The shopping landscape has changed considerably. No longer do shoppers want to venture out to buy products and services. They want to shop from the comfort of their homes, from their mobile devices. If you have a business, selling online allows you to tap into this broader market and enables you to conveniently sell 24/7.
Building a successful eCommerce business starts with choosing the right platform. An eCommerce platform is the backbone of your online business and is one of the most important factors that determine your success. But with hundreds of them available, it can be tricky to establish which one is right for you.
Choosing the right eCommerce platform can help to streamline how your business operates, assist with better interaction with customers and help to effectively manage your stock. Let’s explore the different eCommerce platforms available to give you an idea of which one best suits your business.
Magento is an eCommerce platform offering two different tiers as well as a PaaS (Platform as a Service) hosting solution. This can be quite complex, so let us explain:
Magento is best for fast-growing and large businesses. To useit you will need to have a certain level of coding skills. If not, it is best to hire a professional eCommerce agency.
Cost of software
Magento Open Source is free. Magento Commerce and Magento Commerce Cloud include licensing fees that can be negotiated with your Magento sales representative.
Additional costs of ownership
Ease of use
Magento is growing rapidly as the number one platform for eCommerce ventures. If you are developing yourself, the platform offers expert support as well as countless extensions and features you can use to enhance your store. However, if you do not have web development experience, it is best to hire a developer who can set up your online store.
Once your store is launched, Magento admin is relatively easy to navigate and user-friendly. However, the number of configurable features can be overwhelming at times. But this shouldn’t be an issue, as Magento has a very thorough user guide as well as training courses both paid and free.
Flexibility
Magento comes with many customizable tools, extensions and themes that can change the look and feel of your store. It also gives you the option for seamless third-party integrations.
Compared to other eCommerce platforms, it does not produce an out-of-the-box design, but rather something unique that will make your site stand out.
Cost of development and ongoing maintenance
Most businesses hire an eCommerce development agency to build their site through Magento. The development cost typically includes maintenance.
If you develop yourself, you have to pay the licensing fees and take care of any maintenance involved.
Security and other considerations
An important area to consider when it comes to choosing an eCommerce platform is security. All eCommerce businesses must be Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant to ensure the safety of customers’ payment information.
When developing with Magento, you are responsible for being PCI compliant and have to stay up to date with any issues that affect your security. When using a professional developer, this is usually included.
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Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) is a cloud-based commerce solution. It is designed with next-generation artificial intelligence to offer smooth shopping experiences through its incredible set of capabilities, including merchandising, customer service, marketing and eCommerce fulfillment. It is positioned at businesses that require best-in-class B2C functionality.
Cost of software
Salesforce has three tiers: Starter, Growth and Unlimited. The starter tier allows you to build one online store and it costs 1% of your gross merchandise volume (GMV).
Ease of use
Salesforce is as easy to use as any website. It allows you to log in from anywhere on any internet-connected device. You can also collaborate with your team and update data whenever you want from any device.
Flexibility
Salesforce offers a certain level of storefront customization. They have a new page designer solution that is designed to give you more control over choosing templates and adding content. It also comes with prebuilt, certified integrations, including payment accelerators.
If you’re already using other Salesforce products or planning to switch to them, you may want to consider SFCC because it is much easier to integrate your eCommerce website with the back-end systems.
Security and other considerations
Salesforce Commerce Cloud sees security as a top priority. It offers several out-of-the-box features that strengthen safety and security. Its infrastructure is built with the most advanced security tools available. This means you and your customers’ information is protected by server authentication as well as encryption.
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BigCommerce is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that allows merchants to access their online stores from any web browser. The platform is very industry-specific when it comes to features. It is suitable for small businesses looking to scale fast and large enterprises who have an established customer base.
Cost of software
Subscription fees start at $29.95 per month.
Ease of use
BigCommerce may be a little challenging to navigate and the language requires a certain level of skill. This makes BigCommerce less ideal for beginners, as you have to be somewhat tech savvy to understand the terminology. If you want to use BigCommerce, it is wise to consider using an eCommerce website development team.
On the upside, BigCommerce listens to their users. They have recently released a new visual merchandising tool, Store Design. This allows you to edit your storefront on-screen, making the platform more user-friendly and easier to navigate.
Flexibility
With BigCommerce you have the choice of 12 standard themes and the platform allows you to customize their templates quite extensively. You can also set up product collections and connect a wide range of payment gateways to your store.
Cost of development and ongoing maintenance
BigCommerce offers the advantage of taking care of any hosting or infrastructure maintenance, which means lower cost of ownership and less worry about website outages and software upgrades.
But because it is a SaaS platform, you can only make limited customizations yourself. However, you can purchase BigCommerce apps or build your own custom applications and integrate them via the API. This can be a complex process, so ideally, you will require a skilled developer with experience of the platform. It can also rack up the costs of development.
Security and other considerations
Since BigCommerce hosts and maintains your platform, they ensure that all sellers are PCI compliant.
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Shopify is a software service that enables you to create a website with a shopping cart solution to sell, ship and manage products. The accessible and user-friendly platform is ideal for anyone who wants to sell products from any device.
Cost of software
Subscription fees start at $29.95 per month. Things like premium plans, themes and additional apps may rack up costs.
Ease of use
Shopify allows you to set up product pages fast and efficiently. The interface lets you drag-and-drop products and you can purchase additional plugins from Shopify’s App Store easily.
Flexibility
Shopify offers nine standard themes to install, but also allows you to purchase themes from their marketplace, integrate third-party themes or build a custom theme from scratch. When it comes to products, you can add several collections efficiently and install apps that are available from the Shopify website to help you manage stock, improve user experience and monitor sales.
Shopify allows any admin user to make the most of the basic shopkeeping operations with little to no training. But if you want to make substantial changes to the HTML or the website functionality, you will typically require a Shopify developer to assist you with the correct implementation.
Cost of development and ongoing maintenance
Shopify manages the maintenance of your store. Therefore, the cost of development and ongoing maintenance is included in your monthly subscription.
Shopify is a SaaS platform, which means you can make limited customizations. The only workaround for this is to purchase Shopify apps or build your custom applications and integrate them via the Shopify API. This type of work would require a skilled Shopify developer, so make sure to vet out Shopify features before making a long-term commitment to this platform.
Security and other considerations
When Shopify, you have peace of mind that they are responsible for securing your store. However, you will need to update any apps that you use in your store to ensure smooth functioning.
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WooCommerce is a popular open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress websites. It can be used by anyone who wants to start selling from a WordPress website.
Cost of software
WooCommerce itself is free. But you will need a domain name, as well as a hosting service. Therefore, it may be hard to pin down the exact costs. Also, make sure to consider development costs associated with installation, configuration, customization and ongoing maintenance of WooCommerce.
Ease of use
To get started with WooCommerce, you need to find a host and install WordPress. This installation process may be complex for some. You also have to manage the platform within WordPress, which can make it complicated.
Flexibility
WooCommerce lets you choose a theme, install from 50,000+ WordPress plugins and add custom code. Even though it allows you some flexibility, the platform typically produces an out-of-the-box look.
Cost of development and ongoing maintenance
WooCommerce offers you ultimate control of your store which makes you responsible for maintaining it. However, you don’t have to do this yourself; you can outsource the development and ongoing maintenance to a professional eCommerce agency.
Security and other considerations
Since you have complete control and ownership of your store, you are also responsible for the security thereof.
It should be noted that WordPress is the most popular CMS platform in the world, which makes all of it’s flaws and vulnerabilities known to the “bad guys” (hackers). That makes it a non-secure solution and it is incredibly important to enforce best security practices, including:
Consider moving the financial transactions and processing of sensitive customer data outside of WooCommerce, so you are less exposed to the security risks.
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Looking at the different benefits each platform offers, will help you to establish which is right for you. Additionally, you should also ask yourself the following questions:
Magento
Magento is popular because it is highly reliable and scalable. With around $155 billion in GMV transacted on the platform annually, Magento is an excellent commerce platform for businesses wanting to sell online.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud comes with built-in omnichannel and predictive analytics capabilities which helps you to grow your online store fast. It also enables you to easily view customer data, inventory, order history and promotional information.
It is a great choice for enterprise-level businesses and those who are already heavily invested into the Salesforce technology stack.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is more than just an eCommerce platform. It provides great store management capabilities that help you stay on top of your online store. BigCommerce’s best features include an effective product catalog and easy, flexible shipping.
Shopify
Shopify is a leading commerce platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It allows you to sell physical and digital products, services and consultations and even online classes. It is easy to use, allows seamless app integrations, is secure and reliable, and comes with powerful marketing tools.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a great solution if you want to host your online store through WordPress. It is used by millions of sellers across the world because no experience of web design is required to create visually appealing and highly functional online stores.
When you are ready to launch your store online, you need to select an eCommerce platform that will fulfil your unique feature requirements as defined by your personal business model. However, to stand out online, you should move beyond the bare minimum required. This means you should be looking at platforms that offer more flexibility and richer features. If you want your product inventory, selling, fulfilling and marketing all in one, go for platforms such as Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud or BigCommerce.