Running a small business is no easy task. There are so many things to think about, from marketing and inventory management to customer support and eCommerce solutions. That's why choosing the right eCommerce platform for your business is essential. An eCommerce platform that works for your business will take the guesswork out of running your online store and let you focus on the rest.
It's vital to compare the most popular eCommerce platforms available. You should look at features, pricing, and ease of use to help you decide which platform is best for you. You want your storefront to look professional and build trust with potential customers. Whether you're just starting out or you've been in business for a while, read on for the best eCommerce platforms for small businesses.
Shopify
Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms, and for good reason. It's user-friendly, has a wide range of features, and is suitable for startups of all sizes. It's perfect for small businesses because it has a wide range of apps and integrations that can help you run your business more efficiently. Shopify also has excellent customer support, which is vital for small businesses that might not have the resources to solve eCommerce problems on their own.
With Shopify, you can create an online store quickly and easily. There are over 100 paid or free themes to design your store. With Shopify, there's no need for additional coding skills; they manage the design aspects for you. With so many templates and themes, it's easy to make your store stand out.
You'll also have access to Shopify's powerful eCommerce tools, such as inventory management and apps. There are over 6000 apps available to help you run your business, from accounting and marketing to shipping and customer service. With Shopify's app store, you can find the perfect solution for your business needs. They even offer calculated shipping rates to help take the guesswork out of shipping.
Shopify offers a mobile app so you can manage your store on the go. Some small business owners use their phone as their primary business device, and with Shopify, you can easily manage your inventory, shipping, and even abandoned cart recovery. You can also use Shopify's POS system to sell in person. With Shopify, you have everything you need to run a successful eCommerce business.
Shopify also integrates with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, so you can easily promote your products on these platforms. Overall, Shopify is a great eCommerce platform for small businesses.
Pricing: Shopify offers a free 14-day trial of their basic plan. After the two-week trial, you can choose Basic Shopify for $29.99 a month, regular Shopify for $79 a month, and Advanced Shopify for $299 a month. They offer a 10% discount if you pay for the full year, and a 20% discount if you pay for two years.
BigCommerce
Another popular eCommerce platform is BigCommerce. It's a powerful and robust platform that can overwhelm beginners, but it's excellent for small businesses with technical resources. Like Shopify, it's user-friendly and has a wide range of features. It's suitable for businesses of all sizes, but it's especially good for businesses that are growing quickly.
BigCommerce has everything you need to create a professional online store. You can choose from over 60 free and paid themes to design your store. BigCommerce offers many eCommerce features, such as abandoned cart recovery and product personalization.
BigCommerce integrates with over 400 apps so that you can find the perfect solution for your business needs. They also have a mobile app rich with features. The mobile app provides analytics, allows you to manage orders and inventory, and even search for customers. It's important to note that some sales features of the BigCommerce app are only available for Android devices.
They have features for international commerce and multichannel selling on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. This is great for businesses that are scaling quickly in the international retail space. Multichannel selling is a bonus for those who want to sell on third-party marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. This allows small business owners to filter into different markets all in one go.
Pricing: BigCommerce offers a free 15-day trial. After the trial, you can choose from their Standard plan for $29.95 a month, Plus plan for $79.95 a month, or Pro plan for $299.95 a month. They also have an enterprise plan which has custom pricing.
Wix eCommerce
Another popular eCommerce platform is Wix. Wix is essentially a website builder that has additional eCommerce features. Wix is user-friendly and geared toward small businesses that are image-centric or rely heavily on visuals in their product pages. They have excellent customer service using a callback service available 24/7 for real-time support. This is perfect for small business owners who lack the technical abilities or resources that larger companies may have.
With Wix eCommerce, you can create a professional online store quickly and easily. There are over 500 templates to choose from, so you can find the perfect design for your business. Wix eCommerce also offers a wide range of eCommerce features, such as an unlimited number of products, coupons, and abandoned cart recovery.
It's important to note that their SEO tools are available with the free version. While they offer a free plan, many features necessary to successfully run a small business require a paid plan. In order to view analytics tracking and other important eCommerce metrics, you'll need to upgrade from the free plan.
This eCommerce website builder is perfect for small businesses with an idea for subscriptions of either digital or physical products. One thing Wix does especially well is their subscription-based billing capabilities. They also have an app market with over 200 apps to choose from.
Pricing: Wix eCommerce offers a free plan. After the trial, you can choose from their Basic plan for $23 a month, Unlimited plan for $27 a month, or Business VIP plan for $49 a month. They also offer a 20% discount if you pay for the entire year.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a WordPress eCommerce plugin that turns your WordPress website into an online store. WooCommerce is user-friendly and has a wide range of features, making it one of the most popular eCommerce solutions. It's suitable for businesses of all sizes but especially for small businesses because it's free to use and open-source. You can easily use your custom domain with the WooCommerce plugin.
WooCommerce has many eCommerce features, such as inventory management, product personalization, and coupon support. It also integrates with over 400 apps and services so that you can find the perfect solution for your business needs.
WooCommerce also offers a mobile app that allows you to manage your store on the go. Many small business owners find the mobile app even more accessible than their desktop version. Their mobile app is also helpful for dropshipping. Many dropshippers find WooCommerce the easiest for dropshipping through an online shop.
The best thing about WooCommerce is that it's built on the most popular CMS (content management system), WordPress. This means that it not only simply connects both your WooCommerce and WordPress but that you have a plethora of features and official extensions that you can use. You can add as many features as you want; just be aware that too many add-ons on the back end may slow your website response time, so you'll want to be a little choosy.
Pricing: WooCommerce is free to use. However, you will need to pay for hosting, a domain name, and other eCommerce features such as payment processing and SSL certificates.
Squarespace
Squarespace is another eCommerce software that's popular among small businesses. Squarespace is user-friendly and offers a wide range of eCommerce features. They also have beautiful templates that are perfect for businesses that want to create a visually appealing online store.
Squarespace is an easy-to-use platform for small business owners because of its user-friendly interface. Its drag-and-drop tools make it easy to change the look and theme of your store at any time. They have templates you can use to create your own store without needing to know any code.
One thing Squarespace does exceptionally well is its customer support. They offer 24/7 customer support via email and live chat on weekdays from 4 am to 8 pm EST. They also have a vast knowledge base with over 500 articles that can help you troubleshoot any issues you may have.
Squarespace's eCommerce platform includes a wealth of functionality, such as limitless products, coupons, and abandoned shopping cart recovery. Many small business owners use it as the jumping-off point for their subscription-based services as it offers recurring billing features. They also have many social media integrations and embeddable maps for shops that still use a brick-and-mortar store.
Pricing: Squarespace personal plans start at $16 a month, business plans are $26 a month, basic commerce is $30 a month, and advanced commerce is $46 monthly. They also offer a 20% discount if you pay for the whole year.
Square Online
Square Online is an eCommerce platform created by the popular payment processor Square. It's perfect for small businesses as it offers an easy way to start selling online with minimal upfront costs.
Square Online is free to set up if you already have a Square account for a mobile POS (point-of-sale). Even if you don't have a Square account, it's still easy to use. You can create an online store in minutes and start selling right away. Since its inception, it has expanded its offerings to include other business management tools.
Square Online has all the eCommerce features you need to run a successful online business, such as abandoned cart recovery, product personalization, coupon support, and inventory management. It also integrates with many popular apps and services.
Pricing: Square Online is free to use if you already have a Square account. If you don't have a Square account, there's a small transaction fee of $0.30 + two percent per transaction. For a professional ecommerce plan, it's $12 per month, the performance plan is $26 a month, and their premium plan is $72 a month.
Weebly
Weebly eCommerce is a popular eCommerce platform for small businesses. Weebly eCommerce offers everything you need to create a successful online store, such as beautiful templates, an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, unlimited products, coupons, abandoned cart recovery, and more.
Weebly eCommerce also has a wide range of integrations and apps that you can use to add more functionality to your store. For example, you can add social media buttons, live chat, email marketing, and other eCommerce features.
Weebly is perfect for small businesses that have a limited number of products. They have powerful features for a free and low-cost eCommerce platform. One such feature is their filtered product search, allowing users to find their perfect match.
Pricing: Weebly eCommerce offers a free plan with paid personal plans starting at $9 a month, $16 a month for a professional plan, and the advanced performance plan comes in at $29 per month.
Magento
Magento Open Source is a popular eCommerce platform for small businesses. It's an open-source eCommerce solution that offers entrepreneurs a wide range of features. This platform is best for small businesses with the technical resources to code and develop a website from scratch.
One thing Magento Open Source does especially well is its marketing tools. For example, it has built-in SEO (search engine optimization) tools and powerful tools for creating and managing coupons.
Magento Open Source also integrates with many popular third-party apps and services. They offer multichannel selling that can be integrated with Amazon and eBay, as well as social media selling on platforms like Instagram.
Magneto is excellent for flexibility in terms of design and themes. However, with this flexibility comes some drawbacks, like the complexity of the software. It's not an easy platform to use without some developer knowledge.
Pricing: Magento Open Source is free to use. However, you will need to pay for web hosting, a domain name, and other eCommerce features you want to add to your store. It's important to note that their enterprise version of this tool is $15,000. It's a large chunk of change for any business, needless to say, a small business.
Volusion
Volusion is a lesser-known eCommerce platform for small businesses. It offers everything you need to create a successful online retail store, such as a range of templates, an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, and more.
Volusion is one of the best eCommerce platforms with in-depth data reports. They have an easy-to-use performance tracker where you can quickly grab valuable data. This eCommerce platform also has a wide range of integrations and apps that you can use to add more functionality to your store. For example, you can add social media buttons, live chat, email marketing, and other eCommerce features.
There are some serious drawbacks of Volusion. Most importantly, they don't offer a blog option. This is a crucial eCommerce feature for small businesses. A blog allows you to share your company story, product news, and other valuable content with your audience.
Pricing: Volusion eCommerce offers four different pricing plans depending on the size of your business. Their personal plan starts at $29 a month, the professional plan is $79 a month, their business plan costs $299 a month, and their prime plan is $499 a month.
No matter what eCommerce platform you choose for your eCommerce site, there are a few key elements you want to take note of. The first is the price of their plans. You want to ensure your investment is worth it and your resources are well spent. Additionally, you should research what payment gateways they use. For example, will they allow you to take credit cards, Apple pay, PayPal or Stripe at checkout? What do their payment options look like? Finally, make sure your eCommerce store has the features you need to run a successful online business. Do they offer inventory management, abandoned cart recovery, or coupon support? These are just a few eCommerce features to keep in mind when choosing the best eCommerce platform for your small business.
What eCommerce platforms do you recommend for small businesses? Let us know in the comments below!
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