Shopify is extremely popular but as others have said it can be expensive and if you decide not to use their own payment processing then Shopify will insist on charging you their own fees on top of the 3rd party gateway fees even though they aren't doing the processing for you (we don't know why they feel they can do this but they do). WooCommerce is probably just as popular and offers more flexibility in terms of being able to host where you want and has plugins for almost everything you could imagine with a huge support community. OpenCart is similar.
Wix is rubbish for everything so ignore that. Wordpress isn't an eCommerce platform. Shopify may be OK but as we know nothing about their business model you won't know if it's the right one.
Anyone tried Squarespace and got an opinion? What about FreeWebStore which offers a free ecommerce store but can pay for a Pro version to upgrade it to own branding/custom domain? Facebook are going to bring their own ecommerce platform that allows you to sell through their facebook app using a new ecommerce "shop" page. They aim to take on Shopify, Amazon Shops and eBay Shops with it (although oddly, Shopify are helping with the development of it.). The shop feature will also be integrated with Instagram and Whatsapp so your Facebook products/stock levels will also automatically synch with Instagram and can be bought directly through that application too, and any customer enquiries (customer support) can be accessed through all three platforms. It could be a good platform as you can directly sell via Facebook and Facebook Ads as an all in one solution while also capturing the Instagram audience and using Whatsapp for additional customer service. That is a much bigger audience across FB/Instagram than eBay has. The downside is that it is rolling out slowly over 2020 and may not be available in the UK for a few weeks.
BigCommerce MultiVendor MarketPlace allows you to make your single admin store into a marketplace where multiple vendors can sell their products from your single and simple online store. It is thus a great way for add on revenues for your single admin store.
ShopWired in the UK is very good, many of my clients use it - but it is not cheap, but you get what you pay for in this world
I dont think the OP ever clarified what she was selling , neither did she clarify what niche. Therefor no one knows 'what the best' platform is. she may have products that contain lots of variants, she maybe selling digital products. As someone who has used (and discarded lots of ecommerce apps) Magento (too cumbersome) Wix (no no no on every level) Shopify - you can get better for less elsewhere. WooCommerce - no again - unless you are selling a few products and want to faff around wioth WP problems all day Prestashop - not a bad call - good with product combinations - as long as there arent lots of variations I only use 2 for any projects these days and that's xcart and ecwid xcart all in php - very stable product and lots of support , xcart also made ecwid. This is a no brainer, cloud based (so security taken care of by the platform) allows for physical and digital sales. Integrates direct into facebook, insta and if you can copy/paste 5 lines of text it will pop up in any website. xcart 5 is going this way to - but isnt free like ecwid as it offers a few extra bells / whistles. For most ecwid will be enough. ps ecwid was developed a long time before shopify (who you could argue tried to nick the idea - but failed IMO)
No way Wix! It is cheap and terrible for an online buisness. I think you mean Woocommerce for online shops instead of Wordpress. Alex
Whichever one you pick, you have to think of the monthly costs (if any) that you have to pay the platform.
|Some costs i.e. Shopify are more than others. The OP hasn't really highlighted what they are looking for out of a platform. That will help gauge which one would be best but I would never ever say Wix should be used! Alex
Shopify is a great platform for small businesses launching online. The advantage of Shopify is that you don't need coding experience, so you can download a theme and customise it yourself. If you are not confident enough to do it yourself, have a look on Fiverr and find a search for Shopify Store Set up to find someone who can help, just check their reviews before you purchase a gig. Yo should be able to find someone who can do it for under £300 to get the store launched. Running an ecomerce is store can be rewarding if you put in the work but make sure you write good content pages, nice photos, product descriptions, set up a blog and post articles 1 or 2 times per month. Also important for SEO is to make sure you do local citations such as setting up a GMB listing (google my business), set up your business name, address, website etc - it's all free to do! (also do Bing Places) Other local citations good for free backlinks are local directories such as Yell, Yelp, Scoot, Thomson Local etc.
I am a massive Wordpress fan and I would always recommend it as a first option but I can't disagree too much with what LiquidShop has just said. Something like Etsy will be a quicker option if you don't have the time to build a stand alone site such as with WordPress. However if you do have the time and you are willing to learn some new skills then having your own store and website would be the best long term solution.
I'm surprised BigCommerce hasn't been mentioned more often. Decided to go with that instead of Shopify due to the transaction fees.
I've been Opencart -> Prestashop -> BigCommerce (currently about to launch) What sealed it for me for BigCommerce was page load time ...as much as I liked Prestashop, BigCommerce is blindingly fast in comparison....the whole 'feel' is one of slickness (mainly because it's so zippy)....I'd have had to have thrown some severe hosting resources to get similar load times going solo with Prestashop IMHO the folks at Shopify are spawn of Satan for their 'dipping hands into your profit' fee structure (outrageous...bearing in mind that they're merely a shopping cart host - not a marketplace like Ebay, Amazon, Etsy etc.) ...BigCommerce is much more agreeable in that aspect
I don't have much experience in creating pages and I created mine with UENI. All you have to do is fill out a form and they will create your website for you for free. In addition, you can sell your products online and they do not charge any commission. I'm really happy with my page.
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