Business owners looking to open an online store often ask me which ecommerce platform I would recommend.
I’ve touched on this topic in a previous post, but I’d like to dive a little deeper here.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The right solution for you depends on your needs, skills, and patience.
That’s why I’ll give you three different ecommerce platforms that I’ve had positive experiences with.
Shopify: The plug & play solution
Shopify is a hosted platform that doesn’t require any programming experience, making it a popular choice for startups and small businesses.
It’s an all-in-one package that makes it easy to get started.
The platform offers various designs for your webshop, and you’ll automatically receive a domain name, hosting, and an SSL certificate. Shopify supports most payment gateways and has shipping agreements with companies like UPS and FedEx.
You can choose between three subscription plans for a fixed monthly price: Basic ($29), Shopify ($79), and Advanced ($299).
A bonus with Shopify is its built-in multi-channel integration, allowing you to promote and sell your products across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and eBay.
When choosing a plug & play solution like Shopify, be aware that you can only make changes and add features that the platform allows. This means you’re limited to their designs and specific plugins.
However, if you’re looking for a webshop that’s easy to set up and manage, Shopify can take you far.
WooCommerce: The user-friendly solution with endless possibilities
WooCommerce is an open-source plugin developed for WordPress. This means your website must be built in WordPress before you can turn it into an online store.
It requires coding knowledge — or hiring someone who can code.
In return, you get full control over your webshop.
With countless plugins available, you can build your webshop exactly how you want. The ability to create tailored solutions for customers can be a significant advantage for businesses with a large inventory or complex products.
WooCommerce is free to install, but additional features come at a cost. It’s often a more affordable solution than hosted platforms because you only pay for what you need.
There are even templates and standard solutions available if you want to get started quickly.
Personally, I would also recommend Kinsta as server hosting for a WordPress solution. It works smoothly and is fantastic for backups.
Magento (2): The advanced solution
Magento, along with its successor Magento 2, is an open-source ecommerce platform like WooCommerce. However, Magento is not a plugin but a standalone software.
It comes in both free and premium versions.
It’s an advanced and flexible solution with virtually no limits on what you can do with your webshop.
However, it’s a challenging platform to jump into if you’re a beginner. Without a developer on hand, it’s practically impossible to set up a webshop with Magento.
This makes it the ideal solution for larger, resource-heavy companies that need a more advanced webshop.
All 3 of them comes with pretty solid SEO structure, however the category setup can be a bit tricky on Magento in terms of SEO and duplicate content.
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