Melissa How
Melissa How is a Marketing Consultant based in Melbourne, Australia. She has 20 years experience driving growth through best practice Digital Marketing.
2024 will be an exciting year for eCommerce startups. The eCommerce market is expected to reach $5.4 trillion in global revenue by...
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2024 will be an exciting year for eCommerce startups. The eCommerce market is expected to reach $5.4 trillion in global revenue by the end of this year. And Choosing the Best eCommerce Platform for Your Start-up can be a bit Tricky.
So, if you are an entrepreneur looking to start a new eCommerce business, this is a pretty good time to do so. And one of the first things you need to do is choose the best eCommerce platform for your startup.
Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and BigCommerce promise to provide all the tools you need to create a top-notch website and start selling your products.
But how can you decide which platform is the best for you? Well, parameters like price, scalability, popularity, and usability can help you make the right decision.
In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of the four best eCommerce platforms on the market and help you decide which one is best for your budget, needs, and preferences.
For most startups, it is important to choose an eCommerce platform that allows the business to scale, has numerous eCommerce features, and comes at an affordable price. After extended research, we concluded that the best platforms on the market are:
Let's have a look at the features each platform provides for eCommerce startups.
Shopify easily made it onto our list of the best eCommerce platforms for new businesses. It's not for nothing that millions of startups rely on Shopify.
The platform offers customizable themes (pre-built templates) and numerous plugins (software extensions) that allow you to create an eCommerce website quickly and efficiently.
Although this is one of the most beginner-friendly platforms on the market, Shopify is not as scalable as WooCommerce.
Nevertheless, Shopify (like most platforms) is a subscription-based service that lets you implement numerous payment gateways, your social media accounts, external marketplaces (e.g., eBay, Facebook Marketplace), and much more.
Like Shopify, Wix is a trusted eCommerce platform that lets you create a fully responsive website for your business.
Wix is also a good choice for eCommerce businesses with a small budget, as the platform's payment plans are significantly cheaper than Shopify's.
On the other hand, Wix does not have millions of plugins that you can integrate into your website. This makes the platform less attractive for those who need to scale their eCommerce startup quickly.
Still, the platform allows you to integrate marketing strategies, such as email marketing and monetizing your website with ads.
WooCommerce is a standalone software developed by the most popular content management system on the market, WordPress. You can easily install WooCommerce on any web server like Bluehost and HostGator.
The biggest advantage of WooCommerce is that it is part of your WordPress website. So, with this software, you can easily create a professional eCommerce store and integrate multiple payment gateways for your customers.
WooCommerce is also a great platform if you want to implement inbound marketing strategies for top-of-funnel content.
Apart from the scalability that WooCommerce offers, the platform is also more SEO-friendly, since you can install plugins like YoastSEO and SEMRush.
The only downside of WooCommerce is that it has a steep learning curve for beginners compared to Shopify and Wix. A professional website developer is a must.
With BigCommerce you can create a website to list, advertise, sell, and optimize your products. In a few words, BigCommerce is a smart choice for startups that need to integrate multiple marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.
With this subdomain and hosting platform, you'll also be able to sell your products through multiple payment gateways and create discounts and coupons for your customers in a matter of minutes.
So, if you need a platform to showcase your passion and creativity, BigCommerce is a great choice.
Although BigCommerce is quite a beginner-friendly platform, it is also one of the most expensive business solutions on the market. But if you need an all-rounder platform that will help you scale your eCommerce business, this is a good choice.
Yo!Kart is a scalable, self-hosted multi vendor marketplace solution for startups, small-medium businesses, and enterprises to start an eCommerce marketplace. The solution is inherently designed to deliver a readymade marketplace like Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy, and eBay with all essential eCommerce features out of the box.
Yo!Kart has an in-built product inventory management system, automated tax management system, streamlined shipping management module, and more. Also, there are individual dashboards for the admin and seller, in-built SEO tools, reporting/analytic tools, and 20+ payment methods.
Yo!Kart has ready-made mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms. The solution is fully customizable and the pricing starts at $999 for the base package. It is a one-time fee that offers a lifetime license, source code ownership, and up to 12 months of free technical support.
Also, Yo!Kart team has recently launched a B2B marketplace solution with in-build B2B functionalities like RFQ, minimum order quantity, and so on. The pricing for Yo!Kart B2B starts from $1499.
Since all 4 platforms we presented above are used by millions of eCommerce startups around the world, the question is how to choose the best one for you.
Well, for that you can compare them in terms of popularity, features, ease of use, price, and customer support. Let's have a look at each of these crucial parameters.
Contrary to what many believe, Shopify is not currently the most popular eCommerce platform. In fact, WooCommerce (as of Q1, 2024) has a market share of about 25%. But does that automatically make WooCommerce the best choice for your startup?
Well, probably not. Remember, you are about to start a new eCommerce business. Although WooCommerce is a top-notch platform, it's not exactly beginner friendly.
Shopify, Wix, and BigCommerce are also becoming more popular by the day. So, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform. But the features that each platform provides are more important than its popularity.
The features each platform offers allow you to scale your eCommerce startup, integrate the expertise of your digital marketing team, and ultimately increase your conversion rates.
First of all, you can sell as many products as you need on the 4 platforms selected in this blog post. Since the eCommerce-related features each platform offers are extensive, take a look at the table below for more information:
It becomes clear that all the selected platforms have numerous features that will help you create and run your eCommerce startup. In terms of scalability, WooCommerce and BigCommerce are a step ahead due to the numerous plugins they offer.
Nevertheless, Shopify has developed the most comprehensive POS (Point of Selling) system on the market. This means that with Shopify you'll have all the important features you need without having to pay for additional eCommerce tools/plugins.
This is why Shopify wins this round.
To examine the usability of each eCommerce platform, we considered some key features:
When it comes to the dashboard of each platform, Shopify and Wix are the most beginner friendly. WooCommerce and BigCommerce's dashboards can be a bit overwhelming for inexperienced users.
Adding and optimizing your products is also very easy on both Wix and Shopify. On the other hand, WooCommerce and BigCommerce are great choices when it comes to handling your conversions and fulfilling orders.
All in all, we think Shopify is by far the most beginner-friendly eCommerce platform on the market. But the difference is not as big as some might think.
We know how important it is for a startup to stick to a certain budget. That's why pricing is an important parameter when choosing an eCommerce platform for your business.
Fortunately, prices for eCommerce platforms have come down due to strong competition. All the platforms reviewed in this guide offer different plans depending on your needs:
Although Shopify has no hidden costs (for additional plugins, etc.), WooCommerce and Wix are also very affordable platforms. Therefore, there is no clear winner on this parameter.
Since building a new eCommerce store is not easy, it is very important to have top-notch customer support on your side. To make a long story short: The only platform that does not offer live, 24/7 support is WooCommerce.
Shopify, Wix, and BigCommerce offer live support that you can use at any time:
Remember that there are numerous tips and tricks that you can use as a new entrepreneur who wants to open an eCommerce store.
In summary, all four eCommerce platforms featured in this blog post can help you build and scale an online store. However, if you do not have any development skills and want to open a new eCommerce store, Shopify is probably the best choice.
On the other hand, for more experienced users, BigCommerce is the perfect premium all-rounder. And if you already have a WordPress website and need a fully scalable platform, you should go for WooCommerce.
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Melissa How is a Marketing Consultant based in Melbourne, Australia. She has 20 years experience driving growth through best practice Digital Marketing.
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