Best Ecommerce Platforms

An ecommerce platform is basically the utility you’ll be using on a daily basis, so it’s wise to gain a full understanding of these services. Getting online for the first time takes a lot: you’ll need to buy a domain, build a website, and fill it with goods or services to sell. Looking for offers from a web designer will certainly catch you by surprise when taking a look at the price; and starting a business doesn’t need such a huge investment. Things have changed for the better since the early days of ecommerce, however, and now you have access to any number of solutions – the majority of which we’ve reviewed – that provide all-in-one solutions for online store owners.

The first question you need to answer during the preparation phase is whether you want a hosted (cloud) or self-hosted ecommerce platform. In a nutshell, the main difference between the two is the amount of up-front investment required to get the store online, both in terms of time and money.

When we say self-hosted ecommerce platform, we are talking about a variety of open-source applications that require web hosting to function. These platforms give you full control over the platform, something that hosted services cannot match. They can be set up anywhere with the selection of preferred hosting service provider down to the user, which has its advantages.

The disadvantage of self-hosted services is that if you will want additional features that aren’t included in the open-source software, meaning you’ll need to develop it yourself or ask for a helping hand. Also, the responsibility of uptime, security, and selecting the best payment processors will be entirely yours. If you don’t have expertise in these areas – starting with coding – then this will cost you a lot of money.

Hosted ecommerce platforms, on the other hand, offer the convenience of speed as they provide all the must-have features by default. This includes a wide variety of templates, SEO options, payment gateways, site hosting, and much more for a flat monthly fee. These platforms will help set up an online store and customize a template in a matter of just a few days so you can start selling in less than a week.

The best thing about hosted ecommerce platforms is that they were created with small and medium-sized businesses in mind. An enterprise-level business has the monetary power to design a custom online store with unique features, while a small business has the potential to grow towards that level. Until then, it requires a solid service that has all the necessary features to help it grow, such as free templates, customization, search engine optimization, and a list of payment processors that allow the small business owner to accept payments – all for a flat monthly fee that starts from $9.

Manufacturing your own products is not a requirement when there are tons of great quality products out there. And if you can make a connection with the manufacturer, or at least with a wholesaler, then it’s much easier to make some money. This is what dropshipping promises and delivers, so long as the business around it is built well.

While it is possible to create a self-hosted dropshipping site, you need to consider the amount of manual work and back and forth communication that this type of business requires. Hosted ecommerce platforms have the advantage of providing access to established dropshippers through a variety of apps available in their marketplace. By signing up for a subscription, access to all the products that wholesalers offer becomes available and the communication channel between your store and the backend via apps is automated.

Ecommerce platforms open the door to a variety of other marketplaces on top of your own online presence, allowing you to reach potential customers through the likes of eBay, Amazon, Facebook marketplace, and the like. All of these are places visited by people looking to spend money, so it is wise to have your products listed here as well.

It is possible to do this by opening an account on eBay or any other sales channel and manually list products, answer customer questions, and follow through orders, but why not conveniently manage your business from one dashboard? That’s what ecommerce platforms are for, and this is what you get for your money.

In other words, if you list a product on your online store, then it is possible to also publish it on other sales channels such as eBay or Amazon at the same time. Since ecommerce platforms support these marketplaces, all the essential info such as inventory management and the sales workflow can be easily managed through in a single browser tab. That way you can focus on a single thing: generating more sales.