Ecommerce websites are expected to take off in 2017 and many experts predict the ecommerce sales will double. No matter what business you’re in, from a large departmental store to a small book shop, a large retail store or a service-based business, an ecommerce site is something that you could benefit from. In this article we’ll show you some of the best ecommerce website builders, online platforms and DIY website builders that could make your life easier.
If you want to start a business but are short on funds, you may be considering a free ecommerce platform. While great for the wallet, free platforms come with some drawbacks that you should be aware of before starting your store. The best free ecommerce sites and platforms we recommend in our list below are powerful, user-friendly and feature-rich, and every one of them is supported by a team of dedicated developers.
A number of countries industries are expanding their businesses while Ecommerce is growing faster than others. A few years ago, people choose to sell their products at physical shops. Then they started to choose ecommerce platform for their business and now with the advancement of technology, there are a number of platforms available that can be used in your business growth. Ecommerce is getting its popularity day by day. You can get ecommerce platform free of cost or you should pay some money to get some advanced facilities in those platforms.
Reward your business with the best free e-commerce sites to build your online store. The web is now a common asset for looking for and buying great products that help us through our daily lives. There’s no limitation on the number of items you can purchase or sell, so make sure to choose wisely for your online store. When selecting a platform you need to select one that’s easy to navigate, has enough hosting space, and has a shopping cart feature. With just a few clicks your site will be open to sell everything from handmade items to vintage products.
The True Cost Of Using A Free Ecommerce Platform?
If you are considering an open source ecommerce platform like WooCommerce or OpenCart, here are the disadvantages.
The main downside of running on an open source ecommerce platform is that you are responsible for maintaining your server and applying the appropriate patches to keep your software up to date.
One of the reasons that I’m writing this post today is because I just went through a MAJOR update of my website which took me 4 full days to perform. And I had to stumble through the entire upgrade by reading online tutorials and browsing the forums.
In case you are curious, this is the major surgery that I performed this past week.
- I migrated my server to the latest Linux operating system – The OS version that I was using was no longer supported so I was forced to switch. And moving to a new upgraded OS caused a few compatibility problems that I had to deal with.
- I upgraded to the latest PHP version – PHP is the programming language that my website is written in. My old PHP version was no longer supported so I was forced to upgrade. And newer versions of PHP removed certain features from my cart so I had to rewrite parts of the code
- I upgraded my database software to the latest – This process was relatively painless though once again, I had to replace some obsolete code
- I upgraded a bunch of plugins – This was mostly due to the PHP version upgrade
X-Cart
X-Cart lets you build your dream ecommerce store right from scratch. It’s one of the best ecommerce tools for those businesses that have loads of stock-keeping units (SKUs).
What’s more, you ask?
They also offer a wide variety of themes that can make your website designing process smoother. This open-source tool lets you add extra features to it whenever you wish to do so as well.
Image via X-Cart
Pricing
For entry-level businesses, X-Cart is a great ecommerce tool that works for free. However, if you’ve got greater needs, you can choose to go for its paid plans. These range from $495 to $5,995 for lifetime licenses.
CS-Cart
This is an ecommerce tool that powers over 35,000 stores and has been doing so for the past 14 years. It offers a multi-vendor marketplace, which allows you to get significant attention from your customers too. Additionally, it boasts of over 500 features, some of which are built-in while the rest are add-ons.
Designing is also made simple with their easy-to-use layout manager that allows you to build responsive designs in seconds.
Image via CS-Cart
Pricing
CS-Cart has two main packages. The basic one costs $385, and it comes with a host of features to make your life easy. On the other hand, if you want to have an advanced store, it offers a higher-end package that costs $865.
VirtueMart
VirtueMart offers one of the best ecommerce tools for setting up an ecommerce store. It includes over 500 unique features and brings in a strong network of worldwide online stores with it too.
Be it hosting or payment partners, they’ve got a huge list of them to ensure that your ecommerce store set up happens smoothly.
Image via VirtueMart
Pricing
VirtueMart is yet another open-source tool that is completely free to use.
Ecomdash
Ecomdash is multi-channel inventory management software that helps you sell your products with ease. It comes with a host of features such as inventory sync, order management, etc. that can make your job of handling the store simpler. (This makes it a best ecommerce tool out there.)
You can also automate dropshipping and avoid the hassle of sending out sales orders manually along with fulfillment details.https://23342d8c0124cbbee8b1e178d0c0f6f2.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Image via Ecomdash
What makes this one of the best ecommerce tools is its numerous integrations. You can integrate it with some of the most popular stores such as Amazon and eBay. However, it also allows integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, BigCommerce, and more too.
Pricing
Ecomdash isn’t one of the cheaper options in the industry. However, it excels at what it offers, and that makes its price point worth it. For a basic package, the tool costs $60 per month. However, if you process more than 6,000 orders per month, the tool would cost you $350 per month.
Omnisend
Omnisend is the best ecommerce tool built specifically for ecommerce businesses. It empowers online sellers to communicate via multiple channels and leverage precise targeting.
Key Features
- Pre-built automation workflows
- SMS and push notifications
- Easy integration with over 30 ecommerce apps
Pricing
- Free plan
- Standard Plan: $16/month
- Pro Plan: $99/month
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
You can get a 14-day free trial for their Standard and Pro plans. You don’t even need a credit card to get registered!
Pros
- Complete integration with ecommerce platforms
- Convenient segmentation features
- Actionable reports
- Great customer service
Cons
- Importing email templates requires basic knowledge of HTML and CSS
Image via Omnisend
Tool Level
- From small to medium-sized businesses
Ecommerce Templates
This is the best ecommerce tool which provides shopping cart software solution that helps you host your online store with ease. All you need to do is choose your preferred layout and develop your ecommerce website.
Alternatively, you can add the ecommerce functionality to your existing website and add your products to it.
Image via Ecommerce Templates
From store management and product features to shipping features and SEO-friendly features, this tool has got it all. All designs are responsive, and you can integrate them with WordPress as well.
Pricing
There are loads of options to choose from when it comes to this ecommerce tool. The ECT Hosted Store costs $24.95 per month. On the other hand, the WordPress shopping cart costs only $130. If you want to explore its full potential, you can opt for a Developer License that costs $219 as a one-time fee.
Campaign Monitor
Offering seven levels of pricing ranging from $9/month-$899/month, Campaign Monitor offers a lot of price points for customers, but no free plan. The ouch point? This email campaign automation SaaS is MUCH pricier than competitors like MailChimp. There are fewer templates to use than most competitors, too, but the design quality is higher. Sticking with the theme of great design, the UX is amazing, and the drag-and-drop editor is beautifully simple. Importing data is a snap, and you can target and segment your list in beautifully complex ways. The tool includes a landing page creator, but it can be clunky to use. Support options are also limited. If you’ve got the cash and list size to opt for the unlimited plan, it might be worth your while. Otherwise, there are better tools available for less.
Feeds4
Feeds4.com is created to aggregate and distribute content for affiliate marketing. They provide assistance to merchants in distributing promotional content all over the web and facilitate importing of promotional content from merchants through convenient API, publisher platform, and code examples. Feeds4 offers Coupon Datafeed Plans starting at $99 per month.
Active Campaign
Although the user interface could be better and the sheer amount of data on your dashboard will probably intimidate you, Active Campaign has a great reputation for updating and changing based on user comments. A free trial is available and paid plans range from $9-$415/month based on the number of contacts on your list and user accounts you need. You can run a single campaign or base all of your email marketing out of Active Campaign, and trust their hefty analytics to help you make the most of the resulting data. One caveat if you’re thinking about this option: if you want to see how your email campaign looks on different devices and browsers, you’ll have to pay. Prices for these platform tests range from $5 for 5 tests to $60 for 100 tests.
Bulk.ly
In the world of simple social, Bulk.ly dominates by allowing you to upload a spreadsheet of social media posts and sending them to your Buffer account. You can shuffle post order, add relevant hashtags, categorize, and drip schedule your social media from a single CSV file. The tool makes content curation hassle-free but is still in beta, so you’ll need to request an invite if you want to use this tool. If you want to test the app, a 7-day free trial is available.
Buffer
Content is still king, despite yearly predictions that its reign will end. Tracking your social media audience’s interest in topics, planning your social media calendar, and boosting engagement are easy with the Buffer app. The browser extension makes it almost too easy, and the analytics dashboard offers interesting insights into your audience’s behavior. Individual plans range from $0-$10 but don’t include the analytics tools, RSS feed, or the social calendar. Team and agency plans range from $99-$399. Prices are annual. The free plan does not integrate with Pinterest, and all premium plans have a limit of 2000 posts per month, regardless of the number of users (up to 25 team members can be added to 150 total social accounts on the most expensive plan).
OmniStar (OSI Affiliate)
OSI Affiliate software is a web based software solution that allows any business to set up and manage their own affiliate or referral programs. The software includes tools that will allow affiliates to promote via email, social media or directly on their own websites. Through the administrative control panel the affiliate manager will be able to effectively track the activity and commissions earned of each affiliate. The commissions can also be easily paid through our direct integration with PayPal.
Mixpanel
Source: Mixpanel
Whether you want to track how your app is doing or how your website is performing, Mixpanel has it all.
You can find out how users engage and interact with your apps, and also see how well people are responding to your ad campaigns.
Mixpanel gives you lots of engagement data on your users, allowing you to track a range of metrics that you can visualize in different ways. It’s really one of the best options for professionals who need streamlined data reporting.
However, some people claim that there are discrepancies in the data. The learning curve is also slightly steep, so you will have to offer proper training to your employees before you deploy it company-wide.
Which Ecommerce Platform Should You Use?
Before you jump on board with a free or fully hosted ecommerce platform, you have to ask yourself what you need.
If you reside in the United States and you don’t mind using a free fully hosted ecommerce platform with a steeper learning curve than Shopify or BigCommerce, go with Shift4Shop.
Conclusion
As an ecommerce store owner, you should be choosing the best ecommerce platform that allows you to sell your products directly through a website. Yet, with hundreds of available e-commerce software solutions to choose from, it’s often difficult to choose the best platform or software for your business.
One of the terms that you see a lot on the web is ecommerce website. It can be really confusing, as most people do not know what it actually means. That’s because there isn’t only one thing that is called ecommerce site. Some people even connect it with the whole internet commerce niche!