Ecommerce platform has developed significantly in recent years. Lots of platforms appear to meet the demand of business with all sizes from small businesses to large enterprises. Therefore, if you’re a novice, you can feel confused when choosing a suitable platform and don’t know all about them. To help you easily select an ideal platform for your brand, we will make a list of the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses in 2022. Don’t miss the opportunity to dive into this field by reading our post to find the answer for yourself.
To begin with, we give some standards help you choose the best ecommerce platform for small businesses
Affordability
Each small company owner’s top priority is unquestionably pricing. We ensure that the price to design and keep an eCommerce site using these eCommerce platforms does not surpass $10,000/year, despite the fact that individual SMBs have their own budget ceilings for doing so.
Ease of use
Therefore, it’s essential for an Open source ecommerce platform to be simple to use so that anyone, even a 9-to-5 worker or a store owner with little IT experience, can quickly learn how to use it. Store owners may concentrate on other crucial responsibilities by economizing a ton of time, cost, and mental stress by being able to swiftly develop a website.
Three elements is necessary to assess how user-friendly an eCommerce platform is:
- Certain level of coding expertise: Does the platform require any technical knowledge in order to construct eCommerce websites and retain them (adding extensions, changing designs, etc.)?
- Experience of backend users: Is the admin backend loading quickly? Is it simple to use and straightforward to navigate?
- Are there several guides and tips available so that shop owners may quickly locate solutions if they run into any problems?
- Assistance: What kind of help is available? Via reviews, Is the support really effective?
Features for sales and marketing
For a novice founded business to start selling and flourish, digital marketing is essential. A smart eCommerce platform comes along with useful tools that enable its users to improve their online visibility and increase conversions.
These consist of:
- Integration of sales channels: With the aim of multi-channel selling, it is simple to integrate and synchronize information between an eCommerce website and additional sales channels like Amazon, Facebook Shopping, Google Shopping, etc.
- Tools that advertise products and make shopping more pleasurable are built into the feature for promotions. For instance, resources for upselling pertinent products directly from the product page.
- If your website is SEO-ready, it should be simple to utilize it for search engines like Google or Bing so that it appears on the first search result pages.
Theme & design
Your company’s store design is its public face, and it has an impact on how customers perceive your brand and your goods.
While a really fancy influence may not be necessary for small businesses, no retailer wants their store to look similar to the competition’s. At the very least, the website facade needs to aim at its target audience, indicate the brand’s attributes, and be easy to use.
Because of this, we give eCommerce development services with a wide range of theme alternatives high marks. So, whether you want to sell fashion things, digital goods, or fitness supplements, you can easily choose an appealing-appearance theme for your sector. Additionally, it implies that there are many pricing points for themes, allowing you to select one that suits your spending limit.
Scalability
A normal firm with just a few dozen products and roughly 100 daily visitors can easily develop and run an eCommerce website. To adapt a large store with numerous thousands of visits and a sizable SKU collection is another matter entirely.
Everything needs more if your store expands, including better hosting, more payment channels, more product space, more features, etc.
So, if you anticipate rapid growth for your company, pick a platform that will grow with it.
Customizability
All online retailers, including small firms, aspire to the freedom to alter their websites. Nobody wishes to set up an online business only to learn after that they are unable to customize the checkout process, add more pages, or improve email popups.
The shortage of personalization leads to a challenge for SMBs to be distinctive and stand out from rivals and gets in the way of their adoption of best practices to increase sales.
Mobile-friendly versions
Consumers today want to be able to visit from any location. The top ecommerce platforms allow multichannel selling and occasionally even have a nice mobile app. Ensure that the e-commerce platform you select is functional on the majority of smartphones and tablets. In this manner, you can satisfy the requirements of your clients who mostly use their mobile devices for shopping, are off from their desktops, or are reacting to an alluring advertisement or text message you gave them.
Now, we will give you the list of top best ecommerce platforms for small businesses both free and paid
1, Shopify
Take a quick look at Shopify
- Price: There are 3 paid plans: Basic Shopify: $29.99/month; Shopify: $79/month; Advanced Shopify: $299/month; 10% discount on annual plans and 20% on biennial plans when paid upfront.
- Free trial period: 14 days.
- Customer support options: Callback phone help, email, support is available in 19 languages, community forum, and support content.
- Integrated sales channels: Facebook, Instagram, Google, Walmart Marketplace, eBay, and Amazon.
- Mobile app features: Suite of mobile tools to fully manage your online business.
- POS: Yes.
One of the largest and most well-known ecommerce systems among companies of all sizes is Shopify. It is among the top tools for creating e-commerce websites for small enterprises.
The user interface of this website builder is incredibly simple to use. To create your store, any programming or IT knowledge won’t be necessary. Lots of companies like Shopify because it enables them to create amazing, customisable stores which are free from the need to understand design or coding.
Benefits
- There is a free trial available to get you familiar.
- A wide selection of themes ready
- Huge quantity of plugins to select from
- All programs include unlimited items.
- Options for integrated payments
- Wonderful for any type of company plan
Drawbacks
- Fees may soon accumulate.
- The blogging platform has limitations.
2, Bigcommerce
Quick review of Bigcommerce
- Cost: Standard: $29.95/month; Plus: $79.95/month, or $71.95/month when paid annually; Pro: $299.95/month, or $269.96/month when paid annually; Enterprise custom pricing.
- Free trial period: 15 days.
- Customer support selections: 24/7 technical support via phone, email, or chat.
- Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, Facebook, price comparison engines, eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and Instagram.
- Mobile app features: View analytics, update orders, manage inventory and products, and search for customers; some features are Android-only.
- Point-of-sale: Yes.
BigCommerce B2B is yet another excellent e-commerce platform. Both small and big enterprises can build successful e-commerce websites using this platform. To assist you in creating your website, BigCommerce provides a comprehensive selection of ecommerce tools. This implies that your software will already include the majority of the functionality you require. As opposed to Shopify, you won’t need to depend as significantly on app platforms. Whether you trade on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Square, eBay, Amazon, or any other platform, BigCommerce can support your company expansion while minimizing costs.
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>> Bigcommerce vs Shopify: The important differences you need to consider (2022)
Benefits
- Built-in tool for visual marketing
- With no transaction costs
- Products, storage, and bandwidth are all seamless.
- Review and rating options for goods
- Large number of available free programs
- Extremely effective for cross-channel sales.
Drawbacks
- It can be challenging to grasp pricing.
- Not as simple to set up as some equipments
- Several free themes are possible, but not many.
3, Wix
Take a brief about Wix
- Pricing : There are free ad-supported plans if you don’t worry about showing Wix ads on your platform. But, The Business Basic plan that costs $23 per month will be necessary if you want to sell merch.
- No free trials
- Integrated sales channels: Facebook, Amazon, Google Analytics
- Mobile app features: AI tools to automatically craft store designs based on given styles and features and create Facebook ads campaigns. Great content editing tools with many stylish themes for eCommerce to build site, design, email newsletter, social media post, forms
A user-friendly website builder with additional e-commerce-specific capabilities is also available on Wix. E-commerce features, such as order monitoring, online payments, multi-channel selling, and abandoned cart campaigns, are available with paid plans. To record your e-commerce KPIs, you also need to approach an expensed plan for analytics tracking (KPIs).
There are more than 500 themes for you to construct your storefront. You can easily alter the design and feel of your online business using the drag-and-drop interface. Wix allows dropshipping via third parties and subscription-based payment.
Benefits
- Excellent selection of top-notch themes for your website customization
- Your consumers have several safe payment alternatives.
- A wide variety of plugins and programs
- A lot of coupon and discount alternatives are available.
Drawbacks
- Limitations of eCommerce features
- Data exporting is not possible
- Since it is not open source, it is challenging to add new features.
4, Squarespace
A quick review of Squarespace
- Price: Personal: $16/month, or $12/month when paid annually; Business: $26/month, or $18/month when paid annually; Basic Commerce: $30/month, or $26/month when paid annually; Advanced Commerce: $46/month, or $40/month when paid annually; Enterprise pricing also available.
- Free trial period: 14 days, besides you can select for a one-time, seven-day trial extension.
- Customer support options: Email available 24/7; live chat available Monday through Friday, 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
- Integrated sales channels: Shopping Feed extension to sell on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Google Actions.
- Mobile app features: Website editing, shipping label scanning, order management, inventory management, and customer communication.
- Point-of-sale: Available via mobile app
For small businesses seeking a dedicated yet user-friendly website builder, Squarespace is a fantastic choice. Businesses can utilize this website builder’s selection of store themes to create their websites.
You’ll have an entry to their inventory management construction when you choose Squarespace to design your website. To keep track of your inventory and learn when you’re running low on specific products, you can incorporate this into your website.
You can manage a number of components of your website with Squarespace. Moreover, you can control your email lists, establish delivery preferences, and create promotional offers. You may easily maintain total management over your website as a result of this.
Pros
- Fantastic use of social media
- There are many wonderful templates available.
- Plans that are affordable
- A plus for those who require customer support round-the-clock
- With annual plans, a free domain is available
Cons
- High transaction costs
- Only Stripe, PayPal, or Apple Pay are available as payment methods
- No app store
5, Square Online
Take a look about Square online
- Price: Free; Professional: $12/month; Performance: $26/month; Premium: $72/month.
- Free trial length: 30 days.
- Customer support options: Chat, phone, or email.
- Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, Instagram, and Facebook.
- Mobile app features: View live sales data, data analytics, payment processing, mobile POS, money transfers, receipts, discounts, refunds, and inventory tracking.
- Point-of-sale: Integrated Square POS.
As a novice seeking to open an online store, the Square Online system offers all the usability you might want. You may quickly start creating storefronts that appear extremely professional. You also have access to sophisticated inventory control because everything links with your Square point of sale system. Online sales affect your back-end inventory by updating it.
With its store builder, Square also employs artificial design intelligence. Because of less money spent, you may now enjoy a more sophisticated experience. With the free plan to get you started, adding products and features to your store is simple and you have nothing to waste.
Pros
- Simple for novices to use
- Integrates offline and online sales
- Excellent inventory management equipments
- Best for AI design
Cons
- There are less personalization choices, especially during checkout
- Options for processing payments are restricted
6, Weebly
Quick feature of Weebly
- Price: It has a free plan but has limited features. To upgrade, Weebly has three paid plans: Personal plan with $6 per month, Professional plan with $12 per month and Performance plan: $26 per month
- Free trial length: No, have a 30-day money back guarantee
- Customer support options: Chat, email, phone.
- Integrated sales channels: No
- Mobile app features: Drag-and-drop builder, order fulfillment, inventory management, payments, and analytics.
- Point-of-sale: Integrated Square POS
For today’s small business owners, Weebly is still a relatively new up-and-coming service. It’s great for creating an internet website that is user-friendly for beginners. To get started, you don’t spend a lot of free time or technical expertise. Weebly also has very affordable startup costs, making it highly cost-effective.
However, this platform doesn’t quite have the same level of scalability as the other eCommerce options we’ve examined so far. You are unable to sell on numerous platforms like Facebook and Etsy. Additionally, it is more difficult than it should be to customize certain features of your website, such as the checkout page. On the positive side, Weebly does come with some great extra features like blogging and password-protected pages.
Pros
- It’s really easy to apply and friendly for novice
- There are variety of responsive themes to select from
- You can integrate with lots of apps
- Membership areas and team cooperation
- Very economical
Cons
- There are limitation in design options, especially in the checkout page
- International websites isn’t suitable
7, Big Cartel
- Price: Big Cartel has three price plans. These range from $0 on the free plan to $19.99 a month
- Free trial length: No
- Customer support options: Email support available from Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm
- Integrated sales channels: Facebook and tag products on Instagram.
- Mobile app features: All of Big Cartel’s themes are fully mobile responsive
Big Cartel is a great option in the case you’re an artist or run a creative business, especially if you have a lot of coding knowledge or know someone who does. Even a free plan is offered so you may start selling right away. Big Cartel includes everything you require if you engage in small-scale selling, such as the sale of unique works of art.
Pros
- Free offer for small businesses
- Excellent for creative businesses
- Bespoke domain usage is available
- Quick setup is helpful for both online and offline product sales
Cons
- Has few payment choices and requires some coding expertise (PayPal or Stripe)
- Available themes are few.
- No advanced support, PCI compliance, or blogging
8, Ecwid
- Price:
- Free — $0 per month, letting you sell up to 10 products.
- Venture — $15 per month, letting you sell up to100 products.
- Business — $35 per month, letting you sell up to 2,500 products
- Unlimited — $99 per month, letting you sell an unlimited number of products.
- Free trial length: No
- Customer support options: Email, Live chat, Phone support
- Integrated sales channels: Facebook, Amazon, Tik Tok, and even on your own branded mobile app
- Mobile app features: Ecwid app and a mobile POS feature but it’s only available on iOS
- Point-of-sale: one-tap checkout, abandoned cart, and integration with over 100 payment gateways, third-party POS systems including Vend, Clover, Square and Alice POS.
An equipment for creating your own internet shop is Ecwid. It is a “software as a service” (SaaS) product, which indicates you must pay a monthly charge in order to apply for it. Ecwid’s cloud-based platform is one of its main advantages. This indicates that it is hosted for you and doesn’t need to have installation. Any website, including Drupal, Wix, Joomla, and WordPress ones, can incorporate your Ecwid experience via a plugin. Automatic language detection, a responsive design that works beautifully on all devices, and the ability to simultaneously add your site to several websites, blogs, and social networks are features. Both setup and transaction fees are waived.
Pros
- Free plans are offered, while premium plans are fairly priced.
- Selections to sell on different marketplaces and social media platforms
- For the app store, you can make a mobile application.
- Language detection software
- Available secure payment choices
Cons
- Integrated payment transaction costs are considerable.
- Not an eCommerce or stand-alone solution
- Lower plans don’t offer live chat or phone assistance.
- Back-end statistics aren’t particularly thorough.
9, WooCommerce
- Price: Average monthly fee is up to $30; WooCommerce estimates costs to be $120/year for hosting, $15/year for domain name registration, up to $100/year for your site theme, up to $108/year for shipping, 2.9% plus 30¢ per sale, up to $348/year for marketing and communications, up to $79/year for SEO, up to $65/year for SSL certificate.
- Free trial length: None, but offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Customer support options: Only available via live chat or email; no support offered for third-party apps and plug-ins.
- Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, Etsy, eBay, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, and Walmart; integrations are disjointed.
- Mobile app features: Add products, manage orders, and view analytics.
- Point-of-sale: Native POS available.
You may build a completely tailor-made website for your company with WooCommerce. You can include ecommerce capabilities to your website with this open source plugin. Small businesses who are currently utilizing WordPress in some manner love this plugin.
You can add ecommerce features by applying WooCommerce. Besides, you can do it simply for consumers to view and buy your stuff. You may easily create a website with this plugin because it is incredibly user-friendly.
Related topic:
>> WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Which platform is better for your business in 2022
Pros
- Products and orders are limitless.
- Add any other features you desire.
- Affordable, however you must cover your own hosting costs
- Numerous choices for customization and themes
- No cap on the quantity you can sell
- Built upon WordPress
Cons
- Needs some technical expertise
- A third-party payment gateway is necessary
10, Zyro
- Price: There’s a free plan to get you started, although the features are a little basic, with 500 MB of bandwidth, and 500 MB of storage. Zyro offers three paid plans. There’s also a Website plan for $2.90 per month, or a Business plan for business use for $4.90 per month. The Advanced Store plan is available for $15.90
- Free trial length: All users with an active Zyro plan will get a 3 month free trial of Titan email
- Customer support options: 24/7 email and live chat support
- Integrated sales channels: Facebook Shop, Instagram Store, and/or Amazon to start managing orders across channels.
A website builder with a long history on the market, Zyro is practical and appealing. The business began as a Hostinger product before changing into a new platform. With no coding or design experience required, this newly independent website builder has everything a brand needs to launch online.
With a variety of amazing designs currently available from the Zyro team, you can create a website in a matter of minutes. The drag and drop builder also has an easy-to-use grid feature. As a result, there is a lower likelihood that you will have components that are inconsistent.
Pros
- Fantastic uptime
- Cool, AI-powered tools with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface
- Making a logo is easy
- No cost SSL certificate
- Useful photo archive
- All subscriptions include unlimited bandwidth and storage.
Cons
- Does not allow you to change templates
- More options could still be added to photo editing.
- Zero free tier
11, Selz
- Price: It’s a kind of subscription monthly and has 4 plans
- Basic plan: $26 per month
- Standard plan: $53 per month
- Advanced plan: $179 per month
- Do it for me plan: $599 per month
- Free trial length: 14 days
- Customer support options: 24/7 (Live rep), Online
- Integrated sales channels: Facebook and Instagram and integrates with Google Smart Shopping
- Mobile app features: Create a fully functioning, mobile-responsive Facebook store. Mobile Access.
Selz is a web-based e-commerce platform created to assist online retailers in selling expert services, tangible goods, and digital goods. A few of the most important functions are website administration, email marketing, inventory management, multi-channel marketing, order management, and social network integration.
It’s quite simple to use this platform. Selz is a fantastic choice if you lack coding or design knowledge. To make it simple for your company to develop your website, they encourage the usage of user-friendly tools. There are also lots of customization choices available to assist you in building a website that is useful to you.
Pros
- One of the least expensive online storefronts
- 24/7 client assistance
- Make Your Own Domain Name
- Profit from a Free SSL Certificate.
- Drag and drop store builder that’s simple to use
Cons
- There is no scalable solution offered by Selz’ drag and drop program.
- When you make additional sales on a regular basis, these individual transaction fees start to accumulate.
12, nopCommerce
- Price: nopCommerce is entirely free to use. However, if you want to opt for premium support (where you’ll hear back from someone within 24 hours of a query). Prices cost $83.25 a month for a year’s support or $999 upfront. Alternatively, you can pay for three months of support, costing a flat fee of $499 or $166.33 a month.
- Free trial length:
- Customer support options: No support is available from nopCommerce via phone or email, Personal assistance is available only via a premium support plan, which isn’t cheap
- Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, PriceGrabber, Yahoo Shopping, and become.com
NopCommerce provides users with virtually limitless modification and expansion options because it is open-source software. It includes all of the characteristics you’ll need to launch your online business, including tools for payment, shipping, managing your warehouse, marketing, and SEO. With built-in GDPR compliance, numerous currency and language options, regional tax and legal support, multiple store management tools, and integrations with local services and suppliers, it is especially well-suited for users conducting business internationally. You receive everything for free. You won’t cost money for any monthly service fees, transaction fees, or other fees to nopCommerce.
Pros
- Free to use and install
- Appealing set of features
- Highly adaptable
- Thriving user base
- Excellent UI
Cons
- Developer expertise necessary
- Design restrictions
- Costly customer service
Conclusion
These days, creating a store and selling on an eCommerce platform isn’t strange and it’s the trend in the market. There are lots of eCommerce platforms where you can start your online business. Then we listed the top best eCommerce platform with a quick review for you. If you are a small business owner, considering which platform will be suitable for you is really important. We want to help you solve this tough problem with our article. If you still cannot give a decision, check out our Ecommerce agency service to know more information.
