— DEFINITION
E-Commerce
If you want to sell anything online, you need an ecommerce platform. While a regular website provides everything you need to promote your business, people can’t pay for products, as this requires integrations with shipping providers and payment processors.
eCommerce platforms (Also known as shopping cart software) differ from standard website builders because they provide specific features for online sellers, including things like payments application integrations, comprehensive product catalogues, and in-platform seller marketing. Traditional website platforms and CMS systems are built for a wider range of needs but lack the specialized functionality ecommerce platforms provide.
Platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento, Wix, Shopify and others are dramatically simplifying online selling globally for merchants and making it easy to launch stores online. Many platforms are also giving enterprise merchants the ability to customize their martech stacks in ways that best suit their needs.
Regardless of an ordinary website, these websites give your customers an opportunity to make purchases and sales without having to go to a physically structured marketplace (Brick & Mortor).
Here are 12 of the top eCommerce platforms available for businesses to use today!
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free, open-source WordPress shopping cart plugin owned and developed by WordPress. It is one of the most popular eCommerce options on the market and runs on 30% of all stores on the internet.
WooCommerce is the best ecommerce platform for small businesses that already have a site on WordPress.
Shopify
Started in 2004 by a group of snowboarding enthusiasts, Shopify is now the leading ecommerce solution in the market with over 1 million businesses across 175 countries. Shopify’s retailers cover a gamut of sizes and industries.
Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms for beginners and small=to-medium size businesses that need their hands held when setting up their store. Everything you need is already integrated into the platform
BigCommerce
BigCommerce provides merchants sophisticated enterprise-grade functionality, customization, and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. It includes a lot of features out of the box and like other platforms allows for the platform to be extended with third-party applications.
BigCommerce is best for SMBs & MM who require a lot from their ecommerce platform with large or complex catalogs.
Elastic Path
Elastic Path is a “headless” ecommerce system, allowing template-less eCommerce to be integrated as middleware into Enterprise ERP systems. The system is API based and is specifically targeted towards Enterprise level Organisations.
If your business is already in an ecosystem like Salesforce or SAP, it may make sense to use the ecommerce platforms they provide.
OpenCart
OpenCart can support multiple stores from a single interface while customizing and localizing each store, which can be especially useful for merchants with multiple independent brands and retailers that sell cross-border or internationally.
OpenCart has a $99 per month service available for businesses that would like dedicated customer support. There are also transaction fees that can vary based on the payment methods and the gateway(s) used.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a New York-based Software-as-a-Service company that provides website and ecommerce store building and hosting to customers. Customers use drag-and-drop functionality and pre-built website templates to create their web pages.
Squarespace is most appropriate for entrepreneurs and small business owners with basic ecommerce needs.
Wix
Wix.com is a cloud-based website builder that allows users to create online stores through drag-and-drop tools. It has an extensive range of templates and designs that make it easy for beginners and resource-strapped business owners to build a compelling and functional website.
Wix.com is the best ecommerce platform for small businesses that don’t have access to a dedicated web designer.
commercetools
commercetools is a next-generation software company that offers a true cloud-native, headless commerce platform that provides the building blocks for the new digital commerce age.
commercetools relies on a customer’s existing enterprise BPS system for workflow management and requires deep developer expertise.
Magento
Magento is one of the most popular open-source ecommerce platforms in the world. It was originally released in 2009, and then replaced by Magento 2.0 in 2015 with an improved code base and more usability/stability features.
Magento is best for small-to-medium businesses that have already established demand, as well as the time, manpower and skill to build their own site.
Salesforce B2B eCommerce
Salesforce Commerce Cloud, formerly known as DemandWare, is an enterprise-level ecommerce platform that offers a full range of features and capabilities that make it an excellent fit for multi-national companies that process millions of dollars in orders.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is the best ecommerce platform for enterprise companies with complex needs.
SAP Commerce Cloud
SAP Commerce Cloud might be worth considering if your business is using other SAP solutions and wants a highly customisable platform that can handle high volumes of products and customers.
SAP Commerce Cloud solutions enable you to ease the buying process for your customers with a seamless experience – from search to sales. A combination of intuitive, self-service capabilities and AI-powered merchandising, guided selling, assisted service, and chatbots further aid the buying process and drive more profit at a lower cost of ownership.
Oracle CX
Oracle CX Commerce is a solid entry point into the world of cloud commerce for mid-market and enterprise companies. It’s Sales, Marketing and Configure, Price Quote clouds provide a comprehensive solution that integrates with Oracle’s other ERP and financial clouds.
Best for customers using existing Oracle products.
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