Have you decided to open your first eCommerce, now is the time to choose together which is the “Best eCommerce platform to create a store”.

Today there are many alternatives, some more valid than others, and building an online shop has become much easier than a couple of years ago. However, inquiring and studying which are the best e-commerce platforms is always an excellent choice, to avoid making the wrong investments and finding yourself with a different product than what you imagined.

In this article we will see together the most popular e-commerce platforms, and what is the best choice to open your first eCommerce.

How to choose the best eCommerce platform to create a store

Today, opening eCommerce and starting to sell online is easier than ever, but you have to be careful to choose the right platform based on individual needs.

There are many on the market and each has interesting features and different functionalities, ranging from loading speed to ease of use.

In this article, we will explain which are the Best eCommerce platforms to create a store on the market and what features they must have to allow you to have a successful online store.

First of all, you must know that each platform has different characteristics that can increase the sales of your eCommerce.

But let’s see what are the characteristics to be evaluated:

• eCommerce site loading speed;
• integrated marketing tools (free or paid);
• ease of use;
• support availability;
• presence of the user community;
• available plug-ins and integrations;
• scalability;
• possibility of integrating the site with marketplaces;
• mobile optimization.

There are many elements to be evaluated and each of them is essential to creating good eCommerce.

Top 6 Best eCommerce platform to create a store

We are going to analyze the best eCommerce platforms together, so by the end of this article, you will know exactly which one you should choose to build your first online store.

As already mentioned, this is the best time to create eCommerce: online sales have generated a turnover of 800 billion dollars in the last year and do not seem destined to stop.

And the even more interesting thing is that there is still a lot of room for everyone and therefore also for new e-commerce.

But let’s get straight to the point and see the best e-commerce platforms on the market compared.

Shopify – #1 Best eCommerce platform to create a store

Shopify is one of the platforms that has grown the most in recent years, thanks to its simplicity and the many plugins made available to customize each store and create a personalized shopping experience.

It is probably not the best or the most popular platform, however more and more online stores are born on Shopify. There are several good reasons for this, such as being able to quickly get to the shop you want.

Unlike other platforms that we will talk about later, Shopify was born as a platform for the sale of physical products, and thanks to third-party plugins and integrations it is very easy to connect your e-commerce to CRM and external platforms.

There are many integrations, templates and hundreds of plugins and apps that can be installed on your store to meet the main needs of each business, however, the lack of customization and the difficulty of technical interventions make it difficult to work with brands and companies that sell tens or thousands of products.

Building a store with Shopify is very easy and takes very little time, so it can be a good platform to get started. However, the above-average subscription costs and the lack of professionalism lead to the preference for other platforms that are more efficient and with a better quality-price ratio.

Pro

• simple to set up;
• allows multi-channel and social media sales;
• fast and also suitable for beginners.

Cons

• add-on apps are expensive.

Recommended for …

Shopify is the ideal platform for all those people who want to approach the world of eCommerce and who do not have technical or IT skills. It’s ideal for anyone who wants to start selling online as a hobby or second job because it requires little time to set up and often doesn’t need much maintenance.

WooCommerce – #2 Best eCommerce platform to create a store

WooCommerce is a plugin for creating eCommerce with WordPress. This platform is one of the most popular in the world, thanks to its ease of use.

Its structure is modular, that is, it has a huge availability of additional plugins. Among the most interesting features, you have available there is certainly the possibility of managing products, payments and shipments in a single panel.

WooCommerce is a platform suitable for selling any product or service, from physical to digital products. It is suitable for both small and very large shops.

This plugin also allows you to monitor the performance of your site in a very detailed way. Thanks to the wide set of analyzes it offers.

Pro

• Lots of payment options;
• Several shipping options;
• Intuitive backend;
• Ease of warehouse and order management;

Cons

• Each function requires the installation of an additional plugin;
• Often it is necessary to contact an expert agency to configure it in the best possible way.

Recommended for …

Those who have already started a blog with WordPress and now want to build a professional eCommerce site with WooCommerce, a flexible, simple to use and suitable for everyone platform.

BigCommerce- #3 Best eCommerce platform to create a store

BigCommerce is among the longest-running eCommerce platforms. Its features make it ideal for larger retail brands. However, it can also be a good choice for those with a simple physical store and who want to expand their user base by starting to sell online.

The interface allows the creation of an online store even for those unfamiliar with any programming language. Thanks to the many customizable and ready-to-use templates. BigCommerce is ideal for anyone looking for advanced themes that can provide a great shopping experience for customers. However, there are only seven free themes, and all others are paid.

When it comes to security and reliability, BigCommerce is doing great. Among its pros stand out the features for SEO and integrations with MailChimp and HubSpot.

Pro

• Simple and dynamic interface;
• great if you can do SEO;
• Strategy for recovering abandoned carts ready for use.

Cons

• High fees for high volume stores;
• There is no one-click upsells option;
• Variable page load times.

Recommended for …

BigCommerce is ideal for all those shops that have a lot of products to sell and is usually favored by medium and large companies. It manages to run online stores with a large inventory and a significant volume of orders per day

Magento- #4 Best eCommerce platform to create a store

Magento is one of the best platforms for creating websites and eCommerce. Because it offers many features and different customization options, in fact, it is chosen by big brands such as Nike.

One of the reasons why Magento is so popular as a platform for building eCommerce is because it gives the possibility to access a series of unique features and solutions. It allow you to build customized eCommerce that fully meets the main needs. business.

A great strength of Magento is the community, made up of developers willing to work on your paid store or answer some of your questions for free. There is also a marketplace where you can install extensions and themes to increase the functionality of your store.

Magento is an eCommerce platform based on open-source technology. It provides those who need to sell online a flexible checkout system, as well as control over themes and plugins, as well as lots of exclusive content and features.

Develop a site with Magento if you want to have powerful marketing tools at your disposal. And improve the performance of your e-commerce combined with excellent management of product catalogs.

Magento’s flexibility also allows stores that start with just a few products and simple needs to easily expand to tens of thousands of complex custom products and commands, without the need to switch platforms.

A variety of plugins and themes are available that can easily enhance a customer’s browsing experience. There are also many aspects of eCommerce that can be configured and customized according to the real needs of each business.

Pro

• Lots of features available, even with the free plan;
• Large community to ask for help and support;
• Easy to customize.

Cons

• Some themes are very expensive;
• Requires technical skills for development.

Recommended for …

Magento is ideal for those who already have a fairly widespread brand and are looking for a flexible platform, which can be modified and updated over time without having to upset everything. It’s ideal if your business is about to explode and you already know your sales and business volumes. It will increase shortly and you don’t want to migrate to another platform.

PrestaShop

Prestashop is one of the most used open-source platforms in the world for creating online stores.
If you are thinking of creating a site in PrestaShop you must know that it’s very flexible structure makes it suitable for shops of any size. Being an open-source platform, it allows extensive integration with external systems such as payment and shipping managers, accounting software and much more.

Pro

• The cost is lower than many alternatives;
• It is highly customizable;
• SEO friendly.

Cons

• Limited assistance;
• Advanced paid features;
• Not excellent design.

Recommended for …

PrestaShop is also recommended for beginners because it has a very simple and intuitive platform. It is an inexpensive open-source. It has many plugins that allow you to easily implement all the necessary features.

Wix

Born as a system for the rapid creation of websites, today Wix also offers a platform for the creation of eCommerce. However, Wix features are very limited, and there are decidedly more valid alternatives that can guarantee better performance than those generated by a store built with Wix.

In fact, even though the e-commerce features offered by Wix have drastically evolved in a few years. And now offer multi-channel integration, abandoned cart recovery, dropship and print-on-demand functionality. We are not yet at the level of other platforms.

One of Wix’s downsides is SEO: there have been several significant problems in previous years, and today most of them have been solved. There are still a few that still hurt a store’s performance. Furthermore, the basic options are limited, the initial storage is only 20GB and often it may not be enough.

Wix remains one of the best platforms for beginners. However, if you are looking for a more professional platform, it is better to veer into other choices.

Pro

• Simple to set up;
• Several free themes to choose from;
• Compatible with various external apps.

Cons

• Poor SEO performance;
• Expensive subscription plans;
• Not suitable for large businesses.

Recommended for …

Wix can be useful for those looking for a low-cost e-commerce site, to be built quickly and without too many pretensions. However, the limitations are still many compared to other platforms. And it is important to carefully consider them before making any decisions..

What makes an eCommerce platform functional

We have seen six main platforms for building eCommerce, however, what must be taken into consideration to evaluate which of these is right for you?

There are some features that can make an eCommerce platform more functional than others based on the business needs. And those of any small or medium-sized Italian company. Let’s see them together.

An eCommerce must be easy to manage

Having hundreds of different options or templates and templates to use isn’t always an advantage. Today to manage an eCommerce you need to have a few but essential data on the track. While some platforms make their complexity a strong point, there are others that better understand the needs of small business owners and have a clear, clean, and easy-to-use interface.

Creating sophisticated eCommerce is useless if you don’t know how to manage it and you have to contact an external consultant every time.

An eCommerce must sell products and services without problems

The platform you choose must give you the ability to sell what you want, where you want, and how you want. This means it must be able to handle both digital and physical products. It must offer a method to manage domestic and international sales taxes and shipping. This last point is especially important for small businesses that also work in overseas markets. If your business sells products or services internationally, you may be required to collect and file various types of taxes.

And eCommerce must integrate with other business tools

Building eCommerce is not enough: you have to make it communicate with all the other business tools: from the invoice management software to the marketing automation software, everything must be integrated and must work without problems.

Choosing the best eCommerce platform also depends on ease. You have of managing all your operations, without having to go crazy among a thousand different software and a thousand programs that do not communicate with each other.

E-commerce must not have too high commissions

Commissions can have a significant impact on the volume of a business, especially when volumes start growing. There are three types of fees you need to take into consideration when building an eCommerce site. (the monthly subscription to the platform, the payment gateway fees, and the fees for each transaction.)

The monthly subscription for the e-commerce platform can be free or even cost a few tens of euros. And it is an expense that must be taken into consideration. The fees requested by payment gateways, on the other hand, are issued every time you process a credit card payment. Costs vary depending on the gateway you use. So work out the amount you need to pay before you decide on the prices of your products and start selling online.

While these amounts are very low, as the volume of transactions increases and your business grows. They could go up a lot, so never forget to take them into consideration.

Build your eCommerce with WebRito Agency

In this article, we have helped you in defining which are the Best eCommerce platforms to create a store suitable for a small or medium-sized Italian business.

Now is the time to go from theory to practice and finally create your eCommerce site together with our professionals.

Webrito is just the thing for you. We are an agency specialized in the creation and optimization of online shops. And we can work together with you for the construction and management of your store with the best platform for eCommerce.

Our consultants and professionals will present you with various solutions to be successfully implemented. And we will help you find the best way both if you decide to delegate and outsource the management of your eCommerce. Or if you want to form an internal team that will take care of all technical and operational processes.

Creating a profitable eCommerce site can help your company sell more. So it is essential to contact a certified marketing agency ready to help you.

If you want to know more and request a consultation, you can fill out the form below. Together you will find the best solution that best suits your specific case.