To build a powerful E-Commerce site, choosing the right technology platform is crucial. With the availability of multiple platforms in the market, it becomes challenging to decide which one aligns better with your business goals.
In this article, we will explore some of the best technology platforms for an E-Commerce site along with their characteristic features.
Important Features of an E-Commerce Platform
Important features to consider before selecting an E-Commerce platform:
To ease the selection process, we will first discuss some of the basic things which are important to consider before selecting a platform of choice. These include the following properties:
Hosting Environment
Hosting environment refers to the features like security, payment processing options and software set up that the E-commerce platform provides for its users. The availability of these characteristics of the hosting environment makes the selection of the right platform much easier.
Ease of developing website
One of the most important features to keep in mind before selecting a platform is the ease of crafting the website. For those who are not expert in web-designing, this becomes a major task. That’s why the user-friendly nature of any platform makes it a better option for users.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization SEO plays the most important role in the success and failure of an E-commerce site. SEO ranking depends upon multiple factors including keywords relevancy, mobile friendliness, pages-loading speed and more. So, those E-commerce platforms which provide built-in SEO tools become the ultimate choice for users.
Security
Securing the sensitive data of customers and merchants like contact details and payment information is the most important concern for the users. Those platforms which provide fool-proof security to websites ultimately become the right platform of choice.
Budget
All E-commerce platforms host multiple packages and it depends upon the user’s needs which platform they find cost-effective. Mostly, premium packages are provided for all-in-one services that include all the features within one package.
8 Best E-Commerce Platforms for an E-Commerce Site
Now, let’s delve into the details of some of the best technology platforms for an E-commerce site.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce positions itself in E-commerce as a platform designed for growth. It offers a comprehensive set of features that empower businesses to scale efficiently, making it an ideal choice for those with ambitious expansion plans.
Furthermore, one of the standout features of BigCommerce is its built-in capabilities for handling multi-channel selling. Whether you’re selling on your website, through social media, or on marketplaces like Amazon, BigCommerce streamlines the process, ensuring consistency across all channels.
Additionally, it provides a robust set of analytics tools, a number of payment solutions, unlimited bandwidth and expert help for customers in their businesses to make data-driven decisions. All of these features make it one of the best technology platforms for an E-commerce site.
Pricing
Its pricing list ranges from 39$ per month to 399$ per month.
Shopify
Shopify stands out as one of the most popular and user-friendly e-commerce platforms. It provides an all-in-one solution for businesses of all sizes.
Moreover, Shopify is renowned for its easy-to-use interface. It provides built-in explanations for designing the store, introducing a product and configuring payment options. In this way it allows even those with minimum technical expertise to set up and manage their online store efficiently.
Sometimes, its limited scalability and customization is taken as its drawback. However, it has a strong presence within the e-commerce era as it hosts millions of stores globally with comprehensive set up guides.
Pricing
Its pricing options range from 39$ per month to 399$ per month.
Magento
Magento is an open-source E-commerce platform known for its robust features like scalability, open-source customization, mobile-responsiveness and SEO-friendliness. It provides a comprehensive set of tools to create a fully customized and high-performing online store.
Additionally, key features of Magento include multi-store functionality, open- source customization, advanced scalability and a strong focus on performance. It may have a steeper learning curve as compared to some other platforms; however, the level of control and customization it offers makes it an excellent choice for large-scale e-commerce operations.
Its common drawback is its expensive set-up and lack of automatic features. Nevertheless, it is one of the best technology platforms for an E-commerce site.
Pricing
Its pricing range starts from 2000$ per month.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source platform that is characterized by a customizable WordPress plugin. It means its users can transform their blogs and websites into online storefronts.
Moreover, it offers a number of features, like Search Engine Optimization, multiple payment options and multichannel feasibility.
Furthermore, WooCommerce is an easy to use platform which provides built-in integration with WordPress. However, this sole reliance on Word Press is sometimes counted as its drawback.
Pricing
WooCommerce is a free-to-use platform. However, it costs 3$ to $5,000 per month as web hosting charges.
Squarespace
Squarespace is known for its intuitive design and user-friendly interface. While it’s often associated with website building, Squarespace also offers e-commerce functionality, making it an excellent choice for those who prioritize aesthetics and simplicity.
And, with a wide range of beautifully designed templates, Squarespace allows businesses to create visually stunning templates for online stores without the need for extensive technical expertise.
Main features of this program include built-in features for inventory management, order processing, and secure payments. Squarespace is an ideal solution for small businesses or individuals looking to start their
E-commerce journey and those who wish to sell and advertise their digital or physical products online.
Its common drawback is its limited marketplace and limited payment options. However, it is considered as one of the best technology platforms for an E-commerce site.
Pricing
Its prices range from 14$ to 49$ per month. Other than that it has a free package as well.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop is an open-source platform that provides an easy to use interface for customers and users. Its highly customizable feature makes it an important platform in the E-commerce world. Besides, its installation and configuration can be done without the help of any developer.
Its common drawback is its lack of capability to support expansion of stores. It makes PrestaShop feasible only for small and medium sized stores, but not for large and extended ones.
Pricing
It is a free-to-use platform.
Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop is another important Ecommerce platform available for free. Formerly, it was known as 3dcart. Its important features include high customization capability, SEO tracking, easy to use customer support program and provision of multiple website templates.
Furthermore, Shift4Shop is known as one of the oldest and longest serving companies in the E-commerce market.
Its common drawback is its inability in processing high risk transactions. Also, the option of integration with sales channels like Amazon is paid.
Pricing
Shift4Shop is a free ecommerce platform.
Big Cartel
Big Cartel was mainly founded to help artists, creators and small brands sell their wares online. It offers a number of features like an easy to use platform with minimum configuration, customizable templates and multiple marketing tools. Besides, it provides a relatively cheap option to users as compared to its competitors.
Its common drawback is its lack of scalability and 24/7 customer help facility.
Pricing
Its pricing options range from 9$ per month to 19.99$ per month depending upon the number of products available for sale.
Conclusion
At the end, it can be said that there is a wide range of technology platforms that offer multiple features like security, payment options, customer support programs and built-in customization facility. However, the most suitable platform will be the one that meets the specific needs of the E-commerce business. For this purpose, free trials can also be tested that can ease the selection process.
