Best E-Commerce Platforms For 2021

E-Commerce is selling things over the internet. This has been a growing trend over the last few decades, and it is predicted that by 2040, 95% of sales will be through e-commerce. This means if you are considering selling your products online or starting an online retail front, now is the time! 

To get started selling online, you will most likely decide to use an established e-commerce platform to list your products, host your website, and handle transactions. Deciding what platform to use can be overwhelming because there are so many options. 

The top 3 platforms for e-commerce are WooCommerce (23%), Shopify (21%), and Wix (15%). Here is our comparison of these 3 most common platforms and why they are ranked the best. 

WooCommerce

WooCommerce integrates with an existing WordPress site seamlessly, which makes it the most popular choice for any business that already has a website through WordPress. There are over 75 million websites built with WordPress, so this is why WooCommerce has such a high percentage of users. WooCommerce is great for complex stores and companies that have a development team to customize their coding to make it personalized. They offer a plethora of resources, development tools, and support. Their pricing varies on if you need hosting, themes, etc. so check out their breakdown of costs to determine if this platform will fit your needs. Overall, if you already have a WordPress site, then WooCommerce will probably be the easiest way to get selling quick! 

Shopify

Shopify is a great platform for a novice user to even a developer. It has an easy to use back end with a wide selection of apps to easily integrate. It gives you great stats reporting on your store and it starts at only $29 a month for the basic plan. It is great for businesses of all sizes and can be integrated with your web service to have a “store” page on whatever platform you already use. If you don’t have a website yet, it is easy to create one with one of their free or paid themes. They offer support to get your store started and have options for a Shopify developer to create customized pages too. A lot of our clients at Elemerce use Shopify and we definitely think it is a great platform to get started. If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact us today to discuss more. 

Wix

Wix is a great platform to build a flawless looking website with simple drag and drop features. Their back end is so seamless that any beginner can use, and if you get stuck they have Wix members ready to assist you. Wix offers an excellent app market to integrate and make your website top notch. Their pricing is affordable but varies depending on the features your site offers, such as credit card transactions and online bookings. Overall if you want to be able to design your website on your own without any coding knowledge, then Wix is the top choice for you. 

This is just an overview of the top 3 e-commerce platforms used, but there are really so many excellent options out there, so it is recommended that you do your research before deciding. Some other notable options to consider are BigCommerce, Magneto, and SalesForce Commerce Cloud. 

As you do your research, consider your coding abilities, what you are selling, and any apps you want to integrate. Elemerce is here to help you sell more, so contact us today to discuss how we can help your online business.