The Best Ecommerce Platforms – Shopify | WooCommerce | Magento

Best Ecommerce Platform

The global eCommerce business was valued at $13 trillion in 2021 and it will reach $55 trillion by 2027. The Covid-19 pandemic has further helped this industry grow both in scale and volume. As an eCommerce marketing agency, we have been at the forefront of this industry for the last decade and have seen it grow at a phenomenal rate.

There are more than two billion digital consumers in the world. Ecommerce is thus a lucrative and competitive territory. If you are planning to enter this race, the choice of an eCommerce platform is vital. Setting up an online business today is easier thanks to these platforms.

They make it easy to design stores, manage inventory, add features, and have less downtime.  These eCommerce platforms are also high on security.

eCommerce Platforms

Best Ecommerce Platforms

The choice of an eCommerce platform isn’t the easiest of tasks as each platform brings its own set of advantages along with a few downsides. As an agency offering eCommerce digital marketing services, we come across this question – which is the best eCommerce platform?

Though there are more than a dozen platforms with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento being the Big Three. They have close to 50% of the market share. Let us take you through an in-depth comparison of these three platforms to help you make the right choice.

Overview of WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the big daddy in the eCommerce market and the most widely used eCommerce platform. It is an e-commerce plugin for WordPress and powers more than five million online stores globally.

Being open-source and free, it is ideal for small businesses in the niche eCommerce industry. You can even sell products from your WordPress blog without having a dedicated eCommerce store.

It is an ideal choice for wireframe online stores with the possibility of upgrading base functionality with extensions. If you have used WordPress to create your blog or website, creating a store using WooCommerce is easy.

However, one does need basic knowledge of HTML and CSS to customize features on the store. Being open source and free, WooCommerce suffers from a lack of dedicated support, and store owners need to rely on the large community to resolve their queries.
Pricing – Free (Domain and Hosting costs not included)
Pros

  1. Similarity to WordPress
  2. Feature-rich for large-scale online businesses
  3. Access to free and premium WooCommerce themes
  4. Flexible customization options

Cons

  1. It requires coding knowledge
  2. Lack of dedicated support being open source
  3. Add-on plugins are expensive
  4. Lack of integration option for 3rd party plugins

Overview of Shopify

The second most popular eCommerce platform, Shopify launched in 2004 has outpaced the competition in recent years and is expected to become the market leader in the future. Its ease of use makes it stand ahead of the rest. The go-to platform for new eCommerce businesses, Shopify lets you build your store in less than an hour.

Shopify offers easy integration to Google Analytics and hosts or other third-party apps that let you let you add features and functionalities to the store. The platform has been designed keeping in mind the needs of small businesses.

It requires no coding skills and offers you a wide selection of customizable themes. For all its features Shopify has a major limitation where you have to part with a commission on every sale.
Pricing – Starts at $29 per month for Basic Shopify Plan
Pros

  1. Easy learning curve
  2. Integration with social network
  3. Easy to set up a store
  4. Large plugin library
  5. 24/7 dedicated support

Cons

  1. Transaction fee for every sale
  2. Lack of SEO-friendly URL

Overview of Magento

Magento which has been rechristened as Adobe Commerce has been around since 2008. Once the leading eCommerce platform it has lost considerable market share to Shopify over the years. Magento is used by more than seven hundred thousand online stores which include the likes of Ford, Coca-Cola, Olympus, P&G, JLR, HP, and 20th Century Fox.

It is an all-encompassing platform that has lots of built-in functions that include currency convertors, and coupon modules. It is expensive compared to other platforms which explains its loss of market share in recent years. Though store owners can opt for the free version of Magento Open Source, it doesn’t come with the features and functionality that Magento Commerce and Magento Commerce Cloud offer.

Magento lets store owners build multiple online stores and manage them from a single dashboard. This is one of the biggest advantages of this platform and beneficial for eCommerce businesses that run multiple stores across different niches.
Pricing – Starts at $22,000 per year for Magento Commerce
Pros

  1. Multiple built-in features
  2. Large developer community
  3. Thousands of extensions on Magento Connect
  4. No coding skills required
  5. Wide selection of themes

Cons

  1. High price tag which is out of bounds for small businesses
  2. It’s complicated and time-consuming setting up stores
  3. No support for Magento Open-Source customers

Final Verdict

We have already discussed all three platforms and talked about their pros and cons. Do we have a clear winner among these three? Each of these platforms targets different sets of customers. You should evaluate your needs with an eye on your future before choosing either of these platforms for your online store.

If you are looking for a platform that promises ease of use and lets you build a scalable eCommerce store, have no second thoughts about going for Shopify. WooCommerce has its complications, but the platform doesn’t cost you a dime (you need to pay for the domain and hosting) and hence it is ideal for those businesses that wish to test the eCommerce water without spending the big buck.

Adobe Magento comes with bells and whistles. If money is not an obstacle and you need a loaded eCommerce platform, Magento is your best bet.

If you need eCommerce development or eCommerce digital marketing services, we at SoftTrix Tech Solutions can help. We are a leading eCommerce marketing agency and cater to all kinds of development and marketing needs. Book a free consultation by writing to us at marketing@softtrix.com and we shall take it forward.

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