Fundamentally, e-commerce platforms are the backbone of any online retail enterprise, allowing the front-end and back-end to work efficiently in tandem. Because this selection determines so many components for a D2C brand, it’s a decision that should not be taken lightly. In fact, it may be one of the most crucial decisions you will make in the early stages of your e-commerce adventure. To build an e-commerce business, you need to use a third-party platform. Sure, you can sell products independently through a custom-built website, but to truly scale your operation, you’ll need an e-commerce platform at some point.
Some of the top e-commerce store platforms of 2021 are:
- Shopify
- Wix
- SquareSpace
- Magneto
- WooCommerce
In this blog post, we’ll look into each of these platforms, describe their features, and weigh their pros and cons, so you can decide which platform is most suitable for your business.
Shopify
Shopify is one of the world’s leading online e-commerce platforms and online stores, currently hosting over a million e-commerce businesses. The Shopify platform provides a suite of solutions to online retailers, including payment, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools.
Shopify is a fully integrated e-commerce solution that offers pre-built online stores for all your business’ needs.
Features:
STARTING YOUR BUSINESS
Shopify assists new businesses in getting started by providing a variety of branding tools. These tools help you create and amplify your online presence through web domains, store themes, and stock images
ONLINE STORE SETUP
With the Drag-And-Drop Page Builder, you can easily customize your store and have it ready to sell within minutes by selecting from over 70 free and professional themes. Because all Shopify themes are mobile-friendly, your customers will have a consistent experience no matter how they browse your store.
STORE MANAGEMENT
Shopify gives you a comprehensive store dashboard with insightful sales metrics. With Shopify’s tools, you get a holistic and detailed view of your business to better understand sales, orders, and customers to tailor your products and marketing. You can also use Shopify mobile apps to keep track of your store and boost your lifetime value and recurring revenue.
SELLING
Shopify makes selling online easy and simple. Shopify’s connection with Oberlo gives users access to powerful selling features and integrated drop shipping tools to start selling.
Pros:
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Fast website load time
- 24/7 available support services
- Built-in App Store
- 14-day free trial, no credit card required
Cons:
- Needs third-party app for international currency
- Limited customization features
- Extra transaction fees on all non-Shopify payments
Wix
Wix is a feature-rich e-commerce website builder hosting 160 million websites. Wix allows you to quickly create an e-commerce website and take advantage of unique features for small business owners, such as reservation and booking capabilities. Wix is the best option for small businesses due to its simple website builder and robust features.
Features:
EASY STORE CUSTOMIZATION
Wix lets you design your store exactly how you want it, with over 500 templates to suit any e-commerce business. You can even use the built-in mobile editor to design your storefront for mobile optimization. You will also have access to open APIs and Velo by Wix, which will allow you to quickly connect your tools to create custom solutions ranging from ERPs to fulfillment services.
WIX’S ARTIFICIAL DESIGN INTELLIGENCE TOOLS
Wix’s drag-and-drop editor or Wix artificial design intelligence (ADI) tool can help you create a beautiful website. With ADI, you simply answer a few questions and Wix creates your website for you. After that, you can change the colors or theme and customize it according to your needs.
MULTICHANNEL SALES
Wix enables you to sell on a variety of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, e-Bay, and others from a single dashboard, allowing you to broaden your commercial reach with multiple sales channels.
INTERNATIONAL COMPATIBILITY
Make your company more appealing to a global audience. Wix Multilingual allows you to translate your store into 90+ languages, create local subdomains, and optimize all translated sites for SEO.
Pros:
- Multi-channel sales capabilities
- Beginner and small business-friendly
- Multilingual sites
- Advanced e-commerce and editing tools
Cons:
- Limited features on the Basic Plan
- No stock management alerts
- Problem of too many choices
SQUARESPACE
Squarespace offers website building software as well as a platform for establishing e-commerce businesses. Squarespace allows you to create a website in minutes by using drag-and-drop functionality.
Features:
STUNNING THEMES
Squarespace offers hundreds of high-quality templates that can be easily customized to create a one-of-a-kind website. SquareSpace allows you to create the most visually appealing websites by providing a large selection of web fonts and access to all of Unsplash’s image libraries for stock images.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Adding and editing products for sale on your SquareSpace-built store is brilliantly simple. In fact, you can get a product onto your site with just a few clicks. You can also add a lot of detail to your products, such as custom stock-keeping units, sizing and weight options. You can even import products from other services, such as Shopify, Big Cartel, Etsy, or via a.csv file.
Pros:
- Beautiful themes and professional designs
- Excellent inventory system and analytical tools
- Easy to use
Cons:
- No Multi-Channel Selling
- Limited Library of Integrations
- Lack of apps and extensions
MAGENTO
Magneto is an open -source e-commerce platform, one of the largest in the world. An open-source software (OSS) is software that is distributed with its source code, making it available for public use, modification, and distribution with its original rights. Built for businesses, Magento gives you complete control over your website, allowing your web developer to create an extremely unique presence while maintaining server autonomy. The platform combines rich, out-of-the-box functionality, enterprise performance and scale, and powerful business tools to keep you ahead of increasingly complex commerce operations and growing customer demands.
Features:
SEO CENTERED
Magneto has several options to make search engine optimization run smoothly for your business. The SEO features include the generation of Google Sitemaps, automatically sorting popular searches, search engine-friendly URLs, and faster loading options.
TOOLS FOR ADVETISING AND MARKETING
Magento not only manages your online store smoothly, but also assists you with promotion, marketing, and conversion. It provides a plethora of tools to help you with your advertising. These tools include promotional pricing, distribution, coupon codes across email and newsletters, promotion of new product lists, landing page tools for PPC, and much more.
SITE MANAGEMENT
Magneto allows users to control multiple websites and stores within a single installation. You can control sites from an admin panel and share only required information. It also provides multiple customizable templates with a variety of language and currency options. Not to mention, it supports integration with various third-party apps and extensions, which you can use to automate your store.
Pros:
- Open-source software is free
- High flexibility and limitless customization
- Best for search engine optimization
- SEO Friendly
Cons:
- Requires web design and development skills
- Expensive hosted sites
WOOCOMMERCE
WooCommerce is a free and open-source WordPress e-commerce plugin. It is intended for small to medium-sized online merchants who use WordPress. With WooCommerce, your WordPress website can be transformed into a fully functional e-commerce store in just a few clicks.
Features:
FLEXIBLE AND SECURE PAYMENTS
WooCommerce is pre-configured to accept major credit cards, bank transfers (BACS), checks, and cash on delivery. Aside from the fundamentals, there are 140 region-specific gateways to choose from and integrate with, such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay. Subscriptions and deposits are also supported.
ON THE GO ORDER MANAGEMENT
The WooCommerce dashboard provides a familiar interface for store managers to update products and fulfill orders. With WooCommerce, you can save time with automated tax calculations, live shipping rates from leading carriers, and the ability to print labels at home. You can even use the WooCommerce mobile app for iOS and Android to manage your business on the go and create products, process orders, and keep an eye on key stats in real-time.
JETPACK SECURITY
Jetpack can help you secure your site by allowing authenticated customer logins, prevent spam and brute force attacks, and increase site speed. Backups, downtime alerts, and tax and shipping services are also included. The best thing about this feature is that it is completely free!
Pros:
- Free and Open Source
- Resourceful Mobile App
- Optimal Security including Jetpack
Cons:
- Most benefits are limited to expensive Premium Extensions
- WordPress knowledge is a must
At Fulfyld, we offer integrations with all top e-commerce platforms. Our team of integration specialists can easily merge your store with Fulfyld’s software. Contact us now to learn more about our services!
