What E-Commerce Platform Should I use?
As an e-commerce business you have to have an e-commerce platform, but what platform should you choose?
Running an e-commerce store has been a universally tough task from the beginning. At one end, you have to register with a marketplace, get a payment gateway, hire a bunch of people and then get on to marketing. On the other end, you have to worry about logistics, inventory, and a whole bunch of other things.
There are so many options out there, it’s hard to figure out what e-commerce platform is a good choice. We’ll talk about some of the e-commerce platforms and their applications.
This blog discusses the different e-commerce platforms on the market and how to choose the right one for you.
Choosing the Platform Based on Your “Needs”
You need to look at your current needs and wants before you can evaluate if the right platform will help you. There are several platforms out there, but you should be aware of the features of the most popular ones before you make a decision. Find out what you need and how Shopify, ikas, and Woocommerce can help you be more productive.
Learn about the pros and cons of each platform and how they apply to your business
Choosing the right platform for your business can seem difficult. There are so many options available to you. With so many options available you need to really look at your business and how you need to use the platform. Then you can find the right one for you.
- Understand the real cost of each platform and how they compare to each other.
- Find out how to choose the right platform for your business and save time and money.
What does an e-commerce business need?
You should ask yourself these questions before starting anything about your e-commerce business?
- What am I going to sell? Is it going to be physical products or digital products too?
- Do I have a physical store or am I planning to have one in near future?
- What are my technical capabilities?
- What is my budget?
- What is my runway (How many months can I survive without selling a product)?
These questions are enough to make a decision:
The Cheapest Way to Launch an eCommerce Store
The first platform that comes to mind is definitely Wocommerce. Wocommerce is an open-source platform so you don’t have to pay anything to use it but you have to have a server. Surely there are many ways to set up hosting on your own like Bluehost, Digitalocean, or Hostinger but it might be challenging for you if you have no expertise in there. You can ask somebody else to do that for you also.
Once you have done with the setup, you are ready to sell anything via Wocommerce thanks to the open-source content management system: WordPress.
For the record, WooCommerce is 29% of the top 1 million sites using e-commerce technologies.
It might take some time to get familiar with Wordpress’s interface in terms of customizing menus, widgets, and updating plugins. After getting used to it, there is nothing you can’t integrate with Woocommerce.
The expense is only your hosting costs which starts from $5/month and above based on your needs.
The Easiest Way to Launch an eCommerce Store
So, you want to start an e-commerce business and you’ve heard about these platforms like Shopify and how they can help you create an e-commerce store without much effort. But you don’t know which one to use and these platforms seem to be all the same.
Choosing the right platform for your business can be a very important one, especially if you are a small business. Not only does it need to be the right one for your business, but you also need to make sure that you get the most from your investment both in time and money.
Here is a blog that will discuss the different e-commerce platforms and their features that you might be interested in.
ikas
Now, there is a brand new way of running your eCommerce store.
ikas.com has fantastic features that make it easy to manage multiple storefronts, which is great for growing my business. I save so much time when I use this service because it handles my inventory, returns, and shipping for my online store, which means that I don’t have to deal with any of that. It’s great that it’s easy to sell without paying $50/month to 3rd party apps! I would definitely recommend this service to anyone who wants to save time and energy when managing their online store.
ikas.com is my go-to Shopify alternative. It’s clean, easy to use, has great customer support, and the best part? It’s conversion-focused native features like wishlist, built-in return management, Built-in Translation Support an so on.
The expense is only your hosting costs which starts from $29/month
Prestashop
PrestaShop professional for a number of years now and it’s a great e-commerce solution. The pricing is reasonable and it’s easy to use. There are a lot of nice features that you won’t find in other e-commerce solutions. I’m planning on upgrading to the latest version in the next few months.
I love how easy it is to create an e-commerce store and the pricing is affordable. I’m running a business and I need to keep my overhead low and PrestaShop is allowing me to do that.
The fact that they also have a very active community with users from all over the world is a big plus.
The expense is only your hosting costs which starts from $5/month and above based on the ad-ons and modules you are using.
Shopify
Shopify is the leading e-commerce platform with over a million apps and themes to help you build an online store. Beginning with a free, all-in-one solution, Shopify is the perfect hosting platform for your business.
Shopify provides everything you need to set up and run your online store, including the tools and experience to help you run a successful business.
You can easily create a one-of-a-kind website for your business with no coding experience required.
Shopify allows you all of the tools you need to start your business and be successful such as a free 14-day trial, easy-to-use setup and a secure and trusted platform.
The best part of Shopify definitely its app store: You and find many alternatives on the Shopify App Store when you need a chatbot or and drip email service.
The expense is only your hosting costs which starts from $29/month
If you get a platform that is too complex for what you need, then it can be a waste of money. Similarly, if you don’t get a platform flexible enough to do what you want, your business will suffer.
That’s why we created Ecommerce Checklist for you. There are more than 200 tools, step-by-step guides, and explanatory videos for you. It is updated regularly so you will always know the best tools to start and grow your e-commerce business.
