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What are the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses?
There is no one best ecommerce platform since not all small businesses have the same needs, budgets, and ways to reach their revenue goals. In this article, I will review the key features, pros, cons, and pricing of my favorite ecommerce platforms. I have had many clients of all shapes and sizes, I have also tried so many ecommerce platforms I have lost count. Here are my top three ecommerce platforms for small businesses.
- Template Library
- SEO Features
- Tiered Pricing
- Affordable Price
- Good Support
- Easy to Use
- Low design flexibility
- Poor Analytics
- Slow Page Speeds
- Shopify Themes
- SEO Plugins
- Integrated Analytics
- Good Support
- Great Security
- Easy to Use
- Costly Plans
- Transaction fees
- No Automation
- Robust SEO Features
- Payment Gateways
- Advanced Product Options
- High Design Flexibility
- No Transaction Fees
- Robust SEO Features
- No Shipping Discounts
- Overlapping Themes
- No Email Marketing
The three platforms I have seen the most success with and often recommend clients to even invest in switching to these platforms. Selecting the right platform from the get-go can save you a ton of money down the line in monthly expenses as well as any migrations you might need to do in the future to accommodate your growth as a company. With our much further ado, let’s get into the details.
1. Wix.com
Best Overall Ecommerce Platform for Small Businesses
Summary:
Wix is the most suitable eCommerce platform for small businesses, mostly known for the hundreds of types of templates that it provides. Its creative templates help you to save time and resources while getting more notice of your eCommerce sites. It has a high value for money and great help/support services which allows you to stay within your budget and make your business work more efficiently.
Wix also incorporates great dropshipping and fulfillment services along with online payment plug-in features. Wix can also help customize your websites based on your needs through the use of a questionnaire, which offers you convenience and gets you started in the right direction. In addition, Wix provides different pricing features with three tiers of payment plans, you can start with free and move to higher levels of support based on your needs.
Key Features:
Hundreds of Templates: Wix offers a large number of designer-made templates for selection, which saves a ton of time to design your website. This allows businesses to allocate time efficiently and enhance productivity.
SEO Features: Wix has a robust SEO feature called WIZ which allows you to get more notice of your eCommerce site. You can also connect your site to Google Search Console to prioritize secure websites. WIZ also automatically issues an SSL certificate which provides high value for most eCommerce sites.
Dropshipping and Fulfillments: Wix offers both dropshipping and fulfillments services which allow businesses to save time and money tracking inventory and managing shipping. For businesses that have limited resources, it would be a huge plus.
Tiered Pricing: There are different levels of payment plans with various features that allow you to choose based on your needs. You have the option to start free and move to a higher level of payments when you need more features.
Pros:
- Affordable Price
- Smart SEO Features
- Wide Range of Templates
- Great Customer Services
- Customization
- Easy to Use
Cons:
- Low design flexibility
- Lack of deep analytics
- Some templates are only available in upgraded packages
- Slow Page Speeds
Pricing Plans:
- Website Plans: $16 – $45/month
- Business and eCommerce Plans: $27 – 59/month
- Enterprise Plans: $500/month (requires a call)
How to Save:
- Cancel Wix Premium Plans within 14 days to get a full refund if it doesn’t fit your needs.
2. Shopify.com
Best for Dropshipping
Summary:
Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms out there because of its ease of use and design flexibility. If you already have a domain name you can use Shopify, or you can buy a domain name through Shopify. The store creator is extremely easy, you can bypass building it completely and buy already finished storefronts for you to use. It even has a library of stock photos already integrated into the app.
Shopify also boasts a lot of advanced eCommerce features for dropshipping or arranging your inventory if needed as well. Whether you need advanced or easy-to-use features, Shopify has them all, plus they are available at an affordable price. Now let’s get into the details of the key features.
Key Features:
Shopify Themes: Shopify offers a huge range of different website themes to choose from to get inspiration for your eCommerce brand, as well as save time and money. These themes are made by professional designers and are the perfect choice for businesses wanting to get started on a budget.
SEO Plugins & Integrations: If you want to acquire customers or traffic without having to directly pay for the search engine optimization is going to be your best friend. By optimizing your website to be found in search engines when people are searching for high-intent queries for your business you will find high-quality customers that will not need to be convinced of your service since they were already searching for it. Shopify offers plugins and integrations to make search engine optimization tasks easier as well as smarter decisions with the proper tracking and analytics.
Integrated Analytics: With Shopify Analytics you can access key performance insights to make the right decisions on where to invest your time and money to keep your eCommerce business running at its highest profitability.
Shopify POS: Shopify Point of Sale (POS) helps with processing payments from customers on your online store. You can not only sell your products online but offline as well to keep your online store automatically up to date on inventory.
Pros:
- Boasts over 3000 integrations or apps
- Good Customer Support
- Great Security Features
- Reliable Up-Time
- Easy to Use
Cons:
- Premium features can be costly
- Transaction fees
- No marketing automation
Pricing Plans:
- Basic: $29/month
- Shopify: $79/month
- Advanced: $299/month
How to Save:
- It includes a 14-day free trial, with no credit card required.
3. Bigcommerce.com
Best for Scaling Businesses
Summary:
Bigcommerce is the best choice if you are considering scaling your business. They include valuable SEO features, which help your business to grow while saving your resources. It also has advanced product options, design flexibility, and good customer support. With Bigcommerce open SaaS and APIs features, it saves your time and money with no transaction fees. Bigcommerce is also known for its built-in functions to improve user experience and be a big bonus for businesses.
If you are a small business and wish to grow your business, Bigcommerce can support you to scale efficiently without going into too many barriers. As long as you have access to a web browser and internet connection, you can build and manage your online store from anywhere.
Key Features:
Integrated SEO Features: Bigcommerce’s SEO function is robust, it’s easy to edit Bigcommerce page titles, meta descriptions, and headers. You are also able to create and change product-specific URLs. Their templates are designed to adjust to suit the device that you are using, which adds value to building your eCommerce site.
Payment Gateways: Bigcommerce has two ways to accept credit card payments. The easiest way is to use the default payment option which is Paypal. It helps you to make payments faster and gives you preferential Paypal rates for credit card transactions. There are 40 + available third-party payment processors which improves the accessibility of business transactions.
Advanced Product Options: The way Bigcommerce handles its product options and variants is one of its most powerful features. Bigcommerce allows you to create product options up to 250 per product. You can also present a product in up to 600 variants, which lets you sell products that contain multiple formats. This will further support you to make revenue faster.
Applications & Integrations: BigCommerce lets you customize your store to fit your favorite digital marketing tools, apps, APIs, and even your personalized integrations tailor-made for your business. The beauty of BigCommerce is that it integrates with almost any app, so it will be ideal during all stages of growth.
Pros:
- Excellent Customer Support
- Robust SEO Features
- High Design Flexibility
- Third-Party Real-Time Shipping Calculations
- No Transaction Fees
- Ease of Payments with Lower Rates
Cons:
- Product Categorization isn’t Automated
- Abandoned Cart Saver Function Only in Advanced Plans
- Some Free Themes Replicate with Each Other
- No Shipping Discounts
- No Email Marketing Tools
Pricing Plans:
- Standard: $29.95/month
- Plus: $79.95/month
- Pro: $299.95/month
- Enterprise: Custom Pricing
How to Save:
- A free trial for 15 days
