6 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses in 2023
This article is part of a larger series on Retail Management.
The best ecommerce platforms for small businesses offer a powerful website builder on the frontend with detailed order management tools, sales and product features, and marketing solutions on the backend. They must also be easy to set up and maintain at an affordable price.
We considered 16 small business ecommerce platforms, narrowing them down based on pricing, checkout tools, site builder functionality, and sales and product management tools. We then tested the top options by building the same demo store on each one to assess features and ease of use.
Based on our evaluation, the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses are:
- Best overall: Shopify
- Best for growing businesses: BigCommerce
- Best for adding to an existing site: Ecwid by Lightspeed
- Best for storefronts wanting to add a website: Square Online
- Best for SEO and drag-and-drop design: Wix
- Best templates: Squarespace
Best Ecommerce Platforms Compared
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Shopify: Best Overall Ecommerce Platform for Small Businesses
Pros
- Detailed sales tax tools
- Extensive marketplace for integrations
- Best-in-class POS app
Cons
- Added transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments
- Professional reporting only available in higher-tier plans
- Very limited number of free themes
What We Like
We have tested a lot of ecommerce website builders, and Shopify is unmatched when it comes to packing in functionality in a way that is intuitive to navigate for new sellers yet robust enough to scale up and accommodate enterprise businesses.
Usually, when we test products that are very easy to use, the functionality is often more basic. The opposite happens when a product has tons of functionality—it typically is more complex or clunky to use. With Shopify, this isn’t the case. In fact, Shopify was the only system to earn a perfect score for sales and product features and ease of use in our evaluation. It’s the best small business ecommerce platform for most online sellers.
When to Use
- Omnichannel retailers: Shopify tops our list of recommended multichannel POS systems, offering a POS and ecommerce system that connect seamlessly for omnichannel sales.
- Multichannel online sellers: Shopify offers more multichannel selling options than any other platform.
- Online stores that would like to sell on social media: Shopify has exclusive partnerships with companies like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to allow in-app purchases.
- Entrepreneurs wanting to try a dropshipping model: Shopify connects to hundreds of dropshippers via plug-and-play options in the Shopify App Store.
Shopify offers three basic subscription plans:
- $39 per month for Basic Shopify; includes all the main ecommerce features but has limited reporting. Online transactions are charged at 2.9% + 30 cents.
- $105 per month for Shopify Standard; provides stronger reporting (such as first-time vs returning customer sales), USPS cubic pricing, and a discounted transaction fee of 2.6% + 30 cents.
- $399 per month for Advanced Shopify; lets you build custom reports and show third-party calculated shipping rates at checkout. Online transactions are further discounted to 2.4% + 30 cents.
As your business grows and your needs exceed what Advanced Shopify offers, you can contact the provider to upgrade to Shopify Plus, Shopify’s enterprise-level solution.
Shopify also has a $5 per month Starter plan, which lets you sell on social media using a checkout link. This plan also allows you to send invoices and accept online payments but does not let you build an online store.
Find out the best plan for you with our comprehensive Shopify pricing guide.
Since Our Last Update:
Since our March 2023 update, Shopify introduced a new feature called Shopify Bill Pay that allows merchants to manage and pay vendors directly in the Shopify admin dashboard with no subscription fees.
- One-click checkout option via Shop Pay: Shop Pay works across all Shopify stores that have Shop Pay enabled to give shoppers a seamless one-click checkout. For example, if a customer purchased an item in one Shopify store, all their purchase details are saved in the system so that when they buy something from another Shopify store, they can literally check out with just one click.
- Abandoned cart recovery in all plans: Abandoned cart recovery is included with all online store plans. This is a feature only Shopify offers across all tiers, compared to other ecommerce platforms that offer it only in their higher-priced plans.
- Free integrated lead generation and email marketing tools: Shopify has the best built-in email marketing tools, allowing you to segment customers based on their purchase history, geography, and other variables (third-party apps may be required). It includes 10,000 emails per month and additional emails priced at $1 per 1,000. It also recently introduced Shopify Forms, a lead capture tool, that allows you to reach more people by capturing their email addresses.
- Shopify Shipping: Shopify’s built-in shipping tools make it easier to fulfill orders right from your home. Display real-time shipping rates for your customers at checkout, and receive discounts of up to 88% on shipping labels, which you can purchase and print right from the Shopify dashboard.
- Product management: Shopify has a three-limit variant on its products, with only up to 100 variant combinations. Digital product downloads and custom order fields, such as personalized items, would need a separate app. BigCommerce has nearly unlimited product variants and a built-in custom work order feature.
- Compatibility with big marketplaces: If you plan to sell items in marketplaces like Walmart Marketplace and PriceGrabber, BigCommerce would be a better fit.
- Drag-and-drop site builder: Shopify’s rollout of Online Store 2.0 provides more flexibility than it had in the past, including some basic drag-and-drop functionality. It’s a good balance of being able to customize your online store while also not being able to break it. However, if you’re looking for a true drag-and-drop editor, consider Wix.
- SEO: While Shopify has decent features, you can’t customize product metadata or easily change product-specific URLs. For more robust SEO tools, look to BigCommerce and Wix.
If you think Shopify is not the perfect solution for your business needs, consider our best Shopify alternatives.
Want to learn more about Shopify?
- Calculate fees and find the best plan for you with our Shopify pricing guide
- Learn about Shopify POS for in-person sales, including a video walkthrough
- Get up and running quickly with our guide on How to Set Up a Shopify Store
BigCommerce: Best for Growing Businesses
Pros
- 65+ payment gateway options
- No transaction fees
- Best-in-class product management
Cons
- Customization tools aren’t beginner-friendly
- Plans have sales volume limits
- No abandoned cart recovery in Standard plan
What We Like
When it comes to choosing the right ecommerce software for your business, it will most likely come down to BigCommerce vs Shopify. BigCommerce, as its name implies, is best for growing businesses that need a scalable sales platform. Its open software-as-a-service (SaaS) structure also makes BigCommerce an attractive platform for companies that want to personalize their stores as much as possible.
In our evaluation, BigCommerce came right behind Shopify. Its built-in sales features, advanced level of customization, SEO capabilities, and zero transaction fees earned high marks. However, its ease of use and sales volume limits on pricing plans prevented it from getting a perfect score.
When to Use
- High-revenue enterprise businesses: BigCommerce doesn’t charge transaction fees and lets you shop for the best payment processing rates, making it ideal for high-revenue companies.
- Online stores carrying a large variety of inventory (such as clothing stores): BigCommerce lets you set up 250 product options and up to 600 variants.
- Retailers that operate multiple brands or sell wholesale: BigCommerce has a multi-storefront provision even on its basic plan ($39/month).
- $39 per month for Standard; includes a responsive website, a single-page checkout, access to the BigCommerce mobile app, up to three storefronts, and payment integrations (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay). It provides real-time shipping quotes, professional reporting tools, coupons, discounts, and gift cards.
- $105 per month for Plus; features an abandoned cart saver, persistent cart saver, customer groups, up to five storefronts, and stored credit cards.
- $399 per month for Pro; provides product filtering, up to eight storefronts, custom SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), and Google customer reviews.
All plans include unlimited staff accounts, products, file storage, and bandwidth. Each plan has access to 24/7 live support, BigCommerce’s POS tool, and multiple sales channels—such as a branded online store, eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Shopping.
Since Our Last Update:
Since our March 2023 update, BigCommerce rolled out improvements aiming to help those with extensive catalog and product listings, such as:
- Enhancements for quick and easy catalog updates
- Image/video import and export enhancements
- Pinnable sections available on the Product page
- Fully customizable themes, including checkout pages: What’s noteworthy about BigCommerce’s themes is their capability to display an extensive catalog of products. You can customize your website using Store Design, its page builder visual editor, and access fully customizable themes, checkout customization tools, and WordPress integration.
- Most robust product management out of all platforms in this guide: BigCommerce’s most significant advantage over Shopify is its product variant management feature. BigCommerce lets you have up to 250 product options and auto-generates SKUs for all combinations of variants you set up. Its limit on product variants is 600, a big jump from the 100 limit of Shopify and Squarespace.
- Sell multiple types of products and services: BigCommerce lets you sell physical, digital, and service-based products without having to use a third-party app (often at a cost). Subscriptions, however, require an app.
- Multicurrency and multilanguage capabilities: Accept over 100 currencies and offer local payment options with your preferred gateway. You can also localize your store’s front end according to your market’s language.
- Advanced SEO features: Features such as automated image optimizer, on-page SEO capabilities, sitemap generation, and site speed enhancers are advantageous for SEO. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is also implemented on all BigCommerce themes. Unlike Shopify and Squarespace, you can customize your store products’ metadata, header tags, and titles and create and change product-specific URLs easily.
- Multi-Storefront (MSF) for online merchants: Easily create and manage different and unique branded storefront from a single dashboard.
- Variety in its free website themes: While BigCommerce offers free website templates, they look similar and don’t provide the same flexibility and options that Shopify and Squarespace offer. When you create your store on BigCommerce, be prepared to invest in a paid website template.
- Built-in email marketing: BigCommerce has yet to offer a native solution that lets you send emails to your customers, something Shopify rolled out with Shopify Email.
- Discounted shipping rates: While BigCommerce offers live shipping rates across its plans, discounted rates are still unavailable, unlike with Shopify.
Get the full scoop on BigCommerce:
- Watch our video review of BigCommerce
- See how BigCommerce compares to Shopify
Ecwid by Lightspeed: Best for Adding to an Existing Site
Pros
- Sell anywhere (website, social media, and in person)
- No ads shown on free sites
- Free USPS, UPS, and FedEx shipping calculator
Pros
- Free plan is limited to 10 products and lacks inventory tracking
- Limited customer support
- Limited customization options
What We Like
If you already have a Tumblr, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress website and want to start selling products, then Ecwid is an excellent free option. While Wix and Squarespace have ecommerce plans, they can get expensive. If you just need a simple shopping cart of a few products, Ecwid is a great free option.
Ecwid can work on any website where you can inject code. It can also be used as a free standalone website, with its instant site builder. Though this is less common, it’s a good option if you need a quick and simple site with just a few products. It also has a mobile-responsive shopping cart and the Apple Pay one-tap checkout feature.
In our evaluation, Ecwid lost points for having limited customization features and customer support, which are crucial for ecommerce solutions. However, it is still the best value and user-friendly choice if you want free ecommerce software for your existing website.
When to Use
- Businesses that have an existing website: Tumblr, Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace users have native Ecwid integrations—no code is required to set up Ecwid, making it much easier to use.
- Sellers with a narrow inventory of products: Ecwid’s forever-free plan is perfect if you have 10 or fewer products to sell.
- Hobbyists and those who sell as a side business: Ecwid’s basic plan ($19/month) lets you sell on Facebook and Instagram and provides you with inventory tracking, marketing tools, and a mobile app.
- Free plan ($0) has 10 products, and you can create your online store or add products to a current site. Ecwid is the only free ecommerce platform with free shipping calculators for all the major US carriers, Canada Post, Royal Mail, and more. This means you can charge customers actual shipping rates based on their location and the package weight. However, support is only provided by email.
- $19 per month for Venture, a basic plan that allows you to feature 100 physical products and connect your store to other sales channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Etsy. You can also sell digital goods with a 25GB per file limit. Support in this tier is provided through chat.
- $39 per month for Business, which has all of Venture plan’s features—except you can now sell up to 2,500 products and connect to Amazon and eBay. Moreover, advanced store management features (such as abandoned cart emails) are added to your dashboard. Phone and chat support are available, plus up to two hours of free customization for those under annual plans.
- $99 per month for Unlimited, which provides unlimited products, your own branded iOS and Android shopping app and point-of-sale (POS) system, and priority support. Those under annual plans are entitled to up to 12 hours of free customization.
Since Our Last Update:
Since our March 2023 update, Ecwid has made the following enhancements to its platform, namely:
- Improvements on subscriptions—sell subscriptions with Lightspeed Payments, sell products for subscriptions on a half-year basis, set individual subscription pricing for product variations
- Set order quantity limits
- Create custom statuses for your order
- Sell anywhere: You can sell either online—through Ecwid’s storefront, an existing website, social networks, on mobile—or in person by connecting your store to a POS platform. Also, you can manage sales channels through Ecwid’s control panel, which automatically syncs data, like orders and inventory.
- Buy buttons: Additionally, its buy button feature can be added to any web page and directly links your product. It automatically adapts to the website’s colors and style without the need for coding knowledge.
- Customer-friendly storefront experience: Ecwid makes it easy for your customers to buy products by providing a drag-and-drop “add to cart” feature, an easy option to “checkout without creating a store profile,” a customer address book, and the ability to save favorite products.
- Dynamic multilingual capabilities: Language is easily detected and can be translated into over 45 different languages, and real-time shipping rates are adjusted based on the customer’s IP address.
- Mobile app for managing your business on the go: Ecwid provides a store management app (iOS and Android) for paid subscribers. You can update inventory, manage orders, and receive notifications.
- Multiple website pages: Since Ecwid is primarily designed as an add-on to existing sites, it only offers a single-page Instant Site that can act as your homepage or landing page. If you want a full-blown website, Shopify, Squarespace, and BigCommerce are better choices.
- Native POS: If you plan to sell in person, you’d need to be on Ecwid’s Business or Unlimited plan to connect a POS like Square, Clover, or Vend.
- SEO: Ecwid doesn’t offer SEO capabilities on its free plan, and even with paid plans, its capabilities are limited. Shopify and BigCommerce are better options.
- Free plan limitations: The free plan only allows for 10 products, lacks abandoned cart emails, and doesn’t allow you to sell on Facebook or Instagram. If you need these tools for free, consider Square Online.
Continue learning about Ecwid:
- Read our step-by-step guide on using Ecwid
- Check out our Ecwid vs Shopify comparison
Square Online: Best for Storefronts
Pros
- Sell items on Instagram and Facebook
- Integrates with all major postal carriers (with upgrade)
- All-in-one ecommerce and payment processing solution
Cons
- The free option is filled with Square ads and branding
- Inventory can be counterintuitive
- Premium features can get expensive
What We Like
Square Online is best for brick-and-mortar stores wanting to add online ordering, such as cafes, retail outlets, and professional service shops. If you need an online ordering solution with BOPIS, curbside pickup, or local delivery to supplement your storefront, Square Online is a great option.
In our evaluation, Square Online earned high marks on pricing and ease of use. It got docked points because of its lack of built-in marketing tools and limitations on product set up, available integrations, and SEO.
Overall, Square Online is our leading free ecommerce platform. And its free POS solution, Square, is one of our best overall point-of-sale (POS) systems for small businesses.
When to Use
- Businesses on a budget: A forever-free Square Online plan includes a full standalone website.
- Solo proprietors (such as massage therapists and makeup artists): Square Online’s checkout function accepts prepayments and automatic monthly billing subscriptions.
- Businesses offering curbside delivery or click-and-collect options: Create a web page to receive orders through your Square POS system and set delivery options.
- Square POS users: If you already use Square POS, Square for Retail, Square for Restaurants, or Square Appointments, Square Online is a seamless addition for online sales, orders, and appointment booking.
- Free ($0) plan includes all the main features of a professional ecommerce site. Create a full website, list unlimited products with variants, and manage your orders through Square Dashboard. The free option requires you to use a yoursite.square.site domain, though, and will display a Square logo on the footer.
- $29 per month for Plus*; includes all Free features, plus the ability to accept PayPal payments, personalized ordering, expanded site customization, self-serve (QR) ordering, customer accounts, and a free domain for a year.
- $79 per month for Premium*; adds a shipping calculator to charge customers real-time rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL. Transaction fees are also discounted.
*Plans are under lump-sum billing.
- Streamlined website builder: Square Online allows you to build a full-blown website with multiple pages, contact forms, an email sign-up, and much more. The website can be custom-branded with your logo and colors, and you can choose which features you want to appear—and in what order. Square will automatically set you up with a theme based on your business type, which you can then customize.
- BOPIS, click and collect, local delivery fulfillment: Set up click-and-collect options (like curbside pickup or buy online, pickup in-store), specific pickup hours and order windows, order prep times, customer notifications for when their order is ready, and whether or not shoppers can schedule pickup times.
- Analytics: Square Online provides a range of sales reports, including sales by category, discounts applied, and tax collected. Paid versions of Square Online also provide some basic website analytics—like page views, search terms, and referring sites.
- Multichannel sales: One of Square’s strongest features is the ability to sell on multiple channels (in-store and mobile) and social media platforms. Plus, Square manufactures some of the best card readers for small businesses.
- Several payment options: Square Online’s payment integration is limited to Square, although it also supports PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. If you want the freedom to choose your payment processor, we suggest you consider BigCommerce.
- Shipping calculators: You must be on Square Online’s highest tier ($72/month) to get real-time shipping calculators. Shopify offers stronger shipping tools.
- Advanced inventory management features: Square Online doesn’t have barcode, supplier, or purchasing features. If you handle various products that require bundling, kitting, or cross-location inventory tracking, BigCommerce is a better fit.
- Fully customizable website: You cannot fully edit the layout of your Square Online store (like you can with Wix) or add integrations as easily as you can with Shopify.
Overall, the lack of customization options and counterintuitive ecommerce inventory management tools prevented Square from getting a higher score. If your main goal is to drive online sales, you likely won’t be happy with Square. But it is a great choice for brick-and-mortar businesses.
Want to learn more?
- See everything the platform has to offer in our guide to Square for small businesses
- Follow along and set up a Square Online store in just a few minutes
- See how Square compares to Shopify
Wix: Best for SEO & Drag-and-Drop Design
Pros
- Best-in-class design functionality and top-notch SEO tools
- Wix Owner mobile app
- Free domain included
Cons
- No low stock alerts
- Basic product management tools
- Too much creative freedom but cannot switch templates midway
What We Like
Wix is a popular platform for all kinds of small businesses. Its recently improved (and impressive) SEO tools, more payment processing tools, upgraded marketing solutions, and ecommerce-focused reporting tools helped Wix earn a spot in our best ecommerce platform list. In fact, it also recently earned our top-recommended website builder badge thanks to its design flexibility.
In our evaluation, Wix performed well for site builder tools and ease of use. Like Squarespace, Wix is a site builder first, so it excels with its design features, SEO tools, and site analytics; however, it falls short of Shopify and BigCommerce when it comes to inventory, product, and order management, which is reflected in its score.
When to Use
- Small, design-focused businesses: Wix allows for more no-code creative control and flexibility than any other ecommerce website builder on this list.
- Building a community: Wix has sophisticated blogging tools that help create engaging content. Organize and host events, communicate with site visitors via live chat, host discussion forums, and more.
- Digital content creators: Create, manage, paywall, and sell all kinds of digital content, including video, music, and art.
- $27 per month for Business Basic includes 50GB of storage space and five hours of video. You can sell unlimited products and activate the abandoned cart recovery feature.
- $32 per month for Business Unlimited includes 100GB of storage, 10 hours of video, an automated sales tax feature, and the ability to display pricing in local currency. You can also feature up to 1,000 product reviews, offer subscriptions, and dropship up to 250 products.
- $59 per month for Business VIP has unlimited storage space, video hours, and dropship products. It also includes 3,000 product reviews, customized analytics reports, a loyalty program, and priority customer care.
All the plans featured have ecommerce features. Website builder plans are available at lower tiers.
Since Our Last Update:
Since our March 2023 update, Wix has rolled out a new feature called Tap to Pay on Iphone. Users just need to download the Wix Owner app, enable the feature, and start accepting all types of contactless payments—no additional hardware needed.
- Drag-and-drop site builder: Wix features a true drag-and-drop editor with hundreds of pre-made content blocks and a helpful grid tool to line up the elements on your site with precision. You can create a truly custom site without a single line of code.
- SEO tools: Wix SEO Wiz offers step-by-step instructions for optimizing your online store to get it ranking on Google. Its SEO tools include editing page URLs, setting meta descriptions, creating title tags and alt text options, the ability to set keywords for different pages, and more.
- Wix Owner app: Wix’s mobile app lets you manage your online store on the go. Manage products, upload photos, chat with customers, create and send blog posts or email campaigns, and perform other tasks right from the app.
- Selling subscriptions: Wix has dedicated features for selling and managing subscription boxes and recurring product orders. You get a notification each time a subscription payment renews. Customers can log in to their account, view orders, and manage their payment methods and subscriptions.
- Integrated print-on-demand sales: Wix has white-label print-on-demand dropshipping tools through Modalyst. This works well for creators wanting to sell branded merch or items from AliExpress suppliers.
- Inventory and order management: Wix lets you categorize inventory as “in stock” or “out of stock” but otherwise lacks detailed product tracking tools. Its order fulfillment and shipping workflow is also not as streamlined as what you’d find in Shopify, which has more shipping label and discount options.
- Too much creative freedom: If you are not confident in website design, the Wix builder can be overwhelming. And, it’s easy to make “mistakes” like text that is hard to read. The benefit of opting for a more templated site builder like Shopify or Squarespace is that it is hard to break it. However, Wix also has an alternative version of its web builder, Wix ADI (short for Artificial Design Intelligence), that is better suited for beginners.
Learn more about why Wix is one of our favorite solutions for small businesses:
- See why Wix is the best website builder for SEO
- Learn how Wix’s drag-and-drop functionality compares to the rest
- Compare Shopify vs Wix in detail
Squarespace: Best Templates
Pros
- Highly rated website templates
- Easy to use
- Sell items on Instagram and Facebook
Cons
- High transaction fees without upgrade
- Moderate design customization freedom
- No phone support
What We Like
Squarespace is simple but doesn’t sacrifice quality, making it ideal for solopreneurs who don’t need a more powerful system like Shopify but want to showcase their products. Its sites are always designed to look modern and trendy, no matter how much of a novice you are at web design—helping customers make the best websites for small retail business. In fact, it’s one of our top picks for the best website builder for small businesses for that very reason.
In our evaluation, Squarespace earned a perfect score on its design functionality and available templates, as Squarespace is known for top-rated templates. However, as Squarespace is a website builder first and ecommerce platform second, its online selling tools aren’t as advanced as what you would find with Shopify or BigCommerce.
When to Use
- Bloggers, vloggers, and social media influencers: Squarespace’s blogging features are among the best. If you primarily monetize your content and offer merchandise on the side, Squarespace is the ideal platform to get into.
- Photographers, creatives, artists: Squarespace has a design-first premise. If you primarily sell a visual portfolio, Squarespace’s plans include unlimited storage and bandwidth, making it a good choice for anyone looking to host a digital portfolio.
- $33 per month for Business is the lowest-priced plan supporting ecommerce. You can sell unlimited products, including digital items and gift cards, but it lacks a shipping calculator and social media sales. There’s also a 3% transaction fee on top of your payment processing fees.
- $36 per month for Basic Commerce removes the extra 3% transaction fee, allows customers to create accounts, and provides more advanced analytics, like a purchase funnel report. You can now also sell on Facebook and Instagram and unlock advanced merchandising features.
- $65 per month for Advanced Commerce, which adds a USPS shipping calculator, abandoned cart recovery, and the ability to sell subscriptions.
All the plans featured have ecommerce features. There is a website builder plan at $23 per month.
Since our Last Update:
Since our March 2023 update, Squarespace announced the rollout of Squarespace Blueprint, a guided website design system that creates a professionally curated layout and styling options for you to build a unique online presence from scratch.
- Excellent, easy-to-use website builder: Squarespace is one of the least complicated website builders to use and, thus, one of the hardest to mess up. Its highly acclaimed website templates are among the most stylish and best-designed.
- Tools for custom products: A unique feature worth noting is that Squarespace lets you set up forms for products, so you can request additional information from customers when they make a purchase.
- Tools to design and launch merch using your business logo and automated print-on-demand dropshipping: You can create custom merch with no overhead with Squarespace’s partnership with Printful. This feature takes care of production, shipping, and fulfillment, so you can focus on running your business.
- Merchandising features: Upload product videos, add product photos for each variant, and show shoppers related products.
- Sell anything: In addition to physical products, Squarespace has native tools for selling services, digital goods, subscriptions, memberships, and courses.
- Advanced SEO tools: Squarespace guides you through an SEO checklist and has built-in tools for keyword research, analyzing traffic, optimizing page titles and descriptions, local SEO management (like Google My Business), and more.
- Extensive integrations: Squarespace doesn’t offer many third-party integrations, limiting your options, especially if you plan to expand your online store. Shopify offers thousands of integrations in its app store. If you need a feature that isn’t offered in Shopify, chances are you will be able to find one in its app marketplace.
- Advanced ecommerce features: Product categorization, more dropshipping options, and advanced inventory management are just a few things that are lacking in Squarespace. If you plan on scaling, we recommend you start with Shopify’s basic plan and upgrade as needed.
- Pricey add-ons: Squarespace’s ecommerce plans are pricier than most competitors for similar features. We find Shopify and BigCommerce offer better values.
- No revisions or backups: When building our demo store, we learned that switching Squarespace templates would require repeatedly setting up the Commerce portion. This was a bit frustrating at the start. Still, we realized that Squarespace templates are the most fluid among the ecommerce website builders we have reviewed because we can easily customize the look and feel of the website without needing to switch templates.
Continue reading about Squarespace:
- Find out how Squarespace compares with Shopify
- Learn how to setup an ecommerce website with Squarespace
How We Evaluated Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses
Top Features to Consider in an Ecommerce Platform
A whopping 72% of US consumers say that they will continue to shop online rather than in stores even after the pandemic—a good reason to start selling online or, if operating a brick-and-mortar, add an online component to your retail business.
When choosing ecommerce solutions for small businesses, it seems there are so many things to consider. Here are the essential ecommerce features you need to look out for to ensure your online store starts at the right foot.
1. Payment Processing
Your online store would need to be able to accept and process online payments. Most ecommerce platforms have integrated payment solutions, which allows you to accept a variety of payment methods.
Look for additional fees on top of payment processing fees ecommerce platforms might charge you with. For example, Shopify charges a transaction fee on top of the usual processing fees if you are using a different provider other than its built-in payment gateway, Shopify Payments. Going with built-in payment processors might be easier for you at the start so you don’t have to apply for merchant accounts separately.
2. Security & PCI Compliance
Suffice to say, security is a critical feature for your online store so that customers feel safe enough to trust you with their data and payment details. SSL certificates and PCI compliance are usually a given for fully hosted ecommerce platforms (like the ones on our top picks). If they don’t come with those features, you would need to install one (and that would require an additional purchase for a license).
3. Mobile-first Website
Statistics show that mobile commerce (or shopping from phones) is expected to account for 40% of US ecommerce sales by 2024. It is crucial that your online store renders properly on mobile devices. Go with ecommerce platforms that offer mobile-responsive, if not mobile-first, website templates.
4. Product and Inventory Management Tools
Product management and inventory are daily tasks in online store management. These ensure accuracy, keep things organized, and prevent an item from running out of stock. Go with ecommerce platforms that offer product options and variants and some form of inventory tracking. Most platforms offer this in varying degrees, so the best fit will be according to your needs.
For example, if you have an extensive list of products that have a lot of variants or need work order tools for customization, BigCommerce offers these as native features. You would need to integrate an app to activate it on Shopify.
5. Shipping Integrations
Most ecommerce platforms have built-in shipping integrations with US main couriers—USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Look out for ecommerce platforms that feature live shipping calculators, give shipping discounts, and have native label printing available.
6. Customer Management
An ecommerce platform should have good customer management tools. The ability to set up and review customer accounts, wish lists, and order history are essential to help your business strategize for marketing and gauge customer experience.
7. Marketing
The best ecommerce platforms should offer built-in marketing tools such as coupons, discounts, abandoned cart savers, and the ability to leave product reviews. This is where most ecommerce platforms differ since some offer the basic features while others such as Shopify go all out and give you email marketing and lead generation tools as well.
If they don’t offer built-in marketing features, look for available apps or integrations you can add, and evaluate the cost of investing vs the return on investment.
Ecommerce Platform Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Shopify is the best ecommerce website builder for most beginners and for starting a small business. It is easy to use and can grow with you as your business evolves.
The best ecommerce platform for you depends on what kind of business you have and what your goals are. Consider everywhere you want to sell (your own website, social media, in-person, Etsy, etc.). It’s most important that you choose a platform that can accommodate all of your sales channels in one place.
Also consider your inventory tracking needs. If you just have a few products and plan to manage all orders yourself, a website builder with ecommerce tools (like Squarespace or Wix) might be enough for you. However, if you have a larger inventory assortment or one with variants, you’ll want to choose something designed with this in mind, like Shopify or BigCommerce.
Square Online tops our list of the best free ecommerce platforms. It allows for unlimited products and sales with few limitations. You can create a professional-looking site, connect other sales channels, and market your business for free.
Having an ecommerce platform for your business brings plenty of benefits—from less overhead costs to a wider customer reach. Ecommerce or online stores also help you collect customer data where you can get market insights. Since an online store lets you reach a wider audience, it is easier to scale up your business.
Based on experience, Shopify is the easiest platform to use. Shopify is intuitive to navigate for new sellers yet robust enough to scale up and accommodate enterprise businesses.
Yes, it is. Shopify is our recommended ecommerce platform for small businesses. It is easy to use, provides tools you need to start selling online, and has affordable subscriptions from $39/month. As your business grows, Shopify also has more sophisticated features and plans to support your business to scale.
If you are a startup, go with Shopify when building your online store. It has all the features you need to start selling online–an intuitive site builder, built-in payment processing, native marketing tools (such as email marketing and lead generation), and good product and order fulfillment options.
Bottom Line
If you want your online store to scale with your business, you need to consider the features your customers will expect as you grow. For example, are you prepared to support multiple languages and currencies or provide customer support through an automated chatbot? Can you set up customer user accounts, email marketing, and a loyalty program?
These features become more important as you grow your online store. Ecommerce platforms must offer the essential features at a lower starting price point and have options for advanced functions and extensive integrations.
Shopify has advanced functionalities and plans that scale with your business in a user-friendly package and at an affordable price point. We recommend it as the best ecommerce platform for small businesses. Visit Shopify to try it to get a three-day free trial, and unlock a $1/month price for three months.