eCommerce website development scales up every now and then! In fact, the competition between eCommerce platforms is no less fierce. There are several advocates of Magento, Shopify and Prestashop, Wix, and WooCommerce and there are several bashers of the same. So what to do? The best way of dealing with such situations is to compare some of the best eCommerce platforms and then make a decision.
Now when you are looking for a relevant eCommerce platform that are several things you must take into account such as which type of platform whether you want a self-hosted platform or open source, SaaS or headless platforms, do you want to deliver progressive web apps, or apps featuring omnichannel experience, how well it can integrate with various PHP code editors, web development IDEs, other software and solutions in regards to finance and accounting, payment and shipping, and so more, can the chosen platform handle scaling, what features and functionality does it offer, is it overall easy to use or not, how much secured it is and so more! Further, I would like to mention some of the best eCommerce platforms to consider in 2023.
Read: 6 Ways Magento Ecommerce Development Can Make Your Business Successful
Top 3 Ecommerce Platforms to Use in 2023
#1 Shopify
One of the best eCommerce platforms to consider is Shopify. It’s quite beginner friendly and capable of taking care of all big-time sales and inventories. In simple words, Shopify is a user-friendly eCommerce platform that assists small businesses in developing an eCommerce store like never before. Though this one is a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) software that works by centralizing all your product data, customers and operational tasks. This is one such eCommerce platform that offers one of the finest plug-and-play solutions and maybe that’s the reason this eCommerce tool is highly taken into consideration. Now still wondering what makes Shopify a cut above?
Read: 11 Ecommerce Trends You Must Learn Before the End of 2022
As mentioned earlier, it is a one-stop solution or all-in-one solution tool that offers an amazing bunch of features and functionalities that assist well in building and managing the online store. Everything from seamless inventory management to SEO-friendliness, supporting a wide range of payment gateways, the tool offers it all!
All you have to do is start grouping your products in accordance with the type, category and sale. Here there is a huge possibility of bifurcating products in regards to size, color, materials and a lot more. Here there is a huge possibility of tracking your stock, and customers don’t end up ordering the out-of-stock products again and again. Shopify is one such eCommerce platform that’s quite SEO-friendly. So you don’t have to make such extra efforts to get your site ranked as soon as it’s launched. It is possible to higher the rankings by adding customizable title tags, ALT tags, meta descriptions, and sitemap.xml files.
Shopify turns out to be an ideal option for every store owner. Whether you want to sell goods, jewelry, electronics, beauty supplies, handicraft products, digital products, food, household decor, ebooks and whatnot! Basically, when you end up choosing an eCommerce platform like Shopify you get relieved from all the technicalities involved and concentrate well on your core competencies.
Read: Best retail software For Small Business
The advantages of using Shopify include
- Easy to get started – Shopify is one such eCommerce platform that is very easy to get started with. Yes, this is worth considering for the non-techies as well! Simply, create an account, choose a relevant template out of so many options around and then add relevant products. Yes, there is no need for any kind of coding skills or designing skills, you must do that to attract attention and get your business up and running.
- Quick access to a wide range of features – Right from adding relevant products to managing inventories, setting up shipping methods, discount codes, and customer loyalty programs are basic functions offered by Shopify. Though you can add several other features such as wholesale or B2B integration.
- User-friendly – Another amazing advantage offered by Shopify is its user-friendliness. It comprises an interface that’s quite easy to navigate and works wonders for both parties; the business as well as the end users.
- Boosts sales – Shopify has one of the most interesting features named abandoned cart recovery where the website assists the customer if they somehow forget about the product.
- Security – One of the crucial aspects of any shopify store is that it turns out to be the best in regards to security. Several issues such as hacking, compliance, caching and so forth.
Read: 10 Reasons Why an Ecommerce Website is Important for Your Business
#2 Magento
Another undisputed eCommerce platform that everyone keeps gushing around is Magento. In fact, several businesses irrespective of their size and industry vertical are found vouching for the platform like never before. It may quite interest you to know that several brands such as Nike, Procter, Gamble believe in Magento over the years and they have admitted the fact that they have never seen a platform so customizable and powerful like this before. In addition to this, Magento is robust and feature-rich, SEO-friendly, a wide-range of users and community, scalable and highly customizable, flexible, so what’s there not to like?
Now even when you look into Magento as an eCommerce platform, you will find Magento open source and Magento commerce. Magento open source is where the core code can be entirely downloaded for free and edited as per one’s requirement whereas Magento commerce is more like a self-hosted version or cloud-hosted edition mainly used by mid-market companies or large enterprises.
Further, I would like to emphasize on certain advantages offered by Magento in comparison to all other eCommerce platforms.
Read: Why switch to Magento 2
Benefits of using Magento
#1 Amazing in regards to flexibility- One of the most obvious yet amazing advantages offered by Magento is that it offers an amazing amount of flexibility and scalability. Whether you are selling jewelry or digital products or medications, or any kind of product, Magento has the potential to up your eCommerce game. Have you ever wondered why Magento is so good in regards to flexibility? Well, first and foremost the platform is open source. So here all you need is to hire a reliable team of Magento developers and assist well in modifying the code, customizing relevant templates, twist and turns. In fact, if the platform doesn’t comprise of your needed feature or functionality, you can simply integrate well with third-party extensions.
#2 Full-feature rich and power-packed platform – Unlike other eCommerce platforms, Magento comprises of a variety of features and functionalities such as managing multiple stores becomes way easier, supports different locations, multiple language and currency support, whether you try comparing the platform with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento stands out undoubtedly. Apart from being feature-rich, Magento has a large community of users who are ready to offer quick support and of course, you will find countless resources to solve problems.
#3 Mobile-friendly – Today smartphone usage seems to have grown to a significant extent. No wonder, more and more businesses have started developing websites that are mobile-friendly or mobile-responsive. According to several reports, shoppers are much more in need of mobile-friendly eCommerce platforms like never before. Magento is mobile-friendly that enables businesses to create a mobile site without any issue or hassle. This results in a lower-bounce rate.
Read: How Digital Technology Can Benefit Your E-Commerce Business
#3 WooCommerce
The next leading ecommerce platform worth considering is WooCommerce. It is one of the most prominent eCommerce platforms that is often considered in line with BigCommerce and Shopify. WooCommerce is one such eCommerce platform that works well in tandem with any website into a full-fledged and fully-functional eCommerce store. In fact, here you will find a wide range of extensions in regards to payment gateways, social media, email marketing, shipping and so forth.
Is WooCommerce suitable for your business? Well, if you want to manage physical products, digital products, external products, within the shop and internet independently then, this is it, you should be going nowhere else. Further, I would like to mention a few advantages of WooCommerce.
Benefits of WooCommerce
#1 Opensource – One of the most obvious benefits offered by WooCommerce is that it is quite open source and easy to use. So in other words, any programmer or designer has the potential to alter, customize or personalize the code as per businesses’ current needs and requirements. Of course, WooCommerce is not the only eCommerce platform that is open source by nature, we do have Shopify and Magento as well but WooCommerce’s free versions consist of more and more advanced options.
Read: 6 Must-haves For Successful B2B Website in 2022
#2 Flexible and fully-functional – Since WooCommerce is one such eCommerce platform that is flexible in nature and comprises a wide range of features and functionalities. Also, here you will find a wide range of themes for the end users. WooCommerce based websites might comprise of high-end features but at the same time they are pretty much simple and easy to use. Here everything is highly streamlined and not just selling different products but management and making precise modifications is so easy here.
#3 Payment-friendly – All the payment methods whether it’s cash, credit card, COD, Amazon Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay can be well-integrated with WooCommerce. No wonder, you can provide a compelling experience to your end users.
Read: How to find the most profitable items to sell on amazon in 2024
Conclusion
Of course, this is not it! There are several other eCommerce platforms available but among them these are the top three contenders that have maintained their significant places over years. I hope you did find the following post worth considering and if so, feel free to share among your peers and help us in spreading the word.
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