How to pick the right ecommerce platform for your online store

How to pick the right e-commerce platform for your online store:

So you’ve decided to launch an online store? Great! Now it’s time to get familiar with all the tech and software systems that bring your store to life.

If youdon't have an online store idea yet check out how you can Create the life of your dreams visualize it and do it here.

If you have started researching e-commerce platforms already, you will have noticed there are a couple of big players, namely Shopify and WooCommerce, and perhaps you are confused as to which one is best?

You might have discovered there are pro’s and con’s for each, all with varying pricing and reviews.

Let me highlight my experiences with each platform as well as pro’s and con’s for each.  

Now I must admit I’m a Shopify fan and user through and through. I use Shopfiy for my own online store, iland co. and love it.  But aside from my opinion, here are the pro’s and con’s for four of the leading e-commerce platform:

SHOPIFY:

Shopify is an all-in-one solution which enables you to create an online store, manage your products, and handle payments using a single service.

Shopify positives:

• Considered the ‘gold standard’ for small to mid-sized e-commerce businesses 

• Easy to use and update and has a great mobile app as well

• You know exactly how much you'll be paying every month and the pricing is fair

• There's access to thousands of apps to extend your store

• The themes are plentiful with 54 different store templates, 10 of which are free

• Dropshipping is rather simple with Shopify.

• Free Point of Sale (POS) app available for those who also sell in person

• Great support with 24-hour chat

Shopify negatives:

• Monthly recurring charges
• Somewhat limited in design (but many templates to choose from)
• A little restricted with SEO capabilities out of the box - but workarounds available

WOOCOMMERCE:

WooCommerce is a self-hosted software for eCommerce. This means that you can tap into the code and access various parts of your store for more customizable options.

WooCommerce gives you a lot of freedom to build everything into your store which is crucial for your team. It also means that you can run your business in conjunction with a WordPress blog but remember that the freedom that you get from WooCommerce comes at a price. In other words, you need to know how to handle the technical side of your site and keep it safe.

WooCommerce positives:

• WooCommerce offers complete customization and control.
• WordPress has a huge community online.
• The themes and plugins are endless since just about anyone can make and sell them online.
• WooCommerce is simple to configure on WordPress.
• The WooCommerce plugin is free.

WooCommerce negatives:

• WordPress does have a bit of a learning curve.
• You may find that WooCommerce ends up being more expensive due to plugins, themes, and hosting.
• You're stuck managing everything from hosting to security, and maintenance to backups.
• Support isn’t as readily available with no support desk to call on but extensive FAQ documents and user forums.

BIG CARTEL:

Big Cartel is the only e-commerce platform around which lets you sell online for free, and is best suited to creatives with small-scale businesses selling individual products (such as art or jewellery pieces).

Big Cartel positives:

• 4 membership levels - Gold, Titanium, Diamond and Platinum. They range in price from Free to $29.99 a month.
• Members are allowed to upgrade, downgrade or cancel their account at any time
• No transaction fees
• The ability to sell digital products such as art, music, and eBooks.
• The opportunity to sell in person and process the payments through Big Cartel’s iPhone app or via your Facebook page.
• Beautiful and artistic collection of themes

Big Cartel negatives:

• Paypal and Stripe are the only available payment processing options
• The free Gold level only permits up to 5 products with a maximum of three hundred listings on the Platinum level plan
• You will need to have some understanding of coding to build and maintain your store
• The support team is only available Monday-Friday from 9 am to 6 pm EST 

SQUARESPACE:

Squarespace was initially designed to be a website first and an online store second. It was created as a solution for building and maintaining content-based websites but with the relatively recent addition of e-commerce to Squarespace’s feature set, the two tools have become increasingly similar and technically, you can now use either to create a content-driven website or sell products online.

Squarespace positives:

• Easy-to-use site builder and management dashboard
• Stylish and professional themes
• Unlimited products
• Customer support is available 24/7 via email and on Twitter. Live chat is available between 4 AM and 8 PM on weekdays.
• Squarespace is a well-known and popular site-builder which in turn comes with a large community of active users on the forums for extra support

Squarespace negatives:

• The promotion features only available on the top plan.
• A small number of only 10 themes available
• The number of integrations is limited.
• Without coding experience, retailers will find it difficult to add smaller features, like countdown timers or personalization. 
• If you want access to a large add-on library, a solution like Shopify might be preferable

All 4 platforms offer a free two-week trial so you can try before you commit allowing you time to find the right fit for your business.

I hope this information will help you to decide which e-commerce platform to use for your online store. All four offer something a little different so hopefully, we’ve provided a little clarity into the differences and you can find the right platform to complement your business model.

If you have decided to go with Shopify, I actually have a great training course which takes you step by step, through building your own site.  It’s so easy, I even did it, and re-built my own Shopify store, iland co.  in a weekend!