the best options for your eCommerce business.
Somethings to think about when making your decision:
- Ease of use (you probably don’t have an IT expert on hand)
- Good SEO resources (again with the IT expert…)
- Inventory tracking (if you’re paying for a platform, why should you be tracking inventory by hand?)
- Shipping and fulfillment management (this is particularly important is you’re dropshipping)
- Scalability (you need a platform that can grow with you)
- Security (PCI and GDPR compliance are a necessity)
10 Best Ecommerce Platforms for 2021
Here’s a look at the 10 best eCommerce platforms for 2021. While some of these are also used by large eCommerce companies, all have something to offer the startup Ecommerce business.
1. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a favorite of small businesses and large enterprises alike. The interface enables you to easily customize your online shop using a variety of templates in order to market and sell your products.
If you do happen to be a little tech-savvy, you can even tweak the HTML and CSS for further customization. Besides offering an easy-to-use interface, BigCommerce provides a highly intuitive dashboard for managing products, orders, and returns.
2. Ecwid
Ecwid has a user-friendly dashboard (and we love how during onboarding it tells you how far into completing your store setup you are). You can begin selling with 10 products, and adding new products is easy (and unlimited).
Ecwid allows you to sell on any device, across multiple sites, blogs, and social networks, and features a customer address book, smart shipping calculator, and inventory tracking.
3. Limelight
As the priciest platform on our list, Limelight provides excellent performance, reliability, and security to deliver great online experiences to customers. It’s also highly scalable, with the knowledge that customer demand often fluctuates greatly throughout the year (the holiday rush, for example, or the release of a hot new item).
Because Limelight operates on one of the world’s largest private networks, content bypasses the congested public internet resulting in faster delivery of content and shopping carts. Of course, it’s hefty price tag may be too rich for many startups’ tastes.
4. Shopify
Shopify is arguably the most popular eCommerce platform and offers a wealth of features that also happen to be very easy to use (can’t find a feature you’re looking for right on your dashboard? The Shopify app store is bound to have something to supplement your store’s needs).
Shopify is also for those who are serious about selling. Dropshipping retailers (eCommerce businesses that sell products without carrying inventory, instead shipping directly from a supplier) love it, as do companies that rely on Facebook Ads or Instagram marketing due to ease of integration with social networks.
5. Square Online
Square, the popular handheld point-of-sale system, created Square Online as an eCommerce offering made especially for physical store owners who want to go virtual. Because the company knows traditional retailers may not be too familiar with eCommerce, they made it extremely easy to set up and get started selling, from an Instagram account to a full eCommerce website.
A couple of other features that set it apart is online food ordering for restaurant websites, online bookings through Square appointments, and its ability to accept donations for nonprofit websites.
6. Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder tool that is aimed mainly at small business owners selling limited amounts of product. It allows you to create a professional site without any coding necessary; in fact, tinkering too much is discouraged on this platform. With Squarespace, you’re encouraged to pick a template, add some content, and go.
Selling internationally on Squarespace is probably the biggest challenge; GDPR compliance is lacking – meaning you’ll need to invest in a third-party tool to be fully compliant, and there’s no multi-currency selling functionality.
7. 3dcart
This fast growing platform was recently acquired by Shift4 Payments, a leading provider of integrated payment processing solutions. Now, as part of the Shift4 family, 3dcart provides an omnichannel experience, with superior SEO features, 50 free themes, and more than 100 payment processors. It’s a great platform for startups and small businesses since all plans come with domain registration, no transaction fees, unlimited bandwidth, a Facebook store, a built-in blog, API access, and 24/7 tech support.
3dcart displays all of your order’s shipping carriers and rates on your checkout page at once, providing complete transparency, and rates are loaded automatically when a buyer checks out with their credit card or PayPal.
8. UltraCart
UltraCart is a full-featured site builder enabling eCommerce retailers to integrate online shopping features into their website or blog in two ways: as a simple button or a full-fledged shopping cart and checkout process. The StoreFront feature gives online businesses complete control over available features, style and design, and domain name.
On the back-end, UltraCart does everything an eCommerce platform needs to do: managing orders and shipping process, running sales, inventory, and customer reports, accounting, fulfillment through third-party logistics partners, and even affiliate marketing.
9. Wix
More than half a million online stores trust fast-growing website builder Wix making it a solid choice for eCommerce startups. The platform boasts hundreds of designer-made templates, promotions, and gift cards, beautiful product galleries, and easy order management and shipping.
Your online store will also be automatically optimized for mobile (both iPhone and Android). The mobile experience can also be easily customized with their online store builder too—and you don’t need to be an IT expert to do it.
10. WooCommerce
Unlike the other eCommerce platforms listed here, WooCommerce is actually a plugin for WordPress, the most popular content management system (CMS). For users of WordPress, WooCommerce is a great option since it’s so simple to add to your dashboard. After the successful installation of WooCommerce, you’ll have access to shopping functionality, product management, and payments and checkout functions on your website.
Despite what some naysayers may think about plugins, this one easily handles the essentials, including inventory management, shipping costs, tax calculations, payment options, and more.
Pricing and Service Comparison
We thought we’d do some more homework for you. This comparison chart shows the differences in pricing, support, and peer reviews from G2.
| Platform | Price Plans | Phone/Chat Support | Chat Support | Peer Reviews (1-5) |
| BigCommerce | $29.95 – $299.95 per month | Yes/Yes | Yes | 4.2 |
| Ecwid | Free – $99 per month | Yes | Yes | 4.8 |
| Limelight | $1,000 per month (billed annually; free trial available) | Yes | No | 4.7 |
| Ecwid | Free – $99 per month | Yes | Yes | 4.8 |
| Shopify | $29 – $299 per month | Yes | Yes | 4.3 |
| Square Online | Free + transaction fees up to $72 + transaction fees per month | Yes | Yes | 4.6 |
| Squarespace | $12 – $40 per month | Yes | Yes | 4.4 |
| 3dcart | $29 – $299 per month | Yes | Yes | 4 |
| UltraCart | 49.95 – 229.95 per month | Yes | Yes | 3 |
| Wix | $23 – $500 per month | Yes | Yes | 4.2 |
| WooCommerce | Free with WordPress | No | Yes | 4.3 |
Integrate Your Ecommerce Platform with The Fulfillment Lab
Need fulfillment? The Fulfillment Center is here for you! After you’ve selected an eCommerce platform, you can easily integrate it with our innovative Global Fulfillment Software (GFS™). Integration takes just minutes—faster than anyone else offering fulfillment solutions. We work with all these e-commerce platforms and more, such as Magento and Konnective for enterprise level companies.
Our software also lets you quickly and easily add fulfillment center locations, customizations, and on-demand products. It’s the all-in-one tool you need to take your eCommerce business to the next level.
CONCLUSION
You are a motivated entrepreneur, you’ve got an eye for outstanding design, and your products are amazing. These are the ingredients of a successful online store. Several platforms could help you bake that cake, but which one is right for you? Ultimately, there is no cookie-cutter approach to picking the right platform. But there is a top list I´ve created using various criteria to narrow the field. You can read it below!
Everybody loves a good deal. There’s no secret that every business loves to save money. But these deals cost you more time, more stress and sleepless nights while trying to manage your store with an inadequate system. With an old software in place, you can’t control your inventory, handle your orders or automate any processes.