With a little work and the right platform, you can create an online store that generates this amount of revenue (and more).
Shilpi Yadav She’s a prime example. She quit her job to open an online clothing store based on her Indian heritage. Despite all the risks, the brand now earns over half a million dollars a year (averaging around $1,500 a day ).
She opened her online store using Shopify, one of the best e-commerce platforms on the market. However, there are plenty of different options to choose from depending on your needs.
And the most significant thing standing in the way of your own $500,000 success story is deciding which e-commerce platform is right for your new store.
So, to help you, I reviewed seven of the best options in the industry, based on your current situation.
The 7 best e-commerce platform options:
- Wix : the best when it comes to flexibility and customization
- Squarespace : the best e-commerce platform for creatives
- BigCommerce : the best for medium and large stores
- Shopify : The best all-in-one e-commerce platform
- WooCommerce : the best for WordPress websites
- OpenCart : the best for selling digital products
- Ecwid : the best for integrating with your current platform
How to choose the best e-commerce platform for you
The best e-commerce platform for your business depends on several factors, such as your experience level, your customization requirements, and the type of products you want to sell.
But choosing the right platform can be overwhelming because there are countless options.
To make things easier, I’ve created a list of things to keep in mind during the process.
It can be helpful to start with a list of requirements and features you need. From there, you can narrow down your options based on the following criteria.
Physical vs. Digital Products
Digital products are a booming market. But selling and delivering digital products is not the same as delivering a physical product to someone’s doorstep.
Different e-commerce platforms handle each type of product differently. And some may not be compatible with digital products at all. So it’s important to be clear about what type of product you plan to sell before making a decision.
Implementation options
If you already have a website, the best implementation option is to integrate an online store rather than creating a new website on a new platform.
Additionally, if you use WordPress, you can add e-commerce functionality via a plugin.
Unless, of course, you want to start from scratch.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a website, you’ll probably need a website builder that can create something from scratch. So, think about the path you want to take and choose a platform that offers the right capabilities.
Daily management
Order management, product creation, order tracking, and dashboard navigation are all important factors in the day-to-day management of e-commerce.
And it’s important to choose a platform that’s easy to use and manage on a daily basis. Creating new products, checking order status, or updating your website pages shouldn’t feel like a struggle.
Furthermore, it’s important to find the right balance of flexibility and customization to make it easy to use. And keep in mind that the more customizable the platform, the more difficult it will be to manage. Why?
Because flexible platforms offer more settings and configuration options.
You can simplify your workload by choosing a platform that offers enough flexibility for your specific needs.
Design and flexibility
Some e-commerce website builders (like Wix) are truly drag-and-drop, meaning the customization options are endless. If you can imagine it, you can do it. But that freedom also makes the platform more difficult to use.
Other platforms integrate with your existing site, mimicking its look and feel, and offer very few customization options. For some users, this is perfect.
But others may want more control.
If you’re just starting out, simple designs and ease of use are more important than design flexibility.
However, if you already have a physical store or an established brand, design is more important so that you can create a consistent aesthetic from one touchpoint to another.
Advanced e-commerce features
Do you want to be able to offer discounts or accept payments through different payment processors? Perhaps you’d like to send visitors a reminder email when they leave your website with something in their cart.
Or perhaps you’re interested in creating customer profiles and studying advanced analytics.
Other advanced e-commerce features include:
- Email marketing integrations
- Memberships and recurring payments
- Gift cards and discount codes
- Partial payments or payment plans
- Shipping and delivery management
- Product variations
- Product categories
Think carefully about what you need and what would be nice to have. Then, you can use your list of requirements to narrow down your list of options.
The different types of e-commerce platforms
There are several different types of e-commerce platforms on this list. And the type you should choose depends on your current situation.
Ecommerce website builders
These are all-inclusive website builders that offer e-commerce functionality.
This option is best for businesses that don’t yet have a website (or for those wanting to start from scratch). Website builders also don’t require much design experience to get started, making them an excellent choice for beginners.
Add e-commerce functionality to an existing website
If you already have a website, integrating an online store is much easier than starting from scratch on a different platform. Several of the recommendations on this list can be used with an existing website, so you don’t have to worry about starting over.
However, these platforms generally require some coding knowledge to customize them, so they are not suitable for beginners.
WordPress Plugins
This option is best for users who already use WordPress to manage their website.
Note : If you don’t know what a WordPress plugin, it’s probably not the best option for you (I suggest choosing a website builder).
#1 – Wix Review : The best when it comes to flexibility and customization
Wix is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an affordable and flexible e-commerce platform. It’s famous for its drag-and-drop interface, offering complete design freedom to create anything you can imagine.
With Wix, you also have access to over 500 pre-designed website templates and plenty of customization options (no coding required). Or you can create pages from scratch with complete design control.
In addition, they have a robust mobile application so you can make changes and manage your store from anywhere in the world.
Wix also has a wide variety of marketing features, such as emails, ads, Facebook and social media posts directly from your account dashboard. You can even sell directly through social media.
Their e-commerce plans include excellent features, such as:
- Support for over 90 languages and local currencies
- Over 250 apps to add extra functionality to your site
- No additional transaction fees
- Customized product pages
- Worldwide shipping and taxes
- Coupons and discounts
- Advanced sorting and filtering
- Product collections
- Customizable payment
- Recurring payments
Additionally, if you already use Wix, you can upgrade to an eCommerce plan with just a few clicks from your account dashboard.
Wix offers four e-commerce plans for online stores of different sizes, including:
- Basic Business $23 per month
- Unlimited Business: $27 per month
- Business VIP: $19 per month
- Company: Customized pricing
This is a great option if you have a small store or specific design requirements. However, if you expect a high volume of orders and a wide variety of products, you’re better off using BigCommerce or Shopify.
Try Wix for free today.
#2 – Squarespace Review : The Best Ecommerce Platform for Creatives
Squarespace is known as a website builder, but its premium plans also offer e-commerce functionality. Furthermore, its design templates are renowned for their ease of use and creativity, making it an excellent choice for creative online stores.
You can also install and customize multiple templates at once to see which one you like best. And switching between templates only takes a few clicks.
In addition to beautiful templates, Squarespace offers a variety of e-commerce features, including:
- Subscriptions, digital products, and compatibility with in-person transactions
- Integrated tax tools for automatic tax calculations
- Discount codes and gift cards
- Abandoned shopping cart recovery
- Mobile-optimized payment
- Mobile store management
- Product listings
- Quick view capability
- Inventory management
- Real-time shipping estimates
In addition, Squarespace integrates with most popular email marketing and social media platforms so you can sell and market your products like a pro.
And they have a fantastic customer service team that operates 24/7, 365 days a year, ready to answer your questions and help you set things up the way you want.
Squarespace offers three e-commerce plans (and one personal plan):
- Personal: $12 per month + no e-commerce functionality
- Business: $18 per month + 3% transaction fees
- Basic Commerce: $26 per month + 0% transaction fees
- Advanced Commerce: $40 per month + 0% transaction fees
They also have a business plan with a dedicated account manager, SEO consultations, and priority technical support.
And while the Enterprise plan offers e-commerce capabilities, I recommend choosing the Basic Commerce plan to start. It’s the cheapest plan with no transaction fees, and it also includes other essential features like customer accounts and e-commerce analytics.
Learn more and start using Squarespace.
#3 – BigCommerce Review : The best for medium and large stores
BigCommerce is an all-in-one e-commerce website builder specifically designed for large online stores. It includes advanced e-commerce features suitable for managing high order volumes and a large number of products.
With a customer base of over 100,000 stores, including some big names like Ben & Jerry’s and SkullCandy, it is a smaller competitor in the industry.
But that doesn’t make the platform any less powerful.
BigCommerce plans include access to powerful, industry-leading features, such as:
- Customer accounts for faster payments
- Mobile-optimized payment
- Abandoned shopping cart recovery
- Google AMPandAkamai
- Advanced product filters
- Coupons and discount codes
- Advanced inventory management
- Customer groups for personalized purchases
- Over 65 payment gateways with no additional transaction fees
- Integrated shipping management
In addition, all of their plans include unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts.
And you can choose from 12 free mobile design templates or opt for a paid template to make your online store stand out from the crowd without you touching a single line of code.
BigCommerce offers four payment plans (with a 15-day free trial):
- Standard: $29.95 per month, with an annual sales limit of $50,000.
- Plus: $79.95 per month, with an annual sales limit of $180,000.
- Pro: $299.95 per month, with an annual sales limit of $400,000
- Enterprise: Customized Pricing
If you’re just starting out, BigCommerce is overkill for your online store. However, if you have an established business or plan to sell in large volumes, it’s an excellent option.
#4 – Shopify Review : The Best All-in-One Ecommerce Platform
Shopify is an all-in-one e-commerce website builder that powers over a million online stores, making it one of the most popular choices on this list.
However, it’s not as customizable as Wix. But it offers more advanced e-commerce features because it’s specifically designed to host online stores. Plus, it’s easy to use and has the right level of flexibility.
It’s also incredibly versatile, powering everything from micro-businesses to large stores and everything in between. Shopify plans give you access to an amazing set of e-commerce features, including:
- Point of sale for physical stores
- Real-time transport fares
- Abandoned payment recovery
- 100 different payment gateways
- Automatic tax calculations
- Customer accounts and profiles
- Logistics centers
- Advanced inventory management
- Unlimited products
- In-depth analysis
Furthermore, with over 70 professional themes (nine of which are free) and more than 4,100 apps, you can create a beautiful and highly functional e-commerce store without having to start from scratch or write a single line of code.
Combine that with award-winning customer support available 24/7, and you have an excellent e-commerce platform.
Shopify offers five plans for businesses of all sizes:
- Shopify Lite plan: $9 per month
- Shopify Basic Plan: $29 per month
- Shopify plan: $79 per month
- Advanced Shopify Plan: $299 per month
- Shopify Plus plan: personalized pricing
The Shopify Lite plan is a great option if you want to add products and “buy” buttons to an existing website. However, it doesn’t include the full website builder.
Keep in mind that Shopify has its own payment processor. They charge between 2.4% and 2.9% plus $0.30, depending on the plan you choose. They also charge additional fees (0.5%–2%) if you use a different payment processor, such as [insert payment processor name here].PayPalor Square.
#5 – WooCommerce Review : The Best for WordPress Websites
The recommendations so far are all-in-one website builders. WooCommerce , however, is not one of them. It’s a WordPress plugin created to add e-commerce functionality to existing WordPress websites.
WooCommerce powers approximately 30% of online stores today. And with over 80 million downloads, it’s one of the most popular e-commerce platforms on this list.
Note : If you don’t already have a WordPress website, I don’t recommend this option. Instead, opt for an all-in-one e-commerce platform.
WooCommerce is a lightweight plugin that adds e-commerce capabilities such as accepting online payments, configurable shipping options, product listings, and more. However, you already need a website to use it. Therefore, it’s an excellent option if you already use WordPress.
It has powerful e-commerce features, such as:
- Plugin extensions to increase functionality
- REST APIsso that developers can create custom platforms
- Extensive tutorials and documentation
- 140 payment gateways specific to each region
- Subscription and deposit support
- Automated tax calculations
- Real-time transport fares
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Capacity for physical and digital products
- Endless product variations
- Public support forum
And the best part? It’s free to download, install, and use. Always.
However, some of the extensions are not free, so be careful when choosing.
With the power of WordPress behind the platform, the customization options are limited only by your imagination. So, the sky’s the limit with WooCommerce.
That said, it’s not the easiest or most intuitive e-commerce platform. Therefore, I don’t recommend it if you’re not already using WordPress and aren’t completely comfortable with it.
#6 – OpenCart Review : The best for selling digital products
OpenCart is another open-source e-commerce platform, very similar to WooCommerce. However, it’s not limited to WordPress websites. But you do need to have a website to use it.
Over 300,000 online stores use OpenCart to confidently sell products of all shapes and sizes online. Plus, most web hosting companies offer one-click installation or install it for free, making it incredibly easy to set up.
Note: I only recommend this option if you already have a working website.
While you can sell products of any kind, the uncomplicated interface (and the fact that it’s free) makes it a great option for selling digital products and making more money with your online business.
All without adding an extra monthly expense because it’s 100% free.
OpenCart offers a powerful set of e-commerce features, including:
- Simple and centralized administration panel
- User features and advanced access controls
- Manage multiple stores from a single control panel
- Unlimited product variables and variations
- Integrated rewards and affiliate management system
- Discounts and coupons
- Unlimited products
- Digital downloads with a single click
- Product reviews and ratings
- 36 integrated payment methods
- Recurring payments
Furthermore, with 13,000 templates and themes available, you can add any functionality you can imagine, such as service integrations, conversion modules, email marketing, and more.
Keep in mind that not all OpenCart extensions are free. You may have to pay for more advanced features.
And they don’t currently offer free support either.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the community forum, you’ll need to pay for dedicated support. Dedicated support starts at $99 per site per month or $99 for a one-time solution.
#7 – Ecwid Review : The best for integrating with your current platform
Like OpenCart and WooCommerce, Ecwid is an e-commerce platform that you can integrate into your existing platform, regardless of which one you are already using.
It integrates with platforms such as Weebly Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, among others. So, if you already have a website and want to add e-commerce functionality, Ecwid is an excellent option.
That said, they also offer an all-in-one e-commerce website builder if you want to start from scratch. However, there are better website builder options available.
Therefore, I only recommend Ecwid if you want to integrate e-commerce functionality into your existing website.
This e-commerce platform includes a wide range of features, such as:
- Multichannel sales (social media, marketplaces, in-person, etc.)
- Integrated advertising and email marketing features
- Centralized inventory and order management
- No transaction fees
- Fully responsive designs
- Built-in point-of-sale (POS) integrations
- Customer accounts to facilitate payment
- Real-time shipping rate calculator
- Product variations
- Capabilities for digital products
- 40 payment options
The biggest drawback is that you can’t manage your store from your website’s account control panel. You have to connect to Ecwid. So, you have to manage two separate accounts.
But the good news is, you can start with the free limited plan to try it out before making any investment.
The free plan only allows up to ten products, so you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan if you need more. Ecwid also offers three paid plans:
- Venture: $15 per month (up to 100 products)
- Business: $35 per month (up to 2500 products)
- Unlimited: $99 per month (unlimited products)
As a creator of independent stores, it might be better to opt for other options (such as Wix and Shopify).
But if you already have a website and want to add an e-commerce store to it, Ecwid is an excellent alternative to WooCommerce and OpenCart.
Summary
My top recommendation for most users is Wix . It’s great for users of all experience levels. Plus, it’s easy to use, highly customizable, and affordable. But if Wix is too customizable for you, Squarespace is a fantastic alternative.
For large stores, I recommend BigCommerce or Shopify .
However, if you already have a website, WooCommerce , OpenCart , and Ecwid are excellent options depending on your needs.
