Starting an e-commerce business is certainly exciting. However, we’ve noticed many entrepreneurs quickly lose motivation because of the many moving parts and decisions required. As such, we’ve written this article to help you make at least one of those many decisions quicker and better!
Which is the best e-commerce solution for your small business?
Best E-Commerce Platforms:
The last few years have seen exponential growth in e-commerce, with online retail sales in the United States in 2020 standing at $791.7 billion.
With e-commerce growing rapidly, choosing a good e-commerce platform for your small business is vital. Choosing the right e-commerce platform for your business can be a real struggle, and it’s essential to weigh out the pros and cons of each platform.
It’s also important to ensure that the e-commerce platform you use can work with the payment gateway of your choice. Paystone’s e-commerce payment gateway helps small businesses collect payment through their sites easily and efficiently, without the customer being redirected off the site to another page.
We have compiled a list of some of the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses:
1. WooCommerce
This internet plug-in is free to install and turns any WordPress site into a powerful online store. Well known for the help, customer support, and value for money they provide, WooCommerce is also very flexible, allowing you to scale your business quickly.
WooCommerce may not be the most beginner-friendly platform out there, as it requires some amount of coding knowledge to set up the site successfully. However, if you have the technical expertise or the means to hire an expert, the limitless customization features on WooCommerce make it well worth your investment.
2. Magento
Magento was launched in 2008, and ever since, it has been a popular choice for e-commerce businesses, with more than 700,000 websites using it. One of the cool things is its ability to support subscriptions, which is the ability to sell products on a recurring basis. It has one of the most extensive sets of features and was the first e-commerce platform to prioritize data protection. Magento also offers a community version of the site, which is free to download and use, but the customer service is limited and inadequate. With the extended version for businesses, you have access to excellent security processing capabilities and exceptional customer service.
The downside to using Magento is that it is better suited for larger companies with many on-site specifics required and enough resources to use the premium version. A basic understanding of web programming or the means to hire a web developer is necessary to set up a website.
3. BigCommerce
Recognized as a top performer by Capterra for its website builder software, BigCommerce was created for people starting a small business without a large budget for web development. They allow a DIY approach to building an online store at a small monthly or annual fee for software access. They have a bunch of user-friendly template offerings and provide outstanding value for very little money.
The drawback here is the caps placed on annual sales, where if they exceed a certain amount, you have to upgrade to a more expensive monthly plan.
That said, BigCommerce is a leading e-commerce builder and has more build-in sales tools than any of its competitors.
4. Zen Cart
Zen Cart, with its free site options and plugin offers, has a 99% user satisfaction rate. They have many different language packs allowing you to run your site in several languages while being completely customizable, scalable, and secure.
The software is less advanced and intuitive. However, they accept payments through popular gateways like Paystone, making business transactions much easier.
Even with very basic knowledge of programming, you can customize every feature you need to set up your online business using Zen Cart.
5. Shopify
Shopify is a reliable and easy-to-use online platform that provides brilliant and unique templates.
Their team is available to help out customers around the clock, and their reviews prove that customers are very happy with their services.
Shopify is the only platform that enforces its own transaction fees if you use a payment gateway other than the one they offer, Shopify Payments.
Their hosted software allows you to easily set up a site for your business, even with absolutely no coding knowledge.
Shopify also has a multichannel integration feature, allowing your business to sell on other channels like Amazon, Facebook, eBay, etc. This makes it a very flexible and convenient platform for all small businesses.
6. Wix
Wix has many features like an intuitive website builder, optimized mobile view, site analytics, marketing tools, and so much more.
The site breaks down website building into very easy steps and it is best suited for small and medium businesses and freelancers.
Even though Wix started as an easy-to-use website builder, it rapidly became a complete business solution for many small businesses.
Their free plan forces Wix branding, but you can upgrade your plan at a very reasonable price to access advanced tracking, analytics, and SEO features. Their sites are not transferable, but their massive template collection and good site speed still attract many business owners to their platform.
E-commerce Solutions for Small Businesses
Paystone has created a modern payment solution for business websites by offering a payment platform that gives customers a secure and convenient check-out option for their products/services.
We have a code-free payment integration system, which can connect payment processing and the shopping cart using a quick and easy setup. Once the setup is complete, customers enjoy a seamless checkout experience as they remain on your site for the entire payment process without any redirections.
Paystone also allows you to analyze detailed transaction histories, custom reports, and trends in revenue. This lets you track new, returning, and top customers, which can help you tailor your business model and boost customer loyalty.
What’s more? You also get access to fraud management tools, so you can review and decline transactions to reduce the risk of chargebacks.
Conclusion
Gone are the days when it was necessary to hire expensive web developers and be at their mercy for small changes. Setting up a website using an e-commerce platform for small businesses couldn’t be easier.
You can now focus on building your business while Paystone takes care of accepting all your payments.
