In a previous blog we talked about the importance of having an e-commerce or online store for your business and all its benefits, if you haven't checked it out go read it The future of retail: Are you ready to dominate the world of e-commerce?
When choosing the platform on which you are going to develop your e-commerce you must take into account your specific needs and the objectives of your business. Here we will talk about some of the options available, with their distinctive features so that you can make an informed decision.
Selection Criteria
There is a wide variety of platform options to develop your e-commerce, so you probably feel a little confused about which one to choose, here we will tell you which are the points you should take into account to make the best choice.
Define your needs
Before starting your search you should have defined your business objectives and needs.
- Factors to consider
- Size of your business
- Type of product you sell
- Expected sales volume
- Required customization
- Specific features you want
Budget
Have you already thought about how much budget you have allocated to spend on your platform? Keep in mind that some of them are not free and require a monthly payment, so make sure you gather all the information about it.
You will also have to take into account the cost of the platform's hosting and any additional plugins you may need.
Ease of use
You will have to make sure that the platform you choose works well for you because you will have to manage your business online and ideally you should be able to do so without significant technical difficulties.
Design, customization and flexibility
The platform you choose should provide you with design and customization options so that you can adapt it to your brand, which will help you stand out and make a good impression on your customers.
Functions and features
Take into account what each platform offers you, check what payment options you can include, how you can manage your inventory, what marketing tools it is linked to or if there are integrations with social networks. Explore until you find the one that meets all your needs.
Scalability
Does the platform you are interested in have the ability to grow with your business, it is likely that over time you will need more features and greater traffic handling capacity.
Support and technical assistance
Investigate what kind of support or assistance the platform you are interested in offers, is it online, is it telephone assistance, do they have a live chat? It is important for you to know where to go in case you have any problem.
Performance/SEO
Do you know what is the speed of the platform, do you know what are its SEO capabilities? These data are relevant for your platform to have a good performance in search engines and reach more users.
Security
Investigate what measures the platform offers for the security of your customers' data and transactions.
Platforms to create an e-commerce
Currently, there are different platforms that allow you to create your e-commerce website, here we will tell you about some of them
Shopify
It is a platform that offers a wide range of tools and functions to build and manage your online store. It provides you with an intuitive interface so it is easy to build your site, plus you have at your fingertips customizable templates and secure payment options.
What types of businesses is it ideal for?
It is ideal for SMBs looking for an easy-to-use platform at a good price. Its maintenance costs are low and it has excellent self-management capabilities. However, it is not 100% flexible. It is especially suitable for businesses that are just starting out or have limited inventory.
What does it offer you?
- Design and customization: you can choose from a wide variety of templates and themes, as well as adapt typographic styles, images and colors to match your brand identity.
- Product management: allows you to create your product catalog, since the platform allows you to upload images, set prices and track sales.
- Payment processing: it has its own payment processing system called Shopify Payments, but you can also integrate other platforms such as PayPal and Stripe.
- Order and shipping management: you can manage orders, print shipping labels, send automatic notifications to customers and track shipments from your dashboard.
- Support and security: offers 24/7 support and assurance in case you have any problems or questions. It also provides measures to protect your customers' data.
At BluePixel we analyzed the platform and gave it this rating based on these categories:
WooCommerce
Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce is a plug-in that works on the WordPress platform to convert your website to an online store. This way you add e-commerce features (shopping cart, payment processing, inventory management) to your WordPress site.
What types of businesses is it ideal for?
It is ideal for businesses that require functionality with content-centric platforms, so it has excellent SEO performance, but that leads to sacrificing security. It is highly flexible, but requires the installation of several plugins and an internal development team.
The platform itself is free, but you must take into account additional costs, such as web hosting, themes and extensions, which can vary in price.
What does it offer for you?
Integration with WordPress, as it is a plug-in of this platform.
Wide range of extensions: you can choose extensions and add-ons from the online library offered by WooCommerce
- Customization and flexibility: you can tailor your store to your specific needs
- Product management: You can add products, set prices, manage inventory, create product variants and set custom attributes
- Payment processing: you can have PayPal and Stripe payment platforms, but you can also integrate payment providers of your choice.
- Marketing tools: You have tools that allow you to create coupons, flash sales or free shipping to increase your conversions.
- Analytics and tracking: A plus is that it has integrated analysis tools that you can consult to know the performance of your online store.
At BluePixel we analyzed the platform and gave it this rating based on these categories:
Magento
In this case, Magento if an open source platform, which makes it scalable and customizable in case you want to create your online store. You can choose between its different versions:
- Magento Open Source (formerly known as Magento Community Edition).
- Magento Commerce (formerly known as Magento Enterprise Edition), which offers additional features and support in exchange for a subscription.
What types of businesses is it ideal for?
It is ideal for large enterprises or businesses that have great potential for short-term scalability. It is much more robust and flexible than Shopify, but also has high development and maintenance costs.
What does it offer you?
- Advanced catalog management: you can manage a complete product catalog, including features and images.
- Customization and flexibility: offers the option of customization to suit your business needs.
- Ordering and payments: you can configure different payment options, you can even integrate popular payment gateways.
- SEO and Marketing: this platform has features that will help you improve the visibility of your website in search engines, so you can optimize metadata, create SEO friendly URL's, among others.
At BluePixel we analyzed the platform and gave it this rating based on these categories:
BigCommerce
It is a cloud platform that allows the creation of e-commerce platforms. It has integrations with other sales apps and sites such as: Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, social networks, and more. With this you can make sales through different channels.
What types of businesses is it ideal for?
This platform offers different plans so you can pay for the one that best suits your business. It is especially ideal for small and medium businesses. Prices vary according to the features and the volume of sales you need.
What does it offer for you?
- Design and customization: you will have at your disposal a wide range of templates and themes to generate an attractive online store, the customization you can do is complete, that is to say, it includes colors and fonts.
- Product management: just like the other platforms, you can add your products, put their characteristics, prices, etc.
- Payment processing: you can integrate payment options such as: credit cards, Apple Pay, Paypal, etc.
- Marketing and SEO: you can offer your customers discount coupons, loyalty programs or email marketing integrations. In addition, the platform is very SEO friendly, so it will be very good for your appearance in search engines.
- Security and scalability: it includes security standard compliance with PCL and SSL. Likewise, the platform is designed to grow with you and your business.
- Analytics: you can also get reports on your online store, sales, inventory and improve your business strategies.
Squarspace
It is a website creation platform that also offers the option to create e-commerce sites with templates it offers, it is popular for its ease of use, plus it has integrated payment options and basic marketing tools.
What types of businesses is it ideal for?
It is especially recommended for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as freelancers and entrepreneurs. It has different plan options for both websites and online stores.
What does it offer for you?
- Design and customization: This platform is well known for its aesthetic design and the user experience it offers, you can customize colors and typography.
- SEO and analytics: has SEO features already integrated.
- Support: they have 24/7 support service via live chat or email.
These are just a few of the many options available. Before making a decision, it is important to evaluate your needs, budget, level of technical expertise and business objectives. Also consider factors such as cost, integrations with marketing and analytics tools, technical support and scalability.
In BluePixel we develop e-commerce platforms with Shopify and WooCommerce, if you are interested in hiring our services contact us at hello@bluepixel.mx
