Businesses, regardless of whether they are small or large-scale, are looking to go digital. In fact, many already have. But while some have succeeded in this endeavor, some have failed.
While poor management is a factor to be blamed, there is also the issue of having a poor platform to begin with. Since managerial skills is a topic that deserves its own separate article, we thought we’d give the users a sneak peek into the fantastic world of eCommerce platforms.
There are lots of options to choose from. The platform you select ultimately depends on the type of industry you’re operating in, your budget, and the features you want from an eCommerce setup.
We hope that with this article, you will have an understanding of which platform would be right for your business.
So, let’s begin.
BigCommerce
With over $17 billion in sales, BigCommerce is a renowned industry leader in the eCommerce platform market.
A robust and powerful eCommerce platform, it comes with a variety of features built-in that helps elevate your eCommerce store to prominence.
While the features and functionalities can get a bit overwhelming, if you’re a power user looking to speed up the store creation process, BigCommerce is for you.
Being able to handle sales through various channels, the platform has an amazing track record of uptime, load speeds, security, and overall performance.
With BigCommerce, you won’t have to worry about your niche being ill-suited since the platform offers a variety of options for stores in a variety of different industries.
| Standard | Plus | Pro |
| $29.95 per month
|
$79.95 per month
|
$249.95 per month |
BigCommerce also helps you scale without you having to worry about it. Once you pass a particular threshold (mentioned below) in yearly sales, you are automatically upgraded to a new plan.
Here’s a run-down of the limits:
| Standard | Plus | Pro |
| Up to $50,000 | Up to $150,000 | Above $150,000
|
For example, if you’re gaining up to $50,000 in yearly sales, you will automatically be upgraded to the Plus version.
For users who want to save themselves from the headaches that come with scalability, BigCommerce provides a powerful platform that helps them gain the superior edge.
3DCart
For over 20 years, 3DCart has been the primary choice for thousands of merchants all over the world. The platform often falls short of popularity when compared with the likes of Shopify or Magento, but it’s an appealing choice for eCommerce users who want advanced functionalities.
Because of its advanced nature, we would recommend 3DCart to individuals who have built online stores previously in the past. There are tons of features you can take advantage of.
A traditional platform, it doesn’t offer the drag-and-drop builder. Because of this, you will need to hire a developer or have a basic understanding of coding practices to perform customizations.
| Startup | Basic Store | Plus Store | Pro Store |
| $19 per month | $29 per month | $79 per month | $229 per month |
Coming with a wide-range of packages ranging from startups to enterprise stores, 3DCart follows the same upgrading practices as BigCommerce. If you pass a certain sales limit, it will automatically upgrade your package to facilitate your scalability efforts.
With no fees on transactions, 24/7 customer support, over 200 payment processing gateways, among other features, 3DCart offers users a wide range of themes to build any eCommerce store.
WooCommerce
Compared to the other platforms, WooComemrce is a bit different. It’s not a platform per se, but rather a plugin for the WordPress platform. However, because of its popularity, people have started to consider WooCommerce as a major platform for individuals of all types looking to build an eCommerce store.
Why wouldn’t it be popular. It’s an open-source platform that powers approximately 30 percent of all websites on the internet.
If you’re using a WordPress site, you can easily convert it to an eCommerce store by installing WooCommerce. With WooCommerce, the price is as much as you can make it.
For example, you can:
- Choose to buy an expensive or cheap domain name
- You can choose a shared hosting service or a managed WordPress hosting
- You can install free plugins and themes or you can purchase their premium alternatives
Because of the economy it provides to most small to medium businesses, WooCommerce is highly recommended by many. While there is the recurrent issue of its security being weak; with the right plugins and security considerations, you can gain significant security for your eCommerce store.
Additionally, it’s the best platform if you’re looking for customizations. It is so highly customizable, that it has spawned an entire industry of developers looking to offer their WordPress + WooCommerce development services online.
But here’s the thing, WooCommerce is effective for small to medium sized businesses. True enough, there are plenty of large-scale businesses running on WooCommerce but they face their own issues when it comes to scalability.
All in all, WooCommerce is suitable for both B2B and B2C businesses. However, if you’re looking at WooCommerce as an enterprise solution, we would recommend you select a different platform like b2bwoo.
OpenCart
OpenCart is a powerful eCommerce platform powering over 340,000 eCommerce websites all over the globe.
An open-source software that you can install on your website, OpenCart is like WooCommerce with a few essential differences.
In addition to being a powerful platform, it also has a huge marketplace. With over 13000 themes, extensions, add-ons, and more, if you’re looking to integrate a functionality with your store, then we would suggest OpenCart.
Similar to WooCommerce, it’s price can be whatever you want. OpenCart has a wide variety of premium and paid extensions that you can use to boost your store operations further.
Magento
No article about eCommerce platforms can ever be complete without including Magento. It’s an industry leader in providing an enterprise-level eCommerce solution.
An eCommerce platform that powers the likes of Nike, Canon, and HP, it’s built exclusively for enterprise stores looking to enter the eCommerce world.
Whether it be B2B, B2C, or any other combination of industry niche, you can bet that Magento will support all of them with its all-powerful eCommerce capabilities.
If you’re a large-scale eCommerce store, then its best you select Magento since it facilitates scalability, marketing, and performance incomparable to any other platform.
Additionally, it also supports mobile commerce and progressive web applicatiosn to take your eCommerce website to the next level.
Everything, from customizations to extensions, customer support, and themes, Magento prides itself as a market leader in all categories.
Conclusion:
Which platform was best for you? All of these platforms have their own problems. Some are too expensive, and some don’t perform well for a particular industry. This is why it’s important that you gain significant insights before you select a platform.
We hope that this article gave you the proper introduction into the world of eCommerce platforms.
