Top 10 E-commerce Platforms and Tools for Startups in 2022

If you want to set up a virtual store in 2022, some excellent e-commerce platforms will help you launch and boost your store. Over the past few years, e-commerce has thrived magnificently all over the world. Given the ever growing work pressure and busy schedules, everyone is now into online shopping. E-commerce provides various facilities and possibilities; thus, online purchases have become effortless and affordable. So, in case you are a young entrepreneur or have started a business recently, you will want to have your customers fill their digital shopping carts so your business can take off. Rather than focusing on every e-commerce platform out there, choose one and focus on growing via that. Here are the top 10 e-commerce platforms that will help you flourish.

1. Shopify

Shopify is the number one ranking amongst all other global e-commerce platforms. It was founded in 2004 and has run over 1,000,000+ businesses to date. The other feature of this platform is that it is very manageable, and beginners can efficiently run it without any hazards. The customization is marvelous and smooth to navigate everything. You also get a 14-day free trial before you plan on doing business with them.

Pros:

1. It’s easy to handle and offers customizable themes and templates.
2. The platform takes charge of all security problems.
3. It offers a vast marketplace to grow your online store or business.

Cons:

1. It charges an extra payment for a third-party payment gateway.
2. It can get a little hectic with regards to SEO and site structure.

2. Amazon

Amazon ranks as the second-best and largest e-commerce platform across the globe. What once originated as an online book store in 1994, now deals with almost every possible brand and ships to every country. After Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft, Amazon is the most valuable company at present, leading other e-commerce platforms. With Amazon as your e-commerce platform, you can sell your items to almost every corner and street in the world.

Pros:

1. Already existing huge customer base and Amazon’s SEO statistics make it easy to help you reach most of the consumers.
2. Online stores are based on trust and reliability. So, with Amazon, your customer won’t hesitate to purchase from you.

Cons:

1. You have to encounter numerous brands, and there will be huge competition. Outshining all others can sometimes be stressful.
2. There can be frequent price battles with the same product producers.

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free, self-made program built on a popular open-space WordPress platform. To use WooCommerce, you need to have your own web hosting and then install WordPress software. After that, you can install WooCommerce as a plugin for WordPress. As it is a self-hosting software, you are the boss of your site, and therefore, its maintenance and security are in your hands.

Pros:

1. WooCommerce is very affordable for beginners to start a primary store.
2. Being a WordPress plugin, it allows you to add non-e-commerce functions to your site.

Cons:

1. Maintaining a business, website, and related security turn out to be very problematic for a single person.
2. There is no one-to-one chat/phone call with the consumers. You have to always rely on third parties.

4. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a SaaS tool with flexible aspects of creating an online store. You can sign up for an account on BigCommerce and let them handle everything, or you could also facilitate it as a plugin for WordPress. Even with that, BigCommerce will look after your site maintenance, and you can do the rest of the work through WordPress.

Pros:

1. The headless approach comes as a perfect pair of helping hands to you.
2. There are no extra charges for using any payment gateway.

Cons: –

1. It charges an extra amount if there is a sale of more than $400k per year.
2. It does not provide you with a vast marketplace, unlike Shopify or Amazon.

5. Wix

As soon as you sign up for Wix, you’ll see that it leads you to create any website, including an e-commerce store site. This can be useful if you want your store to be just a part of your site.

Pros:

1. It has numerous collections of templates and apps.
2. It’s comparatively cheaper than other e-commerce stores.

Cons:

1. The e-commerce features are not up to the mark.
2. It’s hard to migrate or transfer data.

6. SquareSpace

Squarespace is quite similar to Wix, however, it has a phenomenal collection of aesthetic templates and designs and minimal decor ideas. So, if you want to design and portray your site aesthetically, Squarespace is the right place for you.

Pros:

1. It is affordable with minimum prices.
2. It can help to create more than e-commerce stores.

Cons:

1. The live chat/call feature is not available.
2. The overall e-commerce facilities are average.

7. Weebly

It was founded in 2006 and currently has more than 45 million customers. This is a convenient site for beginners as it provides some incredible features, competitive pricing, and phone support.

Pros:

1. It provides one with a smooth user experience.
2. It’s perfect for promoting your new store.

Cons:

1. It’s not suitable for SEO.
2. Although it’s a content-driven site, their blogging has limited options.

8. 3dcart

Developed in 2001, it is one of the oldest e-commerce platforms. Beginners might find it challenging to handle as setting up a store takes a lot of time. They have some great features, such as no extra charge for anything, and if you can work through the website, you can build a fantastic store.

Pros:

1. It offers great deals on prices.
2. It comes with impressive blogging features.

Cons:

1. It’s unsuitable for beginners.
2. The templates and designs are not updated regularly.

9. Volusion

Volusion is a moderate platform for beginners. It has a standard drag and drop builder, unlike other e-commerce platforms. However, it doesn’t have many templates and charges extra for them.

Pros:

1. The drag and drop feature helps you in building the store efficiently.
2. The ability to sell multi-channels.

Cons:

1. It has fewer free themes and expensive paid pieces.
2. There are no SEO or blogging features.

10. Magento

Magento is one of the best e-commerce websites and works with brands like NIKE, Coca-Cola, etc. It has 250,000+ websites and a vast number of customers.

Pros:

1. There are a lot of options to customize your e-commerce website.
2. Magento enables you to choose different hosting.

Cons:

1. It takes a bit of time to load the pages.
2. It can be pretty expensive.

Tip – An Amazon Keyword Tool can be useful if you are looking for more details in e-commerce platforms.

Conclusion

You won’t find the best website with exclusive advantages, so choose the platforms that best fit your individual business ideas. If you are comfortable with WordPress sites, you can select WooCommerce or BigCommerce, or if you prefer to approach huge masses, Shopify and Amazon are the cream of the crop. So do your research and then invest your time in one particular e-commerce platform.

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