If you’re launching an e-commerce platform, these are the top 5 platforms you’re going to want to consider as you build your online business.
Shopify hosts over 325,000 active online shops and with its focus on social commerce and mobile shopping, the platform continues to evolve to meet the growing requirements of online stores.
Despite these advantages, there are some important downsides with the platform. First, if you don’t use Shopify Payment, there will be an additional transaction fee on every sale. Plus, many of the extensions for additional functionality aren’t free, so, running your store on Shopify might cost a little more than you expected. Lastly, Shopify has its own coding language called ‘Liquid’, so any customization in the system comes at an additional expense.
For beginners with conventional requirements, Shopify remains the ideal ecommerce solution. Based on your budget requirements, you can choose different packages which range from $29 to $299/month. But if you have unique features and functionalities in mind for your store, it might be better to look elsewhere.
Launched in 2009, BigCommerce currently hosts over 55,000 online stores and is among the leading ecommerce software providers. From big names like Martha Stewart & Toyota to SMEs, the platform ideally caters to stores of all sizes. And considering the comprehensive list of built in features it offers, BigCommerce is often considered the best option for those who have little to no technical knowledge, or simply don’t have time to mess with the code.
For an even more in depth view, see my interview with Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce:
One concern with BigCommerce is the lack of free themes. Currently it offers only 7 free themes, while most of their immediate competitors offer more than 20 free themes. However, the platform has a comprehensive list of premium themes, and it also allows customization of these themes if you want to give your store an entirely unique look and feel.
If you want a full-fledged store, but don’t want the hassles of integrating plug-ins, editing HTML/CSS or other code, then BigCommerce is definitely the go-to ecommerce platform for you. If you are willing to compromise a bit on themes, then BigCommerce is a strong alternative to Shopify at roughly the same pricing (BigCommerce’s plans are between $29 and $199/month) without the incremental transaction fees.
With almost one-fourth of the market share, Magento is often considered the market leader among ecommerce platforms. For its reliability and scalability, many popular brands use Magento as the underlying technology for their online stores, including Burger King, Huawei, Pepe Jeans & Liverpool F.C. This platform is considered the best ecommerce platform for enterprise level online stores.
For an even more in-depth view, see my interview with Mark Lavelle, CEO of Magento.
One of the critical factors associated with Magento is the pricing of its versions. The basic Community version is free, while the advanced Enterprise version costs a minimum $20,000/year. Needless to say, the Community version is no match for the Enterprise version, which offers many built in high-end features such as customer segmentation, a support module, 24/7 support and a much more.
Additionally, the flexible, open source nature of the platform also makes it quite complex, so you need very competent developers for customization. So even with the Community version -considering hosting, SSL, extensions, customization, etc. – it will likely cost you significant time and money to get your ecommerce store exactly as you want it.
Magento is considered the right ecommerce platform for enterprise-level merchants with a large volume of products. Given the complexity of store setup and management with Magento, the platform is not recommended for beginners.
With its feature richness and smart pricing models, YoKart is built with a specific focus on helping startups build ecommerce ecosystem easily. Think of it as the one-stop solution for launching multi-vendor stores like eBay and Etsy. Although many other ecommerce platforms also provide their multi-vendor version, YoKart does this seamlessly.
Being a relatively new entrant in the industry, there are no third-party extensions currently available for YoKart. But the system offers built in analytics tool, over a dozen supported payment gateways, rewards and discount coupon management features. A big drawback, however, is its lack of social commerce capabilities, meaning that that it currently lacks the features to allow merchants to sell on Facebook and other social media platforms.
For multi-vendor stores such as eBay and Etsy, YoKart is a great choice. Its startup package is a hosted solution with one-year license, which costs $250 and allows startups to verify their business model. The advanced version is self-hosted, customizable, costs $999 (one time), and is intended for companies who have a sound business model. Switching from a startup to an advanced package is also quite easy.
With the slogan ‘We believe in the artist’, Big Cartel targets artists & other small-scale home-based businesses run by individuals. The platform claims to have helped over a million artists in selling their creations online since it launched in 2005. This extremely simple to use hosted system is often regarded as the best ticket for artists and other creative people to enter the ecommerce arena.
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The simplicity of Big Cartel also results in limited functionality, which is definitely a downside for those who want to do more than just sell products. Big Cartel’s theme library is limited to 12 themes, out of which only 2 are responsive (meaning optimized for mobile devices). There are limited add-ons; however, store owners can get access to 500+ apps via Zapier integration.
These challenges are due to the fact that Big Cartel targets a very specific segment, so, some of them can be overlooked. Currently, it only offers social commerce for Facebook. Given its target audience (artists & creative individuals), it will likely include other social networks in the future (or at least it should).
As stated previously, this platform is ideal for individual artists and creative people (not for typical retailers). With its simplistic stores and economical pricing ($0 to $29.99/month), Big Cartel allows artists to sell things online easily with a good-looking website, thereby allowing artist to focus on creating things instead of managing their online store.
The growing dominance of mobile and social media shows no sign of slowing down. Using social and mobile platforms as vehicles to reach new customers and drive more sales is a critical aspect to any ecommerce platform in 2017 and beyond.
While searching for an ecommerce solution, be sure to check whether the platform will allow you to capitalize on these trends and that the selected ecommerce platform aligns with the projected needs and goals of your business.
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