Have ever considered taking your business online? E-commerce helps businesses grow by expanding customer reach and increasing brand awareness. With over 100 e-commerce platforms in the market today, you might have a hard time selecting the right one for your business. Choosing the best e-commerce platform depends on the type of business you run.
To help you make an informed decision, here are five of the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses:
1. Shopify
Business owners love working with Shopify because it’s easy to use and it has amazing features. It’s a perfect stepping-stone for businesses looking to get into e-commerce. Shopify has a drag-and-drop store builder, 100+ customizable themes, mobile optimization, marketing features, order logistics, inventory management, cloud-hosting, discounted shipping rates, 24/7 customer service, integrations with more than 2,200 apps, more than 100 payment gateways, and unlimited products. Everything you need to start an online business is found on Shopify.
2. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is Shopify’s closest competitor. Similar to Shopify, this e-commerce platform is easy to set up and manage. BigCommerce lets you upload an unlimited number of products and design your own website by editing the source code or selecting from over 80 different themes. Additionally, BigCommerce offers multi-layered security, shipping logistics, marketing tools, 24/7 customer service, cloud-hosting, integrations with other apps, and conversion optimization tools.
3. Volusion
Compared to BigCommerce and Shopify, Volusion is a low-cost e-commerce platform. It’s relatively easy to use as well. However, Volusion limits the number of products you upload and they may charge you if you exceed your monthly bandwidth.
On a lighter note, Volusion offers a wide array of themes (some of them are free), sales analytics, marketing tools, shipping logistics, 24/7 customer support, integration with other apps, customer and inventory management.
4. WooCommerce
If you aren’t too keen on spending money on e-commerce platforms, you might want to try WooCommerce. WooCommerce is a free open-source e-commerceplugin designed for WordPress. When plugged in, it turns your WordPress website into an online store.
You’ll have all the creative freedom to customize your website. However, you may need some technical knowledge to design your website using WooCommerce.Users will be able to upload an unlimited number of products, integrate with more than 400 applications, and manage shipping and inventory.
5. Squarespace
Squarespace is ideal for very small businesses – whether you’re a one-man show or you only sell a few products. While you may know Squarespace as a website builder, they do have an e-commerce platform that enables users to supervise day-to-day operations, like shipping and inventory, managing customers, recover abandoned shopping cards, and sell subscriptions. They also offer 24/7 customer support, free cloud-hosting, sales analytics, and marketing tools.
These e-commerce platforms will help you build your website, showcase your products and/or services, and then sell them to your target market. If you need help in starting an online business, SMB Compass is dedicated to helping small business owners succeed in their business ventures. Feel free to contact them through email at [email protected] or via phone at (646) 569-9496.
