
Choosing among the top ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce boils down to your budget, the kind of features you need in your site, customization capabilities, and more.Â
Some may be cheap when you start out, but increasingly charge more commissions or fees. Others may be pricey but lack support for your desired integrations and user-friendly features.
We’ll break down the top five aspects excellent e-commerce websites usually have and compare features for top platforms under each.
Whether you’re a novice or an expert who’s looking for best options for a new ecommerce site, you’ll know which platform is right for you by the end of this blog post.Â
But first, let’s discuss how these ecommerce platforms are classified.Â
Two Types of Ecommerce Platforms: Marketplaces vs. Standalone
E-commerce platforms that offer standalone stores allow you to have a unique URL. They provide vast freedom during store management.Â
On the other hand, marketplaces provide shoppers with offers from several businesses. Marketplaces may be ideal if you want to showcase offers to huge audiences from the get-go.
Here’s a summary of their key pros and cons:
Pros | Cons | |
Marketplaces |
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Standalone stores |
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Some top platforms for standalone stores include Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.Â
If you want to start out with a marketplace platform instead, consider the most popular ecommerce marketplaces in your country. For the US, Amazon, Etsy, and eBay are excellent options.Â
What to Consider While Picking an eCommerce Platform for Your Business
The first thing to consider is user-friendliness. It directly affects shopping simplicity and may also impact your rankings and SEO performance.Â
Also check the pricing, payment options, customer support, and store management simplicity.
Here’s the complete breakdown of features to consider in a platform:Â
1. User-Friendly Website Design
To drive conversions, you should provide users with a seamless shopping experience. A user-friendly website allows customers to find what they are looking for effortlessly. As a result, they are less likely to exit or bounce. Instead, they engage better and are more likely to buy from you.
Studies indicate that improving your UX can spike return on investment (ROI) by up to 9,900%. So, your e-commerce website should load quickly and effortlessly to make offers available to consumers.
Some of the most user-friendly e-commerce platforms include:
Shopify
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Squarespace
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Wix
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WooCommerce
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User-friendly design | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Templates | 100+ free and paid | 170+ | 800+ | 80+ |
2. Seamless and Secure Payment and Checkout Process
You should provide simple and secure checkouts to lower customer friction. Users who trust your site, find their favorite methods, and perform quick checkouts are more likely to buy.
Conversely, complicated payments with privacy and security concerns attract cart abandonment. Studies show that 48% of customers stop shopping due to privacy concerns and 22% because of lengthy or difficult checkouts. Also, 25% leave carts if they don’t trust your site with credit card information.
Another key consideration is the support for various payment options. If your platform includes their preferred options, customers can easily make purchases, lowering cart abandonment by up to 59%.
So, pick a platform with numerous seamless and secure payments like:
Shopify | WooCommerce | Amazon | |
Security | Plans include an SSL certificate | Set up an SSL certificate | Free SSL/TLS certificates for Amazon Web Service users |
Local banks, digital wallets, credit and debit cards | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Visa Checkout | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Masterpass | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Apple Pay | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Stripe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Amazon Pay | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Google Pay | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Alipay, Paypal and crypto payments | ✓ | ✓ | X |
Additional accepted methods | Check here | Confirm here | Check here |
3. Competitive Pricing
If you’re just starting out, affordability might be a big consideration. But as your business grows, you might want to focus on other areas more that directly impacts the scalability of your business.Â
In either case, do check the sign-up and commission charges for a holistic assessment of the impact on your revenue. Platform costs can tell you whether you’ll achieve your profit targets while maintaining competitive item prices.
The platforms with the most competitive pricing include:
4. Customer Service and Support
Your ecommerce platform of choice should offer excellent customer service to help you set up your site easily and make quick changes when needed. You don’t want to run into a site downtime and not be able to reach their team for resolutions. Prioritize platforms that offer responsive phone and email support, easy returns and refunds, and a user-friendly FAQ section. Some of the platforms with excellent customer service and support include:
5. Ease of Content Marketing and SEO
Most ecommerce websites rely heavily on SEO to drive traffic to your website. It’s also one of the most scalablable areas of marketing. As such, you want to pick a platform that allows you to do SEO with ease, including adding content, schema markup, custom HTML tags, and more. Also pay attention to how intuitive their SEO suite is. Does it also allow you to add integrations with GA4 or upload plugins to help you do SEO tasks easily? These things are essential for smooth content marketing and SEO efforts. Some of the best e-commerce platforms with blogging capabilities include:
- WooCommerce: Best for SEO as it is a WordPress plugin. It gives you the flexibility of WordPress without compromising on any ecommerce features. You are easily able to edit a page’s content, meta tags, alt tags, images, videos, and other product page elements. The ability to add additional plugins like Rankmath and Yoast SEO also makes it easier to automate mundane SEO tasks.Â
- BigCommerce: It offers decent SEO tools, and you can integrate the platform with WordPress. You also benefit from unique, automated URLs and redirects, so you’ll spend less time dealing with issues like duplicate content on your site.
Final Recommendations
You should know suitable e-commerce platforms for your business by now. But if you’re still undecided, here’s an overview of some top ones:
Sign up costs | Commission | |
WooCommerce | Free sign-ups, but the hosting fee starts around $3.99/month | % from 1.4%, fixed from €0.29, or both |
Big Cartel | Up to 5 listings free, six to 50 listings from $15/mo, 50+ products from $30/mo | Zero |
Squarespace | From $16/month | 2.9% + 30¢ processing fees and up to 9% transaction fees |
Amazon | Free individual plan or $39.99/mo for professional | No charges for professional and $0.99 per sale for the individual plan |
Walmart | Zero | 5 to 20% |
Features | Description | |
Amazon | 24/7 email, chat, and phone support | Robust customer support on your behalf, as well as seller help |
Wix | 24/7 phone and email support in English, with select hours and days for others | A large marketplace and decent features suggest decent customer support |
Shopify | 24/7 via mail, phone, and live chat | Continuous support for quick solutions, though the quality was better in previous years |
Squarespace | 24/7 email support and limited live chat | Comprehensive support suitable for those building large, beautiful websites |
WooCommerce | No in-built support, but you can send a ticket for select queries | Use plugins and hosting providers for more reliable support options |
Ideal for | Key disadvantages | |
Shopify | Businesses seeking a flexible, user-friendly platform with vast third-party app support | Running costs may pile up for new sellers |
Squarespace | Artists and creatives who value site aesthetics with some eCommerce capabilities | Lacks key integrations and advanced e-commerce features |
Wix | Beginners that value easy setups and large marketplaces | Limited e-commerce abilities, hence unsuitable for large-scale operations |
GoDaddy | Startups and small sites that want to share hosting | Higher costs, not the most user-friendly, few e-commerce features |
Big Cartel | Creatives and artists who want an affordable e-commerce website for a few items | Limited features and scaling abilities |
Magento (Adobe Commerce) | Large businesses that need advanced customization | Small companies may find it costly and complex to set up and manage |
WooCommerce | Tech-savvy users seeking affordable, flexible solutions who can host and maintain their sites | Needs technical expertise for effective management |
Amazon | Sellers that want quick setups and a large customer base | High competition and charges |
Walmart | Sellers seeking a growing platform and ability to expand to physical stores | Selective with approvals |
eBay | Sellers with numerous products seeking an established audience | High competition and fees |
Etsy | Startup businesses focusing on handmade, craft, and vintage items | Strict product guidelines and charges |
Shift4Shop | US-based sellers that want comprehensive e-commerce features cheaply | Complex interface |
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