Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups [Out of 25 Tested]
13 min. read
Updated on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial team Read more
Key notes
- Regardless of the type your business you run, you need a good and useful website if you want to be successful in today's world.
- Even if you run physical commercial shops or other types of businesses, online stores can help you increase sales and extend to a larger customer pool without having to physically rent a store location.
- In this article, we gathered the best eCommerce platforms that can help new businesses build a solid and completely equipped website.
- The tools below include both free and premium-level solutions that, among other features, include website building support, payment and shipping options, and product listing options.
E-commerce, which is a shortened tag for electronic commerce, has taken over the global market, as virtually all types of products and services are advertised/marketed and purchased online.
Recent developments have further strengthened this position, as every key aspect of eCommerce, including marketing, purchasing, payments, and even delivery, all have been automated.
With the advent of online stores, anyone from anywhere can purchase anything from any location. This has bridged the distance between countries, and the Internet now serves as the ultimate hub for the global market.
However, prominent eCommerce service providers often find themselves overwhelmed by the number of orders, sales, and payments they have to process on a daily basis.
Hence, to manage this situation and maintain efficiency, automation becomes essential.
This article brings you 7 of the best-automated eCommerce software on the market.
How can an eCommerce platform help grow your business?
eCommerce platforms are helpful regardless of how much experience you have in the business game, but they are especially useful for emerging businesses.
Even if you have a solid knowledge base and skill set in place, these tools come in handy because they integrate pretty much everything you need in just one place.
First and foremost, these tools let you easily create your online shop and build your brand. They offer visual website builders and offer highly customizable pre-made themes to help you start out.
Most of them offer business-specific suggestions, so if you plan to sell shoes, chances are that you will get at least a few ideas on how to get started with your online shoe store. Starting from there, you can personalize and integrate your unique selling points.
They also offer support for one of the most time-consuming and hard to get around aspects of business, namely finances.
You can get specialized help on taxes and full support for secure online payments.
Additionally, it is important to note that these platforms also offer automatically generated reports so you can see how your business is going.
This helps a lot in the long run as it lets you know which implementations work well and where exactly you need improvement.
Make sure to read the suggestions below to see more details on what you can get from an eCommerce platform.
What should you take into consideration when looking for an eCommerce platform?
- Ease of use: being intuitive and time-efficient is a key requirement when building your web store
- Compliance: professional support to ensure users follow the financial regulatins of the commercial area they operate in
- User experience: fast and secure checkout, multiple payment options, customer support solutions
- Support for your type of business: many platforms offer ready-made solutions for clothing stores, web applications, and other types of products/businesses
- Currency compatibility: supports payments for all commercial areas you are interested in
- Extensive library of themes and customization features: to ensure you can create your online shop exactly as you envisioned
- Price: see which ones include the features you need at plans that are reasonable for your budget
What are the top-rated eCommerce platforms?
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a popular eCommerce solution, which is known for its ability to convert WordPress sites into durable online stores.
It is basically a WordPress plugin that can be used to design an eCommerce website or online shopping hub from scratch.
Key features of WooCommerce include pre-installed payment gateways, WordPress integrations, auto-taxes, cart behavior, free shipping, inventory/store manager, default currency setting, cart calculator, reports, flexible shipping, tax calculator, SEO, 24/7 customer support, unlimited extensions, and more.
WooCommerce is available for free, albeit with restricted access and limited features. To unlock the full features, subscribers are required to upgrade to a paid plan and pay add-ons on certain extensions.
WooCommerce offers a mobile app that lets you access helpful insights and manage your business on the go. You get to see real-time statistics, orders status and also add new products.
The tool has multiple extensions and integrations that can also help you grow and promote your business.
You can integrate third-party tools such as Mailchimp or Mailpoet that can help you grow your traffic and increase purchase rates.
It also supports Google Ads and Listings but also offers its own advertisement and branding solutions through product recommendations and product add-ons such as gift wrapping, special messages, and other similar options.
WooCommerce is very versatile and offers support not only for online shops but also for hospitality services. It offers the tool necessary to create appointments and make reservations.
The platform also gives full support for shipping. It can connect you with popular shipping companies and provide tracking information for every order.
Other key features of WooCommerce include:
- Open source, fully customizable
- Over 400 official extensions
- Resourceful guides and tutorials
- Support for multiple languages and currencies
There is also a 30-day refund policy for subscriptions canceled within a period of one month (after payment).
WooCommerce
Integrate this plugin to your WordPress website and start managing any type of business from start to finish.Squarespace
Up next we have a resourceful platform that provides multiple website hosting options, an intuitive and modern website builder, and support for payments, taxes, and promotion.
Squarespace offers time-efficient solutions that let users create professional-looking websites in a very short time.
It has one of the most intuitive builders out there, with tons of inspiring templates that don’t need much adjustment. However, if you already built your website, you can easily migrate it in just a few quick steps.
It offers pre-built layouts for various types of websites including eCommerce. It has various useful extensions that let you closely manage your business.
For instance, the inventory and product extensions let you manage your inventory SKUs, stock level and add or remove products from your website.
Squarespace also gives insightful analytics so you can see in real-time how your business is progressing.
Users get sales by product analytics, purchase funnel, abandoned cart statistics, total spend information about customers, average order value, and more.
Squarespace does not only provide the tools necessary to host and create your eCommerce website, but it also offers support for marketing and promotion
It offers exclusive access to third-party tools so you can determine your customer base and target your advertisements or promotional campaigns toward them.
Regardless of what you plan on selling, know that this platform can take care of the whole process, from start to finish.
Squarespace can also help with shipping, returns, and package tracking, so you and your customers are fully informed about the orders.
Other key features of Squarespace include:
- Automatic image scaling
- Free custom domain
- Multimedia blocks for audio and video content
- SEO features
- Productivity features for you or a whole team
- Custom payment settings
Squarespace is a subscription-based service with multiple plans available. Each plan has the option to charge monthly or annually.
Squarespace
Build and manage your business with modern and intuitive tools that help you grow and assess your business at any level.Wix eCommerce
Wix eCommerce is another great option for those that want to use an intuitive and visual website builder.
The platform offers over 500 free store templates. You can use them as they are or as a basis to create your own, specifically branded online shop.
On the topic of branding, it is also important to note that Wix offers handy tools such as a Logo Maker, a Business Name Generator, and of course, your custom domain name.
The platform supports the listing of up to 50, 000 products, which is plenty, especially if you are just starting out.
It offers several features that help you manage your products, including inventory management tools, supplier support, and more.
The tool also lets you define your own shipping rules and automates taxes for every purchase.
When it comes to payments, you can use the integrated Wix Payments solution, but you can also pick a third-party method from payment providers such as PayPal.
You can track and view reports on each payment. It offers easy solutions for refunds and gives insightful information about all transactions.
When it comes to shipping, Wix allows you to track the whole process, starting from the purchase. They offer support for shipping, and suppliers, and also let you and your customer track the location of the order once it has been shipped.
Similar to Squarespace, this tool also offers some marketing tools that can help you grow and boost sales. It offers easy solutions that let you create promotional content in just a few minutes.
Along with that, it works with proven SEO patterns and automatically applies them to your website.
Other key features of Wix eCommerce include:
- Multilingual and multi-currency support
- Support for multi-channel sales
- Store subscriptions
- Templates for multiple types of stores (fashion, interior design, makeup, etc)
Wix is also subscription-based with three plans available. If you are not satisfied with the service, you can get a refund in the first 14 days of your subscription.
Wix eCommerce
Create and host beautiful and fully functional online stores with this intuitive web app.BigCommerce
BigCommerce is, without a doubt, one of the most popular eCommerce service providers in the world. And it doubles as one of the best-automated eCommerce software.
In short, BigCommercer provides all the necessary tools that your online shop would need in order to drive more traffic, convert customers into sales, and manage the store.
Some of the key features of BigCommerce include site builder, marketing tools, product pages, process orders, optimization for mobile, social media tools & more.
Interestingly, most of the above-outlined features are streamlined and aptly automated, providing you with a seamless flow of transactions, from orders to purchases to payments.
BigCommerce puts forward a straightforward inventory management solution that can be integrated between online and offline channels.
It offers 65 payment integrations for various third-party payment services. BigCommerce doesn’t charge transaction fees and doesn’t place any payment penalty.
BigCommerce strives to provide optimized solutions for the whole purchase experience, so your customers will get the best service possible. It offers simple single-page checkout with secure SSL and mobile support.
It also offers search engine optimization tools such as search-friendly teams, customizable URLs, title tags, and more.
Other key features of BigCommerce include:
- Supports on-site blog
- Integrates Google Shopping
- Personalized audits
- Channel integrations for social media
BigCommerce offers an initial 15-day free trial to new subscribers, after which they can subscribe to one of the available paid plans: Standard, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise.
BigCommerce
With BigCommerce you have online store set-up, marketing, purchase, and payment facilitation, all automated!Mobirise
Mobirise is a renowned site-building software, whose functions can be modified to design an eCommerce/online shopping site for your products/services.
It hosts a user-friendly interface that uses a simple “drag & drop” feature to create websites, without any form of coding.
As such, you can easily adapt this software to create an eCommerce site. However, this automated eCommerce software is compatible with Windows desktop devices, and cannot be used on mobile platforms.
Basically, Mobirise is a mobile-friendly desktop app that can help you build a promotional, marketing, or shopping site, where you can promote, market, and sell your products.
This is done by adding designated “Buy Now” (online purchase) links and “Add to cart” (product order) links to your website. With this, orders and purchases are automatically processed as appropriate.
Also, there are designated eCommerce website building features like “CommerceM4” and “Paypal Cart”. The PayPal Cart facilitates receipts on purchased products via PayPal. These features make Mobirise ideal for designing eCommerce websites or online stores.
Some of the basic features of Mobirise include Unlimited web blocks, eCommerce links, Templates (Bootstrap builder), Code editor, Paypal Cart, Contact forms, Social Buttons, Content slider, Video background, and more.
Other key features of Mobirise include:
- Integrates promotional features
- Compatible with Mac and Windows
- All websites are automatically built to also be mobile friendly
Mobirise’s pricing plans are product-specific i.e. each product/feature has its specific pricing plan.
Mobirise
User-friendly website builder software for your online shop, with all the essential optimization tools.WebSite X5
WebSite X5, just like Mobirise, is a website/online store builder that allows business owners (especially those with no coding skill) to create online shopping stores, where they can advertise and sell their products.
It is equipped with hundreds of templates, to create websites that best suit your desires, or you can do away with the templates and create a site from scratch.
In addition, this automated eCommerce software hosts tons of features, which are all essential for creating websites. However, only a handful of these features are specific to eCommerce website designing/building.
The eCommerce features are what qualify WebSite X5 as an automated eCommerce software.
WebSite X5 e-commerce-related features include Automatic order processing, Amazon Pay, Customer registration, Discount management, Payment gateways (PayPal, credit cards, etc.), Advertising messages, Customer accounts, and more.
These features not only enable you to create an e-commerce site but also automate the “purchase” and “payment” processes.
Other features of this automated e-commerce software include templates, a DPR-compliant security system, customer accounts, contact forms, a graphic editor, multilingual support, a control panel, mobile apps (Android and iOS), and more.
Other key features of WebSite X5 include:
- Google AMP posts
- SEO and website analytics
- Personalized mailbox
WebSite X5 is available in three editions – WebSite X5 Start, WebSite X5 Evolution, and Website X5 Professional.
Website X5
Accessible and affordable website builder for beginners, professionals and successful businesses.Shopify
Shopify is one of the most prominent automated eCommerce software in the market. In fact, it is rated as the best eCommerce solution by many websites.
With over 500,000 users across the globe, it has one of the largest client bases in the industry.
Besides that, Shopify basically serves as an eCommerce website builder and a shopping cart software, which provides users with a near-perfect online shopping experience.
Everything is automated, ranging from placing orders to making/receiving payments.
Key features of Shopify include: Website builder, Online store, Multiple payment gateways, Custom branding, Templates, Sales Channels, Customer profiles/accounts, In-depth analytics & reports, Round-the-clock customer support, Shopping cart, Manual order creation, and Abandoned cart recovery.
Shopify offers a fulfilling user experience allowing them to create profiles and accounts, set preferences, and more. Plus, you can make your shop easily accessible from anywhere, as the platform offers full mobile support.
Other notable features of Shopify include:
- Multilingual support
- Personalized domain name,
- Dropshipping support
- Search engine optimization (SEO),
Shopify automated eCommerce software offers four major subscription plans to its users. There is an initial 14-day free trial before a full subscription.
The advent of automated eCommerce software has greatly improved business conduct within the global cyber-space. Online store owners now spend less time, less effort, and less money to process purchases, payments, and product/service deliveries.
While there are many automated eCommerce software in the market, we have listed six of the best for you, to better inform your decisions on which one to adopt for your online stores.
Surely, other tools are necessary for your business, so find more of them in the Business Hub.
In the Optimization Hub, you’ll find tools to tune up your online website for greater loading speeds.
