Best E-commerce CMS for Online Businesses in 2021
Creating an online store is a full-fledged and complex job. After setting up your store, you will need to process payments, deal with customers, and manage balances.
But take your time, the first hurdle you will have to face is the choice of e-commerce CMS that you will use. If you choose the right platform, it will be much easier to deal with the rest of the store’s functions. Let’s dig deeper and find out which CMS to choose to build an e-commerce website.
What features to look for when choosing a CMS for your online store?
Any decent e-commerce platform will offer you options such as balance management, payment processing, and sales reporting. But this is only a small part of the functionality that you will need to manage your online store. At least, you may need the features I give below.
Setting up product categories
If you sell more than one type of product, you will need to structure them.
Customizing product pages
You will need to create unique pages for each product that will provide the user with all the information they need while still looking attractive.
Sales and discounts
Customers love discounts, which you will need to attract more users.
Support for multiple payment methods
Many people enjoy using their preferred payment systems, so offering multiple options is another important feature to help improve your store.
Analytical info
You need to collect and analyze information about your customers to optimize your store and increase conversions.
Of course, these functions can be implemented with the help of e-commerce platforms. But there is a but — these platforms differ a lot. Thus, the best e-commerce platform for startups may not be suitable for a fast-growing medium-sized business.
Top 5 best e-commerce platforms for online businesses in 2021
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
- PrestaShop
- Magento
1. Shopify
Shopify is the leading e-commerce platform that allows entrepreneurs to start their online stores from scratch without large investments.
Shopify is easy to use, so knowing a couple of nuances will allow you to launch your store, even if you’ve never had any website building experience.
The platform is ideal for entrepreneurs who want to open their online store with minimal investment in a short time frame.
Pros
- High-quality themes
- Effective tools to increase sales
Shopify comes with built-in functionality for providing discount codes and gift certificates, sending messages to customers who have added an item to their cart but have not completed their purchase.
- Easy to use interface
The Shopify admin panel is well thought out, so even the abundance of settings does not make it difficult to learn.
Cons
- High cost of plans, paid apps, and templates
Shopify gives users a 2-week trial period so that you can evaluate the functionality of the future site. If you are satisfied with this platform, then in the future you will need to pay at least $ 29 a month.
- Takes commission on payments
For using third-party payment systems, you will have to pay at least 2%. If you plan to expand your business in the future, the cost of transferring funds may increase.
- You are not entirely in control of your store
Your store is hosted on servers that are owned by Shopify, which means that if they decide to close your store, they can do this at any time. Most likely, this will not happen if you do not violate any of the license agreements.
2. WooCommerce
Unlike the other platforms, WooCommerce is not a standalone e-commerce platform. It is a plugin that runs on WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system. The WordPress dashboard is intuitively easy for beginners, besides, it has extensive and user-friendly functionality.
Pros
- Versatility
You can create a store for any purpose, sell products in any form (physical or digital) and sell them in a way that suits you, for example, as a SaaS.
- Support for WordPress themes
- Optimization for mobile devices
Making purchases from phones will not cause any problems for your customers.
Cons
- The store will not work out of the box
You will need to configure the engine. If you have never had to do this before, then it can take a lot of time.
- Most of the useful add-ons for WooCommerce are paid.
- High resource requirements
It is a functional and therefore heavy extension requiring resources to operate.
3. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is suitable for a store with 5 or 5,000 products — everything will work as it should, without any problems.
This engine does not restrict the number of goods, even at the lowest tariff, but it has a different approach in terms of tariffs. Here you will find an annual profit limit ranging from $ 50k to $ 400k a year.
If you are already selling your products and understand that in the future you will earn more, then this platform is not your choice. This platform is most relevant for small and medium businesses.
Pros
- Responsive templates with high customization possibilities
- High SEO capabilities
- No disk space limits and sales commissions
Cons
- High price
Keep in mind that the domain needs to be bought separately, as well as some add-ons.
- Small functionality of the built-in CRM
- Difficult to use for beginners
4. PrestaShop
This platform is suitable for online stores of all sizes, from small sites to large marketplaces. This is achieved through the use of extensions, which you can install without any special knowledge. Therefore, PrestaShop can also be suitable for novice e-commerce store owners. Experienced developers use PrestaShop as well. This platform is open source, which allows you to create your own modules for the CMS.
Pros
- Integration with Google Analytics
- Good SEO capabilities
- Large base of extensions
Cons
- A small number of free extensions in the official PrestaShop catalog
- High cost of themes and modules
- Significant load on the server
This is especially disadvantageous for larger online stores.
5. Magento
Magento-based sites are attractive and easy for visitors. One of the distinguishing platform features can be considered open source code, which allows you to make changes yourself.
The creators of the engine are proud of its extensive functionality and customization flexibility. But there is another side of the coin — the difficulty in mastering and implementing all the available options. Therefore, sometimes you may need help with installation, such as the one offered by the Installation Service.
Pros
- Full integration with Google Analytics
- Support for multiple payment systems, including PayPal
- High speed of work even with a large number of visitors
Cons
- Complex installation process
For a beginner, without any background knowledge and experience, it will simply not be possible to install this CMS on their own. You will most likely need to hire someone to help you with that.
- High-quality hosting is needed
- Difficulties in customizing the design
Conclusion
To understand what e-commerce CMS will be suitable for you as a business owner, we will segment businesses into small, medium, and large.
Thus, based on the above information, the conclusion is:
- For small businesses, the best choice would be Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Prestashop.
- Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Prestashop — they are all suitable for medium-sized businesses.
- But for large businesses, the choice will be limited to these platforms: Magento, BigCommerce.
The choice is yours!
And what platform do you use?
Share your experience with us in the comments below.
