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Choose the right shop platform
04. 
Choose the right shop platform
How to build a modern e-commerce platform - the key questions to start with
04

Choose the right shop platform

The days of manually coding an e-store’s first website in HTML and CSS are long gone. Nowadays you can launch your business without the knowledge of coding languages or having to hire a whole team – it’s possible thanks to e-commerce platforms. Whether you have a small and medium business or look to launch an online version of a larger company, such a platform might be the solution to your needs. 

What is an e-commerce platform and who is it for?

Understanding what is an e-commerce platform is essential. It is an end-to-end software solution that is easily configured and adjusted to the needs of the business. A comprehensive suite of its services ranges from website builders, or accounting, to inventory management and customer service interface. Some other solutions might include SEO optimization, a built-in mobile version, support for multi-language interface, and data consolidation. A typical e-commerce platform will easily integrate with other external software, such as CRMs or CMSes.

Which e-commerce platform is the best for my business?

It depends on your business needs and the way it operates. Dropshipping will require slightly different solutions than homemade decor. The most important factors you should take into account include: budget, target audience, number of products in your e-store, scalability, and customer service.

Let’s review examples of the biggest e-commerce platforms and the features they offer.

  • WooCommerce – based on WordPress (which means a knowledge of this platform is required), offers custom design themes, a large base of plug-ins available, data consolidation showing revenue, customers, products and potential fees
  • Wix Stores – drag-and-drop editor, tool which automatically creates the webstore, SEO-friendly, comprehensive site performance analytics, social and email marketing
  • Shopify – drag-and-drop editor, multiple currencies, PCI compliance and 3D Secure checkouts, shipping management system, advanced analytics. Here you can find out what is headless Shopify, and why you should try it?
  • BigCommerce – intended for larger brands or brick-and-mortar stores that want to switch to online, SEO-friendly, supports blogs, email marketing, multiple payment solutions, order and inventory management system

If you don’t feel like any of the above is for you, you can also explore other e-commerce platforms – there’s an abundance of them in the web, after all. But if you’re missing only a tool or two, it’s worth checking out the integration capabilities of any particular e-commerce platform. Usually, they allow a multitude of plugins and connections with other external tools, i.e. Zapier, Hubspot, Storychief or Google Analytics.

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