There are quite a lot of choices when it comes to Ecommerce websites, but what is the best Ecommerce platform to use?
Here are the pros and cons of the main Ecommerce platforms:
Shopify
Pros
- Low Set Up costs ($49-$750)
- Some free POS options
- Beginner friendly
- Fast & Responsive
- Excellent customer support
- Very popular
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons
- Only 20 free templates
- Monthly Membership fees ($39-£399)
- POS costs (up to $89)
- Transaction fees 2.4-2.7% plus additional fee
- Hefty commission
- Limited customisation
- Most apps are paid
- Complicated payment system
- Website speed
Weebly
Pros
- Cheapest paid plans
- Great Free Option
- Flexible
- Ease of use
- Free export
- No platform lock in
- Free HTML and CSS customisation
- Good for beginners
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons
- Low quality themes and designs
- Limited styling
- No monthly instalments
- Not great for blogs
- Costs creep up for plugins
- Less active community
- Basic Options
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Squarespace
Pros
- Low Set Up costs ($0-$60)
- Great support team
- Domain and hosting included
- Lower monthly cost all-in
- E-commerce built-in
- Analytical Tool
- Blogging feature
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons
- No free plan
- Monthly Membership fees ($23-$49)
- Monthly Member Area Fees per transaction
- Transaction fees 3%
- Limited design and customisation
- Need some knowledge for edits
- Limited SEO capabilities
- Basic built-in functionality
- Only one sub-navigation
WooCommerce
Pros
- Cost Effective & less expensive over time
- Best for SEO
- Excellent CMS and design options
- There are no fees for core plugins
- Flexibility and customisation
- Easy to manage
- Good website speed
- Unique Design is an option
- WordPress platform used by
- 70% of websites
- Very SEO Friendly
- Thriving community and support
- Well-known coding language
- Developers in control and constantly updating
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons
- Initial setup is more expensive and can be complicated
- Needs to be added to WordPress website
- More work required
- Coding/Web Design knowledge might be needed
- It needs to be updated and maintained.
- Limited support.
- Risk of technical issues
Wix
Pros
- Cheap paid plans
- Free trial option
- Affordable options
- Easy’ish to set up
- Customisable
- Choice of templates
- Common in the market place
- Free HTML and CSS customisation
- Beginner friendly
- Blogging functionality
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons
- No Free Plan
- More Expensive
- Can’t fully export your site (you never fully own it)
- Limited integrations and plugins
- Poor page speed
- Poor SEO features
- Unable to change the theme
- No customer chat
- The web page limit is 100 products
Big Commerce
Pros
- A big player
- Unlimited products and variations
- SEO capabilities
- Can scale up
- Unlimited API calls
- Great customer support
- Good SEO features
- Zero transaction fee
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons
- Annual sales limits on each grade and automatically upgrades you if you reach the next level, which can cost more than you expected
- Scaling is costly, and it can be expensive
- Limited base features
- Setting up products can be complicated
- Advanced tech skills needed
- Very limited free design options
Magento
Pros:
- Highly customisable:
- Scalable
- Feature-Rich:
- Free to use with access to source code.
- Strong Community Support:
- SEO Friendly
- Integrates with Amazon and Ebay
Cons:
- Steep Learning Curve:
- Resource-Intensive:
- High Development Costs
- Requires Regular Maintenance
- Not Ideal for Small Stores:
As you can see, there is a lot of choice. We use and recommend WooCommerce, but obviously, you have to choose the right platform.
Our biggest advice when deciding what is the best Ecommerce platform is to make sure you look at all the variables and check:
1. The limitations of the ‘free’ packages and how much it will cost to be able to do additional things
2. Sales limits or boundaries that are not extremely clear
3. If you actually ‘own’ your own website
