There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of ecommerce platforms, but what do you do if you don’t know how to choose the right one for your online store?
Well…
You’ve come to the right place!
I wrote a full article about the 10 best ecommerce platforms for online stores in 2022.
And that’s not all.
We’ve analysed each platform and extracted the relevant information for you, such as: price, main features and disadvantages you may encounter. We’ve put them in a random order, so the decision is yours.
In addition, we’ve created a section on how to choose the right platform for your online shop, depending on your business needs, even if you have no experience in the field.
And finally…
I’ve added a useful checklist you can use anytime!
Sound good?
Then let’s see what you’ll learn from this article:
- E-commerce platform: what does it mean?
- Free vs. paid e-commerce platforms
- TOP 10 e-commerce platforms for your online shop
- How to choose the right e-commerce platform for your online shop: useful checklist
- As a conclusion…
What do you say we get started?
Ecommerce platform: what does it mean?
An ecommerce platform is a software application that gives you the ability to create and manage your online store, list products and get sales.
In addition, the right e-commerce platform gives you a lot of useful features and marketing tools to grow your business.
Types of ecommerce platforms: open-source, SaaS or custom
Now, you should know that there are several types of platforms through which you can create or host your online store, and each variant has its own advantages and disadvantages.
For this reason, it’s important to understand what they look like and what your options are, to find out which platform is right for you.
So.
Let’s get it going:
Open-source ecommerce platforms
Open-source platforms refer to those platforms that make their source code freely available to users.
Basically, all you have to do is download the source code from the developer’s website and modify it until your site looks the way you want it to.
To do this, you need programming skills and a pretty big budget.
Open-source platforms are recommended for businesses that need a detailed customised online store and for owners who want to have full control over its functionality.
Advantages:
- You enjoy free versions that include the basic functionality you need;
- You don’t pay a monthly subscription;
- Around every large open-source platform, there is a community that is constantly improving the platform;
- You get advanced customization options;
- You have control over your platform;
- You can integrate various extensions and services.
Disadvantages:
- Implementation takes quite a long time;
- The cost of deployment is higher, especially when you add extensions or premium features;
- You have to deal with everything from maintenance to security to back-up;
- It’s essential to have programming skills or hire a freelancer or specialist company to help you;
- You need a hosting service.
SaaS ecommerce platforms
Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms are platforms created by other companies that you can use to create and host your online store for a fee.
Compared to open-source platforms, here you don’t have access to the source code of the application, and access is on a monthly subscription basis.
SaaS platforms are the cheapest and fastest solution and are recommended for small businesses that don’t need advanced customization.
Advantages:
- You can purchase online stores “turnkey”;
- You enjoy low costs with payment as a monthly subscription;
- You get fast set-up;
- Platform administrators handle updates, maintenance and security;
- You get support;
- It’s all simple, so you don’t need hosting or a freelancer to help you.
Disadvantages:
- Control is held by the owners of that platform;
- You don’t have access to the source code, which is why if you ever decide to change platforms and want to migrate to a custom or open-source platform, you don’t have that option;
- Reduced customization options.
Custom ecommerce platforms
Before the advent of these specialized solutions for online stores, entrepreneurs had to build their own platforms to host their online stores.
This meant months of development and hours of maintenance and optimization with their own IT team.
Well, the same is true now.
Because of this, custom platforms have become an expensive solution that takes a long time to implement.
And today, very few companies are turning to this option.
Now that you’ve seen the different types of e-commerce platforms, let’s take a look at the most popular options to choose from!
10 ecommerce platforms for your online store
Type: SaaS
Suitable for: small business, big business
MerchantPro is a Romanian e-commerce platform, with over 5000 stores opened through it.
In 2020, the company saw a 300% increase in the number of new accounts opened, and for some time now customers have been able to enjoy integration with the Emag marketplace.
Now, no matter what your business, on MerchantPro you can open an online store anytime, simply and quickly.
Price: 0€ – 110€ per month
Advantages:
- Easy to use;
- Intuitive;
- Optimized for SEO;
- Fast deployment;
- Pay as a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Customer support included, even for the free version of the platform;
- Fast order processing;
- Inventory functions;
- Mobile optimization;
- Multiple editing options;
- Features for offers and discount coupons;
- Useful statistics;
- Features for customer loyalty and getting sales;
- Integration with Google tools such as Google Analytics.
Disadvantages:
Over time, transitioning to another platform (if that will be the case) may be difficult;
Limited customization options compared to an open-source or custom platform.
Type: SaaS
Suitable for: small business, big business
Shopify is also a SaaS platform, suitable for many types of businesses.
At the same time, it’s the perfect platform for dropshipping (see here what dropshipping is and how you can do it too), as well as on multiple channels and marketplaces.
Thus, not infrequently, Shopify has been declared as one of the best e-commerce platforms in the world.
Price: 29 – $300 per month
Advantages:
- Free 14-day trial period;
- Easy to use;
- Intuitive;
- Optimized for SEO;
- Fast deployment;
- Pay as a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Customer support;
- Integration with Facebook, Ebay, Amazon, Google and so on;
- POS;
- Variety of themes and design options;
- Mobile optimization;
- Editing options;
- Integration with various payment processors;
- Abandoned shopping cart recovery function;
- Integration with Apple Pay, Paypal, Amazon and others.
Disadvantages:
- High prices for stores selling a wide range of products;
- Reduced theme customization options.
Type: SaaS
Suitable for: small business, big business
BigCommerce is a feature-rich e-commerce platform that helps online store owners sell their products.
Although not as popular as Shopify, BigCommerce is a solution of choice for a lot of businesses, from a variety of industries.
Price: 29.95 – $299.95 per month
Advantages:
- Free 30-day trial period;
- 24/7 customer support;
- Integration with Facebook, Ebay, Amazon, Google Shopping, etc.;
- Intuitive;
- Payment in the form of a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Optimized for SEO;
- Useful stats;
- Multiple customization options;
- Inventory functions;
- Variety of templates;
- Multiple payment integrations and solutions.
Disadvantages:
- Higher prices for stores selling a wide range of products;
- Some features are Android only;
- Can be difficult to use;
- Inconsistent loading speed.
Tip: SaaS
Suitable for: small business
Wix is a popular platform among small, start-up businesses.
This is a relatively new e-commerce platform that provides users with lots of themes and templates that can be customized, simply and quickly.
Price: 23 – $49 per month
Advantages:
- Intuitive;
- Payment in the form of a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Easy to use;
- Variety of templates and themes;
- Multiple customization options;
- Fast deployment;
- Marketing automation;
- Customer support;
- Possibility to sell on Instagram;
- Variety of integrations with other apps;
- Function to create campaigns to recover abandoned shopping cart;
- Ability to create multilingual sites for different countries.
Disadvantages:
- Lack of basic inventory management functions;
- Lack of optimization for SEO;
- Lack of a large number of integrations with other platforms;
- Lack of stock management alerts.
Tip: SaaS
Suitable for: Small businesses, businesses that don’t sell a lot of products
Squarespace is an easy-to-use e-commerce platform that relies on drag and drop functionality.
With Squarespace, you can build your online store quickly and easily, and more!
They provide all kinds of free tools, such as the one where you can create your own logo.
Price: 12 – $54 per month
Advantages:
- Easy to use;
- Intuitive;
- Payment in the form of a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Optimized for SEO;
- 24/7 customer support;
- Multiple integrations with different platforms;
- Variety of templates with useful design;
- POS;
- Useful statistics;
- Mobile optimization;
Disadvantages:
- Integrations with limited payment solutions;
- You can’t dropship.
Tip: SaaS
Suitable for: small business, big business
unosoft is a 100% Romanian platform that offers multiple options and services for those who want to open an online store.
From technical support, to design, marketing services, bots and other useful applications included.
Price: 27€ – 97€ per month
Advantages:
- Easy to use;
- Intuitive;
- Payment in the form of a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Optimized for SEO;
- SEO tools included;
- Gobo Automation;
- Multiple payment method integrations;
- Customer support;
- Free SSL certificate;
- Integrated email marketing tools;
- Function to create campaigns to retrieve abandoned shopping cart;
- Customer loyalty tools;
- Optimized for mobile;
- Integration with Emag marketplace and other useful apps;
- Product recommendations feature;
- Rapid deployment.
Disadvantages:
- Reduced variety of themes;
- Limited possibilities for specific customization.
Type: open-source
Suitable for: big business
PrestaShop is a completely free open-source e-commerce platform!
However, if you want customer support or other applications, you have to pay.
PrestaShop is a useful platform for medium to large businesses that need a custom online store in detail.
Price: free
Advantages:
- Large community around the company that can help you;
- Integration with Facebook, Ebay, Amazon, etc.;
- Inventory functions;
- Useful statistics;
- Optimized for SEO;
- Wide variety of themes to choose from;
- Features to attract customers;
- Integrations and multiple payment solutions;
- Ability to create multilingual sites, for different countries.
Disadvantages:
- You only get customer support if you pay;
- You need technical or programming skills or an agency/freelancer to help you;
- May run slower than other solutions on the market.
Type: SaaS
Suitable for: small business
Weebly is an e-commerce platform developed since 2006 with over 40 million customers.
It is based, like WIX or Squarespace, on drag and drop editing technology and includes several online marketing tools.
So if you need a platform for a simple store, Weebly may be the right choice for you.
Price: 12€ – 38€ per month
Advantages:
- Easy to use;
- Intuitive;
- Payment in the form of a monthly or annual subscription;
- Good price;
- Wide variety of themes and design options;
- Useful marketing tools;
- Optimized for mobile;
- Useful stats;
- Possibility to create a blog;
- Integrations with multiple payment solutions.
Disadvantages:
- Lack of optimization for SEO;
- Lack of integration with Amazon;
- Inventory management can be difficult;
- Charge a 3% fee for certain sales.
Tip: open-source
Suitable for: small business
OpenCart is an open-source e-commerce platform.
With OpenCart, you can create a customised online store for your business and sell to multiple countries.
Over time, you get updates and support from an entire community, free of charge.
Price: free
Advantages:
- Easy to use;
- Ability to create multilingual versions of the site to sell in different countries;
- Receive useful reports and statistics;
- Wide variety of plugins, themes and customization options;
- Ability to integrate your social media, Amazon or Ebay accounts into your online store;
- Compatible with almost all payment solutions such as Paypal, Amazon Payments and others;
- You can integrate your favourite delivery method.
Disadvantages:
- You need technical or programming knowledge or an agency/freelancer to help you;
- You only get customer support if you pay;
- A few users have reported security issues with some platform extensions;
- Customer checkout experience may be running slower.
Tip: SaaS
Suitable for: small business, big business
Blugento is another Romanian platform, based on Magento.
This one that offers a lot of options and integrations to entrepreneurs who want to open an online store.
Price: from 200€ per month
Advantages:
- Fast implementation;
- Customer support included;
- Optimized for all devices;
- Integrates with multiple payment solutions;
- Integrations with multiple courier solutions from Romania;
- Multiple customization options;
- Ability to list your products on Emag, Cel.ro, etc.;
- SEO optimization;
- Hosting included;
- SSL certificate included;
- Updates included;
- Useful statistics and reports;
- Newsletter function;
- Product comparison function;
- Possibility to create a blog.
Disadvantages:
Now that you know which are the most popular e-commerce platforms at the moment, let’s see how to choose the right platform for your business!
How to choose the right ecommerce platform for your online store: useful checklist
The decision you make now will affect your entire business in the long run.
That’s why it’s important to understand what your online store looks like and what are the key features you need.
As you’ve seen, there’s no perfect fit for every business.
Every business has its own needs, and every platform has unique features.
That’s why we’ve put together a useful checklist to help you make the best decision for your business.
So when choosing an e-commerce platform, consider:
- The goals you have, both short-term and long-term
- The niche in which you operate
- Type of products you sell
- Number of products you intend to sell
- Audience and marketing tools available on each platform
- Your budget and value for money
- Competition
- Time to implement and create an online store
- The level of security your platform offers and the available updates
- Locations where you can sell and languages in which you can set up an online shop
- Customer support
- Mobile optimization quality
- The level of online store customization you want to reach
- SEO optimization options
- Available integrations with other platforms
- Integrations available with courier solutions, billing solutions and online payment processors
- Functions for inventory management and order processing or tracking
- Ease of use and site load time
- The entire experience you can offer your customers, from A to Z
- Your future outlook: how much you want to grow your online store and increase the number of products you sell
Now, our advice is to think about each point in turn and jot down some ideas.
Then, depending on your goals and the needs you have, you’ll be able to make a decision that’s right for you and your business.
As a conclusion…
There are plenty of ecommerce platforms to choose from.
Nowadays, whether you want to do domestic or international ecommerce, there’s always a solution.
Whether it’s an open-source platform or a SaaS platform, it’s important to consider the specifics of your business and your long-term plans.
Once you’ve chosen the right option, you can start selling.
You’ll start processing orders and attracting more customers.
And then, if all goes well…
You’ll see your business grow, along with you!
