Welcome to our comprehensive, in-depth eCommerce platform guide!
With more brick and mortar stores facing less business than ever before, online sales are growing year after year. If your business is looking at an online presence, you might be wondering which eCommerce platform is the best for your business.
Choosing the correct eCommerce platform is a vital part of your business development strategy.
Whether you are looking at an open-source platform, or a user-friendly, hassle-free proprietary platform that requires a monthly subscription, you’re going to be asking yourself 3 questions.
- Are open-source eCommerce platforms better or worse?
- What are the benefits of monthly subscriptions?
- Which eCommerce platform should I use?
Well let’s take a look at open-source.
Open-source eCommerce platforms
They are all over the internet right now. In fact throw a stone in any direction and you’ll hit a dozen along the way, because open-source platforms are sprouting up like weeds in a field, and with many more to come.
A cynic might suggest that the reason why they are so plentiful, is that many of them simply do not suffice, but for now we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Open-source can be an attractive choice for some businesses.
Benefits of open-source platforms
Their ‘free’ services are an immediate hook, because they offers businesses the chance to complete some preparation work on their online business without fronting a penny. It’s fantastic, in theory at least.
They also tout their ability to offer clients advanced development options. This is because businesses working with open-source platforms control their entire system, and build it up the way they desire, brick by brick.
However, despite a promising start, sooner or later your business discovers hidden costs.
Disadvantages of open-source platforms
No, we’re not talking about that percentage cut that they take out of every sale. We are talking about hidden domain costs, being forced to pay for better hosting services, added fees for site support, and even the surprise cost of that wallpaper design you chose!
Secondly, many open-source platforms also hold onto transactions while they investigate possible fraud. By holding onto profits for extended periods of time, they frequently end up damaging smaller businesses.
Finally, the reason that these open-source platforms are free, is because you are doing all the heavy lifting. The coding, developing, and site-building are all in your hands. If you’re lacking advanced developer skills then open-source eCommerce platforms are going to do more harm than good.
True optimisation for these platforms requires hiring a developer to not only build the site itself, but also to monitor and maintain everything. Which is why many people often cut the complication and go for proprietary eCommerce platforms.
Proprietary eCommerce platforms
The advantages that proprietary eCommerce platforms offer revolve around a several reasons:
- Easier to build
- Offer simple, necessary marketing tools
- Payment pathways are included
- Advanced plugin choices
When using proprietary platforms, your advantages will vary from platform to platform. Some offer excellent support, and free plug-ins, but require you to pay extra to ensure decent security. They might have decent SEO services, yet have expensive app services.
Without throwing too much shade, let’s take a look at some of the most well known in our eCommerce Platform Guide.
BigCommerce
+ Flexible and scalable for businesses
+ Strong SEO performance.
- High volume businesses end up paying far more
- Ineffective on-the-go app for monitoring business
- Limited site and payment integrations
- Top marketing tools require top-tier (and top-price!) subscriptions
Shopify
+ Extremely easy set up
+ Fast load time
- Checkouts are not customisable
- Transaction fees if you don’t use their payment system
- Language tools are limited
WooCommerce
+ Strong SEO performance
+ 1-click selling apps available
- Not secure by default, requires payment for extra security
- Costly 3rd party plugins
- Requires manual updates
- Still requires a developer to maintain
Wix
+ Many free themes
+ Easy to set up and use
+ Includes marketing automation
- Poor SEO performance
- Weak integration with Amazon
SuperDisty
+ Integrates with other site builders
+ Multi Language capability for international markets
+ Simple to personalize and set up
+ Free inclusive support
+ Powerful on-the-go management app
+ Back-up storefronts in case of a crash
+ Cloud-based solution removes manual updates
+ Zero transaction fees, and over 40 international payment gateways
+ Uses PCI DSS Level 1 Certified Services to maintain security
+ Connects to sales channels such as Google, Instagram, Amazon, Facebook etc.
We could go on for even longer, but you’d get tired from listening to us toot our own horn.
SuperDisty’s eSuperStore is revolutionary because we understand your needs. We’ve seen the struggles, experienced the problems of the past, and foresee the obstacles in the future. Using the eSuperStore platform gives businesses the best tools to grow, at a fraction of the price.
Don’t believe us? That’s ok, you don’t have to take our word for it, find out yourself by obtaining your eSuperStore FREE trial!
With cutting edge automation available, and ingenious solutions that are taking eCommerce platforms into the next generation, eSuperStore is staying ahead of the curve.
In no time at all, your business can be set up online, personalized to your needs and ready to bring in business with zero hassle. You can connect to other sale channels with ease and start selling via Facebook, Instagram, Amazon and so many more!
Your business is your business, and we respect that, so that’s why we take care of all the nitty gritty, and allow you to focus on your work. No stress, no hassle, just top-notch coordination.
Now that you’ve finished our eCommerce platform guide, what are you waiting for? Check out our eSuperstore options today, and start making sales by tomorrow.
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