The complexity of the various eCommerce website builders varies. Some make creating an online store as simple as possible, at the expense of flexibility, custom design, and originality. Others have a lot of features and options, but they might be too much for eCommerce entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
Each of the eCommerce website builders we discuss in this article includes characteristics that make them ideal for specific sorts of online stores. As a result, it makes sense to consider your individual requirements and choose the website builder that best fits your technical abilities, experience, budget, and desired shop type.
1. Shopify
Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce systems, powering more than 1.2 million online stores. This is because it makes it easy to build a unique eCommerce site that stands out from the crowd and has a wide range of features.
It comes with a comprehensive built-in content management system (CMS) that allows you to quickly create a database of all the different sorts of merchandise you want to offer. The CMS provides links to your site to aid data entry and cross-reference content. You create groupings of related goods that are linked across your website.
Shopify’s ability to integrate with over 3,500 add-on applications, which bring extra functions to its core, is one of its most compelling aspects. While this may increase your overall cost, it does ensure that small businesses will not have to pay for things they will never use.
Shopify comes with nine free themes, and the Shopify Theme Store has a total of 64 paid themes. On third-party markets, however, there are over 1,100 themes to choose from, all of which are fully customizable. You should never have to be concerned about your Shopify site matching a standard template or the competition.
2. 3DCart
3DCart was the previous name for Shift4Shop. You may use their website builder to create your site, and you can choose from hundreds of professionally designed, industry-specific designs. You can then customize your site using their user-friendly web design tool or by editing the HTML and CSS directly. There are now over 100 free themes available.
Users of Shift4Shop’s payment processing in the United States can get an unlimited subscription for free. This enables you to create a store with an infinite number of items, staff users, bandwidth, revenue caps, and an integrated blog. Other customers can choose from three options ranging from $29 to $229 per month. For high-volume online shops, Shift4Shop Enterprise additionally offers a specialized eCommerce platform.
3. Weebly
Weebly eCommerce is a Square-powered online store builder that is linked to the Weebly CMS platform. With pre-built themes and templates, as well as a drag-and-drop tool for modifying pages, it’s straightforward to use.
It’s a great platform for new entrepreneurs and small enterprises who need to get up and running quickly but don’t have the skills or knowledge of web development.
Weebly eCommerce has a lot of inventory control and shipping management options to help you keep track of stock and make deliveries easily. The platform includes marketing capabilities for promo and cart abandonment email marketing, as well as SEO monitoring and site optimization.
Customers may read useful peer reviews of your items thanks to Weebly eCommerce’s customer review tools.
Weebly eCommerce offers a free option as well as three different price tiers. The forever-free edition allows you to create a free e-commerce website, but it comes with the same constraints as other free online stores.
Weebly eCommerce is a wonderful solution for budget-conscious companies because the paid choices are $6, $12, and $26 per month.
4. Squarespace
Squarespace Commerce, not to be confused with Square POS, is an e-commerce platform that is integrated with the popular Squarespace site-building platform. The basic site builder has grown in popularity as a viable alternative to WordPress, and the commerce platform receives similar praise.
Squarespace Commerce provides training and useful information to ensure that new firms’ storefronts are optimized for their sector. It also contains all of the capabilities you’ll need to expand and scale your business.
Supporting multichannel sales techniques is an important element. Inventory and sales processing are centralized across all selling channels, including the internet, brick-and-mortar, and social media.
The platform also includes a comprehensive online product and inventory management system that updates in real-time as sales are made across all channels. If a product is sold out, you, your workers, and your customers will be notified.
Squarespace Commerce offers two pricing options: $26 per month and $40 per month. The less expensive version includes everything you’ll need to create and maintain a well-designed, profitable online business.
The more costly plan includes features such as subscription-based pricing for your consumers and in-house email marketing.
5. BigCommerce
There are two versions of BigCommerce: BigCommerce Essentials and BigCommerce Enterprise (a more customized experience for larger customers). BigCommerce Essentials, on the other hand, is available in three different packages. The prices are comparable to those of Shopify. The plans do have revenue limitations, and if you go over them, BigCommerce will charge you, so larger stores will need to use the higher-level plans.
BigCommerce walks you through the process of creating an e-commerce website step-by-step. It outlines where you should begin and what you should accomplish. You should start by adding your items and then establishing your website. A sidebar navigation menu is provided by BigCommerce, with each item referring to the proper area. It gives detailed instructions on what information is required as well as links to associated assistance materials. BigCommerce even identifies which third-party applications will assist you in expanding your capabilities.
6. Wix
Another drag-and-drop content management system with eCommerce capabilities is Wix. They have gradually improved their e-commerce capability, with major enhancements expected in 2020.
Unlike most other eCommerce website builders, Wix takes a unique approach to the initial creation of your site. You start by creating your website and then go on to the eCommerce-specific aspects (such as inputting inventory) afterward. You will discover that entering your inventory is a straightforward and intuitive process.
After you’ve entered your inventory information, Wix walks you through the rest of the process, including setting up shipping specifications and payment options. Wix’s eCommerce platform provides almost all of the functionality you’d expect from a high-end platform.
7. GoDaddy
The e-commerce CMS and storefront builder GoDaddy eCommerce is linked to the GoDaddy domain marketplace. It’s a simple platform that allows you to quickly put up a store. Smaller businesses that are just getting started with online sales and don’t require a huge, complex website would benefit from GoDaddy eCommerce.
The platform’s interface is simple and straightforward, making it simple to locate your tools and features. Pre-built themes and templates, multichannel selling, basic client outreach, and bespoke analytics are just a few of the platform’s remarkable features.
GoDaddy eCommerce makes it simple to add media to your site for product profiles and interesting content, as well as modify copy across the site quickly and easily.
GoDaddy eCommerce has a simple pricing structure: you pay either $20 or $30 per month, depending on whether you pay monthly or yearly. Because of the good (but restricted) feature set and inability to genuinely expand with your organization, pricing is on the higher end.
8. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that allows you to transform your website into an online store. It’s designed to meet the needs of both new website designers and users who already have a WordPress site.
The platform is ideal for small enterprises who are just getting started with internet sales. It interacts seamlessly with your WordPress site, so if you can handle your WordPress site, you’ll have no trouble creating and managing your online store with WooCommerce.
Because WooCommerce is a WordPress plug-in, it may use the huge WordPress extension catalog to complement tools it may lack.
The platform, on the other hand, provides all of the necessary capabilities for creating extensive product profiles and launching your online store. It accepts a variety of payment methods, including PayPal and Amazon Pay. It also enables you to provide your clients with unique pricing structures, such as subscription-based payments and dynamic pricing meant to drive expenditure.
WooCommerce’s price isn’t as obvious as the rest of these solutions. Downloading and integrating it into your WordPress blog is completely free. There are, however, charges connected with utilizing the tool, such as developer fees for customizations and upkeep, costs for any developed themes or site templates, and the continuous cost of further extensions.
9. Volusion
Volusion is one of the oldest eCommerce website builders, but it just upgraded to a new operating system, V2, in order to stay current. However, it is more concerned with data than with online design. Unlike many of the other applications discussed here, creating a Volusion website is more difficult. It does, however, feature 11 free and 30+ premium themes.
Although you can’t offer digital things like eBooks, courses, digital art, or music, Volusion’s eCommerce tools are typically excellent. However, you may integrate product videos, which is something that most other website builders don’t allow.
You can manage your store using Volusion’s mobile app, which eliminates the need to be glued to your computer to check inventory, alter pricing, and perform other routine tasks.
More than 1,000 third-party applications are supported by Volusion, which you may add using Zapier.
10. Zyro
Zyro is the appropriate builder for UX design lovers and business amateurs. It includes POS integration, which means that the hardware and software work together to allow your consumers to buy things online.
Zyro’s simple design editor allows you to easily construct aesthetically stunning stores. Although it has several amazing capabilities, customers have complained that finding these functions in the builder is difficult.
Zyro’s website features receive a 3.4/5 rating, which is somewhat below average. The biggest problem with Zyro’s e-commerce is that it demands a great deal of patience to use. It has some useful features, but many of them aren’t as good as what its competitors offer.
The design category was where Zyro really shone. However, if you run a tiny firm, Zyro may not be worth the money.
Zyro, on the other hand, can be the spot for you if you desire multichannel design, product pages, and the opportunity to express your creative originality.
