In this article, We are going to cover Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups, small to Medium Business.
Have you ever thought about taking your business online? I am sure, yes. Not just once but many times. With the growing scope for online transactions and with the continuous growth into the people spending online, it would be a suicidal thought to still continue doing business the same old traditional way.
Today, the world has come closer because of the world wide web and the mobile internet revolution backed up by the revolutionary use of mobile applications across the globe. It is said that any business which ignores the online space, will be out of the market in a few years time.
If you are running a business and want to take it online or if you want to start an online store, “Welcome to this blog”. Friends, I am going to share with you the methodical approach on how to start your online store and the platforms which are available to start your online store.
These platforms shall empower you with your own online store with any scale that you wish. If you wish to start a small online store of yours, selling some specialised goods, you can do so using these platforms. And if you wish to start a bigger eStore with large volumes, these platforms help you in that case either.
The platform that you choose for your eStore can be a game changer. Please note that a good platform is essential since an online store or a web shop or an eCommerce portal gets impacted with many factors like, inventory, shipping, taxes, customer support, payments and settlements, accounting, etc.
All of this on the business side whereas on the technical side, the hosting, speed of transaction processing, technical support, page loads, capacity to handle volume, etc. Considering these things, your selection of the platform plays a crucial role in building your eCommerce Business.
There are paid as well as free platforms and as you know, paid platforms come with an added advantage of many value added services for your business. As they say, if you pay, you get back. Let us look at what are the best paid eCommerce platforms and then the free ones.
Table of Contents
Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups [Paid]
1. Shopify – Always the First Choice
Shopify is one of the best known eCommerce platform providers with business listings of over a million, worldwide. It’s one of the well accepted platform providers across the globe. Features offered by Shopify are noted below
Features:
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- Beautiful, responsive and customizable themes
- No design skills needed
- You have complete control over the look and feel of your website, from its layout, to content and colors
Cost:
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- Pricing as low as $ 29/month – Whether you sell online, on social media, in store, or out of the trunk of your car, Shopify has you covered. Start selling anywhere for just $ 29/month.
- You can start your free trial – free for 14 days, no credit card required. By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify. Easy to start and get going
2. Squarespace – Online Store Builder
Choose from an unrivaled set of best-in-class commerce templates and bring your products to life with rich merchandising tools. With world-class designers creating templates for every use case, Squarespace can help make your idea stand out online. Get started with one of their best-in-class website templates and customize it to fit your needs.
Features:
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- Inventory Management – Merchandise, organize, and manage an unlimited number of products with tags, categories, and drag-and-drop sorting tool.
- Rich Product Displays – Give shoppers the best browsing experience with rich product descriptions, embedded videos, images for each product variant, and much more.
- Related Products – Encourage customers to explore your store and help them find what they’re looking for by suggesting relevant products as they shop.
- Mobile Optimized – Template designs are created with modern browsers and mobile devices in mind, so your store will look great on every device, every time.
Cost:
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- Pricing is as low as $ 26 per month for commercial use. And if you pay annually, you save 25%. Pricing for personal use is even lower.
Squarespace’s e-commerce templates are crafted by world-class designers to make your online store stand out. You may browse various templates and choose the best suited option for your business type. Showcase your products at their absolute best with Squarespace’s rich product offerings.
3. BigCommerce – For Large Businesses
Start your online store today and get 30 days free. Save time and money with a platform designed to scale with your business. With more built-in features than other leading platforms, BigCommerce gives you the power to grow your online business from day one.
Features:
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- Accelerate Your Business Growth – Bigcommerce’s open partner ecosystem, shipping integrations, and native features give you time back to focus on running your business.
- World-Class Security and Support – Rest easy knowing bigcommerce’s unparalleled 99.99% site uptime, fraud alerts, and PCI compliance keep you protected around the clock.
- One Hub for Selling Everywhere – Sell your products on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Instagram right from your BigCommerce Control Panel.
Cost:
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- Starting $ 30 per month, the popular plan pricing is $ 80 per month, the plan which helps grow your online business with marketing tools proven to increase conversion
Online stores selling more with BigCommerce – BigCommerce power’s below ecommerce websites for successful retailers all over the world
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- Larq
- Skullcandy
- Dear Brightly
- tmbr.
- Ben & Jerry’s
- Camelbak
4. Wix – The Easy Way to Start
Create an Online Store and Grow Your eCommerce Business. Scale your business and run your online store from one professional eCommerce platform. Use the Wix eCommerce website builder to sell on multiple sales channels, accept secure online payments, manage end-to-end fulfillment and target shoppers with advanced marketing tools.
Features
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- Online store builder
- Custom storefront and cart
- Dropshipping with modalyst
- Shipping rules
- Multichannel sales
- Secure payment solution
Cost:
Wix premium plan starts at $ 29 per month, which gives you free domain for 1 year, unlimited bandwidth, google analytics, unlimited video hours, 10 GB storage apart from the online store
Fully customize the design of your eCommerce website and reach customers on desktop and mobile. Choose from 500+ stunning templates with professional business tools built in. Get 100s of design features and effects, create beautiful product galleries and grow your brand’s online presence.
5. GoDaddy – For Beginners
Sell everywhere online. Manage it all in one place. Set up your online store in minutes. Build the ultimate shopping experience. A sleek online store, powerful selling tools and flexible shipping and payment options – Online Store has it all.
Features:
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- Flexible store setup – Add up to 5,000 products, with up to 10 images per product and manage them all easily.
- Make buying easy – Let customers pay the way they want. Securely accept all major credit cards, PayPal and Apple Pay.
- Maximize sales with the right marketing tools – Sell more by letting customers easily find and engage with your business. GoDaddy Website Builder auto-optimizes your site to make sure it shows up in Google searches. Plus, integrated email and social media marketing tools help you make more connections and sales.
Cost:
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- Godaddy ecommerce plan starts at $ 25/month billed annually
Sell what you want. It’s your store. Sell what you want, the way you want. From products and services to digital stuff like videos or white papers, Online Store helps you easily display, promote, sell and ship your goods.
Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups [FREE]
1. WooCommerce: Most Popular eCommerce Popular
WooCommerce and its platform WordPress both are free. It is the fully customizable, open source eCommerce platform built for WordPress. No other eCommerce platform allows people to start for free and grow their business online. It’s the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress out there. You can set it up and configure it by yourself. It works with any design/theme you currently have on your WordPress site – you don’t need to ditch your current website design.
How to Build?
- Get a Domain Name and Hosting
- Install WordPress
- Install WooCommerce Plugin
- Set up your store
- Link payment set-up
- Add your products and start selling
We have collected some Best Woocommerce Hosting for Your Online Business, go through it and you can see each WooCommerce hosting providers pros and cons.
Best WooCommerce Hosting Providers for Your Online Store
| WooCommerce Hosting | Starts From | Free Domain | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| GreenGeeks | $2.95/mo | 1st Year | |
| HostArmada | $2.69/mo | Yes | |
| DreamHost | $16.95/mo | No | |
| CloudWays | $10/mo | No | |
| Hostinger | $3.99/mo | Yes | |
| GoDaddy | $15.99/mo | Yes | |
| Milesweb | $10/mo | Yes | |
| Fastcomet | $2.95/mo | Yes |
2. Magento:
Magento Commerce. Create engaging shoppable experiences. See how magento’s next-generation technology, global partner ecosystem, and extensions marketplace can breathe life into your business. Don’t compromise on your commerce experience by using a one-size fits all solution. Magento is ideal for fast-growing small businesses.
Meaningful Commerce Experiences – Marry content with commerce to customer demands for flawless brand interactions. Magento Commerce features are ever evolving with the consumer in mind. Own your customer experience, craft personalized content and promotions, and deliver a smooth path to purchase. Page Builder is a simple drag and drop solution to eCommerce website builders.
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- Page Builder
- Product Recommendations
- Customer Segmentation & Personalization
- Content Staging & Preview
- Instant Purchase
- Merchandising
We have collected some Best Magento Hosting for Your Online Business, go through it and you can see each Magento hosting providers pros and cons.
Best Magento Hosting Providers
| Magento Hosting | Starts From | Free Domain | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nexcess | $49/mo | No | |
| Kamatera | $10/mo | Yes | |
| GreenGeeks | $2.95/mo | 1st Year | |
| HostArmada | $2.69/mo | Yes | |
| CloudWays | $10/mo | No | |
| Fastcomet | $2.95/mo | Yes |
Seamless Shopping Everywhere – Commerce growth is fueled by serving your customer’s needs and wherever they are. Expand your reach and grow into new channels, geographies, and sell online to both businesses and consumers in one platform. Bring commerce to your customers wherever, whenever, and however, they prefer to shop.
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- Mobile Commerce
- B2B eCommerce
- PWA Studio
- Global Expansion
- Sales and Ad Channels
- ERP Integration
Conclusion:
So, as discussed earlier in this article, it is difficult to chose a platform for your online store because it depends on the kind of business you operate and the way you operate. We hope this article helps you choose a better platform for yourself and helps you take decision on your platform.
Related Articles:
8 Best Woocommerce Hosting for Your Online Business
8 Best Magento Hosting Providers for Your Online Shop
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Amezing article brother.. you have written a deep and detailed article on e-commerce platforms.
Thanks for sharing a valuable information with us.
Thanks for your kind words.
What an in depth guide? Thanks for sharing this on e-commerce platforms. It’s really good for everyone.
Thanks
Wow, Thanks for sharing this well-detailed guide on e-commerce platforms. It’s really good for everyone.