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Online commerce has grown impressively over the past few years, with eCommerce sales reaching an impressive $5.2 trillion globally. This number is expected to grow by 56% over the next year. The thing is, with more than 26 million eCommerce sites from all around the world and more being made every day, consumers are spoiled for choice. To help your online stores not only survive among all the competition but also thrive, you need the right strategies and the right eCommerce platforms.
This article will discuss the best eCommerce platform for small business owners and why you should consider making the most of them for your online store.
What are eCommerce Operations Platforms?
eCommerce platforms are software solutions that make the commercial process of buying and selling online easier and more streamlined. They’re perfect for businesses and online stores that want to ensure their customers browse and perform online shopping with ease.
These platforms offer unique and useful features like product search and filter, simplistic check-out processes, multiple payment gateways, and efficient customer support.
Why Small Businesses Should Use an eCommerce Platform to Manage Their Businesses?
A small online business that uses a good eCommerce platform will be able to lower its cart abandonment rate, drive specific merchandise purchases, improve shopping security, and track and analyze sales performance. Thanks to these platforms, businesses can optimize their customer journeys and drive more satisfied, recurring customers.
If you have an online store, you can greatly benefit from using a good eCommerce platform, which is usually easy to integrate with websites and start driving sales.
7 Best eCommerce Platforms for Small Businesses in 2023
We’ve shortlisted the most popular, reliable, and best eCommerce platforms for your unique online store needs. Here are the seven best eCommerce solutions for 2023:
1. Shopify
First on our list is one of the best-selling platforms that is available as a plug-and-play all-in-one package. Shopify can cater to eCommerce businesses of all sizes. It offers a three-day free trial letting you get the hang of all the features. There are several customer support options, mobile app features, and ready-made themes to create an eCommerce website from scratch. Shopify also integrates easily with Amazon, eBay, Walmart Marketplace, Instagram, Facebook, and Google, which is why it’s one of the best platforms to sell online.
However, Shopify has limited built-in blog post features and non-customizable checkout.
Price: Starts from $29.99 per month. You can get 10% off annual plans.
2. Squarespace
This is a great DIY eCommerce website option that integrates with Etsy, Amazon, Google Actions, and eBay. If you’re looking for sleek, visually appealing online store templates and a drag-and-drop website builder, opt for Squarespace. Squarespace also gives you access to social selling, marketing, inventory management, SEO, and analytics features. As for customer support options, you can make use of live chat features as well as a dedicated email that is available 24/7.
Price: There is a two-week free trial with the Personal option starting from $16 a month.
3. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms for selling online merchandise, and it’s ideal for small and medium businesses. It’s a WordPress plugin allowing WordPress site owners to build a customizable and versatile online store without hassle. The best part is WooCommerce can fully integrate and comply with other plugins, making building a multi-channel online store on a WordPress site a breeze.
Price: Free!
4. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is well-known among eCommerce SaaS businesses and online retailers thanks to its ability to support eCommerce stores with large inventories. This robust eCommerce platform offers tons of modern-looking themes, an unlimited amount of products, and integrated sales channels such as Amazon and Walmart. There is no transaction fee with BigCommerce. However, you may need to pay more if your sales volume increases.
Price: The Standard monthly price is $29.95. The free trial is available for 15 days.
5. Wix
Online stores looking for an image-centric eCommerce platform will appreciate Wix. It is one of the best eCommerce platforms for individual sellers.
Wix comes with a user-friendly website builder with fully-customizable templates, custom domain name registration, and even web hosting. Apart from common eCommerce functionality like order tracking and online payments, Wix also excels in creating abandoned cart campaigns. For social selling with Wix, you may need to use a third-party integration.
Price: Starts with a free plan, and the next tier costs $23/month.
6. Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop, previously known as 3dcart, is one of the most popular selling platforms. It offers a robust, customizable shopping cart for store owners. You will be able to get your store up and running using its intuitive store templates, decent SEO, and content marketing features. Compared to other eCommerce solutions, Shift4Shop doesn’t have extensive features, but it can help you build a mobile-ready storefront quickly.
Price: There is a 15-day free trial, then it starts at $19. It should be noted that Shift4Shop can be a bit complicated for beginners.
7. Ecwid
Ecwid is a powerful cloud-based platform that lets you create an online store for an existing website. Ecwid boasts a responsive design that works well with social networks and allows easy website plugins. Online payments can be made through several channels and are highly secure. SEO is not a big deal with Ecwid at all because the platform lets you optimize page titles and descriptions. Plus, its inbuilt analytics features give you a clear picture of your sales and website performance.
Price: There is a free forever plan and an Unlimited plan that costs $99 a month.
Partner With Idea Financial and Boost Your Business Growth
eCommerce platforms can take your online business to the next level if you choose the right options for your company. This article explains the seven best eCommerce platforms and why they should be considered. Although there are free trials, it’s usually best to pay for the best eCommerce solution because you get more features. You may need some financial assistance to afford a good eCommerce solution, and Idea Financial can help your business with this assistance. Idea Financial offers flexible term loans and lines of credit of up to $250K with 9 to 36-month terms.
Contact us today to find out how Idea Financial can help your online business reach its true potential.
