These leading eCommerce platforms 2021 are evaluated on concrete performance statistics, feature points, marketing elements, multichannel functions, integrations, SEO performance, and value. Evaluate the top eCommerce website builders to obtain the best one for your requirements. So let’s understand which platform caters perfectly to your needs and offers you value to command your niche.
WooCommerce
Overview
A free shopping cart plugin that is open-source that functions expressly with WordPress websites, the WooCommerce plugin has more than 84 million times been downloaded. Though WooCommerce is downloaded for free, running a WooCommerce store involves a cost. WooCommerce provides the features at a low cost and integrates them into the platform which you are already utilizing.
This WordPress plugin to be maintained requires purchase hosting for your WordPress.com website. To utilize WooCommerce effectively, you have to integrate different add-ons and extensions, which vary in expenses from free to hundreds of dollars. As these extensions are single-time purchases, charges would be slightly less compared to other well-known options like Shopify.
Features
A plugin from WordPress, WooCommerce modifies your website into a highly powerful online outlet. WooCommerce permits you to build custom contact forms and enables you to sell products online and process payments.
WooCommerce contains its own setup wizard to steer you through the basic configuration of your store. This plugin is loaded with extra features that increase value to your online store, such as the capacity to customize your every product and support additional payment gateways.
WooCommerce builds four primary pages required by every store: My account, Cart, Checkout, and Shop pages. Such pages provide your site with the essential functionality required to start sales instantly.
You can create a virtual product, configure the layout of your inventory, enables you to insert additional payment gateways to access more users beyond PayPal integration by default, and also empowers you to receive checks, bank transfers and cash on delivery. Extra additional payment gateways can be added through WooCommerce extensions. Using extensions lets you add greater powerful features and insert more advanced options.
Integrations
The integration allows you to add a few or every functionality of a platform to another. Like for instance, incorporating the BuyNow button of Shopify within your WooCommerce store is a way of integrating both platforms. Listing your products of WooCommerce automatically on a third platform grows your sales as it raises product visibility. Inserting Checkout options that are not supported by WooCommerce leads to greater conversions.
Listing your WooCommerce products on eBay utilizing the WP-Lister Lite for eBay plugin, publishing your WooCommerce products on the site of the titan of e-commerce Amazon, and adding Buy Now button of Shopify permits you to insert products from that platform into your WooCommerce site.
SEO and Marketing Features
WooCommerce code is maximized for SEO and is integrated with WordPress. Few of them include a compliant URL structure, meta descriptions, develop sitemap.xml, blogs, and canonical URL tags.
WordPress is a CMS that lets you create a new author/user, place tags, scale-up images, categorize posts and possess an intuitive design. With regard to content design and long-form layout of the page, WordPress remains far ahead of its competitors. You can make your pages appear impressive with a page builder such as Elementor. Great-looking pages become easy to promote and develop links, which is essential in SEO.
Marketing features permit you to integrate Klaviyo, MailChimp, and Active Campaign by using free apps. Coupon codes and user ratings are also permitted uncommonly.
Payment Options
To begin a WooCommerce store you require a domain name, a WordPress hosting account, and an SSL Certificate. This is not affordable especially when you are simply starting out. Luckily, there are various hosting companies that offer WooCommerce hosting plans that reduce the expenses significantly.
WooCommerce does not charge a percentage fee for your transactions which is a great bonus. But their costs start incrementing when you buy the paid extensions. Your hosting expenses will start to mount as your store expands. Despite that, one direct benefit of utilizing WooCommerce is its offering of free options to the paid extensions. You can maintain a check on your costs by buying only those tools and plugins which you require.
WooCommerce provides PayPal and Stripe payments through default and backs various providers of payment service through add-ons. As it is a self-hosted payment you only need to pay transaction fees by your payment gateway or bank. WooCommerce does not levy any percentage fee on your online store which is a major advantage.
If selecting your own merchant account and employing a third-party gateway is essential for you, in that case, you can save enough by using WooCommerce.
Pros:
- WordPress features among the best SEO platform
- Single-click Selling App present
- Availability of WordPress specialists
Cons:
- Require extensions for a simple action
- Great hosting can be expensive
- Practically zero support
- WooCommerce sites load in 3.4 seconds compared to below 2 seconds for Shopify stores and 2-2.5 secs on BigCommerce sites.
Shopify
Overview
Shopify operates equally for you both online and offline and is the best design customization platform in the matter of design customization. It is the best platform for dropshipping, Instagram marketing, or Facebook ads. This popular platform makes it simple to launch an e-commerce store quickly.
Packed with smart templates, marketing tools, and e-commerce functions Shopify has been designed to serve e-commerce outlets. Shopify is regarded today as the finest dropshipping and clothing platform and also suitable for a huge variety of businesses from startups to companies with millions in sales turnover.
Full of dynamic features, Shopify has emerged as a scalable solution and simultaneously growing alongside your store as your sales augments and business expands.
Shopify has a better record in some segments compared to BigCommerce like for instance post-purchase single click upsells but lags behind in relation to performance.
Features
The drag and drop interface of Shopify allows you to easily set up an online store. They also contain the Shopify POS for conventional brick and mortar outlets taking payments through the mobile app. It can also be used by complex stores.
Shopify presents dozens of mobile-optimized that are available for free, and elegant themes. You receive more on purchase. There is no requirement of coding for its customization. Simply utilize your mouse for alterations.
Shopify also supports numerous third-party payment gateways along with a huge marketplace app with more than a thousand features that offer functionality to your website with simple clicks.
In addition, they provide extra sales channels by presenting you both software and hardware to sell within physical store areas, social selling, and incorporating with marketplaces such as Amazon.
Integrations
Shopify integrates with e-marketing tools like MailChimp which helps to add personalized product offerings to customers by evaluating previous purchases.
While Shopify offers solutions for various common store functions such as loyalty programs, reviews, product suggestions, and more – you are going to see that extra, third-party integrations may let you reach out to high-impact segments that your conventional innovative features could not.
Shopify integrations can be plugged into analytics, loyalty programs, sales funnel, workflow automation, review management, and Email marketing.
Payment Options
Shopify presents different pricing levels with extra features based on the type of plan chosen. You also have Shopify Lite that allows you to sell on social networks and incorporate products on your own site to utilize the shopping cart facilities. In addition, there is Shopify Plus meant for enterprise clients where along with the base price, you are charged for apps and extra features. Also, you need to consider credit card and transaction charges while utilizing third-party providers for payment which differ according to the plan selected. Transaction fees are charged if you are not making use of Shopify payments.
Pros:
- Lightning-quick load time
- Easy installation
- Several certified partners to assist
- Single click selling
- Permits multiple channel plus social selling
- Excellent themes having diverse designs
Cons:
- An inflexible URL structure where modifications cannot be done
- Not able to customize the procedure of checkout
- Apps can count up and get expensive
- Require a developer to manage advanced functions
Interesting Read: 10 Incredible Free WordPress Themes
BigCommerce
Overview
Among the only e-commerce builders that allow you to sell digital, physical and service related products BigCommerce is a great choice for fast-expanding businesses. It has a remarkable range of in-built tools and functions to promote the growth of your online store. Besides, being an excellent alternative for e-commerce outlets. It suits both non-skilled as well as tech-savvy individuals to fine-tune the CSS and HTML.
With more than 100 themes to offer, BigCommerce makes it very convenient to search for your ideal theme. You can look out for the layout or the industry to use your template. Like for instance, you select from grid layouts or designs containing large images. You can observe both free or premium themes, or utilize the search bar to detect customized results.
Features
Inbuilt features of BigCommerce include advanced security, industry-ahead up time, payment and order satisfaction partnerships and various in-built integrations with primary e-commerce apps. It allows you to build your store, include products and monetize your website.
BigCommerce is popular as it provides a complete store without tough backend barriers, which makes it a terrific choice for numerous merchants.
SEO Features
BigCommerce has powerful SEO features and it is convenient to edit page titles, headers, and meta descriptions. Moreover, you can make and alter URLs that are product-specific and generate short URLs.
Integrations
BigCommerce offers marketing and conversion apps that enhance sales, connects to automation and email marketing applications such as HubSpot, advertising tools like Google AdWords, and A/B testing versatile tools like Optimizely and more. Besides, BigCommerce also uses shipping apps, and ERP integrations to facilitate your operations.
Payment Options
BigCommerce does not charge transaction fees on any of its schemes. Rather it permits you to select your own payment gateway and does not impose additional charges or transaction expenses. The only payment is the normal credit charge used by your preferred payment gateway. You can choose from 65 integrated payment gateways. With single-click installation, mobile payments and supported by multiple currencies, BigCommerce tries its best so that you get paid quickly
Pros
- Highly scalable and flexible e-commerce platform
- Numerous in-built features compared to other competitors
- Allows you to sell beyond multiple channels such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest
- Amazing SEO tools
- Powerful SEO Performance
- Incredible Theme Designs
- Extensive abandoned cart functions
Cons
- Advanced features can undermine ease of use
- Variable speeds in successive studies
- Becomes costly for high volume e-stores
- Cart abandonment does not exist on an entry plan
- No single click Upsells/Selling
3dCart
Overview
An all-inclusive eCommerce solution that is hosted, 3dcart contains everything that is required to operate a successful online outlet, including PCI-compliant security, free assistance -24/7/365, and a completely featured eCommerce website builder. 3dcart creates an absolute eCommerce site and incorporates as many categories, products and additional pages you require. An entire set of SEO and marketing tools are available to let your customers access along with an effective order management and reporting framework.
3dcart is a remarkable solution for online outlets that are expecting a fast growth or are expanding quickly already, and prefer to collaborate with a platform that upscales and can manage any number of consumers and sales.
Features
3dcart has abounding features, with mobile selling, and a few of the finest tools for selling on platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Almost everything is embedded that offers you access to the newsletter, CRM, blog, and email.
The dashboard for backend is so much convenient to operate, and they contain a responsive form of the dashboard for producing fast updates while being active.
SEO And Marketing Features
The tab for marketing is loaded with items that can be used to promote your outlet. Some of these nice items consist of like buttons, autoresponders, social bookmarking, email newsletters, promotions, group certificates and links to shopping engines.
With regard to SEO, 3dcart houses the tools put together under the Marketing tab. All this is assembled into a single page which makes it easier to locate. Though the SEO layout appears a bit confusing, a larger part of the checkboxes you require is checked off previously. Like for instance, you can access settings for modifying URLs, robots txt, canonical URLs, sitemaps, rich snippets, Google Analytics, social links and a lot more.
Integrations
What is amazing is that 3dcart contains an effective API for integrating with different apps and tools. It is great for more progressive developers who want to access and customize it. Besides, selling via social networks, you can also link your store to retailers and wholesalers like Amazon, eBay, and Shopzilla.
They also present an app outlet with a large number of add-ons. Although this eCommerce platform does not provide several add-ons like Shopify or BigCommerce, still they provide access to significant ones like Shipwire, ShareASale, and Quickbooks.
Payment Options
3dcart presents a free trial of 15 days and you can select their low-priced plans that promise much more compared to rival hosted shopping cart platforms and helps to unleash your business potential.
3dcart provides 5 primary pricing models. While their Power Plan is slightly costly, you do not require to use it until there is a significant growth of your outlet. In most cases, the middle month plan at $65.99/month is sufficient to let you begin. Under it, you can retain almost 10,000 products within your online store and manage 20,000 visits per month (about 660 every day).
Their cheapest option – $19.99 per month appears modest feature-wise, but you can receive up to 130 store visitors daily.
Pros:
- The store pages on the front-end side have clarity and simple to follow for the site visitor that boosts sales and conversions.
- Unlimited option in Product Storage making it the best platform for realizing scale and useful for businesses witnessing rapid growth
- Integrates seamlessly with different payment gateways
- Reliable quick chat and phone support
Cons:
- Not among the most user-compatible interface and certain processes are more cumbersome compared to other platforms
- Limited offer of Free Templates
- Supplementary Charges as you generally pay for features as an optional surplus, while various platforms allow as a component of their standard price schemes.
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Volusion
Overview
Volusion started as a provider of e-commerce solution in 2002 and is an excellent alternative for those selling physical merchandise as presently automatic digital downloads post-payment is not permitted. A great tool for analytics, Volusion powers around 30,000 sites and contains amazing selling tools and has rolled on 185 million orders ever since its inception.
Features
This platform offers a simple and convenient in use website builder having in-page editing and drag and drop. Volusion contains 11 free themes and 34 paid themes priced at $180 each and you are required to buy an SSL certificate. It does not make much difference as BigCommerce and Shopify both offer more than 50 premium designs estimated at $145-235 and $140 – 180 respectively. and you are required to buy an SSL certificate.
One of the strongest features of Volusion is its extensive inventory. You can sell endless products with the assistance of some amazing tools such as product suggestions and product videos which need to be downloaded separately on Shopify. Still, you are not able to sell digital items on Volusion.
Volusion is packed with many shopping cart features. Similar to various eCommerce platforms, it can manage simply anything such as:
Payment processing
Handling order
In addition, this platform grants you the potential to edit catalogs of products, design a webshop, initiate promotional campaigns and also monitor customers.
SEO and Marketing features
If your business is data-powered and you are on the lookout for an e-commerce website builder equipped with excellent analytics tools, then Volusion fits your needs. But for other features such as designing the shopfront or writing blogs, you need to try elsewhere. However, Volusion allows you to grow your store to eBay, Amazon, Facebook and other e-commerce sites.
Volusion does not offer a blogging platform, which comes as a normal feature with e-commerce builders of present time. This is a big downer these days where boosting SEO with blogs is the trend. To achieve that, you have to utilize a third party such as WordPress plus a plugin or different means to link the blog to your eCommerce store.
However, in Volusion you can rewrite URLs to make them search engine optimized, customize every Metadata, auto-develop an XML sitemap, make manual and auto-generated 301 redirects, edit the file robots.txt, block duplicate content using canonical links and prepare customizable 404 error pages.
If you are an online outlet that requires a platform that is greatly usable and manages inventory management plus fulfillment of the order and not on organic or paid traffic, then Volusion might be a great option.
Integrations
Volusion lacks various integrations indicating that you will require a paid account with Zapier to use a few of your preferred tools. Certain options, such as Square ought to be integrated with Zapier, which is fast and easy to perform.
This eCommerce platform desires to customize your store to a large extent by supporting 1000+ apps via Zapier enclosing all from accounting to managing customer relationships. Volusion also integrates with eBay, Amazon, Google Product Data feed, and different sales platforms, but to utilize the multi-channel functions, you require their costlier plans. You also have to depend on third-party apps for cross-selling and upselling.
Payment Options
Volusion backs numerous payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal. It also facilitates tech-savvy consumers. This platform uses 4 pricing plans, spanning $15 per month to $135 per month. The first two schemes cover 100 and 5000 products respectively. Every plan carries a free trial of 14 days. Not a single plan has a fulfilled by Amazon integration, and each plan demands a paid add-on for real-time tracking or shipping. All plans consist of social media tools, 24/7 online assistance, and reporting tools. If you commit to utilizing annually, you can receive a 10% rebate on any scheme.
Pros:
- Intuitive layout
- Immense adaptability with Sitemaps
- SMB compatibility
- Properly laid out dashboard
- Recurring payments /inherent subscriptions
- Clear inventory and marketing process
Cons:
- Deficient in cross-selling functions
- Contains weak URL structure
- Among the slower SaaS platforms
- Lacks built-in blogging and analytical features
Prestashop
Overview
An open-source e-commerce platform that is cloud-hosted, PrestaShop is high on overall value. You can download it for free and set it up on your personal server. Alternatively, you can apply a hosted variant of the application on their PrestaShop Ready server.
With the core programming being open source, you can alter the programming to align it with your business-specific requirements. It can be performed through the modules which are costly, or if you possess the [proficiency, by using your own coding.
Features
Setting up PrestaShop can be time taking as it contains a technical backend. Despite that, Prestashop offers a demo to sail you through the complete process. After the completion of the setup process, you need to consider the modules required for your online outlet. Once these are finalized daily operations like product creation, management of orders, and inventory.are easier.
The tools for customization used in PrestaShop assist you to finish product organization, build an inner search engine tool to guide customers to conveniently navigate your eCommerce store or create various methods of payment. You find 1500+ templates and a wide assortment of customizable themes within the official marketplace of PrestaShop.
A hallmark of PrestaShop is its product creation segment where it is possible to list as many products you prefer to sell. It is also possible for your to configure functions to exhibit expiry dates for products that are time-sensitive. You can even sell products that are downloadable, monitor your inventory and set alerts for restocking in case a product gets out of stock.
It’s Google rich snippets are codes that make it convenient for search engines to classify information. This lets shoppers view products and compare prices. The Google Rich snippets present in the add-ons marketplace of the PrestaShop which leverages to enhance the shopping experience of consumers.
The PrestaShop outlet hosts more than 3,000 responsive web templates developed by third-party designers. The only option that comes for free is the default theme that is available with each downloaded software.
SEO And Marketing Features
PrestaShop covers an SEO segment where you can access a Meta title and a Meta description.
It also flaunts a comprehensive list of embedded marketing tools which includes:
- Discount mode
- Special offers
- Chargeless shipping
- Gift wrapping
- Email marketing
- Processing of payment
- Affiliate programs
Integrations Plus Add-ons
PrestaShop’s downloadable application helps you to know the requirements of your site. These integrations can be accessible by purchasing it one-time. There are various add-ons that cost between $0 – $100, while others are more expensive. Including these integrations within your platform can become more expensive when you take up your options. Most of these modules are available as integrated into various fully hosted shopping carts.
If you are using the hosted service from PrestaShop, you are limited to about 100 modules available. But the bonus here is that these modules will work together so you aren’t wondering if your site is going to stop by adding functions you need.
Payment Option
If you prefer to use PrestaShop Ready, it incurs a monthly cost. Presently, there is only a single pricing plan amounting to $20/month. It excludes transaction fees which are not chargeable till $3000/month and 1.5% of your sales exceeding that amount.
This package offers you unlimited products, images, and employee accounts along with an SSL certificate which is terrific for handling and installing your site. Moreover, the PrestaShop Ready lacks a wide range of tools that is present in the downloadable alternative. Your PrestaShop Ready system limits you to only 12,000 emails set on the basic place with no scope for upgrading. The PrestaShop Ready demo has a validity of 15 days.
You require a merchant account or a third-party payment processor for accepting payments. PrestaShop’s payment partners for merchants from America are Amazon Pay. Authorize.Net, Bambora, First Data, Worldpay, PayPal USA, and Canada. Besides, it even has more than 250 payment providers as add-ons.
Pros:
- Superb user interface for creating a great site with various available themes
- A huge assortment of third party modules that expands the functionality of a website
- Free open-sourced core software that lets you customize your eCommerce website
Cons:
- Modules can at times become difficult to perform together
- Modules can be expensive
- Limited hosting alternatives
SquareSpace
Overview
An all-inclusive eCommerce platform that helps to create a captivating website, Squarespace is a website builder having added e-commerce functionality. Squarespace contains various sales tools required to sell any kind of product.
With its stunning templates made through drag and drop design and customization, Squarespace creates professional and quality e-commerce sites for your business. Its modern themes spread across a range of industries. Shopify also contains 10 free plus 50 paid templates, but they are not as attractive as Squarespace.
The customization potential of Squarespace makes you build a personal storefront without getting overwhelmed with plenty of options.
Features
The e-commerce functionality of Squarespace is fully incorporated into its platform. You only require to insert a product block into your site to get rolling. If your goal is to create a website for product selling, Squarespace comprises a likely choice. It is packed with excellent templates, intuitive CMS and superior photo editing display tools.
If your main objective is an online store, you may discover Squarespace to be slightly limiting. Squarespace operates with only a single gateway – Stripe and not with PayPal can be a stumbling stone.
However, it offers a wide-ranging sales plus inventory management tools available in the market and powerful marketing features. It has introduced a recent Email campaign add-on. that provides a free trial during such a period wherein you can send around 50,000 campaigns /month. After that, it will cost you $8 every month.
Squarespace presents unlimited products, scope to insert single or bulk products, in-house information on revenue, and direct alerts of email concerning the low stock.
Make Custom Edits
If you desire to customize your e-commerce store you can utilize code to carry out custom edits. Square space allows you to add HTML applying a Code Block and CSS by applying their CSS Editor.
Shipping options
Squarespace now operates with UPS (United Parcel Service) to calculate rates of carrier shipping. It also allows you to modify shipping expenses based on the country you are shipping to or destination and by weight. Real-time shipping rates calculation from larger providers like UPS, USPS, and FedEx is also provided.
This high-quality website builder is best for smaller stores selling fewer items and creative industries, terrific blogging features, perfectly designed templates, and lower entry cost plan.
Integrations
Multi-Channel Integrations is the capacity to sell your products on social media sites, networks and marketplaces. At present, Squarespace only allows you to access Instagram, whereas, Shopify permits you to sell across Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Pinterest and more.
By comparison, Squarespace does not include an app market and you can sell only on Instagram.
Squarespace embeds ShipStation and permits you to set up Printful and ShipBob from the app segment.
SEO And Marketing Features
Squarespace also utilizes its individual analytics software. It is possible to monitor revenue, conversion, complete orders, and consumer behavior. It gets low scores by not offering stock checking alerts. Similar to Shopify, you can incorporate Google Analytics into your store.
to receive more informative stats.
Ranking your site higher on Google boosts clicks to your eCommerce store and higher revenue. Squarespace allows you to edit meta titles and descriptions and perform the other essential SEO functions. However, it does not provide any advice on the best SEO practice when you are uploading new products to your shopping outlet.
Blogging
Squarespace provides all the blogging functions required for a successful site containing built-in analytics, search function, and archive features.
Payment Options
Squarespace is quite limited in the gateways it supports. The only options available are Stripe, PayPal and Apple Pay.
Pricing Plans
Squarespace includes four pricing plans extending from $12 to $40/ month (yearly billing).
Similar to Shopify, if you sign up for an annual plan, the expenses incurred monthly reduces.to $12, $18, $26, and $40 accordingly.
Therefore, Squarespace emerges as the more economical alternative.with its most cost-effective plan being available for simply $18/month.
With regard to pricing, it all boils down to value for money. The monthly plans of Shopify vary between $29 – $299 but offers a larger assortment of tools and functions compared to Squarespace. As a cheaper option, Squarespace costs around $12 to $40 every month but supports lesser e-commerce tools.
But, both builders extend a 14-day trial for free, so that you can experiment with each one without investing a single dollar.
Pros:
- Easy Installation
- Heaps of Stunning Design Templates
- Remarkable for Simple Stores
- Solid Tools for SEO
- Integrates with shipping applications like ShipStation and ShipBob
- Great Analytics Process for non-e-commerce based builder
Cons:
- Supports only Stripe and PayPal as payment processors
- Integrates with very few third-party applications
- No dropshipping
- Lacks integration with marketing automation
- Lacks integration with Amazon
- No app store to lend greater features and functions
Big Cartel
Overview
An all-in-one type of platform that allows you to build, handle and operate your e-commerce store under one roof, Big Cartel is the sole e-commerce builder that sets up a store and does online selling for free. It markets itself as a convenient solution for creative wanting to sell their works in an easy manner and for artworks and individual pieces instead of bulk uploads because of its easy-to-use sales features.
Big Cartel states that they hold faith in the artist that reflects in the designing and operation of the platform. This is a perfect platform for designers, jewelry makers, painters, woodworkers and others hailing from the creative industry. This eCommerce platform offers your a grand visual presence and does not require any website building expertise from you. You can build everything personally and not feel awkward about it.
Big Cartel is intended for small stores managing one to twenty individual items instead of huge e-commerce operations and is loaded with basic sales functionality. It is ideal for those who are simply beginning and require simple deals. Big Cartel is the lone e-commerce builder that lets you set up a store and sell on the website for free.
Starters are assisted by the user-friendly onboarding system of Big Cartel with reminders and prompt aiding you in the process of store installation. However, to achieve the maximum out of this builder you have to know to code.
Features
An updated dashboard that improves functionality, Big Cartel remains high on usability with such updates.
- Products: Big Cartel lets you list at least five images for every product under their paid plans. You can even list multiple product alternatives at multiple points of price. If you prefer to catalog digital merchandise, you can utilize the integration with the service from BigCartel – Pulley that enables you to sell online goods that are downloadable if you are not a user of BigCartel.
- Themes: Big Cartel contains 17 themes that are mobile responsive. Though it has a lesser theme selection in contrast to different shopping carts, the themes are simply fine if filled with captivating high-resolution photography. There also exist some third-party themes, and you can operate with a web developer to make your site customized at the level of the source code.
- Multi-Channel Selling: Big Cartel allows you to sell in-person on your website and via Facebook.
- Checkout: There exists no automatic shipping rate generator and the tax calculation is extremely restricted as you can list taxes for only one territory or state within the US. Big Cartel has announced the arrival of its automatic tax calculations and advanced tax configurations.`
You can integrate a shopping application with Big Cartel through an add-on to manage complicated shipping calculations. - Inventory Management: Monitor your inventory in a way so that you never sell any stock that is out of hand. This feature is also present in paid plans. You can also enumerate items as “sold out” or “coming soon”.
- Apps: Big Cartel suggests utilizing apps for a host of your e-commerce operations. You require third party plugins or apps to unleash features like selling digital products, accessing higher advanced analytics and finance tools, producing promotional pop-ups and facilitating dropshipping. These make your online store expand and build improved customer experience. For this reason, the free plan of Big Cartel is worth adopting as these apps add to your website expenses every month.
Some extra functionality such as shipping calculators, abandoned cart recovery and search tools are highly awaited. But, for an economical, basic shopping cart, Big Cartel possesses adequate features.
SEO And Marketing Features
Big Cartel creates discount codes to draw greater customers which are available in their paid plans. They also utilize a Facebook integration to build up shop on your social media networks. Thanks to the Facebook app of Big Cartel, it becomes convenient to begin selling your items directly from your Facebook page.
This e-commerce builder also employs SEO functions like plain-text URLs and automatic generation of sitemap to attract traffic; Google Analytics is integrated previously into the platform and is present in paid plans.
Integrations And Add-Ons
Big Cartel integrates instantly with only 17 add-ons, although those options get widened substantially, due to its integration with Zapier. This Zapier integration provides access to more than a thousand applications. You need to pay for both the service from Zapier and your third-party apps. However, Zapier excludes the requirement of a web developer to create those links for you. In addition, the inclusion of an API assists you to integrate with different software.
Payment Options
Big Cartel incorporates two payment methods – Stripe and PayPal. Though Big Cartel does not levy any transaction fees, these payment processors do.
You also get a customized checkout such as confirmation emails displaying your brand and selected theme. It also contains an orders section where you monitor your transactions and details of an order.
This platform is not PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant. This indicates that you are liable for adhering to PCI guidelines on processing and approving card payment details of people. This is one hassle that is not present in different e-commerce builders.
On the positive side, Big Cartel does not charge fees for transactions and the normal charge is implemented by the payment gateway themselves.
Pros:
- Ease of Use
- Free tier of service for small stores
- In-built marketing tools and time-based discounts
- Great option to Etsy as it lets its users sell independently similar products without direct competition from various artists and without charging a 5% transaction fee. It also empowers artists to establish their brands separately from the Etsy marketplace.
Cons:
- Lacks search function
- Limited options in payment
- No abandoned cart recovery
Magneto
Overview
Magento is trusted by big brands such as Nike, Cisco, and Procter & Gamble. An important part of the package is coding. Though Magento is free itself but requires you to make payment for hosting and set up the software and installation process yourself which is something that is possible only by tech-savvy users and not the normal end-users.
A shopping cart platform, Magento is created as an open-source solution belonging to eBay. Powerful with eCommerce functionalities and tools, Magento offers great flexibility on matters of configuration and controlling their stores. With a remarkable track record and a deep eBay integration, Magento is a favorite choice for many businesses.
Features
Some of the significant Magento Ecommerce Platform features include:
- Inventory management
- Multiple payment gateway alternatives
- Coupon management
- 5000 plus extensions present
- Mobiles and tables optimized
- API for web facilities
- Embedded SEO features
- Consumer groups
- Newsletter management
- Product bundles and unlimited listing of products and configurations
- Marketing tools
- Order processing
- Site management functions
- Gifts
- Customer service
Integrations
You can add countless extensions created by the Magento community, provide discounts, vouchers, and recommendations, integrate your shopping cart with gateways for payment, handle returns and levels of stock, and automate the dispatch of emails, newsletters, and reminders.
Magento SOAP v 2API allows you to customize the functionality of your store and shopping cart. It is possible to test latest tools, roll back modifications, and operate with sales orders, categories, consumers, products and inventory.
SEO And Marketing Features
Magento integrates email marketing campaigns plus social feeds to display and promote your products. An email marketing automation platform – Remarkety lets you design and monitor emails to your clients.
You can also insert banners for advertising to generate a different revenue source for your online store such as Banner Slider. This app adds personalized banners with targeted links. The extensions of Magento allow you to add custom coupons for discounts and multiple coupons to a single order which makes consumers feel a sense of worth and promote repeat purchase.
Magento presents an extensive range of tools for digital marketing like product reviews, cross-selling and up-selling based on rules, SEO suggestions, and targeted promotions emanating from consumer segmentation.
You can employ the Magento Enterprise Edition and Magento Community to generate a personalized shopping experience for your users.
In addition, Magento develops URLs that are SEO-friendly, customized meta keywords and meta descriptions, and a Google site map.
Payment Options
Some of the pre-built processor integrations present in Magento Open Source are PayPal, Stripe, Square, Sage Pay, Braintree, Alipay, Amazon Pay, Banbora. Payeezy and WePay. More gateways can be incorporated into Magento stores by using third-party add-ons.
Magento consists of two editions: Magento Enterprise which is not available for free and Magento Community that is free to download.
Generally, to cover the hosting expenses, you require a monthly fee, but it is good to know from the beginning that few of the hosting solutions extend discount packages if you make advance payments 12 months before.
Magento provides two enterprise pricing packages namely Magento Commerce Starter beginning at $2,000/month which covers catalog management, checkout and payments, shipping, SEO, promotions and pricing, analytics and reporting, theming and layout to name a few.
The other package is Magento Commerce Pro – beginning at $3,417 per month which covers dedicated hardware, integrated B2B features, high availability infrastructure, and user satisfaction to mention a few.
Pros:
- Feature laden and robust
- Powerful SEO
- Plenty of users plus community
- Flexible in selecting where you prefer to host the application
- Highly customized and scalable
- Single click selling
Cons
- Expensive themes
- Quickly Slowed Down
- Lacks virtual support
- Needs Development Skills
- Needs sufficient memory and space to give better performance.
Weebly
With 40 million customer base, Weebly is an amazing choice for people looking for a modest store having in-built marketing automation. Its accommodative prices and elaborate features indicate that you get a return for your money using their e-commerce plans.
Weebly offers three primary advantages which are as follows:
It’s suited for owners of small firms who are on the lookout for a professional appearing and functional website. Weebly presents every tool to perform the work as it lets you create an online outlet and the main website within an hour.
There are scores of templates that range from completely professional ones to playful types and suits all tastes. You can customize a theme with Weebly and they are mobile responsive and you can insert your admired video or photographic animations backdrops too.
Its SEO guides are very beneficial and can transform even the slightest, newest store into an SEO driving force.
Features
Among the better drag-and-drop website builders in the current market, Weebly emerges as the most convenient platform to utilize for developing your personal online store. Some of its features include:
- Among the easiest to utilize online store builders. Its drag-and-drop editor and properly structured inventory of products are everyone’s favorite.
- Weebly eCommerce remains distinct due to its capacity to build standalone, dedicated product pages for your every product. On such product pages, you can add multiple images containing the main image plus “ sub-images’ ‘ under the main image inside a gallery that can be clicked by your shoppers for viewing. Moreover, it also offers you a sales option, that shows the discounted price alongside the crossed-out normal price.
- Other features involve a shipping and tax calculator, plus marketing automation. You can also import your product information from Etsy, a CSV file, or Shopify making it convenient to send details from Shopify or edit information relating to your products. It is ideal if you decide to drop shop and sell your own products.
SEO And Marketing Features
You can easily edit the metadata and even the 301 redirects are permitted. Blog functionality is also present and it automatically creates the Sitemap XML. You can also update your metadata – title, description, and keywords. You can drag and drop certain components, but if you require a separate layout, you can use one of the free/premium apps from the apps store.
Weebly contains a proper marketing automation function. You can generate campaign emails by dragging and dropping content straight away from your website into a template, set the manner in which they are to be dispatched and where to send it.
You will also receive suggestions on when to dispatch certain emails such as in-product prompt. Even the abandoned cart recovery is acquired at a cheaper rate compared to other platforms.
Integrations
You do not require third-party apps to integrate USPS for procedures of shipping, and monitoring, and you receive a free app from the app center for printing labels.
Since Weebly was procured by square, it integrates the payment gateway of Square. Others like Paypal, Authorize.net and Stripe are also there. Besides, there are several glitches with regard to integrating different aspects such as multichannel selling, and Google and Amazon reviews. Since Weebly was acquired by Square, it integrates the Square payment gateway. There’s also Paypal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net.
Moreover, Weebly also lacks in Amazon integration for order fulfillment. The Weebly editor helps you to locate an app of your preference and install it. There is a huge assortment of apps and services that users can readily select such as those specifically designed for marketing, menu integration, and calendars. Users can expand their sites with the innovative apps being added by Weebly to their inventory.
Payment Options
You can develop an online store absolutely for free. However, if you decide to remove the ad and apply your own domain name, you need to purchase a plan. It provides various plans for online stores with their starter plan being free. Their other plans are priced at $5 -$38 every month.
Still, simple stores can make use of their Pro plan. If you possess a brick and mortar store and focusing on payments for less than 25 physical products, you can utilize it.
The Business plan is priced at $21 -25 every month on the two-year and one year plan and for a month to month subscription $35 is charged. It lets you sell physical and digital goods, handle inventory, SSL security, real-time shipping or tracking site search, domain membership accounts for free, and also coupons. The top (performance plan) charges $38 on 1-year and $35 for a two-year payment. If you go for a month-wise subscription, you will remit an additional 17% by paying $46/month. This plan incorporates all features of the business plan plus automated email marketing, auto-recovery of an abandoned cart, gift cards and marketing stats.
Pros:
- Allows you to upload products in bulk
- Minimum price for e-commerce marketing automation
- Effective tools for email
- Amazing low cost and designs for free
- Simple dashboard which is simple to use
- Mobile app that can be used to print shipping labels and handle your business
Cons:
- Levies an extra transaction fee
- SEO appears poor
- Lacks Amazon integration
Interesting Read For You:
12 Spectacular Shopify Themes For Your E-commerce Store
What is High Ticket Dropshipping? The Best Niches, Products and Strategies 2020
Conclusion
Based on the features, convenience of use, integration, themes and designs and performance of these leading eCommerce platforms utilizing real site data, you will know the perfect platform that caters to your requirements. The above-mentioned platforms will help you to know about their performance and value offered to command your niche.
