Want to cut right to the case? The best travel eCommerce platforms right now are Nexcess and BigCommerce.
Every day, eCommerce technology is evolving into something greater, providing exciting opportunities for various industries worldwide. When you think of eCommerce, your mind might go straight to the thought of online stores that sell physical goods, from household items to groceries and everything in between.
However, eCommerce is much greater than just material items. It also can provide a platform for service-based businesses, including those that work in the travel and tourism industry. Fortunately, some of the best eCommerce platforms for travel do exist.
A couple of popular eCommerce travel sites include, but are not limited to, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, and Kayak. Each of these travel websites delivers a legitimate shopping experience for those looking to book their next getaway. These sites operate on some of the industry’s most powerful eCommerce platforms, such as BigCommerce, Volusion, or Magento, to name a few.
These platforms each create a one-of-a-kind shopping experience using cutting-edge technology. With the world more digital than ever before, people are always turning to the internet to book almost anything from dinner reservations to concert tickets to an entire vacation itinerary, including transportation and accommodations. So crafting a responsive and attractive eCommerce travel platforms will surely attract the traveler in all of us.
Top 9 Best Travel eCommerce Platforms
With the surge in traveling, more and more adventurous activities are populating, and more people are eager to participate. Customers want to pay for convenience. Developing a travel website on the best eCommerce platform for travel will help set you up for success with a solid foundation to build off of. Keep reading for a helpful list of the best eCommerce platforms for travel.
| Brand | Starting price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nexcess | $29.95/month | Medium to large-sized travel websites |
| 2. BigCommerce | $14 – $23/month | Affordability |
| 3. Wix eCommerce | $19/month | Fully Managed Hosting |
| 4. Magento | Free version | Every type of business |
| 5. Shopify | $29/month | Set of key features |
| 6. Volusion | $29/month | All-in-one platform |
| 7. BuildaBazaar | $1000/month | Enterprises, start-ups, and SMEs |
| 8. SamCart | $49 – $99/month | Maximizing value |
| 9. Weebly | $6 – $26/month | Support small businesses |
1. Nexcess
Liquid Web’s Nexcess WooCommerce hosting provides powerful features and capabilities for eCommerce businesses. It is a unique performance platform for WooCommerce stores that can be used by businesses in various industries, including travel businesses, to provide an optimized web experience for their customers. It provides fast load speed and reduces query loads by 95%. It is customizable and primed for SEO, and the customer service is top-notch.
Nexcess WooCommerce hosting is highly performant and easy to scale, making it suitable for travel businesses of all sizes. It offers advanced automations and customization capabilities needed by Travel eCommerce companies. It features a sales performance monitor which helps track your store’s performance and identify any issues and specific needs, a plugin performance monitor, and more than 20 performance tests to help you prepare for high traffic.
There are tons of customizable themes and templates available for you. You can set up product variations, segment content using custom fields, manage your product catalogs, and access comprehensive plugins.
Nexcess offers free migrations, 30-day backups, unlimited accounts, a staging environment, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of its WooCommerce hosting plans, with pricing starting at $19/month for the Starter plan.
2. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a great eCommerce platform for established medium to large-sized travel websites. Although, it also offers everything needed to launch a brand new travel website successfully. No matter the industry, BigCommerce can cater to any type of online business and hosts several thousands of online stores worldwide.
BigCommerce uses advanced technology to create marketing functionalities such as leading SEO tools, single-page checkout and abandoned cart saver. The platform partners with external service providers to help run an online business efficiently. This includes third-party integrations from shipping and marketing to payment and tax professionals.
BigCommerce can be purchased starting with their Standard plan at $29.95/month. They also offer a free trial to help get you situated on their platform and test out their impressive features. While this platform is on the higher end compared to other platforms, it is still considered a relatively affordable platform for the high quality features available.
3. Wix eCommerce
Wix is by far one of the best eCommerce platforms for Travel as well as one of the most affordable. Known for helping launch small businesses, Wix delivers an unparalleled experience and supplies over 500 innovative template designs that are also fully mobile optimized and customizable. With Wix, no previous coding experience or knowledge is required as their drag and drop interface is quite simple to use and intuitive. Many in the travel industry consider Wix to be the best website builder for travel websites.
It’s an all-in-one platform that is easy to use, convenient, and provides high-end functionality. There are several different free and paid travel widgets that will serve well in elevating a travel website. Wix Bookings is an application that can be installed to help make setting reservations easy with direct payment on the site. Unlike other platforms, Wix has a testimonial section where customer reviews can be integrated using widgets and extensions to enhance marketing tactics.
While plans start at $14//month, their Pro Plan offers the best features for the price of $23/month with up to 20GB storage. Wix provides excellent customer service around the clock 24/7.
4. Magento
Magento is an open-source platform fit for every type of business. However, Magento is most beneficial to those who may have an in-house web developer, but not entirely necessary to get started.
Magento offers a free version and the Pro Level, which provides all the bells and whistles, plus more. However, the Pro Level is quite an investment and could be costly, but there’s no doubt the online storefront will come out anything short of amazing. With that said, Magento could be pretty valuable for a travel website if the budget is there.
Users are provided with much of the industry’s best technology, including key features such as reliable SEO tools, highly customizable templates, mobile optimization, and an expansive community of like-minded professionals.
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5. Shopify
Shopify is one of the pioneering eCommerce platforms in the industry and probably the most popular for many reasons. It includes a massive set of key features that can help take any website to the next level. Some features include a fully hosted drag and drop interface, easy to navigate dashboard, seamless organization, powerful SEO tools, and blog integration, to name a few.
Shopify is packed with over 70 mobile-friendly templates to choose from that are customizable to fit your business’s needs. Fortunately, Shopify requires no previous programming experience to successfully launch and run a Shopify travel website, making it one of the best eCommerce platforms for travel.
This plug-and-play eCommerce software also enables users to add a subscription functionality to their services. This will come in handy for recurring transactions on any specific travel accommodations. Perhaps customers who tend to travel quite frequently can sign up for a monthly subscription to access some of the top hotels in the area at a discounted rate. It is possible to provide a variety of cohort options to choose from using Shopify’s interface.
Unlike other eCommerce sites, Shopify offers a 14-day free trial for new users to try out the platform before fully committing. Shopify is available starting with their Basic plan of $29/month. Even with the Basic plan, the features available are competitive and impressive.
6. Volusion
Volusion is an all-in-one platform that provides everything needed to sell online. It features responsive template designs, a robust site builder tool, and more to create a distinct travel eCommerce website from scratch in just a matter of minutes. The best part about this platform is that there is no coding experience required. The platform is also mobile-optimized, which makes it easy for customers to shop from the convenience of their mobile devices.
This platform is more beneficial for those who are new to the eCommerce world and are looking for the fundamentals and not so much the bells and whistles. Volusion does have a stellar selection of key features such as Google Analytics, unlimited products, unlimited storage, and no transaction fees.
Not to mention, it includes marketing resources such as built-in SEO tools to help rank the website higher in search results. Volusion is available starting at $29/month with 100 product listings, efficient website editing tools, and unlimited bandwidth. Additionally, Volusion offers a 14-day free trial for those who want to test it out before signing up for a subscription.
7. BuildaBazaar
BuildaBazaar is an eCommerce software that is an excellent fit for enterprises, start-ups, and SMEs in the travel industry. BuildaBazaar has a free web building tool that enables users to create a unique customized eCommerce website to showcase any travel services. BuildBazaar encourages users to expand globally through multi-channel support.
The platform also offers integration support for various payment gateways. Some additional features BuildaBazaar offers include product and order management, online marketing tools that are SEO friendly, and full customization to help make any online business flourish. BuildaBazaar is one of the more expensive platforms starting from $1,000/month but delivers several competitive advantages with the key features available in each plan.
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8. SamCart
SamCart is a robust eCommerce platform that powers over 17,000 online businesses and has a record of over 9 million products and services being sold. SamCart takes pride in delivering an eCommerce experience that maximizes value, boosts conversion rates, and takes care of the nitty-gritty details. With SamCart, users can offer travel services, online courses, ebooks, membership sites, and much more.
The process of setting up is as simple as picking a template and customizing it as needed. In minutes, users can have a travel website up and running. With social media integration, SamCart provides quick and easy access to promoting across all social channels from ads, emails, blogs, social media, and more. The web building experience includes a drag and drop page builder that requires no coding knowledge to create a beautifully designed travel website.
SamCart implements 1-click upsells, 1-click upgrades, and automated cart recovery to help instantly boost sales to maximize customer value. Additionally, users are provided with insights on order management, detailed reporting, advanced analytics, and several effective integrations. This modern all-in-one eCommerce solution is available for free, starting with a 14-day free trial. Pricing starts at just $49/month with the essentials plus more. Although, this plan is ideal for one-page websites. For established businesses looking to grow, their most popular plan starting at $99 would be an excellent fit as it offers an incredible track record of special features you can’t get anywhere else.
9. Weebly
Like many other eCommerce platforms, Weebly offers a drag and drop web building tool to create a storefront that sells products and services. Weebly is better known to support small businesses with minimal marketing tools. This platform is ideal for those who are looking to launch a quick and straightforward travel website that does not require complex web development.
The site offers a free plan that provides the absolute bare minimum. Actual pricing starts at $6/month. Business owners should take advantage of the Professional or Performance plan ranging from $12/month to $26/month to take full advantage of the eCommerce capabilities Weebly has to offer. Some impressive key features included with the Professional plan include unlimited storage, free domain, inventory management, SEO, and chat & email support. Considering the price, Weebly is hands down the most affordable eCommerce Platform on the market.
What to look for in an eCommerce Platform for Travel
Online booking of travel has never been more convenient, so the chosen eCommerce platform must meet those expectations if not surpass them. It comes down to the technology, variety of payment methods, responsiveness, and third-party integrations. All of which are essential factors when weighing the eCommerce options out there. The platform should elevate the selling and buying experience from the front-end to the back-end to ensure a successful platform to host a travel website. A good travel website should include elements such as the following:
- Company Story: This goes for every type of business, but the platform should help tell the company’s story in a way that engages with viewers. On average, customers spend 15 to 30 seconds on a website before deciding if they want to leave or not. Setting clear expectations and providing background on the company values will help make the brand personable, which results in customers connecting immediately.
- Intuitive Display of Travel Packages: Each eCommerce platform has a unique set of plug-ins and extensions that can be installed to create a well-rounded online booking experience. Many provide extensive customization features and award-winning template designs for a strong storefront. These futures will help showcase the different travel packages and adventures customers can explore in an inviting and attractive way.
- Immediate Online Booking: With everything going digital, people are more likely to book from the comfort of their homes on their mobile devices. The eCommerce platform should have the ability to make the shopping experience mobile and still deliver supreme functionality. Otherwise, visitors won’t make it to the reservations if the process of booking online proves long and inefficient. The eCommerce platform should be compatible with booking software to ensure the customer can purchase with confidence and make any changes at their convenience.