Ecommerce is regarded as electronic commerce or internet commerce, which refers to the purchase and selling of goods or services on the internet in return for money and data to perform those transactions. E-commerce is the selling of tangible and intangible items online, where commercial marketing is executed through online platforms. Ecommerce can take on several ways involving various transactional relationships between businesses and customers as different items are being exchanged.
The history of Ecommerce started with the first-ever online sale on 11 August 1994, when a man sold a CD by the band Sting to his friend from his website called NetMarket. Since then, Ecommerce has grown to make it easier for online retailers and marketplaces to find and buy goods. Freelancers, Start-ups and large corporations have all benefited from Ecommerce, which gave them the capability to sell their goods and services to a degree not feasible for conventional offline retail.
Ecommerce can take on several forms involving various transactional relationships between businesses and customers and different items being exchanged. A software developer would have had to pay substantial cash to come up with a personalized website for you in the past. Technology has changed, however, and now you can create Ecommerce websites easily, using an Ecommerce platform, almost like a kit set fashion. These are built on an existing content management system called CMS, such as WordPress. In other cases, developers have built stand-alone Ecommerce platforms that in themselves are essentially CMSs.
Multiple Ecommerce platforms have been created throughout the years. But when it comes to the best ecommerce platform you have to have proper research done before choosing one. As 2020 is coming to an end, the number of platforms has increased, and because of that, you might get confused. But we have done the work and have prepared a top 10 best ecommerce platform 2024 list for you. The list will contain free ecommerce platforms and paid one too. So, without further ado the plan is described below:
1. Shopify
Shopify is a way to deploy an e-commerce back-end quickly and efficiently for companies who otherwise would not have had the ability to do it. It is one of the best e-commerce platforms out there for you. It consists of a built-in CMS to manage your content, themes to design and decorate your website and blog as you go. Ease of use is Shopify’s most standout feature. Small businesses can set up an amazing, capable, and most importantly a user-friendly store, and large businesses can benefit from the additional features which they can get from the Shopify plus feature, making it a great choice for those seeking a robust solution backed by a Shopify plus ecommerce agency.
Shopify Lite is for those with an established website and regular Shopify, which merely requires a way to take payments. Shopify Plus is so significant for businesses that they can easily spend $2,000 on their Ecommerce site every month.
Shopify POS is an iOS and Android smartphone application that you can use in a physical store or pop-up environment to make purchases. Find goods, process orders, take payments, swipe credit cards, generate receipts from your iPad or mobile device, and monitor them all. Do a bit of research for more answers but trust me, this Ecommerce platform will not let you down. You can say this might be one of the best free ecommerce platforms 2020 has seen among so many.
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2. Magento
Magento is yet another Ecommerce platform to keep your eyes on. Being open-source, it serves individuals with advanced web development experience, but it is not as suitable as some of the other sites for do-it-yourself website developers. It is commonly used in medium to large Ecommerce areas that can afford an individual or department of the network. So, if you’re a beginner, it might be a bit complex for you. It is one of the best e-commerce platforms if you’re a person with experience.
If you’re looking for more support, you might choose Magento Commerce for setting up your Ecommerce platform. This is a paid plan that targets large corporations and enterprises with personalized pricing. Many businesses turn to a Magento agency for assistance in implementing and managing their Magento-based Ecommerce solutions.
Magento has an extensive interface for the back-end and a comprehensive list of features. Whatever you like, you can extend and personalize. If you’re looking for something more, you might choose Magento Commerce for setting up your Ecommerce platform. This is a paid plan that targets large corporations and enterprises with personalized pricing.
3. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a versatile and secure platform for eCommerce that can help you create a highly sensitive and top-performing online store within your budget. The features, plugins, and free themes make it a very cost-effective and user-friendly eCommerce platform. With WooCommerce, by building an eCommerce website, even a small business can expand its product exposure in front of the audience.
WooCommerce runs on WordPress, one of the most common CMS sites. And by making the right adjustments, WordPress allows you to customize your platform. Themes provided by WooCommerce are available in WordPress free and charged.
When it comes to WooCommerce, it is the most frequently used eCommerce platform for its stability and versatility for all types of companies. WooCommerce has premium add-ons that can be used as the company begins to expand with complete potential. This is one of the best ecommerce platforms with a friendly search engine, marketing, inventory management, powerful and useful analytics, and a stable platform with excellent customer support. The rest is up to you to decide. This is one the biggest and one of the best ecommerce platforms 2020 has seen.
4. BigCommerce
BigCommerce, an Ecommerce site that began life as a content management company, is prominent in both categories. The program that drives some of the internet’s best looking and highest-earning stores is BigCommerce. The pricing is based on the size of the company and the features are worth a try. It has excellent built-in CMS, many payment gateways, lots of advanced features, and many more. Additionally, considering BigCommerce headless can further optimize the platform for enhanced customization and scalability, aligning with modern eCommerce demands.
BigCommerce Basics is the DIY SaaS network suitable for kickstarting your online presence, and BigCommerce Business, which is a more personalized experience for its larger clients. BigCommerce has two distinct “offers.” This analysis covers Basics, which is sold at rates nearly equivalent to Shopify at three service levels. BigCommerce does it a little differently. These are the Standard, $29.95/month, Plus, $79.95/month, and the Pro, $299.95/month. If you’re looking for a free ecommerce platform, well you have to look somewhere else because this is not one of the best free ecommerce platforms. This is not one of the best free ecommerce platforms. best free ecommerce platform for any beginner.
While BigCommerce had small beginnings, it has become a significant player in the Ecommerce sector since then. While it does not have a comprehensive footprint as Shopify or WooCommerce, it is most likely on an equal footing with those two sites due to the value it provides. If you were to ask us to choose one over the rest, we couldn’t do that. Many of them have their pros and cons, and what may be right for your organization may not work for another one.
5. Yo!Kart
Yo!Kart is a standalone multi-vendor eCommerce platform that specializes in building online marketplaces. It is a robust platform that comes with advanced order management, multiple payment options, catalog management, and a simplified content management system. Also, the platform is pre-integrated with popular APIs such as QuickBooks, Stripe Connect, TaxJar, ShipStation, etc.
Yo!Kart is built on a customizable framework that will help your business to stay agile and flexible in the highly competitive eCommerce landscape. The platform enables marketplace owners to deliver a hyper-personalized shopping experience to their customers with its set of features such as impeccable user interface, smart product recommendations, abandoned cart management, etc.
To cater to the mcommerce needs, Yo!Kart provides responsive design, ready mobile apps, and progressive web apps experience. With a one-time fee, you can own the lifetime ownership of the platform and can customize it as per the requirements. To set up an online eCommerce marketplace, Yo!Kart is the best eCommerce platform in 2024.
6. Ecwid
Ecwid is different from all the other platforms out there. What makes it one of the best ecommerce platforms is that you can use it to build a stand-alone Ecommerce platform, and also you can add an online store to your current website. Using Ecwid, you can easily synchronize and sell through your website, social media, markets such as Amazon, and even live in person. Recently, though, Ecwid has added some ability to create a simple “Instant Site” single-page.
Ecwid creates an electronic widget at its foundation, which you put on sites where you want Ecommerce features. Ecwid stands for an Ecommerce widget.
If you are looking for a free ecommerce platform then you can use Ecwid for free if you have a limited number of products. Ecwid provides three pricing options, ranging from $15 to $99 a month for larger items. Ecwid is a platform for Ecommerce that helps you create an online shop. The development of your own online company is a hosted solution. The instrument’s emphasis separates Ecwid from many other rivals, such as Bigcommerce, Shopify, and Volusion. It was planned for those who already owned a website but want an additional feature: an online store.
7. FastSpring
FastSpring is an entirely featured Ecommerce platform that primarily caters to digital product sellers and SASS businesses. It was initially developed as an Ecommerce solution in 2005 for the software industry. It is also the leading Ecommerce platform for Apple Mac device publishers. FastSpring provides various built-in payment functions. In particular, it has recurring payments and monthly billing built-in. It is particularly relevant for SASS sites with month-to-month billing. You can set up free or paid trials, provide discounts, set advertising rates, and create subscription services on demand that charge customers use your product. It also caters to embedded, in-app transactions.
FastSpring is designed to control your tech business, whether using a conventional digital shopping cart or need an enterprise-level solution. To raise global sales, FastSpring offers seamless, branded, and localized checkout experiences directly from your website with personalized language, pricing, currency, and preferred payment methods. Unleash your tech company’s full potential with all Ecommerce functionality, including global payments, localization, versatility in pricing, and automated correspondence. Create, integrate, and sustain a world-class shopping experience with the full-service Ecommerce technology from FastSpring while remaining lean and leveraging internal capital.
8. Miva
For enterprise-level SAAS Ecommerce, Miva is an interesting pick. Around 500,000 stores are currently using the app. It markets itself to dealers of B2C, wholesalers of B2B, and producers of DTC. You can handle all your sales with a single platform, irrespective of the type of client to whom you sell. You can easily combine a B2B site’s advanced functionality with the appeal of a B2C store to give any consumer an optimized shopping experience.
You can build your site via template-layer editing. This means that, without ever touching the source code, your team can enhance your website, react to trends, and bring new ideas to life. All the specifications for an Ecommerce platform will be present on your site, including complicated and large SKU-count inventory management and high-volume order processing. For merchandising, inventory, and checkout, native assistance is one of the best ecommerce platforms.
Miva has an in-house team for all its customers to direct you through the design, development, migration, and launch of your site. Safety on your web includes built-in and patch free support for PCI compliance. Payment solutions include MivaPay, a native credit card wallet, plus essential payment gateways.
9. Oracle CX
Oracle CX Commerce is a powerful, flexible, cloud-native SaaS commerce platform, backed by B2C and B2B single-platform models, delivered in the Oracle Cloud. With it, you can create new brand experiences customized to meet the unique demands of your company.
Oracle CX Commerce lets you have excellent shopping experiences for your customers wherever and whenever they connect. It provides unified SaaS solutions that allow you to rapidly innovate, deliver seamless, personalized experiences, and drive cross-channel customer engagement, sales, and loyalty.
If you are a B2B business owner, Oracle CX Commerce offers all of the native B2C Ecommerce functionality that buyers expect, combined with B2B-specific features, to fulfill the unique needs and the companies of your customers. This makes it one of the best ecommerce platforms for the B2B business owners. All admin resources in a single interface are centralized by Oracle CX Commerce to simplify management and integrate operations in an available venue. Developers and business users can use CX Commerce feature numerous “studios” with drag-and-drop UIs that streamline daily tasks making their lives much easier. This is the best ecommerce platform 2024 has instore for the B2B owners.
10. PrestaShop
PrestaShop is a cloud-hosted, open-source Ecommerce website. It currently has more than 300,000 traders using the site. The Symfony system is the foundation of PrestaShop. It contains more than 600 features, and the marketplace provides more than 5,000 modules and themes. Being open-source, users and developers are assured a reliable, scalable, versatile, and sustainable solution for all their Ecommerce projects. This is one of the free ecommerce platforms out there.
PrestaShop Add-ons is the official marketplace for PrestaShop. PrestaShop and its developer community developed, molded them with their own hands. Although PrestaShop’s is free to make your site usable, you will need paid add-ons. Both Ecommerce shops need a payment solution, of course. You can quickly and safely handle all payment forms, using PrestaShop Checkout, developed with PayPal, directly from your back-end interface. So you can say this might be the best free ecommerce platform for you.
11. HCL Commerce
HCL Commerce is a modern platform for commerce, built to grow with your company. A version that integrates with Google Cloud is also provided. It is one of several HCL Technologies’ software products.
It is sufficient for all Ecommerce models, and on one platform, you can easily make B2C and B2B sales. You can create a site with blazingly fast output and the intuitive tools required by your team to speed up time for new items and stores to be promoted. Advanced search features will be included on your platform, delivering highly specific search results that your customers want. HCL Commerce helps you to deploy in minutes on any supported platform. It would be best if you trusted that your business platform could scale up to meet any demand.
Conclusion
It doesn’t matter how many comparison articles you read, only one person knows which platform provides precisely what you need, and you are that person. What it all boils down to is which platform will allow you to market the goods you provide for both you as a store owner and your customers in the best way. We have given you the list of the best ecommerce platforms for 2024. As there are different requirements of users, thus the solution will be different too. We shared the best options that are available and you can decide which one to pick based on your need.
