Any small business needs an online solution. Thankfully enough, companies born in 2017 are lucky because they have a huge selection to choose from. But then again, it is probably not so fortunate because it can make choosing quite difficult for entrepreneurs. However, if you have an integrated digital marketing strategy with your e-commerce site, then you’ll definitely make the best of things.
Plenty of e-commerce platforms exist today. Shopify is the most recommended e-commerce store by most veteran sellers because of its high SEO scores and cost efficiency. However, other alternatives out there can match Shopify’s excellence. In fact, if you’re already using the platform and find yourself having difficulty, then maybe you should consider the other platforms listed here.
Five E-Commerce Solutions Suitable for Small and Medium Enterprises
Squarespace
Squarespace is a website-building platform that anyone can use because you only have to drag and drop objects. In fact, you can consider it a modernized WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web development and design tool. According to WebsiteBuildExpert, it is even way better than WordPress in terms of functions, features, and customer support.
The website builder is also an excellent e-commerce platform especially for businesses on a shoestring budget. The free site layouts available are already usable and require only minor tweaks to use to their full potential. A subscription to Squarespace also allows unlimited item uploads. The only downside is its search engine optimization (SEO) features are lacking. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools are virtually non-existent, too.
Shopify
Shopify is the third fastest e-commerce site to load all its landing page items. According to SelfStartr, the platform only takes 1.98 seconds to show all items. The site also lists it as the second most-popular e-commerce platform, but has a low score when it comes to features.
However, for a monthly subscription that costs less than a cup of coffee, Shopify still remains an excellent and well-balanced solution. Upon accessing the dashboard, you can quickly add new items and both basic and meta information accompanying them. If you were using another e-commerce platform in the past, then Shopify will help you import all your old items into your new platform. Indeed, the convenience is staggering.
In contrast, Shopify is not for everyone. Some e-commerce shops might need blog and publication pages. Internal link building is almost non-existent. There are also no native corrective and suggestive searches, which other platforms integrate as part of its basic development blocks. Still, the platform is the best when it comes to balancing flexibility, performance, and costs.
Magento
Sometimes, the best solution is something free. Magento is an open-source platform (which means it is free to use) and overtakes Shopify when it comes to website SEO. Most veteran e-commerce shops use Magento because it is flexible and cost-effective. Because of its high adaptability, web designers creating e-commerce shops often use it as a go-to solution.
By default, it is mobile friendly. It has default responsive design. Amateur and non-professional designers can conveniently choose the site’s action for smaller screens. In fact, gridding, gesture controls, and image scaling are just a few features that take just a few clicks to set up.
The only downside to Magento is its being an open-source platform. Plenty of mediocre features are available for free while you might need to pay for premium and truly useful community-created content. However, if you have an excellent app developer with you, then creating custom features just for your website is truly easy.
Drupal
Drupal is another open source CMS suitable for e-commerce use. Because it is free, most small and medium enterprises (SME) choose to use it as their starting shop platform. Indeed, a supportive community has helped proprietors create their online shop quickly. Popular brands such as Fooda and Dickies run their sites on Drupal.
The platform is considered one of the most reliable CMS for e-commerce shops because it is lightweight. Unlike WordPress and Magento, free open-source software is quality-controlled by independent communities. By doing this, even free-to-use features are excellent. Premium paid features are even better and can automate certain sub-routines on a site’s backend.
Bigcommerce
Bigcommerce actually goes on top of Shopify when it comes to page loading speed according to SelfStartr. One can understand the buzz behind e-commerce platform loading speeds if they consider the 7% increased conversion rate with fast-loading sites. However, it is costlier than all the platforms listed here. Users actually pay for two cups of coffee for the basic version and 1.5% for transaction fees.
The payoff is that you get unlimited items and bandwidth for all your content. Unlike open-source platforms, it has over 60 payment gateways. Numerous pay portals work well for dropshipping companies because it opens your store to a broad market.
Bigcommerce has an Abandoned Cart Saver feature. If a user decides to bounce and reconsider the items deposited in their cart, then the feature can store this data on cookies. The data can be used for retargeting advertisements or email follow-ups. This is efficient if you consider that 67.91% of shoppers immediately bounce from e-commerce sites. You can push them further down the sales funnel if you have content to present them. This is where the Abandoned Cart Saver comes in.