Selecting the most appropriate ecommerce platform for a start-up requires utmost carefulness. Reason being that the choice of ecommerce platform hugely determines the success of a start-up. Start-ups are a new company at the beginner’s stage. Taking such a company online is very important for ensuring the company’s growth. However, the choice of ecommerce platform to develop the company site on could make or mar the start-up’s success. You have to look out for certain things before selecting the best ecommerce platform for your business.
This article will help you understand the major factors to consider before selecting an ecommerce platform, as well as identifying the top ecommerce platform for start-ups.
Factors to consider before selecting an ecommerce platform for start–ups are:
- Scalability
Start-up is any company in its initial stage and has a high tendency to grow if the right business steps are taken. One of the right decisions to make is selecting an ecommerce platform with adequate scalability features that allow the platform to adapt to your start- up growth. The platform you foster your start-up evolves and also has features to handle the growth.
- Great SEO Resources
Ecommerce platform with great SEO capability is essential for the success of a start-up. It makes your start-up site generate traffic and appears top of search queries. This increases your site popularity hence increasing your sales.
- Security
Building your site on a well-secured ecommerce platform aids the growth of your start-up. It ensures your customers’ data are well protected. This makes your site a reliable platform and enables you to build trust with your customers.
- Customization
The ideal site builder for start-ups is one that has many features, tools, and themes for customization of your site. The ecoomerce platform you be one that can enable you to create unique functions needed by your online store. It gives your start-up site a touch of uniqueness and beauty.
- Ease of Use
Start-ups need ecommerce platforms that allow easy creation of your site and easy navigation by customers. The ideal platform for start-ups should be users friendly.
- Integration
The best ecommerce platform to create your ecommerce platform on is one that provides you with many integration options for sales, marketing, and payment. The platform should allow you to add extra apps, tools, and themes to your site. Also allows you to integrate site to social channels
What is the best ecommerce platform for start-ups?
The best ecommerce platform for start–ups are:
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Squarespace
- SquareOnline
- Volusion
1. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is the ideal platform for a start-up with big aspirations because it provides scalable options. It ticks all the criteria boxes you need to choose the best platform for a start-up website. Its features allow for customization, ease of you, expansion, integration with apps, security, and strong SEO. BigCommerce allows you to sell on Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Pinterest, eBay, and Square.
Key Benefits of BigCommerce to Start ups
- It allows for easy management of payments and shipping of your products. You can download paid apps and tools on the platform extension for easy payment.
- BigCommerce helps you improve your sales and market your products effectively with its integration option. You can integrate your site with different social media platforms more people are informed about your product and services.
- It provides you with many features that help you scale your business. It helps your start up evolve and provides features to accommodate the growth.
- BigCommerce has advance SEO tools that make your site faster and sell more.
Drawbacks of BigCommerce to Start ups
Though it comes with many features to help start ups grow, however, it requires some skills to set up. This may make it complicated for beginners to create a website on the platform. But you can always walk through these challenges with the help of a developer or community of BigCommerce users.
2. Shopify
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform for start-ups that are particularly about increase sales. Shopify comes with many options to ensure high business sales. The platform is also highly beginners friendly. As a start-up owner with little knowledge of coding and tech, Shopify allows you to create a website easily and quickly. It is the best choice for a start-up because it hugely supports business growth and has many features to accommodate such growth. It is also easy to use for building an online store.
Benefits of Shopify to Start-ups
- It has many features for creating an online store. It has a massive app store that you can select the necessary tools you need for your website.
- Shopify provides the best sales features in the ecommerce platform market. It has apps that enable you to synchronize your inventory to manage your store easily.
- It also promotes sales with its wide Integration opportunity with social media platforms. It allows you to utilize the enormous benefits of the social media community in selling your products.
- Shopify’s ease of use is highly commendable. It makes it possible to get your site running easily in no time.
Drawbacks of Shopify
Shopify’s major drawback is the price. Some start-ups might find its prices not affordable. It also deducts transaction charges.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace comes highly recommendable for start-ups that want creative control over their website. It provides users with loads of template designs and themes to create a customized website reflecting the business mission and identity. Squarespace has different mobile apps to allow you to use it on the move. It has iOS and Andriod app, making it easy to alter your website’s aspects at your convenience.
Benefits of Squarespace
- It provides you with awesome templates to allow you a customized website with an attractive storefront. If you are more concerned about giving your site a compelling outlook, Squarespace is a sure bet.
- Squarespace also allows you to integrate your site with different social channels for your products’ easy marketing.
- It also enables you to manage your inventory effectively with its resourceful inventory management system
- It has blogging features. You can utilize this feature to promote your start-up more and increase your sales. The platform provides features like commenting feature, multiple author functionality, AMP support, and schedule posts.
- It provides its users with quality support services. It has a 24/7 responsive support center.
Drawbacks of Squarespace
It is not that scalable because of its limited ecommerce plans for users. Also, it lacks many payment options, and it accepts three major payment gateways – PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay
4. Wix
Are you looking for an all-in-one web builder that gives you ease and gives you creative control? The best ecommerce platform for you is Wix. It offers many benefits to start-ups. It offers start-ups fantastic features, a wide range of pre-designed templates and themes to build a well-customized website. Wix comes as an affordable ecommerce platform for start-ups. It has a simple drag and drops tool that gives you creative control over your designs. It offers beginners a free plan with powerful tools to develop and host a functional business website. Wix also offers your website huge marketing and promotional opportunities.
Key Benefits of Wix to Start ups
- Wix is very easy to use. It allows you to create a beautiful website with the use of its templates, themes, and extension without any tech knowledge.
- It comes with awesome template designs that give you full creative control over your website. All the users need to do is just drag and drop the designs.
- It’s affordable. Wix provides many exciting ecommerce solutions at less expensive rates than its competitors in the ecommerce platform market. Also, Wix favors start-up because it doesn’t share any cut from your sales. It charges no transaction fee.
Drawbacks of Wix to Start ups
Its main drawback is the lack of integration tools for linking websites to social media platforms. This could affect sales to some extent.
5. Square Online
Square Online is an ecommerce platform that comes as an improvement to the ecommerce solutions provided by Weebly. Square, a payment solution platform, bought Weebly in 2018 to create the platform SquareOnline. Though SquareOnline is new to the ecommerce platform market, it comes with amazing features at low prices that set it among the top ecommerce platforms for Start-ups. It allows you to use Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) to create your website. Square online offers you the rare opportunity to set up a customized and fully functional website for free. Despite being free, Square Online allows you to link your website with third-party apps for booking, accounting, inventory management, and many more.
Benefits of SquareOnline
- It is very easy to use and free. It is built with a start-up business in mind. It is financially perfect for start-up businesses, and it is less complicated to use. After building the site for free, the subsequent subscription fee is very cheap and favorable.
- The ADI technology makes it very easy for you to create your website on the platform. Adding a product to the site is very easy and fast with ADI technology.
- It provides a massive third-party app integration opportunity for you to create a functional website. It also enables you to sell your products on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
- As a start-up owner, SquareOnline allows you to learn the rope at no cost. You can set up and sell on SquareOnline without signing up for a subscription.
Drawbacks of SquareOnline
SquareOnline major Drawbacks is that it is not scalable. SquareOnline can help you grow but may not later have the features to accommodate your business growth.
6. Volusion
Volusion is a top hosted ecommerce platform and one of the oldest in the ecommerce market. It provides many ecommerce solutions to start-up stores that help manage and scales the store. Volusion gives users full control over customization and functionality. It also has great support service, strong security, and high SEO capabilities.
Benefits of Volusion
- Its intuitive design wizard makes it easy for you to create a visually appealing online store for your start-up. Also, its drag and drop features make it easy to create a well-customized online store.
- Volusion makes it is easy for start-up to perform ecommerce tasks easily. It makes it easy to add products, edit a product description, import products through CSV, upload many images, manage your inventory, ship orders, and many more.
- Its pre-built marketing tools enable you to sell more. Thus, ensuring and sustaining your start-up growth.
- Volusion has reporting tools that allow you to evaluate the activities on your online store easily. You get to evaluate the performance of your store on google to know the product metrics. The report also gives you insight into your product sales and abandoned and live carts.
Drawbacks of Volusion
It has no option to add a blog to your site. This is one major drawback that makes it less suitable for some start-ups. However, If you don’t really need a blog for your site, Volusion is excellent for your business. Also, volusion doesn’t really support sales of digital products.
As a start-up owner, it is expedient for you to consider your budget and your major business needs before settling for any ecommerce platforms highlighted above. If you don’t have enough money to afford the expensive ecommerce platforms on the list, your choose a less expensive one that it features still meets your primary business needs. It is also crucial to choose a platform that helps your business evolve.