What is E-commerce?
We can think of e-commerce as an online marketplace where you can buy and sell products and services. It is done through a website where customers can buy products and services, such as tickets, books, or clothes. The e-commerce industry is one of the most innovative industries in this era of globalization. Products are instantly shipped to customers’ doorsteps with just a few clicks on their computer. With just a few dollars paid for shipping costs, customers can purchase goods that would have cost them significantly more if they were to go to the store themselves. In today’s digital world, e-commerce, as a distinct type of business has grown enormously. It is now an integral part of the retail industry and retail marketing.
There are three types of e-commerce:
- Retail stores that sell products online to consumers, called “bricks-and-clicks” or “offline-to-online” shops;
- Websites that allow consumers to browse products but can’t buy them (called “showrooming”);
- Websites that allow consumers to purchase products (called “pureplay”).
Following are the top 10 e-commerce platforms in 2022:
BigCommerce
There are a lot of e-commerce platforms but Big-commerce is the best among them. It has the fastest search engine which makes it perfect for big retailers. BigCommerce is also the best option for those business owners who want to go for E-commerce to expand their sales. It has got top tools for all kinds of online operations. There are buyer centred templates in BigCommerce, some of which are free while others can be purchased.
BigCommerce is also economical having affordable plans which start from 29.95 per month. Furthermore, there are also gift cards, bandwidth without any limit, and check out codes provided by Bigcommerce.
Advantages of BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce is modifiable which means that you can change your plans according to your needs and requirements
- It has the best SEO performance
- Comes with extraordinary theme styles.
- Has unlimited cart features.
Disadvantages of BigCommerce:
- One of the biggest problems with BigCommerce is its expensive stores
- There is no one-click selling and upsells in BigCommerce.
Shopify
If you are planning for a small scale store and don’t want to rely on SEO optimisation, then Shopify is the best place for you. You should also go for Shopify if you are relying on Facebook advertisements or if you are using Instagram marketing. However, if you are running a big store having a lot of products, you should opt for other platforms like BigCommerce which supports large scale businesses.
There are some areas where Shopify is better than BigCommerce. It supports one-click upsells which is not supported in BigCommerce. Similarly, it is also a better option for you as a beginner in online business because creating and managing a store on Shopify is very easy. Shopify adds up extra charges on transactions if you are using a payment method other than Shopify’s payment method which is not liked by many users. Here’s how you can start a Shopify store easily today.
Advantages of Shopify:
- The fast speed of processing makes Shopify the best platform.
- better than other E-commerce platforms in terms of its easy set-up method.
- provides you with the one-click option of selling and upselling.
- has attractive themes and designs.
Disadvantages of Shopify:
- Shopify does not provide better SEO results.
- The users can not customise checkout processes on Shopify.
- can be more costly than other platforms.
Wix
Wix is currently one of the top E-commerce platforms in the world. But it was not so great a few years back. Commentators would not recommend it to e-commerce users because it was new in the market. It was not found even in the top hundred E-commerce platforms. However, it has grown so fast that it became one of the top ten E-commerce spaces. It is specially designed for small businesses that want to start an online business. Wix has dramatically improved its features in a short period like drop-shipping options, multi-channel integrations and abandoned cart recovery.
As Wix offers only 20GB of space (limited space), it is not recommended for businesses that have a lot of products and have to manage large scale operations. But in terms of designs and themes, Wix offers the most alluring designs and attractive themes for its users.
Benefits of Wix:
- Get thousands of free extra-ordinary themes.
- The setup method and overall usage are very easy.
- It has a live support option for its users.
Disadvantages of using Wix:
- Although Wix has evolved its SEO ratings still it does not have good SEO results.
- Difficult to customise templates on Wix
3dcart
Founded in 2001, 3dcart is one of the oldest E-commerce platforms in the market. The platform has maintained a good reputation in terms of serving more than thirty thousand businesses online. It is famous for providing economical services because it has no transaction charges. It is also famous for its unlimited space for large scale businesses. 3dcart also help you with multichannel selling.
Although 3dcart is the oldest one, it does not compete with BigCommerce and Shopify because of the relatively unappealing and outdated features. However, if we look in general terms, it is still better than many other E-commerce platforms because it has some out of the box and characteristic features.
Advantages of 3dcart:
- best management tools for its users.
- supports business integrations which is the requirement of business owners.
- top blog features as compared to other E-commerce providers.
Disadvantages of 3dcart:
- Does not provide any extra-ordinary templates.
- Many users have complained about its customer support feature.
- Does not support beginner businesses
WooCommerce
If you are a business owner and looking for better SEO performance, WooCommerce is the best place for you. Furthermore, it is also cheap because it provides free services to its users excluding some of its expensive WordPress themes.
However, its users have complained about slow speed when there are more products and customer operations. Moreover, WooCommerce also has affiliate sites. It also collaborates with WordPress which help you turn your site into an e-commerce store. But the problem with WooCommerce is that some users don’t know how to use WordPress which makes it hard for them to tackle the technicalities of the WooCommerce platform. They won’t be able to set up their WordPress account and customise their themes easily. But in general, WooCommerce is good for businesses to avail online services for their growth.
Advantages of WooCommerce:
- WooCommerce has the best SEO performance because it collaborates with WordPress.
- Has a one-click selling feature.
- Highly customisable for better performance.
- It provides a lot of options to its users.
Disadvantages of WooCommerce:
- You may encounter troubleshooting issues in it.
- Almost no virtual customer support.
- Hosting can be expensive on WooCommerce.
Note: Buy discounted Domain and Hosting
Also, Read The best keyword research tools to help increase your website traffic and What makes your e-commerce business unique.
Volusion
If you are running a business selling physical products and you want to start online services, then Volusion is the best place for you. This is among the old E-commerce providers and was launched in 2002. Volusion is the best platform for setting up your website easily. The platform has some good free themes and a lot of purchasable premium themes. The menu bar is simply structured which makes it easier for its users to manage their store.
It is not considered very good by many users because of its lack of blogging abilities, which means you will have to buy blogging services from another platform like WordPress for your store. But Volusion is going through a lot of improvements which can make it better for its users in the future.
Advantages of Volusion:
- The best customer support and help centre feature makes it the best E-commerce platform.
- It also has on-page payment and subscription options.
- It has the best-structured menu bar.
Disadvantages of Volusion:
- Does not support cross-selling options.
- Has a poor URL.
- Has a slower SaaS system.
- No blogging feature of its own.
Prestashop
The overall ratings of Prestashop are not very high but still, it has a lot of characteristic benefits for its users. It is an open E-commerce platform that is cloud-hosted. It is free for its users which makes it one of the best options for business owners. Its SEO performance is also good. Although it is free, you will still have to pay for an SSL certificate and web hosting and stuff, which might become costly for you.
It has a simple menu bar which makes it easy for users to manage their operations. It also provides many free themes but the customization of themes requires technical skills because there is a drag and drop feature in Prestashop.
Advantages of Prestashop:
- Offers hundreds of applications for its users.
- Good reputation regarding SEO.
- Very flexible because of being open source.
- Better customer help team.
Disadvantages of Prestashop:
- Relatively slower than its competitors because of being open source.
- After buying certificates and modules, it can become expensive.
- It needs some technical skills which many business owners lack.
Weebly
If SEO optimisation is not your concern and you are looking for a simple store online, Weebly is a good option for you. This has built-in automation marketing. Weebly assists small scale business owners and those who lack technical skills. It does not require its users to hire experts for running their online stores because of its simple usage methods. Furthermore, it also has three types of packages for its users depending upon their budgets. Those who want to get all relevant features for their online store and want to get good speed, then they should avail its higher package while small scale businesses can go for starter package to save money.
Advantages of Weebly:
- Weebly has got the best value for its users.
- The minimum cost for e-commerce marketing automation.
- Simple menu bar for its users.
- Offers you its mobile app for easy access.
Disadvantages of Weebly:
- Additional charges for transactions through Weebly.
- Bad reputation for SEO performance.
Squarespace
This was launched in 2003. Squarespace has low charges and overall good services and has some really good designs. It also supports ‘drag and drop’ options which makes it easier for the users to manage their stores without any expert. Its packages start from USD 18 per month with 3% extra charges on transactions. It is also considered easy to set up the platform. It is loved by those business owners who want to create a simple online store. However, it has got limitations when it comes to payment options and gateways.
Advantages of Squarespace:
- Simple and easy to use.
- Assists simple stores to go online.
- Has very good design capabilities.
- Good reputation for SEO performance.
Disadvantages of Squarespace:
- Does not support drop shipping.
- Speed is also relatively slower.
- Doesn’t have integration with Amazon.
Magento
It is considered one of the biggest and most trustworthy E-commerce platforms. It is trusted by many large brands like Adidas, Nike and Puma etc. it has got free as well paid packages for its users. The free package also has a lot best features that can help you run your e-commerce smoothly. But the paid package is an expensive one but comes with a really fast speed. It has got a lot of on-page features for its users like recurring payments and subscription options etc. Business owners consider it the best for those business owners who are looking for better SEO performance. It supports one-click selling.
Its free package sometimes gets slower due to load. It also requires expertise to deal with its complexities. The best part of Magento is its customer support. It has a lot of active experts who are willing to answer any sort of questions from the users.
Advantages of Magento:
- One of the fastest E-commerce platforms.
- Supports one-click selling.
- Magento is customisable for its users’ needs.
Disadvantages of Magento:
- Has very expensive themes.
- Gets slowed when there are a lot of operations at the same time.
- It requires technical and development skills.
