There are many reasons why you might need an eCommerce platform for your business. Perhaps you want to allow your customers to purchase high-ticket items online, or you want to build a community around your products and serve your audience with rich content. No matter your reasons, choosing a suitable eCommerce platform is critical to your business’ overall success.

At this point, you might be wondering how to choose the best eCommerce platform for your business. Where should you start your research? What should you keep in mind? How can you tell what’s important to you and what isn’t?

Features

As a business owner, it’s important to work with a vendor that offers a feature set that’s sufficient for your needs. To that end, it’s important to look for a platform that offers the basics, such as product management, customer support, and inventory management. Additionally, you want to work with a vendor that offers a robust API.

From a functionality standpoint, you want to choose a platform that offers all the necessary features you need to successfully run your business. To give you an idea of what the feature set looks like, here’s a list of some of the more popular eCommerce platforms and what they offer:

• Shopify ((Shopify)): This is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms among entrepreneurs and companies just like yours. It has an impressive feature set that includes all the necessary tools you need to manage your inventory, take orders, and ship products to your customers. What’s more is that the platform offers an abundance of features that allow you to fully customize the appearance of your store. For example, you can change the colors, add a logo, and add widgets to attract customers to click on your store.
• WooCommerce ((WooCommerce)): This is another popular eCommerce platform that lets you build your store quickly and easily – no coding needed! As a business owner, you’ll appreciate the fact that WooCommerce makes it easy to set up and run your online store. The best part? The service is free!
• Magento ((Magento)): Like WooCommerce, Magento is another free eCommerce platform that lets you build your store in no time. What’s great about Magento is that it’s extremely extendable. That is, you can use the platform not only to create an online store but also to customize the appearance of your storefront. Plus, with Magento, you don’t necessarily need a developer to help you build your store. You can always find community-based support via social media channels such as Twitter or Facebook.
• OpenCart ((OpenCart)): This free eCommerce platform is fairly popular among the smaller community of boutique owners that sell one or two items online. What makes OpenCart’s feature set unique is that it was designed with the goal of being user-friendly. To that end, it was built with a drag-and-drop layout tool that allows you to easily add products and categories, as well as change the overall design of your site without needing an experienced developer.

All of these platforms are free to use, and you have virtually unlimited opportunities to customize the appearance of your store. The key is to find a platform that offers a feature set that’s sufficient for your needs. With all the different features that these platforms offer, it’s important to do your research and figure out what’s important to you before making a choice. Then, you can be sure that you’re choosing a platform that’s right for your business.

Cost

One of the primary factors that you need to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform is cost. As a business owner, you don’t necessarily want to spend a fortune on something that you might not need. So, it’s important to do your research before making a decision. Specifically, you want to look for a platform that offers a free plan, as well as a premium plan that has limited features but is affordable.

Before making a decision, it’s also important to consider the amount of experience you have in terms of building websites and managing online stores. If you’re a complete beginner, then you might want to consider an eCommerce platform that offers a free basic plan or a discounted premium plan. Alternatively, if you have a significant amount of experience, then you might want to consider an eCommerce platform that offers a premium plan with all the features you need. It’s all about having the right blend of features and cost that’s suitable for your business.

Security

Another important thing to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform is security. For any business owner, the fear of losing revenue due to theft or hackers is a constant worry. To put it plainly, if you’re not comfortable sharing your credit card details online, then it’s probably best to look for an alternative. That said, it’s important to remember that not all secure platforms are created equal, and some are more secure than others. In that regard, it’s important to do your research and choose a platform that is secure enough to support your business needs. Furthermore, it’s essential to do your research and find a platform that is reputable and has a good reputation among other businesses in your niche. In general, it’s a good idea to look for a platform that has an SSL certificate and the PCI security standard for complete shopping security.

In summary, when choosing an eCommerce platform, it’s important to keep your needs in mind. Then, you can be sure that you’re selecting a platform that’s suitable for your business.