Whenever you are about to make a decision, expert advice is something you need. You’d do that before buying a car, a house, or even deciding on the school your children will attend, so the same goes for an ecommerce platform.
Chosen by more than a million users, Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms and powers 600,000 businesses worldwide. You're probably left pondering precisely how one company can gain so much traction, what exactly is it that has made it such a well-known and common name in the industry? Likely it's to do with its well-designed, easy-to-use, and versatile platform that comes packed with a long list of essential features that merchants looking to grab their slice of the online retail business can make the most of.
But since this impressive package is available for as low as $9 per month, there aren't many reasons to overlook Shopify, least of all because of the 14 day free trial period where it's possible to see for yourself what is on offer.
There are some instances where size really does matter. When an ecommerce platform covers 120 countries and has more than 500 employees behind it, that's when size matters. BigCommerce started as a two-person startup, but has rapidly grown into a vibrant ecommerce platform as a service; a true success story born from the company's clever decision to tap into a segment of ecommerce services that remains fairly unexplored by competitors. BigCommerce offers the most comprehensive tools and services to customers looking to move their store from offline to online for a starting price of $29.95 per month, which mostly matches competitors offering lesser services. Those eyeing this versatile platform can sign up for a 15-day trial period, during which they can test all the features to help make a decision.
Whether it is an awesome product that you designed yourself or your hard work goes into selling a variety of goods from other people, the power of ecommerce is unstoppable. Online sales are rising every year, creating a great opportunity to increase sales by moving from brick and mortar stores to mobile-optimized online platforms. Austin, Texas-based Volusion, LLC is among the early ecommerce service providers having launched in 1999, and now powers the online stores of more than 30,000 merchants.
By focusing on simplicity, one of Volusion's key selling points is that anyone can build an elegant online storefront, even without technical knowledge. So if you have an eye for detail, you'll definitely be able to set up an appealing store online and start earning money selling physical goods. Volusion has a variety of options to help with this but even before opting for the cheapest $29 per month plan, users can test the service risk-free for 14 days.
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.
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