On which platform to set up an online store?
How to choose the best online store platform?
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When choosing a platform for an online store, you must first ask yourself what kind of project you have. This is the basis from which it is necessary to proceed.If this is an already established project that you would like to bring to the World Wide Web, then it makes sense to invest a little more capital at the beginning for development. A suitable platform, which can be customized according to your wishes, is WooCommerce or Magento. Development on such a platform takes place according to your wishes. Each platform has all the necessary modules for easy business already included (no additional development required). Translations, along with other adjustments, are also easily implemented.If this is a project with which you have just started and you would like to check the responsiveness of the market and the target groups of the desired customers, the choice is a little different. Since you do not yet know that this business will develop into something more, it does not make sense to invest a lot of capital in the development itself at the beginning. It makes more sense to choose a platform that offers a monthly subscription. Thus, in one year, with a small investment of capital, you will already have a better picture of where to continue in the future with your business. Suitable platforms for online store owners to choose from are Shopify, BigCommerce, or Wix.The best platforms for building online stores
WooCommerce
With more than 74 million downloads, WooCommerce powers about 25% of online stores worldwide. WooCommerce is a completely free plugin that you can add to your WordPress site. One drawback is scalability. In the case of a lot of products (10,000+), there is a possibility that the online store will be a little slower. But it can also be optimized so that it is not felt by the end visitor of the online store.There are quite a few reasons why so many people use WooCommerce. First, Woocommerce is a very flexible solution. There is a large community of WooCommerce developers who add new features due to the open-source nature of the plugin. WordPress is one of the best SEO platforms on the market. With endless SEO customizations and the ability to have more control over your search results, WooCommerce is a natural extension of the WordPress platform.Magento
Magento is primarily tailored for enterprise-level e-commerce businesses. As an open-source e-commerce platform, Magento requires resources and capital for programming and developers, which creates a higher initial cost to enter the global online market than, for example, monthly subscription platforms.However, Magento offers a wide range of features for enterprise sellers, including the ability to offer discounts, support for recurring payments, unlimited product listings, and much more. The basic version of Magento is free, but the enterprise version can cost upwards of $20,000 annually. Magento can be a great choice for large online stores, but we don’t recommend it for small or medium-sized businesses with smaller product catalogs.Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that hosts over 400,000 merchants worldwide. Even completely inexperienced users can set up an online store relatively easily with integrations. It is possible to design an online store that looks professional and is easy to add products to.A few downsides about Shopify are their SEO rules. The URL structure cannot be changed. For example, instead of a category page located at webshop.com/category-name, Shopify forces you to use their webshop.com/collections/category-name format. This structure is not ideal for ranking high in organic search, especially considering that “collections” ranks higher than the more critical keyword of our category. Shopify also has limited product options. For example, if you sell t-shirts in different colors, materials, and sizes, your SKUs add up quickly. Shopify is limited to only 100 product variations – not enough if you have a good number of product combinations, but enough for most users.BigCommerce
BigCommerce has two product offerings: BigCommerce (their enterprise offering) and BigCommerce Essentials (built for small businesses). Both are made to expand as you grow. On the one hand, their features and built-in functionality make them an accessible platform for small business owners. However, there is a slightly higher learning curve than a more basic tool like Wix.In December 2018, they launched BigCommerce for WordPress, which allows users to manage their WordPress content and online store in BigCommerce. Such use allows a faster website than, for example, WooCommerce, which installs more plugins to work and hinders the work with a larger volume of products. BigCommerce has a simple user interface for building your online store, including sections for your orders, products, marketing, analytics, taxes, and your storefront. With the newly introduced BigCommerce Shipping features, you get discounted carrier rates and the ability to print shipping labels and manage your fulfillment right from your dashboard. Their themes are fully responsive and mobile-optimized. They also offer free SSL certificates,Wix
Wix is a fast-growing platform with a built-in website builder that allows users to upgrade to full e-commerce functionality for $20 per month. They boast hundreds of design templates, promotions and gift cards, beautiful product galleries, and easy order management and shipping.They automatically optimize your online store on mobile devices, including iPhone and Android devices (Apple and Google). You can also customize the look of your mobile e-commerce site using their online store builder. You don’t need to know HTML or CSS to create a stunning website with Wix. They also have a great product scheme that lets you position your products in a nice (and conversion-optimized) way. These product galleries also look great on mobile devices and adapt to the screen of smaller devices. Wix is also known as one of the easiest website-building tools and e-commerce space.On which platform to set up an online store?
