The eCommerce industry has witnessed a major boost over the years, and it has caught many eyeballs. Thanks to the availability of numerous eCommerce platforms, which has simplified the journey of setting up an online store. In this blog, we will talk about the 15 best eCommerce platforms for your small business that can boost your business growth and help in increasing your sales.
In this era, relying solely on physical stores isn’t enough. It is important to cater to your online audience and build an online brand. Therefore, you need to create and design an online store for your business to sell your products and services.
Leverage the power of the best eCommerce platforms for your small business
It may sound like a difficult process. But these 15 platforms can make your work easier and help you steal the spotlight from your competitors. So come, let’s get started and take your business to greater heights.
Windo
Windo provides excellent eCommerce solutions for small businesses and is one of the affordable and effective platforms that helps in generating great results.
This platform comes with 2 pricing plans — Sprout Plan and Blossom Plan. While the former is a forever free plan, the later starts with $12 per month. Along with the benefits of the free plan, users even have access to a custom domain, 0% transaction fee, and priority customer support. Start with the free plan first and move on to the paid plan.
It is simple, effective, and easy to use with no prior coding experience or knowledge required. You can create your online stores in just a few minutes. All you have to do is sign up, create your shop link, add your products along with delivery & payment methods, and market it on social media to get online orders.
Shopify
Shopify is probably one of the best eCommerce platforms for small businesses. If you are in the eCommerce industry, there is no way you may haven’t heard about Shopify.
It starts with a 3-day free trial, after which you can skim through its plans and choose one that best suits your needs. This platform uses the SaaS model and is specially designed for the ones who want to build a dedicated online store and grow their business.
Shopify offers excellent features like 24*7 customer support, unlimited products on their different plans, multiple themes, integrated payment options, several plugins to choose from for your needs, and more. After the 14-day free trial ends, the plan starts from $29 per month.
Wix eCommerce
If you are in marketing, eCommerce, or any other industry, there is no way you may haven’t heard about Wix. It is probably one of the best websites to create online stores for your small business.
This user-friendly store builder offers a drop-and-drag theme, using which you can create customized online stores for your small business and add or remove features that suit your business needs. Wix eCommerce is not made for businesses with high turnover ratios, but for budding entrepreneurs or small businesses.
Squarespace
Squarespace is one of the best eCommerce platforms for small businesses and is ideal for companies that want creative control. It is a cloud-hosting website builder that includes advanced features like social media integration, customized templates, affordable plans, excellent 24*7 customer support, and even a free domain with annual plans.
Although there is no free plan option available — the basic plan starts from $18 per month which is cheaper than big eCommerce platforms like Shopify. Squarespace has become one of the best eCommerce alternatives for small businesses because even big brands like Shopify also come with certain limitations.
WooCommerce
If you want a full-fledged website builder and do online sales, go for WooCommerce. It requires technical skills and coding knowledge to design and code websites.
WooCommerce even offers several customizable templates to help you design and create your website easily.
With 6000+ third-party integrations, you can easily expand your online store and choose the integrations that best suit your business needs.
Through WooCommerce, you can add products, manage orders and even view analytics. It offers a free trial and its average monthly fee is up to $30. Furthermore, it has even integrated sales channels like Etsy, eBay, Facebook, Google Shopping, Amazon, Walmart, and Pinterest.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is another popular platform that offers eCommerce solutions for your small business. It offers features like analyzing analytics, updating orders, managing inventory & products, and searching for customers. You even get 24*7 technical support via phone, email, or chat.
It is a full-fledged eCommerce platform that caters to specific business needs and helps in customizing your online store as per your needs. Adding on, BigCommerce even offers features like international commerce, SEO, and multi-channel selling on third-party marketplaces.
BigCommerce offers a free trial for 15 days and its standard plan starts from $29.95 per month.
Weebly
Weebly is an appropriate platform for designing and creating small online shops. It is fully integrated and has features like a secure online shopping cart and inventory management.
If you are a budding entrepreneur or a small business owner, Weebly can be an apt platform for you as it is easy to use, simple, affordable, and approachable. So, you can get started without any hassle.
Furthermore, it even has flexible shipping options, optimized mobile checkout, order management & processing, and filtered product search.
It is a free platform that offers multiple customer support options like phone, chat, and email. Weebly is perfect for businesses that want to sell a few or limited products.
Square Online Store
If you want to start small online shops, leverage Square Online Store. It is specially designed for business owners who want to create their online stores or expand their existing stores to the digital space.
The website builder is simple, eye-catchy, and has a user-friendly interface that requires zero or minimum technical skills and coding knowledge.
In its free plan, you can have access to features like setting up your online store and other important eCommerce features. It uses the Square Point of Sale (POS) System to make payment processing a bit easier.
Adding on, you can easily manage stock, create product listings and category pages along with leveraging its marketing tools, social media integrations, and abandoned cart emails to run your online store successfully.
GoDaddy eCommerce
Whether you are in the eCommerce space or not, there is no way you haven’t heard about GoDaddy. They have been advertising themselves perfectly on both social media and television.
Being one of the best eCommerce platforms for your small business, GoDaddy is both easy-to-use and reliable. GoDaddy is more apt for you if you run a small business and sell only a few or limited products.
Magento
Magento as an eCommerce platform is best for your small business because it offers large-scale solutions. Although it’s a bit expensive, Magento offers endless customization possibilities that can help small businesses in setting up their online store in a few steps.
Initially, Magento may be difficult to understand and might feel overwhelming. But the end result won’t disappoint you. Using this platform, you can effortlessly create a website through its drag and drop features and intuitive editors.
It is a perfect choice for B2B and B2C businesses. Magento is even ideal for large businesses that want various thoughtful features and get an excellent eCommerce experience.
Zyro
Another website builder or one of the best eCommerce platforms for your small business is Zyro. Firstly, you don’t need any prior coding knowledge or design skills to build or create your online store through Zyro.
Zyro is a drop-and-drag website builder that has various customizable design options with practically useful elements. It is a great choice because it lets you create mobile-friendly websites, offers a free SSL certificate, has unlimited storage on all paid plans, etc. This drag-and-drop builder also comes with a grid and offers several customizable templates for designing your store seamlessly.
nopCommerce
Whenever businesses search for eCommerce platforms, they consider price as an important factor before making the right decision. In such cases, nopCommerce is a perfect and attractive option for both small and mid-sized businesses.
nopCommerce is completely free, customizable, and used by over 60000 businesses. It has all the important eCommerce features like multiple integrations, several payment options, multi-store features, freedom of customization, unlimited product listings & product modifications, and is free to use.
If you want yearly customer support from nopCommerce, it will cost you $83.25 per month. It already has a community of 2,50,000 strong developers. So, nothing should stop you from leveraging this excellent eCommerce platform to grow your business online.
Ecwid
The next on the list of best eCommerce platforms is Ecwid. It is designed for small businesses and solo artists who want a user-friendly and affordable eCommerce platform.
Through Ecwid, you can transform any existing or running website into an online store to sell your products or services. Plus, it offers customization that lets you design your store the way you want, and even allows you to track and fine-tune eCommerce KPIs. Ecwid is a great choice for scaling small businesses to the enterprise level.
Volusion
Started in the year 1999, Volusion has established itself as one of the best eCommerce platforms. It is an all-in-one eCommerce website that has intuitive selling features and a simple dashboard.
If you run a small or mid-sized business, you can seamlessly set up your online store with the required customization and without any hassle. It offers both free and paid themes. Furthermore, Volusion even has SEO integration that can help in boosting your SEO performance, which in turn can grow your online business.
Its back end matches the front end in terms of ease of navigation. Support is available round the clock. You can also get a dedicated account manager by paying a monthly fee.
VetrinaLive
VetrinaLive is a new competition in the eCommerce space. It is a European tool that is available in languages like English. Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish.
Through VetrinaLive, you can easily manage your customers, orders, products, inventory levels, and more only within one clean and modern dashboard.
It even allows you to create different product categories, highlight featured products, and special discounted offers. Furthermore, you can even have access to their customer support either through Facebook Messenger Chat or WhatsApp.
It offers a 7-day free premium trial and its basic plan starts from €10 per month. There are no transaction fees and it is easy to set up with a beginner-friendly process.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the best eCommerce platforms for your small business may be a bit challenging and overwhelming; however, these 15 platforms can up your eCommerce game and help in scaling your business and setting up your online store easily. So, if you want to have a seamless eCommerce experience, get started soon and leverage these platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best ecommerce site for beginners?
Platforms like Windo, VetrinaLive, and Weebly are some of the best eCommerce websites for beginners or small businesses.
What platforms do small businesses use?
Studies usually show that Shopify is an ideal platform for small businesses; however, small businesses can leverage platforms like WooCommerce, Weebly, BigCommerce, Squarespace, and other eCommerce platforms mentioned in the list.
Is Shopify worth it for a small business?
No. It is because small businesses usually require platforms that are easy-to-use and navigate with the minimum payment. Shopify is a bit expensive compared to other platforms and even charges transaction fees of up to 2%. Thus, not all businesses can afford the same.
Where can I put my business online for free?
There are many platforms like Windo and nopCommerce that offer free plans, allowing businesses to run their store online for free. Apart from this, the other platforms offer free trials, after which you need to switch to their paid plans.