Pricing Plan:

Shopify itself has three main subscriptions. But they also offer Shopify Lite ($9/mo) for selling on Facebook and adding ‘buy’ buttons to existing websites. They also Shopify Plus (price not disclosed) for businesses larger than their normal subscription can handle.

All plan levels come with a 14-day free trial (no credit card required). They allow you to change subscription levels at any time.

Shopify also offers a 10% discount if you renew for a year at a time. The discount increases to 20% for biennial subscriptions.

Wix- Best Value and Best Ease of Use

Wix is one of the best eCommerce website builders for small businesses. The website builder itself is free. Adding additional functions and the option of using your website as part of your eCommerce business plan come at low-cost subscriptions.

Unlike many low-cost platforms, Wix stores scale well. It gives you access to Google Analytics at all eCommerce subscription levels. You’ll also have plenty of space for content like blog articles, buying guides, and videos.

No more worrying about purchasing space for conversion-generating content.

Pricing:

Wix has two different subscription types, one for basic websites, and one for eCommerce websites. We’re only going to include the eCommerce subscriptions because their base subscriptions don’t offer the same level of functionality.

Wix does not currently offer a free trial of any of their subscriptions. But if you decide that you don’t want to continue with Wix within 14 days of subscribing they have a no-questions-asked refund policy.

Squarespace- Best for Creative Themes

Squarespace is another full-service website creator in addition to being an eCommerce product and payments manager.

But if it’s really important for your business to look incredibly clean and sophisticated, Squarespace is one of the best eCommerce platforms, thanks to their award-winning mobile and computer friendly templates.
Squarespace also makes additional content, like blogging, easy to create, and upload.

Pricing:

Squarespace doesn’t have an official free trial, but you are free to use a lot of the tools and information on their website for free. Squarespace is set up, so you don’t have to subscribe until you know it’s the right platform for you.

It’s also a simple process to change your subscription level or cancel.

BigCommerce – Best for Multi-Channel Selling

BigCommerce is one of the best online store builders if you intend to go for multi-channel selling quickly. It gives you one quick platform to see and process orders.

It lets you build your own website from scratch, as well as listing your store and products on other major retail sites. You’ll be able to access Amazon and eBay’s massive markets right away.

Big Commerce also supports unlimited bandwidth and storage for subscribers.

On top of that, you’ll get blogging abilities, reports and analytics, and a lot of other monitoring advantages right away.

Pricing:

BigCommerce offers a 15-day free trial on all subscription levels.

Weebly- Best for Beginners/Best for Small Stores

Sometimes you have to start small. Weebly is a good option for businesses that need a low cost of entry, but that don’t want to deal with minimal features or a less advanced platform design.

Don’t let the low subscription costs fool you, Weebly’s eCommerce design is a powerful tool for small businesses.
With SEO friendly interfaces and analytics, you’ll be able to grow your website quicker, leading to more sales and more opportunities for you.

The easy to use design includes automatic tax calculation, gift card support, and other features that will make your new website even easier to manage.

Pricing:

Weebly offers a free to use version. It offers fewer features than the subscriptions and a few design drawbacks. But, it’s a fully functional version that suitable for businesses with a low eCommerce budget.

Volusion- Best for large eCommerce stores/ Best for Scalability

Volusion is a good option for businesses that are ready to take their personal websites to the next level. It’s designed for a large platform with unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth.
You’ll also have the added option of migrating your website from any other platform that supports .csv file configuration.

Volusion offers 24/7 customer support.

It also provides a synched inventory for your different stores, making it easier to manage an extensive business.

Pricing:

Volusion offers a 14-day free trial.

Jimdo- Best for European eCommerce stores

If you’re looking to expand your eCommerce platform into European markets, this might be the right tool for you. It allows for sales in the European market and meets EU sales regulations.

Jimdo also has an intuitive SEO platform that makes optimization easy.

Add to that that Jimdo is well known for providing comprehensive customer support that’s quick and gets to the root of the problem quickly. They also have a mobile app that makes it easy to stay on top of your business while you’re on the go.

Pricing:

Jimdo does offer a free version, with stripped-down features. It’s still a surprisingly functional design.

We’re focusing on the business subscriptions vs the subscription levels for a basic (non-store) website.

What to Consider Looking for the Best eCommerce Tool for You

When you’re looking for a good eCommerce tool there are a lot of different things to take into consideration. It’s more than just looking for a lot of features and functions.

First, think about your key audience. Most eCommerce tools also function as website creators, and you need to be able to build a website that fits your business’s brand and character.

If you don’t already have a logo or other marketing graphics, you may also want to look for an eCommerce tool that will help you design those graphics.

You should also think about the types of payments you need to be able to accept. A lot of eCommerce websites will only allow for single purchases instead of subscriptions or appointment booking. This should be high on your list, make sure your tool can do what you need it to from the beginning.
Think about scaling at the same time. If you don’t need subscriptions at the moment, but think you might in the future, it should be an option through your chosen eCommerce platform.

Additional content is also important for building your business. Your product and business information may not bring the customers you need right away. You should try to also put our blogs and other content that is genuinely valuable to your customers.

eCommerce platforms offer a variety of SEO and other content support, including analytics. Make sure those tools are going to be an effective option for your business, and that you can release content in a way that feels simple.

Ultimately, all this information comes down to one simple thing. You need the best eCommerce tool for your business, not just the best eCommerce platform out there. Spend some time thinking about how your business is organized and where it’s biggest areas of opportunity exist.

Once you have that information, finding an eCommerce platform that really works for you and your business is simple.

Key Features

Of course, you can’t find the perfect platform if you don’t know what kinds of features are most important. This list provides some of the most common features across eCommerce platforms, along with why each feature can be a critical part of your eCommerce business plan.

Payment Processing:

One of the most important single features is payment processing. The way your eCommerce platform can accept payments is critical to building your business. If you’re limited to only a few types of credit card or need to take payments over the phone, you’ll lose customers.

The easier, and more payment options you have, the more customers you’ll be able to keep.

Inventory Management:

This is another critical feature, especially as your business grows. If you have a multiple sales channel platform, you need to stay on top of inventory even when multiple simultaneous sales come in.

Inventory management tools work not only to help you know how much stock you have but also make ordering and other inventory tasks significantly easier. Don’t get caught in a lurch with more orders than you can fulfill, ever again. Make sure this is at the top of your list of key features.

Booking Option:

Sometimes your business needs more than just selling goods. When you’re offering a service, consultations, or even matching your customers with different products from your website, you need to be able to set up appointments.

Wix is one of the better platforms for this. It allows for booking appointments in a way that makes it possible to run a consumer goods business or a services-based business. Anyone who need to make appointments need a booking option.

SEO:

Search engine optimization is a critical step for getting people’s eyes on your business. It’s not how you attract customers to your site, but it is how you tell Google and other search engines that your website is worth recommending to their customers.

SEO recommendations will help improve your visibility, attracting more people, and reducing how much you have to spend on ads and other marketing campaigns.

Coupons and Promo Code Tools:

Everyone knows how good it feels to use a good coupon. And once you’ve got a customer, they’re a lot more likely to come back and bring more business to your company. Plus, if they’re especially pleased with the product and the discount, they’ll be more likely to recommend your business to others.

If you’re looking to grow your business, this feature can make your job a lot easier. Look for a platform that doesn’t limit coupons and makes it easy for customers to use them.

Upselling in Cart:

Once you have a customer engaged, they are a lot more likely to continue spending their money. Upselling in a cart makes it a lot simpler to increase what might have been a small sale to a large one.

Take advantage of this psychological trick to build your business and generate better sales quickly.

Customer Reviews:

One of the biggest things you have to prove to your customers is that you can do what you say you are going to. Whether that’s a service, or just that you’re going to deliver your products on time, one of the easiest ways to do that is to display positive customer reviews.

Giving your customers the opportunity to leave a review, and displaying the best ones, will increase your credibility and make it easier to convert page viewers to customers.

Live Chat:

If your business needs to be highly responsive, you may want to offer a live chat feature. But before you can offer Live Chat, you need to make sure your eCommerce platform can support it.

Even if your business doesn’t have the staff to provide live chat yourselves, you can hire a third-party provider to make sure your customers are getting the answers they need, when they need them.

For instance, ZenDesk lets you add live chat to any website simply by embedding a simple widget.

Blog Feature:

Blogs are one of the easiest ways to provide customer-relevant content that will drive more traffic to your website and business. But, your eCommerce website needs to be able to support a blog, with good load times, to make this an effective part of your platform.