With the world moving forward in time, and with technology starting to take a grip on our lives day by day most of the business has started to drop the idea of using old means of marketing, and have begun to move their businesses online where the audience to target is limitless. Now, when the term to target a broad audience comes to mind, most will instantly start to think about social media platforms and e-commerce platforms because, as tried and tested; these are the two most important things that boosts a business and capture a wide range of audiences that were once never expected.
Setting up your business online isn’t as easy as one might think. There are a lot of factors to take into account. One must have the complete knowledge of search engine optimization, web designing, and social media marketing. But, since most don’t dabble in these things, they tend to seek out a marketing agency that would sort out all of these things and create a successful business for them to run. Though doing that costs a ton of money, and let’s face it, if one is starting a new venture putting in that much cost for a business that’ll boom or not is a gamble. So, what does one do? They look for pocket-friendly alternatives that help them start a business with minimal cost.
E-Commerce platforms were explicitly created for people like those, and nowadays, if one wants to kick-start their business from scratch, these platforms are the one thing that provides them with all the essentials they need to do so. Although, when something is popular, there are bound to be many options in it, and a similar statement applies to these platforms. People knew how important these platforms would be in the future and have created many websites that offer E-Commerce and CMS services. Only to make it a bit more confusing for a newbie to choose which website to avail the services from when starting up their venture. Well, no need to fret on the details of that anymore because right here and right now, in this article, we have listed our top E-Commerce platforms alongside their Pros & Cons for you to use when starting up your ventures. So, lift the laptop screens, lay back comfortably, and read the list below to find a platform that’s suitable for your business.
WIX
Wix a CMS platform that started only few years back, it’s a website that cuts to the chase instantly. When users visits this particular website they find hundreds of nifty themes with customizable options, and a wide range of apps to be implemented on their web pages. At Wix they offer to methods for businesses to set up their site one is ADI method that creates the perfect web-page for you automatically by asking you a series of questions, and one is the customized method where you use drag & drop options to completely create the webpage to your liking.
The Wix e-commerce plan comes at $16.50/month, it offers you 10 GB Band-with alongside 20 GB storage, a free domain name, and some add-ons to be incorporated later on to fulfill your needs.
PRO’S & CON’S OF WIX
OUR TAKE ON IT
BIG-COMMERCE
If you want a no-sweat experience, smooth website interface, and drag & drop features then big-commerce is the perfect E-commerce platform for you to use when starting your business online. The themes it offers are downright stunning but, are costly unlike those of Wix. It’s a website that primarily focuses on Advance content marketing features for better promotion of your products through extensive search results using keywords. If your website is based on affiliate marketing, and you also want to propose a how to use, or blogging section on the site then this is definitely the platform for you to choose.
The price range of Big-commerce services can vary from $29.95 a month to $249.95 a month. A bit steep but definitely worth the services that it offers, although keep one thing in mind as the name suggests Big-commerce is usually a platform that’s used when business create a revenue of up to 2,000/month. Because the site monthly bundles cost a lot if your business makes less than that then it will most probably be consumed in the monthly payments for the page. So, our point is don’t use the platform if the average monthly earnings, are equal to the payments of the site you will only concur a loss.
PRO’S & CONS OF BIG-COMMERCE
OUR TAKE ON IT
SHOPIFY
You must have probably heard the name of Shopify before, and there is an important reason for that. When it comes to online businesses that start from scratch Shopify plays an immense role in the creation, it’s super popular, it’s super easy to use, and it’s super cheap when compared to the other websites in our article. While it may have some drawbacks, Shopify is probably the most popular E-commerce platform across the globe.
The reason people opt for this website is simple; one does not need any development skills to create a Shopify website, it has a bunch of plug & play widgets for everyone to use, and to top it all off it’s a scalable platform that offers a wide range of free templates for every sort of business which Wix and Big-commerce don’t provide. The basic pricing package of theirs can range from $29/month to advance $299/ month. But most usually opt for the basic because it has everything that a new business venture essentially needs when starting from scratch online.
PRO’S & CONS OF SHOPIFY
OUR TAKE ON IT
3D CART
After talking about Shopify we doubt that you would be interested in other platforms but as we said no matter how popular that site maybe it still has its drawbacks so let’s push forward. 3D cart is yet another amazing E-commerce platform for a business to choose when starting their venture. It is a cloud hosted shopping cart platform, and well the feature it offers are quite different from any other platforms we have mentioned above. It offers you unlimited storage options which is a relief for someone that has a ton of products to showcase on the site, and the security it has is rock-solid. So, no more malware attacks you need to worry about.
The price ranges from $19/month to $229/month which is well considerably reasonable because in this price you get your basic SEO tools, abandoned cart emails, coupons, subscriptions, drop shipping, tracking services, and Facebook sync, alongside a ton of other amazing commodities. The best part about this website is that when you purchase a package their in-house web design team tailors, and creates the perfect website for you according to your whim.
PRO’S & CONS OF 3D CART
OUR TAKE ON IT
BIG CARTEL
Big Cartel in our opinion is perfect for businesses that revolve around products of a lesser value, designs, do it yourself kits, and art & crafts items. You get the gist of what we are talking about, the reason we say that is because as an E-commerce platform it has the benefits one may want but comparing it to sites mentioned above it lacks a whole lot. It may be popular but that’s all because of its price range that starts from only $9/month, and goes as high as $29/month.
At the website they do offer you Unlimited Band-with, Inventory Tracking, CSS & HTML configurations alongside some other essential features but that’s all. It doesn’t have that wow factor that one may get attracted to. Plus it doesn’t offer a search inventory option as well so it’s typically most suitable for businesses with a lesser product range then the rest.
PRO’S & CONS OF BIG CARTEL
OUR TAKE ON IT
FINAL THOUGHTS
Yes it’s true that shifting your business ventures online can bring in consumers from different part of the globe, and help you generate a revenue that would satisfy your needs but, without the proper platform that completely implements, and showcases your business model for what it is. This pipe dream of ones to generate enough revenue for satisfaction can whist away in the air.
At the end of the day one needs to have a realistic approach, and an understanding of their skills, needs, and budget. Once a person has a clear image of all this they can easily choose the right platform that will hit all the right spots for their business to take off.
