Building a successful omnichannel business starts with choosing the right e-commerce platform. However, it’s kind of a tough decision since there are so many platforms in the market. Today, we’re going to help you choose the right one for your business with our list of 5 best e-commerce platforms based on their pros & cons, pricing plans, and customer support service.
Overview
Magento
First off, Magento! This is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms as they power more than 250,000 merchants worldwide. Magento is best for small-to-medium businesses with established demand, manpower, and skill to build their store website. It empowers users to create a unique and engaging shopping experience.
Pros
- Over 5,000 extensions available
- Seamless user experience
- SEO-friendly
- Very scalable and can grow as your business does
- No transaction fees
- Offer more than 100 free themes for a customized experience
Cons
- A complex system to learn that requires advanced development skills
- Larger budget than other competitors
- Longer development time
- Need a hosting provider and domain name since Magento is self-hosted
Pricing
While Magento Open Source is free of charge, Magento Commerce is a paid enterprise-level solution. Pricing starts at $1,600/month and can go up to $50,000 annually. Unfortunately, there’s no trial for Magento.
Customer support
Magento doesn’t offer 24/7 support as business owners are expected to develop the site on their own with handy resources and guides.
Shopify
Shopify is the cloud-based e-commerce solution in the retail industry with more than 1 million businesses across 175 countries. It is one of the best e-commerce platforms for different sizes of businesses that need a helping hand when setting up their stores.
Pros
- Easy to use, beginner-friendly
- More than 100 high-quality designed and customized themes
- Available both in online and offline mode
- Accept multiple payment options
- Allow multi-channel and social selling
- Cooperate with many certified partners
Cons
- Unable to customize the checkout process
- Become costly when adding up apps
- Users are charged an additional fee on each transaction if they don’t use Shopify Payment
Pricing
The pricing plan comes with 3 levels: Basic Shopify, Shopify, Advanced Shopify starting at $29/month. The best thing is that Shopify offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
Customer support
Shopify’s supporting team is a huge plus when choosing a perfect e-commerce platform. There is 24-hour chat and phone support whenever users need help. Also, community forums and the online help center are there to assist you.
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BigCommerce
BigCommerce is definitely one of the biggest players in the area with its unique features. Founded in 2009, BigCommerce has since generated over $17 billion in merchant sales. It is suitable for large and fast-growing businesses that require a lot from their e-commerce platform with large product catalogs.
Pros
- No hosting, update, or maintenance costs
- No transaction fees
- SEO-friendly
- Easy to set up and develop
- Fantastic theme designs
- Excels in multi-channel selling
Cons
- No 1-click selling
- Lack of free and affordable themes
- Expensive for high volume stores
Pricing
There are 3 pricing plans: Standard, Plus, Pro with a price range from $29.95 to $299.95 per month. If you are an enterprise, you can contact BigCommerce’s sales team for custom pricing. A free 15-day trial is also available.
Customer support
BigCommerce offers 24/7 support via live chat, email, and phone.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a worth mentioning option when talking about the best e-commerce platforms. The platform accounts for 18% of the e-commerce market and powers over 28.19% of all online stores in 2020. Used along with WordPress as a plugin, WooCommerce enables your website to have a very powerful capability of online sales.
Pros
- Offer various plugins
- A large number of plugins and extensions available
- Easy to use if users are familiar with WordPress
- Allow many types of payments
- Various free and paid pre-designed themes & shop styles available
- Total control over your data
Cons
- Initial setup is quite complicated for users without much experience
- No central support as the support is provided
- Costs for third-party sites (hosting, SSL certificate, and domain costs)
- Limited file storage by your web host
Pricing
WooCommerce is free to download but the hosting cost may go up to $100/year.
Customer support
WooCommerce offers live chat support within 24 hours. Online help guides and community forums are also available.
Wix eCommerce
Wix is an all-around e-commerce platform with excellent e-commerce capabilities. It is a cloud-based website provider that allows you to create online stores with drag-and-drop tools. The platform has 154 million users, 4.3 million of which are premium ones. Wix is the best fit for new online stores with affordable pricing and a simple setup.
Pros
- Offer numerous free themes
- Simple to use and set up
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface
Cons
- Difficult to fully customize the template
- Lack of upselling features and advanced automation
- Bad SEO reputation
Pricing
Business owners can choose one of three pricing options: Basic, Unlimited, and VIP, starting from $17/month.
Customer support
Wix provides responsive support for different customer needs via phone. Users can open a ticket if they don’t want to use the mobile phone. A detailed knowledge base is also provided for self-help preference.
Final words
Each e-commerce platform offers distinct features and pricing plans. Based on the pros and cons of all 5 e-commerce platforms above, we hope this article will help you choose the best e-commerce platform and expand the unlimited possibilities of your business.
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