Free Ecommerce website builder helps you in creating a website for your business without any hassles. You can create, customize and publish a fully-functional ecommerce store within days, instead of weeks or months. It offers multiple features that help you in bringing the next level ecommerce sites at no cost. You can convert your website into an online commerce site that can accept credit card or other payment options. You can also sell software, digital download items and make financial transactions through it.
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An e-commerce website is responsible for carrying out the business of a particular company. E-commerce websites create the most sale volume and are considered the most cost effective mode of shopping today. You open an online store, sell different products and services, accept payments and ship it off to your customers all without having a physical retail store.
There are many different factors involved in the creation of a great website, and with so many options on the market it can be hard to find the right solution for your needs and budget. An eCommerce site is no different than your average small business website in this respect, except that whether or not it succeeds often depends on its platform.
How We Found the Best eCommerce Website Builder in 2022
When choosing an eCommerce builder, everyone is looking for the highest degree of functionality, the best web design and advertising options. It’s all about the best offer – an unlimited number of uploaded products, lower transaction fees on sold items and flexible payment methods. Retailers also enjoy using all-in-one platforms so they don’t need to worry about the online store functionality when the company grows.
Today’s self-service website builders can help you create an online store from scratch and in relatively little time. But it’s not always easy to find the best eCommerce website builder and hosting solution. The search can be time-consuming unless you turn to our list of the best solutions on the market.
Pricing Plans and Payments
Some of the platforms offer their services free of charge for an unlimited period of time. But if you choose these solutions, be sure that you are getting the features your store needs. For example, some of the free versions as well as the cheaper plans allow you to upload a limited number of products. This may not be much of an issue if your business is just starting out, but more scalable solutions are probably a better choice if you are planning to grow. Also, the best eCommerce sites for small business will often allow you to launch a platform with its builder but not actually sell products.
We compare only those platforms that offer plans for creating top eCommerce sites where you can sell your products or services for reasonable subscription prices. Those platforms offering their services for free are a good solution for small businesses, and clients can upgrade their free version at any time.
When it comes to payment methods, most of the platforms from our list provide a variety of solutions including tiers and subscription models. Usually, the best online store builder allows you to connect the online store with providers like Stripe and Square or to use simple PayPal services.
Ease of Use
Simplicity and usability were central features throughout our assessment of website building tools. All platforms on our list are cloud-based. As such, users are not required to download and install software, implement an API or store data on their devices. The only thing required is creating an account and accessing the platform’s dashboard. The dashboards of the web store builders that we examined are all capable of supporting fast uploads of sizable batches of data, online payments and payment processing, and are extremely easy to use. Most of them have an integrated drag-and-drop module that enables faster and simpler creation. Also, these platforms have a modern interface with toolbars and features that simplify the process of creating an online store. In case you don’t know how to set up an eCommerce website for your brick-and-mortar or online business, most of the platforms on our list have excellent live chat customer care services ready to answer your questions.
Apple
Apple’s website is all about highlighting its products. Unlike most eCommerce websites, its product pages read like a landing page, with unique selling propositions, social proof, and key benefits.
The website also illustrates why minimal design isn’t just aesthetically pleasing but also helpful in drawing the visitors’ attention. With a plain background and plenty of white space, customers aren’t distracted from the large close-up product photos.
Frans Hals Museum
If you want to make a colorful eCommerce store, take a look at Frans Hals Museum’s site.
It utilizes bright colors to create an attractive website design without distracting visitors from the most critical information.
To maintain readability, the website uses black for text. There’s also a good amount of white space in solid colors, which looks striking without becoming overwhelming.
The website is user-friendly, too. For instance, if you don’t know what event to check out, the search function can recommend an exhibition based on a phrase selected from a drop-down menu.
Simply Chocolate
Simply Chocolate has a unique online store. Though it might look unconventional, this works in its favor, as its design elements set it apart from other eCommerce websites.
For instance, the navigation menu uses a sideways layout for a unique spin, while the page interactions make the browsing experience more dynamic. Instead of acting as trivial features, they encourage visitors to stay on the website longer.
Another excellent element is the single-page checkout. Shoppers can fill in their billing, shipping, and payment processing details together on one page, streamlining the transaction process.
Shopify
Shopify is often regarded as the best e-commerce solution because it provides an out-of-the-box experience for anyone hoping to launch an online store quickly and easily. The Shopify platform is super intuitive, with a layout that is easy to navigate, tons of attractive website templates, and plenty of customization options. And there have been plenty of successful Shopify stores to learn from.
Business owners can easily list a product or service, create product listings that are optimized for search engines, manage inventory, and collect payments all within the platform. For any services that the platform does not provide, there is a long list of great Shopify apps and e-commerce software to fill the gaps. Shopify Payments make the purchasing process a breeze, handling transaction fees and taxes automatically. Shopify offers a blog feature, as well, making it easier than ever to dig into solid content marketing for eCommerce to help attract the right customers.
Bigcommerce
One of the most praised features of Bigcommerce is its site builder, which allows for detailed customization within the platform. You can even install a drag-and-drop website builder plug-in to have even more customization options available to you.
It also is super easy to list products, manage inventory, set up shipping details, and customize the checkout process.
On top of all of that, this eCommerce solution provides tremendous customer support available via live chat at any time.
That being said, it’s not best suited for a total beginner as their builder is just a little bit advanced for someone brand new to the e-commerce industry. In fact, many advanced developers prefer this brand because of its customizable features.
But don’t let that discourage you from giving it a try! Your eCommerce website design and purchase process can be absolutely stellar compared to a more basic platform like Shopify if you’re able to fully utilize its capabilities.
Squarespace
Though Squarespace simply cannot compare with brands like Shopify or Bigcommerce, it is still included in this list of best online store platforms.
Why?
It is perhaps the easiest platform to use for small businesses that are looking to take their inventory online. It offers greater functionality within the platform itself, providing all of the essential features needed to run your online store, such as social media integration and email marketing options. Though it doesn’t have any plugin or app options to further increase the functionality of your site, it does provide everything you need to efficiently run your online shop.
When it comes to e-commerce web design, it offers beautiful templates to choose from, making it easier than ever to launch a beautiful online store within minutes. It is an effective and formidable cheap eCommerce website builder that anyone can use.
Ecwid
Ecwid essentially translates to “ecommerce widgets”. And just like the name suggests, this is not a distinctive ecommerce platform. Check out the detailed Ecwid review.
Instead, it’s a shopping cart that you can integrate with any site to transform it into a fully-fledged online store. However, as you might have guessed already, you need some lines of code to achieve that.
While Ecwid offers three paid packages, it also provides a free option- which, unlike Jimdo, comes with decent ecommerce capabilities. Apart from unlimited bandwidth, you get a mobile responsive design, two product categories, and support for 10 items.
Sadly, you won’t be able to sell digital products at that level. Plus, your online store functionalities will be limited to a one-page ecommerce website. The only way to escape from that, of course, is subscribing to one of the premium plans, which start at $15 per month.
Benefits of Ecwid
- You can use Ecwid to transform any site into an ecommerce website.
- Its basic online store functionalities are ideal for startups and small businesses.
- The entire shopping cart is automatically optimized for mobile.
- You can take advantage of Ecwid to sell concurrently on multiple websites.
- Ecwid does not charge any transaction fees.
Downsides of Ecwid
- Ecwid does not offer advanced ecommerce features. So, of course, you cannot use it on a large dynamic online store.
- Embedding Ecwid into an existing site requires some coding skills.
WooCommerce (On WordPress) – Best Open Source Ecommerce Platform
WooCommerce (read our review here) is a WordPress plugin, so you’ll have to install WordPress (open source) on your host, then install the WooCommerce plugin onto your site.
You simply just:
- Log into your WordPress site.
- Go to: Plugins > Add New.
- Search for ‘WooCommerce’.
- Select Install Now.
- Select Activate Now and you’re ready for the WooCommerce Wizard!
It automatically turns any WordPress website into a fully functional online store, with inventory management, coupons, and product pages.
Benefits of WooCommerce:
- The plugin is free to download and install. Many stores don’t need anything more than the plugin.
- It connects to all major payment gateways. By default, you are given PayPal and Stripe which are two of the most recognised gateways on the market. Additionally, you can accept payments via Amazon Pay and PayFast
- With a WooCommerce theme, you hardly have to do any work besides adding content. You can get a theme from the official WooCommerce store, additionally, you can use a third party website such as Themeforest which has the largest reposistory of WooCommerce themes on the market.
- You can offer coupons and discounts, along with adding multiple other features with the help of the extension library.
- WooCommerce is a very popular platform which means there is fantastic support available. It’s worth noting that you should always ensure that you are on the latest version of the plugin before requesting any help
Within WooCommerce’s help centre there are 5 options which can provide you with the answer you are looking for.
- WooCommerce 101 – you can watch video material which gives you an explanation in regards to the page you are looking at.
- Help & Support – here you can find links to documentation, the WordPress.org forum as well as the WooCommerce Help Desk where you can submit a ticket.
- Found a bug? – if you spot a bug you can submit these to the WordPress team. You will have to explain in detail what you found and provide screenshots
- Education – WooCommerce has a host of partners which provide customers with courses and training
- Setup Wizard – this wizard puts you back to the beginning and takes you through the process of setting up WooCommerce pages, shipping, taxes and payments.
Downsides of WooCommerce:
- There are plenty of extra expenses such as a WooCommerce theme, extra extensions, hosting, and domain name. It may label itself as free, however, a theme may set you back more than $100 dollars, the domain will be $30 and hosting can be anything from $4 a month to $5,000 for enterprise websites
- WooCommerce has several moving parts. On the surface, it requires hosting + WordPress + the WooCommerce plugin. Beginners can get intimidated by this, especially with tasks like SEO, security, hosting, and caching. There is a big learning curve if you are just starting out which is why new starters opt for something such as Shopify
- You will need some technical knowledge and developer skills for WooCommerce to be cost-effective. If not you will have to outsource to WooCommerce’s selection of ‘WooExperts’ who offer hourly prices and project prices which can be costly
Why you shouldn’t use free ecommerce website builder
There are many good reasons why a business should not use free ecommerce website builders.
They provide less functionality and features than paid counterparts. free ecommerce builders usually come with limited features and templates to choose from.
There is a lack of customer support or service from free ecommerce builders compared to other ecommerce platforms like Shopify.
Website builders can limit what you are able to do with your website design due to restrictions in the platform’s code. Free builders have limited templates that may not be suitable for your business’ needs.
Conclusion
Everywhere, people want to know about best free ecommerce website builder. There are thousands of people who want to create website for their business. All of them want all-inclusive budget-friendly solutions. Choosing the right platform for your need is the initial step in establishing the first contact with customers in a better way.
If you are looking for the best free ecommerce website builder, then you have come to the right place. As the best free ecommerce website builder we can offer you: no credit card required; unlimited traffic; free domain name; free online store builder and free web hosting.