With more than 48% of the world population using the internet and billions of devices linked to the internet, selling online has a huge potential for business growth & profitability. That said, building an ecommerce store is nothing less than a challenge for entrepreneurs as well as business owners since selecting the right technology and solution can be a mind-boggling task.
TechoSquare - the leading ecommerce development firm of India - brings 10 technologies and solutions that are widely popular for building ecommerce stores by businesses across the globe. Let’s learn about all of them along with their benefits and limitations.
BigCommerce is a SaaS solution popular for building ecommerce stores. The platform has a user-friendly interface and a vast number of features including diverse design templates, enhanced SEO, built-in blogging, and 24X7 customer support. A no-frills online store can be launched on BigCommerce at less than $35 per month but there is very little that can be accomplished from it in terms of uniqueness.
Ecommerce store development solutions like BigCommerce are perfect for those who are running on a very small budget and don’t mind going live with limited firepower.
When it comes to a practical, open-source solution to CMS, OpenCart is undoubtedly the best technology used for eCommerce websites. Endorsed by experienced developers for e-commerce, OpenCart brings a huge library of themes, extensions, and capabilities. This technology cannot be used by laymen to launch an online shop; it can only be utilized by a proficient developer.
OpenCart is a powerful platform for building e-commerce stores but it has its share of challenges & limitations as an open-source solution.
Shopify is another SaaS-based ecommerce solution that’s popular for launching small online stores. Anyone with a basic understanding of software and the internet can easily build a store on Shopify since it’s quite intuitive. The solution brings all the major capabilities promised by popular turnkey solutions namely unending theme options, customization, SEO capabilities, and more.
Shopify’s smallest monthly package will get you started at less than $35 but it’s not something that entrepreneurs recommend if you want to play big, and aspire to launch an ecommerce brand that could cater tens of thousands of daily shoppers.
For entrepreneurs who want to add ecommerce capabilities to their Wordpress website, Woocommerce is the best option out there. The ecommerce platform built on Wordpress is free in itself but you will have to pay for themes, plugins, hosting, and developer tweaks. Studies have found that nearly 30 percent of Wordpress audience relies on WooCommerce plugin not only to sell their products but also to get them shipped as well as receive payments.
People who have used WooCommerce find it easy to use but it does have a major drawback; installing too many plugins and extensions tend to slow the website and its overall performance.
Want to know how much a powerful online store costs in 2020? Check out our cost guide for ecommerce website development
Since turkey platforms are a big hit amongst small store owners and entrepreneurs, here’s another solution that can get you started asap. Volusion is an easy-to-use SaaS platform that’s almost similar to Shopify & BigCommerce. It lacks the add-ons and blog features that Shopify comes integrated with but it scores with its versatile set of custom features that others don’t have.
In terms of pricing, Volusion charges almost similar to BigCommerce and Shopify. It also sells support packages like Design Audit and Basic SEO Audit that helps store owners improve business.
Learn how we guaranteed ecommerce success through custom development application development case study
OsCommerce is another popular open-source shopping cart software used for building e-commerce stores. It is one of the first open-source systems with a big support database and an active forum. Despite having a slightly outdated interface, OsCommerce provides a sturdy set of features and capabilities to build an online shop.
Channeling OsCommerce’s self-hosted capabilities for your ecommerce venture will require help from developers. Meaning, it is not a plug-and-play solution to build an online store.
Want to know how much building a sturdy online store costs? Get in Touch
Over the last decade, Magento has emerged as a reliable e-commerce platform for B2B & B2C businesses. It’s a powerful SEO friendly platform with multiple features that can be readily customized as per your needs. Magento supports integration with third-party products & services which also makes it quite popular among ecommerce entrepreneurs.
Built on PHP, Magento is widely favored by businesses that are looking for a scalable ecommerce solution to support their digital goals.
If nothing matters to you more than ease of use and aesthetics, then, Squarespace is for you. The SaaS product gives webmasters complete control over design, optimization, catalog, marketing, shipping, and much more. Squarespace also inculcates all the essential tools to create a universal e-commerce store.
Like other SaaS solutions, SquareSpace becomes yours at a monthly subscription fee which grows as your requirements grow. And just like other SaaS solutions, SquareSpace is also not recommended for big ecommerce stores.
Own a small business and want to sell online by adding a shopping cart to your current website? SimpleCart is a cost-effective option to do that. It is a simple JavaScript shopping cart that requires HTML knowhow to integrate on your own. Though not very popular, it brings decent capabilities without much headache.
The major area where SimpleCart fails is management. It cannot handle product or order management, which is an essential feature for eCommerce websites.
Do ask these important questions before you hire an eCommerce web developer for your website.
If you have been working with websites for some time now, then, you must be familiar with Drupal. The content management system built on PHP is pretty popular and widely deployed. Drupal Commerce simply uses the popular framework and gives it ecommerce capabilities.
Even though Drupal Commerce packs a lot of firepower, it is hard to build on it unless you have technical expertise. Or you will need to engage an experienced team of ecommerce developers.
Above e-commerce technologies and store builders are the most popular and widely recommended in the market currently. Now, let’s have a look at the ecommerce website development trends that are going to dominate the future.
With tens of thousands of online stores active online, it is hard to make an impact without unique features, aesthetics, and capabilities. Therefore, SaaS based solutions are not going to cut it. Therefore, entrepreneurs and brands need custom-built ecommerce platforms to make an impact. Custom development also guarantees scalability & security, making it the favorite choice of visionary entrepreneurs.
The concept of e-commerce focuses on reducing the dependence on hardware devices to make online transactions. By integrating voice commerce technology, online stores greatly simplify the shopping process and generate greater profits. While big online stores have already started voice commerce, it still has to become mainstream.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology is quite useful in understanding customer behavior and personalizing the whole experience. The use of AI in ecommerce is still limited but in the coming years, it is going to play a big role in improving sales and profits.
Chatbots provide visitors with spontaneous feedback & support during their journey. Hence, incorporating this powerful technology can work wonders for your ecommerce website. Rather than building a chatbot from scratch, explore plug-and-play chatbot solutions to save investment.
Even though offline commerce dominates the majority of the business done across the globe, e-commerce is going to turn the table in the next decade big time. Whether you go for a SaaS solution or build your ecommerce platform from scratch, make sure you think at least 2 years ahead. Anything less than that means a strategic mistake.
Planning to launch an ecommerce store and not sure what works best for your goals? Consult top ecommerce store experts for free to get all the answers. Email at info@techosquare.com to schedule a consultation session.
