Guide to Choosing the Ideal Platform to Sell Online
If you have entered the page to read this article, it is because you have all the intention and the desire to start your online store. I must inform you that you have entered the indicated place. You will find out which are the best platforms for electronic commerce in 2020; In addition, you will know all its characteristics, which will allow you to decide better on your project.
In this post, we will focus on the four most popular e-commerce platforms, which were chosen for their recognition within the industry and because they have been implemented with customers of all kinds, from the applicants of technological products to those who request clothing and footwear. Although, you can build your online store on yourself, however, if you are looking to make it completely professional and market it properly, you better seek help from eCommerce solutions to professional services and recommendations.
For the moment, we are going to focus on open-source platforms, and SAAS, because this article wants to demonstrate that both SMALL, MEDIUM AND LARGE COMPANIES have equal opportunities to sell online, obtaining a professional product and offering excellent results.
Top 4: The best platforms for electronic commerce
1. Magento
This open-source platform for e-commerce was launched in 2017 by Roy Rubin and has features that benefit the seller, including Customizable design, flexibility, easy stock management, among others. This resulted in Adobe buying it for 2018 for $ 1.4 billion.
Among the benefits of Magento, are the so-called SEO FRIENDLY, which offers optimal positioning in search engines such as Google or Bing, very important to improve the flow of visitors in your e-commerce. In addition, it has an excellent scalability system, that is, as your store grows, the design is more ambitious. It is very flexible and offers all the functionalities that electronic commerce requires. Magento is perfect for large online stores.
Instead, some of the disadvantages of Magento are: Customization is complex and requires web developers for implementation due to its steep learning curve. It is definitely not for beginners or for those who want to set up a simple tent.
2. Prestashop
This open-source service for electronic commerce offers you the opportunity to set up an incredible online store quickly. Its ease of use makes people want to settle within it, and it includes powerful product management functionality, multiple payment options, and even allows you to register taxes.
As main advantages, Prestashop has A large number of payment processing options, not limiting when making a transaction, the payment experience is personalized and uses web analytics to obtain information about the behavior of your customers. Prestashop works for any size of company and type of business model.
However, the main disadvantage of Prestashop is related to a learning curve to understand the large number of features that the page has, that is, it will take time and work to really know how to get the most out of this coding platform. open for your virtual store, taking into account everything it offers.
3. WooCommerce
Among the open-source alternatives to e-commerce, WooCommerce does an amazing job. With it, it is possible to handle all the basic aspects, from publishing products and services for sale, to processing payments, making this platform fully functional.
Its initial advantage is the use that you can give to the WordPress CMS to launch your online store, allowing its management to be easier. In addition to this, you can customize your business using dedicated WooCommerce themes and extensions. Also, it is possible to get support from the huge community of WordPress users.
However, adding features that make the page look simple can cause your project to be scalable, as ease of use does not guarantee complexity in the design or configuration of your page. Therefore, it is important to purchase several additional extensions to grow your project.
4. Shopify
Among the most popular online stores is Shopify, thanks to its ease of use. Created in 2006 by Tobias Lütke, winner of Canada’s CEO of the Year Award, Scott Lake, and Daniel Weinand, this open-source platform for e-commerce has been talked about due to its exponential growth. Today, the company supplies more than 150,000 online stores.
Among the advantages of Shopify, there is the possibility of choosing a template to later customize your design, the presence of a complete control panel that allows you to add new products, create discount coupons, and have your blog integrated. It is not necessary to have great computer skills to operate this platform.
As the main disadvantage, enters the competitiveness that exists within the platform, being one of the most popular. It is important to have knowledge of natural positioning in search engines (SEO) so that your products and services can stand out within the Shopify universe.
Another detail to consider is that their rates are in dollars, something important to consider if you are looking for a financial projection where you have control of fixed and variable costs due to the constant changes in the dollar, as well as being able to deduct taxes.
If you still have doubts about which of these platforms is the most suitable for your business, make sure to leave your comments below. I would be happier to answer your questions.