Which e-commerce self builder

[KeepMoving]

Looking to build a webshop but needs to have the following

back in stock notifications
Estimated delivery dates (not just 3-5 days etc)
Discounts for qty product purchase


Would also like but not compulsory

“Last sold” or qty sold
Product reviews
Different languages
Different currencies


would be sub 10,000 products selling worldwide

anyone recommend the best options that I can take a look at?
Thanks

 

[nish]

WooCommerce, Prestashop and Magento are best opensource options.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

I’ve used Wordpress for a charity site and book site and an online shop. You can always find good software like Woocommerce, there support us excellent. I also use a Wordpress host that can do programming so if need tweaks, they can do as I am not a programmer.

Woocommerce will do most of what you say in the basic package plus the shipping tables plugin.

 

[Phil Sproson Photography]

I have been really impressed with ecwid as I needed something that would not fit to the general functionality of one of our existing sites. Works like a dream in that instance. Very modern light interface, integrates with apps such as Shipstation should you need that.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Some good suggestions above, but whatever you choose, make sure it is self hosted and not a web based provider solution.

You have more control and protection if self hosted.

 

[Marbman]

Definitely, as suggested by others, have a self hosted site, my choice would be Wordpress and combine this with a plugin such as woocommerce to provide the shop features you need.

I would also add in the Elementor page builder plugin to giving you more control over the styling of your site.

 

[Karimbo]

if you can do it with a shopping cart CMS, do it. Nothing is worse than using woocommerce with loads of 3rtd party plugins, and then a plugin maker decides to no longer support it and you have to fix the broken bits on your website.

Some good suggestions above, but whatever you choose, make sure it is self hosted and not a web based provider solution.

You have more control and protection if self hosted.

I would be inclined to agree with you a few years ago, when there were really bad options out there for hosted ecoms. Majority of them now allow you to use your own domain. If you have the power to control the domain, then there's no harm in a hosted ecoms.

I forgot what service it was, but one of them would register the domain under their name and if you want to part ways they would hold the domain hostage and ask you for a ridiculous release fee.

For those who dont have the technical know-how shopify is a good choice. It's only $30 a month IIRC.

I've used wordpress for the last 10 years so I am very familiar with it. But if I was completely green and logged into the back end of wp-admin with woocommerce and all the necessary plugins - My head would spin. That says a lot for someone from a technical background.

 

[fisicx]

I would also add in the Elementor page builder plugin to giving you more control over the styling of your site.

I wouldn’t. Elementor is slow and clunky and will kill your performance - which is now a core ranking signal.

 

[Spur Support Services]

If you are self building your site and trading internationally then you really need to be careful to select a software framework which will support VAT coding in multiple jurisdictions (remembering also that each US state is a different tax jurisdiction). This allow you to monitor thresholds as well as ensure that the right tax is paid in the right place.

You also want to consider how much automation you can introduce to the the information flows from site to reporting system. And here I am talking about the financial reporting software, rather than the operational reports mentioned in your post.

I would just say that review apps like Trustpilot can be integrated in certain apps https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/partners/type/apps

There are numerous website choices out there such as Shopify, Square, Wordpress, etc, but in addition it may be worth looking at Expandly and Xero, which deal with data management beyond the sales website

Expandly is very good at pulling all your sales and listings from various selling platforms, monitoring
-Order status (FBA, Awaiting Payment, To be Picked, Picked, Shipped)
- stock and
- VAT rates based on rules embedded in Expandly
and then sending summarised sales information to Xero.

If you already have all your products listed on your current platform, then it is easy to copy that inventory across to another platform, via Expandly

Xero's multicurrency version costs £6 per month more than the standard version, because it costs Xero £6 per month more to access the daily exchange rate data from XE.com. I do have some discounted subscriptions available.

Xero in itself is incredibly flexible, allowing you to maximise the integration and automation of your information flows and also helping accountants like me keep fees down, by further automations available in financial report generation.

 

[Marbman]

I wouldn’t. Elementor is slow and clunky and will kill your performance - which is now a core ranking signal.

I have only experienced the opposite to that fisicx

 

[Karimbo]

Yeah I would like to know why elementor is slow, is the heavy padded out code? Or does it rely on loads of external stylesheets to work?

I remember Microsoft forntpage, if you copied contents of a word document onto frontpage. It would put so much html in there to make it look exactly like the word document. It was pratically undeciperable for the most competant HTML coder.

 

[fisicx]

Elementor loads up external scripts and styles, dumps a whole load of classes on the page and generally bloats out the page. Run a test on your site with Elementor then switch to the 2021 theme and test again.

 

[Marbman]

I believe Elementor cleaned up a lot of this in its last major update.

 

[fisicx]

I believe Elementor cleaned up a lot of this in its last major update.

Have you done any comparison tests?

 

[Marbman]

only on clients sites but admittedly they did not have a ton of pages using Elementor

 

[fisicx]

only on clients sites but admittedly they did not have a ton of pages using Elementor

Elementor by default will affect performance. One of the things Google looks at is the DOM and elementor nests multiple classes which affects web core vitals.

There really isn't any need for a page builder. Most browsing is now done using a phone which means you only need simple layouts - for which blocks are quite adequate.

 

[Marbman]

I find the Gutenberg blocks most cumbersome and boring hence the reason for a more advanced system like Elementor.

 

[fisicx]

I find the Gutenberg blocks most cumbersome and boring hence the reason for a more advanced system like Elementor.

Then you haven’t used them correctly. In any case, this thread is about e-commerce, you don’t need Elementor for e-commerce. There are much better themes. That being said, I wouldn’t be using Wordpress for this project.

 

[Marbman]

You may not want to use Wordpress but it was not you who asked the original question. KeepMoving asked "best options I can take a look at" and I gave my options. Other people in this thread have recommended Wordpress but you have jumped all over me and tried to discredit anything I say, Why? All I have done is give my honest opinion which is what KeepMoving asked for, it might be a different opinion from yours which is fine .

 

[fisicx]

Other people in this thread have recommended Wordpress but you have jumped all over me and tried to discredit anything I say

Only your recommendation to use Elementor.

If you want to use wordpress, use a dedicated woocommerce theme. But looking at the original spec, wordpress is not the right platform for this project. It will work but to include all the functionality they want means adding in a load of extensions which will affect performance.

 

[Marbman]

We could on forever here Fisix but I fear you will always need the last word to hammer home a point. Sadly my comments in this thread will now have to close. Good luck KeepMoving.

 

[fisicx]

We could on forever here Fisix but I fear you will always need the last word to hammer home a point. My comments in this thread our now closed. Good luck KeepMoving.

Indeed. But that's because Elementor is the wrong plugin to use if you are building an ecommerce site on wordpress. I count 11 elementor CSS files on your site. A well built site only need one CSS file. It's what Google has been telling people for a long time. They delayed the implementation of Web Core Vitals because of covid but they are now live. Performance is a key ranking signal.

If @KeepMoving decides to use WordPress there are hundreds of excellent woocommerce themes they can choose from. Elementor is page builder theme that you can use with woo but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to use.

 

[Cdcosta]

I created my page using UENI.

It's super simple. 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.

 

[alanpro]

Prestashop, Bigcommerce and Wordpress, Bigcommerce is easier to use but it's not free.

 

[Patrick Blanc]

The best e-commerce self-builder or a DIY e-commerce platform would be the one that meets your specific business requirements. You should do your research on these platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, etc) thoroughly and make sure you choose the one that fits the bill.


Apart from the general factors like price, features, and reviews, make sure you consider the following as well:

• Ease of setting up the store even without technical know-how.
  
  
• Tweaking the backend as well as the frontend without knowing how to code.
  
  
• Inbuilt marketing and promotion tools to retain customers.
  
  
• Promptness of making the store go live.
  
  
• Mobile apps and overall mobile compatibility and responsiveness of the website.
  
  
• Inbuilt SEO tools for more web traffic and engagement.
  
  
• An intuitive admin dashboard to give you complete control over the store activities.

I’d suggest you get a free trial before you make the final decision. Wish you the very best!


Hope this helps

 

[ORDERED WEB]

Looking to build a webshop but needs to have the following

back in stock notifications
Estimated delivery dates (not just 3-5 days etc)
Discounts for qty product purchase


Would also like but not compulsory

“Last sold” or qty sold
Product reviews
Different languages
Different currencies


would be sub 10,000 products selling worldwide

anyone recommend the best options that I can take a look at?
Thanks

My first thought on this is Magento. It scales well on a decent server.

Feel free to get in touch to have a really good look at the requirements.

How are you managing/organising your product data?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

The best e-commerce self-builder or a DIY e-commerce platform would be the one that meets your specific business requirements

Remove ' best e-commerce self-builder or a DIY e-commerce platform' and replace with accountant, CRM, bank etc and you have the most common response I give to vague questions on other platforms.....