Building a website seems like an arduous task to non-techies, and why not? It requires much expertise. Thankfully, we have online store builders that quicken up the job and give the desired competitive edge. When a business realizes that it makes sense to have an online presence, investing in an online store builder is the simplest and quickest method to let the market know why the business exists, what it does, and what solutions it's providing the target market.
Table of contents:
1) WooCommerce
2) Shopify
3) Wix
4) BigCommerce
5) Zyro
6) Conclusion
E-commerce platforms enable businesses to design an entire website without touching a single line of code (in most cases). With all the modern website builders, It is super easy to monitor transactions and freight. Even if you are not a skilled website developer, you can sit back and relax while your website develops with just a few clicks, drags, and drops!
We will take you through some online store builders, their pros, and cons, that you might consider while developing your website.
Here are the top 5 online store builders for small businesses:
1) WooCommerce:
WooCommerce is a free and open-source WordPress e-commerce plugin. It is intended for small to medium-sized (SMBs) online shops that use WordPress. The plugin immediately gained popularity due to its ease of installation and customization, as well as the freeware nature of the underlying product. The advantages and disadvantages of using WooCommerce to create an eCommerce website are listed below:
Pros
It creates the ideal shopping experience with the help of appealing product pages.
It provides a user-friendly purchasing process, a seamless user experience, and an easy-to-navigate mobile user interface.
It offers a holistic eCommerce strategy with a skilled development team's latest website design trends.
It helps create search engine optimized sites aimed at converting visitors into customers.
The WooCommerce web design team can design and customize your site to meet the specific demands of your project. It also customizes your complete website experience, both frontend, and backend.
WordPress is 100% free.
Thousands of One-of-a-Kind Store Designs Available with WordPress Theme.
It simplifies search engine optimization.
Both the backend and the frontend load quickly.
Cons
WooCommerce has one thousand and one extensions! It's mind-boggling to think how many tools and functions are included. However, this has an unexpected downside for less experienced users: adding too many plugins and extensions slows down page speed and overall performance because they consume much more memory and resources. Additionally, all these plugins and extensions need regular updates and maintenance.
2) Shopify
Shopify Inc. is a global Canadian e-commerce firm based in Ottawa, Ontario. It also serves as the name of the company's proprietary e-commerce platform for online businesses and retail point-of-sale systems.
Pros
Shopify has the most excellent customer service of all the builders on our list, providing help whenever you call for it. All the representatives are competent, pleasant, and constantly go above and beyond to assist.
The feature-rich platform and a drag-and-drop page builder make it simple to create and launch a website without your online store, even if you have no prior expertise.
Many free and paid shop themes are available to help you start the design process.
It provides a well-designed online store with shipping, taxes, inventory management, fulfillment, and support for social media sales.
The best thing is that you don't have to do it yourself. Whether you have a broad business strategy concern or a technical query regarding the backend of your website, Shopify's customer care staff is available whenever you need it.
Aside from world-class assistance, there's a big community forum brimming with questions and answers from Shopify professionals and existing customers alike.
If that isn't enough, Shopify also provides an extensive knowledge resource composed of articles, courses, podcast episodes, and how-to guides.
There's an app for (almost) everything, from email marketing and social media integrations to shipping platforms and special discounts.
Cons
You end up having to pay monthly for every little thing. It also offers less customization. The Shopify app store has a number of really useful functions, but it pales in contrast to the ocean of plugins available for platforms like WooCommerce, many of which are free (there are absolutely free, bug-free, and very powerful plugins). Furthermore, Shopify only enables you to adjust specific aspects of its functionality, and it is not as configurable as self-hosted platforms, which allow you to change practically everything. Rather than employing something over which you have greater control, Shopify employs a unique arrangement for theme tweaking. It's beneficial in certain ways for some people, but for someone who enjoys tinkering with things without going all-in on customization.
3) Wix
Wix.com Ltd. is an Israeli software firm that is publicly traded in the United States that offers cloud-based web building services. It enables users to develop HTML5 webpages and mobile sites using online drag-and-drop tools. Here is what it provides:
Pros
It has almost 1000 free starting templates, integrated SEO tools, integrated site hosting, and commission-free sales.
Wix is a flexible drag-and-drop site builder that transforms non-designers into website creation experts.
It has no additional transaction fees, so you get to keep all of your hard-earned money (aside from standard payment processing fees).
It's also straightforward to understand and apply. With little time you spend here, you will be able to make adjustments, update your site at will, add new products/ services, and handle your orders.
Multiple and limitless transactions you can have.
Editor X is a subsidiary of Wix.com Ltd., the world's top full-stack website construction platform with over 180 million users. It was created with designers and agencies and robust design and layout features to construct complicated website designs.
Cons
The disadvantage with Wix templates is that they are not interchangeable. Its free plan enforces Wix branding. The website created using this builder cannot be transported, and premium plans are only available for a single site. Extra charges are applicable for simple and routine tasks like tracking and analytics.
4) BigCommerce
Rapid expansion may make or kill the internet, but with BigCommerce, you can rest assured that you have all that is needed with no hassle at all. It focuses on online shops and helps develop them as quickly as possible. Automation, personalization of the customer experience, and upgraded tactics to acquire new consumers are the keys to rapid development. BigCommerce leverages the strengths of all three to help you expand your business as quickly as possible. The following are BigCommerce's advantages and disadvantages:
Pros
You may sell on numerous platforms, such as Facebook and Pinterest, choose your payment gateway, and eliminate transaction costs, allowing you to keep more of what you sell.
It is a one-page checkout approach that increases conversions. Customers may pay using several options, including Apple, Google, and Amazon Pay.
You can include discounts and promotions, enterprise-grade reporting capabilities, product ratings and reviews, a built-in blog, and real-time shipping estimates from many carriers.
On higher levels, you may use features such as conversion audits, abandoned cart emails, complex segmentation, and in-depth SEO optimization to boost your growth even further.
You also get excellent customer service, with 85 percent of problems handled on the first call.
Cons
Compared to some of its competitors, you must spend a significant amount of money to use the abandoned cart and other such features. Annual online sales are restricted, and if they are exceeded, you must switch to a more expensive monthly plan, and in many situations, the free themes are identical to one another.
5) Zyro
Zyro is a privately held software firm that offers consumers website construction, eCommerce, and artificial intelligence solutions. It's a drag-and-drop tool that lets users create websites without any prior coding skills. It was founded in 2019 and is based in Kaunas, with an office in Vilnius.
Pros
The most notable feature of Zyro as a website builder is its simplicity.
Zyro's eCommerce plans make it simple to utilize in conjunction with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook advertisements, and other retargeting activities.
With Google and Facebook providing information, it's so easy to fine-tune your offerings to suit prospects' requirements based on your audience's observable behavior and statistics.
Stores can be customized based on what you know about the people visiting your website information. It's simple to accept payments of all kinds, including Stripe, PayPal, and standard credit cards, as well as dozens of additional choices.
Zyro's eCommerce solutions are reasonably priced, especially if you only have a few items or services to sell.
Cons
While there are benefits, as discussed above, there are numerous drawbacks to consider too; like restricted functions. Although Zyro covers the fundamentals, it does not provide as sophisticated capabilities as other website builders. There is also a lack of customization.
Conclusion:
We've compiled a list of the top online store builders for small businesses, along with the benefits and drawbacks. This will assist you in determining which one is most suited to your needs. Pravaah Consulting Inc. is an e-commerce web design agency that builds websites and online stores for small and medium-sized enterprises, amongst other digital marketing services. Please contact us if you require assistance with any of the builders, and remember to create your website with Élan!