Introduction
If you’re looking for the absolute Best eCommerce Platforms for all kinds of stores this 2022, then there are so many to choose from. A simple online shopping cart evolution, eCommerce platforms could act as the entire website of a business, enabling vendors to sell and ship products, subscriptions, and digital products.
eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Magento and WooCommerce come with features like reporting, detailed analytics, and inventory management to track, analyze, and boost sales. Among the many eCommerce platforms these days, how do you choose the best ones? Let’s find out.
The Best eCommerce Platforms in 2022
Shopify
Since its inception in 2004, Shopify has grown to more than 5,000 employees all over the world serving millions of businesses in 175 countries. Overall, it’s the best eCommerce platform because it’s robust, affordable, and easy to use for startups and growing businesses. As an all-in-one eCommerce platform, the setup and administration are seamless, which makes it a terrific choice for businesses with little in-house tech support.
Shopify enables users to sell products from an online shop, social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, and in-person point-of-sales system, and online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. It has some of the most advanced inventory management features of all the platforms available today. It streamlines shipping tasks, such as printing labels and sending information to customers.
BigCommerce
Originally built as an online shopping cart in 2009, BigCommerce today boasts of more than 1,000 employees and serves over 150 countries across the globe. It’s a runner-up of Shopify since it’s comparable to it with a focus on bigger businesses and more robust SEO capabilities. One thing that differs it from Shopify is the payment processing.
Unlike Shopify which charges 0.5 to 2 percent per transaction when using third-party payment processors, BigCommerce enables users to choose from more than 65 processors, like PayPal, Stripe, and Square with no extra fees. For brands that want to stick to their established accounts, this is great news. Similar to Shopify, BigCommerce makes creating beautiful eCommerce websites and selling on social media platforms easy.
The platform offers an equally impressive marketplace for applications for marketing, accounting, shipping, customer relationship management, and so on. The SEO boosts page load times for a better customer experience.
WooCommerce
A self-hosted, free, open-source eCommerce platform that’s built on top of the hugely popular open-source WordPress software. You have to make a purchase of your own web hosting and then install WordPress to use the platform. You can then install WooCommerce as a WordPress plugin.
WooCommerce, by the numbers, is the most popular eCommerce platform. Unlike other eCommerce platforms, it’s not a standalone SaaS tool. Rather, it’s built on top of the open-source WordPress.
It offers its own payment processor wherein users could also add Square, PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon Pay with free extensions. Aside from the wide range of back-end management tools and templates, WooCommerce features integrated reporting, analytics, tax tools, shipping, and so on, all for free.
WIX
Founded in 2006, today, Wix has a staff of more than 3,000 worldwide and over 200 million users in 190 countries. It’s the best choice for user experience since it allows businesses to create an eCommerce website more affordably and easier than any other platform. Furthermore, it comes with hundreds of professional templates as well as a drag-and-drop editor, which makes it easy to build beautiful websites in minutes.
The platform offers more than 50 payment gateways across the globe, including in-house Wix payments. The simple and clean dashboard handles the management of inventory and orders and getting conversion rate reports and revenue. It also offers more integrations and add-ons, such as Google Analytics but less Shopify or BigCommerce.
SQUARESPACE
The platform was built in a University of Maryland dorm in 2003 as a basic platform for creating and hosting blogs. It added eCommerce features and a seamless drag-and-drop interface in 2013, which makes it a strong competitor along with Wix. It’s the best platform for creatives since it creates visual, sleek, portfolio-style websites for showcasing and selling creative works.
Squarespace, aside from selling products, makes selling services and gift cards, making subscriptions, and membership programs easy. Furthermore, it’s also easy for customers to book appointments online. The platform’s integrated email marketing feature allows users to build loyalty through deals and discounts.
Conclusion
The top five eCommerce platforms to choose in 2022 have been around for at least a decade and have grown with the rise of electronic commerce. All these eCommerce platforms boost businesses of all shapes and sizes and make great user experiences.
