Article by Katina Beveridge, ASBAS Advisor, Western Sydney Business Centre.
Which E-Commerce Platform is Best for Selling Online?
Choosing the right e-commerce platform is critical to the growth and success of your online business. Compared to brick-and-mortar business, e-commerce platforms can be more challenging, simply because the business operations rely on a single variable: your chosen third-party platform.
An e-commerce platform is the software that allows online businesses to manage their sales, marketing, and website operation. This is where businesses sell their products, provide customer service, analyze analytics, manage promotions, and plan further growth. Hence, finding the right e-commerce platform has a huge implications, not just to your customers, but to everyone else involved and to every aspect of the overall business operation as well.
Each e-commerce platform has its own advantages and disadvantages, that is why it is important to evaluate them based on your needs or requirements. Here are some of the popular e-commerce platforms you can choose from and their features.
1. BigCommerce
This Open SaaS platform provider provides sophisticated customizability and flexibility online businesses, making one of the popular choices for mid-market brands. It has plans designed for small businesses and startups as well, with more built-in features and 100% SEO control across the platform than its competitors.
2. Magento
This open-source e-commerce solution is preferred by businesses who are invested heavily in IT. It is designed for businesses with more advanced IT teams. The biggest advantage of Magento is that it provides business owners with 100% control of the platform. But because of this, patches and bug updates have to be installed manually, requiring entire site and integration QA.
3. Volusion
If you’re just starting out your online store or a hobbyist who wants to have a place to feature your work, this platform is perfect for you. It has more than 180,000 users and you can avail of the 14-day free trial to see how it works.
4. Salesforce Commerce Cloud
This SaaS e-comerce platform, formerly known as Demandware, is preferred more by high-profile fashion retailers. It has great features and user-friendly user interface that makes it easy to navigate. However, its advantages include high cost and dependence on developers.
5. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the e-commerce platform powered by WordPress. So if you’re using WordPress for your website, you can easily upgrade it to an online shop using WooCommerce. This platform is popular among starter stores, hobbyists, bloggers, and businesses comfortable with the WordPress platform.
6. Shopify
This public SaaS ecommerce platform is the go-to platform for new brands because it is very easy to use, even for non-experienced e-commerce owners. The quick learning curve makes it easy for hobbyists, starter stores, and businesses with less than 100 SKU counts, to adapt to.
Bottom Line
Finding the right e-commerce platform for your business is probably the biggest challenge any e-commerce entrepreneur will have to face because it has the power to make or break your business. The platform is where your website and your online shop will live, so you need to choose the most reliable and effective e-commerce solution you can get.