Ecommerce website development is a fun, engaging process, especially from the point of view of the development team. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is quickly becoming an affordable and viable way to set up an ecommerce store, with some options offering limited features out of the box and supporting a range of add-ons including extra payment providers, multiple warehouses, advertising services and advanced reporting.
Are you planning to startup a new business in ecommerce sector? Or are you already running an ecommerce business, and want to know about the best ecommerce platforms for startups? In this article, we are going to talk about the various ecommerce software in detail. We will be discussing the features and rates of popular shopping cart software for entrepreneurs. These software make your customer management easier by helping you run your store. There are various performance factors that you should keep in mind while choosing a software for your business. These factors include: Availability of plugins, cost, scalability, customer support system, search engine optimization and more.
Ecommerce sites are one of the most popular businesses these days. This is because they are easy to create, have a low startup cost and are a very profitable business model. While there are many ecommerce platforms out there, not all will be suitable for you. Whether it’s a WordPress based platform or a custom built ecommerce website, choosing the right platform for you can make all the difference. With so many different options available to choose from, we aim to make your shopping experience effortless and enjoyable by sharing knowledge and telling you how each of these platforms work.
These ecommerce platforms offer a rich set of features that will enable you to sell online effortlessly. This list should help you create a simple and low-maintenance ecommerce website. We have also listed the best ecommerce software for startups, which can help you get your first online shop up and running in no time, while taking care of all important business processes.
What to look at when choosing an e-commerce platform?
When selecting the e-commerce platform, you’d better take a look at:
- Supported payment systems/fees
- Selection of templates and designs
- Products’ / website’s SEO optimization
- Localization/language
- Integration with other applications/marketplaces
- Mobile-friendliness
- Blog set-up
- Inventory management options
While there are many e-commerce platforms available (you can browse through them at SoftwareSupp or ask about our recommendations on chat), only a few of them offer a decent quality of service and are worth considering, when setting up a store.
Zyro
Zyro is an affordably priced SaaS platform targeted at small businesses. Though it’s a relative newcomer to the market, it’s a product from web hosting company Hostinger. In addition to a website builder, they offer a variety of AI tools to help business owners:
- Make logos and favicons
- Resize, upscale, and remove backgrounds from images
- Create a business name and slogan
- Come up with blog post titles and write content
In addition to a drag-and-drop builder to customize your site, there are a variety of free themes to use as a basis for your design. It allows for you to sell both digital and physical products.
Pricing wise, you must use either the Business, Online Store or Advanced Store, plans to take advantage of the online store features. Pricing starts at $4.90/month for the Business plan.
Pros
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth on all plans
- AI tools to handle many tasks
- Marketing integrations included all plans
Cons
- No subscription or recurring billing available
- Room for improvement on SEO
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the best single platform to run ecommerce and affiliate site under one roof. But the true ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify sell better, but not by much.
It works with WordPress to turn any website into a functional ecommerce store. Also, there are extensions available for integrating payment gateways, social media, email marketing, 1-click selling, and shipping.
The biggest problem though is not the setup; that can be solved with YouTube tutorials. The problem is scalability. Most users have reported it slowing down as they get more products and customers.
For cost, it is free. Few extensions have prices attached to them, and some WordPress themes are expensive. However, you might not need those extensions, and there are good free themes.
If you are familiar with the WordPress platform, then WooCommerce is a breeze for you. You only have to install it, add your own products and fix your settings.
People who aren’t familiar with WordPress will struggle with the technical details. That includes buying hosting, installing WordPress, setting up your theme and plugins.
Pros
- WordPress is the best platform for SEO
- 1 Click selling app available
- Lots of WordPress experts available
- Highly customizable
- Many marketing options and plenty of other integrations
Cons
- Good hosting can be pricey
- Have to deal with blame game for troubleshooting.
- Virtually zero support
- You need extensions for simple stuff
If you want to use WooCommerce, but need a bit of help on the hosting side, Nexcess StoreBuilder is an option. We cover it in more detail in our section on other builders to consider.
Volusion
Volusion was founded in 1999 but launched in 2002 as an ecommerce solution provider. It’s a great option for those selling physical products because for now automatic digital downloads after payment is not allowed.
Volusion provides an easy to use website builder with drag and drop and in-page editing. There are 11 free themes and a good number of premium themes. Those cost about $180, and you’ll also have to purchase an SSL certificate. That is a hefty extra cost that some other platforms provide for free.
It also doesn’t come with blogging capabilities which is a huge downer mostly in this day where building SEO with blogs is king. To get that, you’ll need to use a third party like WordPress and a plugin or other means to connect the blog to your store.
The dashboard is nicely structured with all of the main action areas in the top navigation menu. You can also manage inventory and work marketing from there. The marketing options include SEO, sell on Google, eBay, Amazon, social selling, rewards, and coupons.
Their prices have a limitation to the number of products you can sell. The first two plans that cost $29 and $79 per month have restrictions of 100 and 5000 products respectively. That may change at some point because they used to have a limitation on bandwidth, but that is no more. The constant improvements give us hope.
Beginner support is a big thing; from the dashboard, you’ll immediately see tons of learning materials available on how to build your store step by step with Volusion, starting and growing your online business.
All in all, it’s a solid platform for subscription ecommerce business. Dropshipping is also good but not print on demand. I would rate it higher if the Amazon integration were better, but that might not matter to you at all.
Pros
- Great onboarding and help center
- Great flexibility with Sitemaps
- Built-in subscription/recurring payments
- SMB friendly
- Well laid out dashboard
- Clear inventory and marketing system
Cons
- Lacks up/cross selling features
- Many sites had poor URL structure
- One of the slower SaaS platforms
- Many of the sites I studied looked VERY dated
- No built-in blogging functionality
Shopify – Everything you need to sell anywhere. Trusted by 160k stores
About Shopify : Shopify is the leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Merchants can use the software to design, set up, and manage their stores across multiple sales channels, including web, mobile, social media, marketplaces, brick-and-mortar locations, and pop-up shops. The platform also provides merchants with a powerful back-office and a single view of their business.
Shopify eCommerce Features : Catalog Management, Channel Management, Customer Accounts, Email Marketing, Inventory Management, Loyalty Program, Multi-Store Management, Order Management, Product Configurator, Promotions Management, Returns Management, SEO Management, Shopping Cart
Shopify has been around for more than 15 years—with more than two million stores built using the platform—and it’s hard to find a better option for most small businesses looking to get an online store up and running quickly.
Sign up for a credit card-free 14-day trial, and within a few minutes, you can have a first build of your store ready to go. The onboarding wizard walks you through adding your products, customizing the look of your store, connecting your own domain, and getting set up to take those all-important payments.
Even if you’ve never built a website before, you’re unlikely to get lost in Shopify’s intuitive web app. Adding a product, for example, is as simple as clicking Products in the sidebar and then the Add Products button. Fill in the name, price, quantity you have on hand, and any other relevant details, change its status to Active, and it’s straight in your online store and ready to be sold.
While Shopify ticks most boxes right out of the gate, its extensibility and app store are what really make it such a powerful option. Take the theme situation: Shopify has 10 free themes and more than 50 paid themes starting from $140. To browse them, go to Themes, and then, under Theme Library, click Visit Theme Store. Not a bad selection, right?
But because Shopify is so popular, you can also find more than 1,300 themes available on ThemeForest or get a professional designer who is already experienced with the platform to make you a custom one.
It’s the same with almost any feature you could want. If it’s not built in to Shopify, you can find an extension, plug-in, or service that does it in the app store. Just go to apps.shopify.com, find the app you need, and click Add App. Head back to your Shopify dashboard and click Apps in the sidebar to manage all the ones you’ve installed.
It should be no surprise that Shopify integrates with Zapier, so if you want to automatically add new customers to your email marketing list, track orders with a project management tool, or connect Shopify to any of the other apps you use, you can do it easily.
Shopify Price: Free for 14 days; from $29/month and 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for Basic Shopify plan with unlimited products
Magento – eCommerce software solutions for large & growing companies
About Magento : Magento, an Adobe company, is a leading provider of cloud commerce innovation to merchants and brands across B2C and B2B industries and was recently named a leader in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce. In addition to its flagship digital commerce platform, Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omnichannel solutions that empower merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences.
Magento eCommerce Features : Catalog Management, Customer Accounts, Loyalty Program, Returns Management, SEO Management, Shopping Cart
Bigcommerce– Redefining Enterprise Ecommerce
About Bigcommerce : BigCommerce is the world’s leading cloud ecommerce platform for established and rapidly-growing businesses. Combining enterprise functionality, an open architecture and app ecosystem, and market-leading performance, BigCommerce enables businesses to grow online sales with 80% less cost, time and complexity than on-premise software. BigCommerce powers B2B and B2C ecommerce for more than 60,000 SMBs, 2,000+ mid-market businesses..
Bigcommerce eCommerce Features : Catalog Management, Channel Management, Customer Accounts, Email Marketing, Inventory Management, Loyalty Program, Multi-Store Management, Order Management, Product Configurator, Promotions Management, Returns Management, SEO Management, Shopping Cart
What are eCommerce Platforms?
An ecommerce platform, or ecommerce software, is a solution for websites to run an online store including all the necessary features for a customer to buy products online. The best eCommerce software comes with expanded features to help run an online business and build a full website, like extra content pages for company information and other content, a blogging platform, and essential marketing features.
Several types of eCommerce automation tools are also included in the best shopping cart software, some to make it easier for the store owner to process customer orders, and others for creating promotions. For example, scheduled email newsletters have shown results indicating that they’re among the best marketing automation for eCommerce, so the most powerful online shopping cart software will include this feature.
Conclusion
We know for sure that one of the key elements in online business is to have a fully functional website along with a related shopping cart. There should be also an app which will give users ability to purchase goods on the go. That’s how you can stay ahead of your competitors.
With the ecommerce market growing each passing year, many companies have chosen to expand operation in this growing industry. Understanding the importance of having an e-commerce platform and software, businesses have created a whole range of software that provides more convenience to customers. On the opposite end are startups who are constantly on the search of affordable ecommerce platforms which could help them manage their business like experts.