Looking for an eCommerce Platform? Here are Your Options

Nowadays many retailers big and small are launching their online shops because they understand how valuable it is for the modern consumer. People are relying on shopping online because it’s more convenient as they don’t have to drive to the store, and it offers reliable products at cheaper prices. 

Not to mention that it’s an inexpensive alternative for business owners who want to sell their products. If you aren’t sure about what eCommerce platform to use, here are your options. 

Wix 

Wix’s goal has been to provide people with a platform that makes building a website or an online store easy and cost-effective. There are many advantages to using Wix as a host for your online store. One of the main advantages is that it allows users to easily build a beautiful functioning website in a matter of minutes through drag-and-drop design functions. Although being a premium user gives you access to more features, you can still have a beautiful website at no cost at all. Moreover, their back end interface is practical for users, it provides you with easy access to the tools you need for your website. Another big advantage is that if you want to upgrade to premium, you can start a monthly subscription to the service without locking yourself on an annual contract. 

There are some disadvantages that you need to consider. First is that the drop and drag design function might limit your creativity, and it might take a little bit more of your time until you can create a design you are satisfied with. Another disadvantage is that features that help increase your sales like multi-channel sales through Facebook and eBay, and abandoned cart recovery are only exclusive to higher plans. 

Magento

An open-source free of charge online store builder, it gives you the freedom to design the website in any way you like. Magento is made for developers and small business owners. Because of its open-source nature, Magento gives you full control of your content and functionality of your online store. Additionally, it has a flexible shopping cart system and offers powerful marketing, search engine optimization, and catalog-management tools. Many online merchants depend on Magento to start their eCommerce businesses. This useful article provides some important statistics on Magento, such as its market share and ranking among eCommerce platforms. An advantage to Magento is that it allows scalability and allows you to add thousands of products. However, it becomes complicated once you start to expand your products, especially if you don’t have any prior experience with programming. That’s why you might need to seek the assistance of a developer to help you with expanding and customizing your website further. 

Shopify 

Shopify is another platform that is popular among people looking to sell their products online. It offers a wide range of features that are available for all plans. Shopify has average users in mind, so they offer a simple interface that makes navigation easy for people who aren’t tech-savvy. Another great advantage is that Shopify offers a wide variety of different payment processors, such as PayPal, Amazon, Apple Pay, and you can accept credit card payments. 

Not to mention that Shopify has over 100 payment processors that accept payments in different currencies, that’s especially beneficial if you are selling your products internationally. An e-Commerce website must load faster to avoid losing sales. According to Amazon, a one-second delay could cost millions of dollars on lost sales. Shopify understands that, so they offer users fast loading websites to prevent sellers from losing sales. Additionally, this platform offers abandoned cart recovery features, which means that if some users get interrupted while shopping they are sent a reminder email with their shopping items, this feature improves conversion rates and revenue. 

WooCommerce

If you already have a website set on WordPress and you want to sell through it, WooCommerce is a free plugin that lets you do that. WooCommerce gives you a variety of different themes to choose from, and you can purchase themes if you want to differentiate your website from other websites. Moreover, you have many payment options that customers can pay from. However, a downside is that it limits you because you have to have a website on WordPress already in place.

Many companies have failed to capitalize on the opportunity that an online store offers, they soon fell behind and went bankrupt. Online stores offer great opportunities for small businesses to sell their products online without having to worry about renting a place. Not to mention that setting up an eCommerce website has never been easier, so go ahead pick the platform that best suits you and start selling.