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With 2.05 billion digital buyers around the world, your product, startup, or even entire business stands more chance in the embracing world of e-commerce than on the ground.

It is one of the reasons behind the rage of web online stores that have enabled exponential growth in global e-commerce.

The overall projected e-commerce business growth is likely to reach an unprecedented $4.5 trillion in 2021. The moment you decide you want to create an ecommerce store for yourself, two factors immediately pop up in your head.

First is which e-commerce platform to use and second who can help you set up your e-commerce store for you?

This article is intended to help you with both of the critical e-commerce components e.g., which is the best e-commerce solution for you and which web design company is best suited to implement this solution to develop a highly competent online store for you.  

Let’s get started then!

The best e-commerce software has become synonymous with three big names that have left the competitors too far back to even be counted. You have probably already heard of Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify, because it is these three names that are holding more than 50% of the e-commerce market share with the high profile brands such as, The Wall Street Journal, TESLA, NIKE, Coca-Cola, Ford, etc.

It begs the question of which one of the three is the most compatible platform to your business idea and needs? To answer that question, let’s get into the detailed and individual analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. 

Magento Software

Ever since its inception in 2007, Magento has managed to cultivate the reputation as one of the most complex and customizable e-commerce systems in existence today. 

With more than 500,000 trusted users, This enterprise-level e-commerce software offers two distinct e-commerce solutions that are both open-source.

One is completely free and extremely robust while the other is the paid Enterprise edition that offers many additional features that you may, or may not need depending upon your needs.

 

 

Features

  • It offers 100’s of features for large, complex product databases
  • It offers native support for complex product pricing and configuration.
  • For manufacturers, it is the perfect choice for its ability to add endless product options and pricing levels with tiers for infinite wholesale pricing levels
  • Endless shipping options from live UPS/FedEx pricing and complex shipping rules.  See this case study for how customizable shipping options can be.
  • Your company will have a layered customer account options that allow the ability to add sub-users to the main account in case of several sales agents.
  • Complex user permissions spanned over levels and purchase sales.
  • With custom add-ons, it has the ability for 2-way sync and connection to ERP systems like Sage, NetSuite, SAP and more.
  • Magento gives FULL control over the code base which means you can do anything you want.

 Cons of Magento

  • The steep learning curve that requires highly technical expertise if the site owners want to manage their inventory
  • The hosting as a large is quite expensive because it usually requires a private server
  • The coding to build the site is very complex which requires true Magento professional and ends up becoming expensive.
  • Frequent and technical software plus security updates that simply go beyond the skills of an average person.
  • The overall site maintenance is quite costly
  • The CMS for non-shopping pages is very difficult to use and update even simple text.  

 

Shopify 

The SaaS compatibility makes Shopify the best e-Commerce software for beginners. Its simple configuration, cost-effectiveness, and easy to use functionalities lend Shopify the massive user base.

The vast array of features and scalability of the Shopify platform are playing a significant role in its rapid growth that has positioned it second to only WooCommerce.

 

Features

  • Shopify is extremely user-friendly and perfect for absolute beginners.
  • It provides strong SEO optimization to its websites with a variety of pleasant templates e.g., this a beautiful example of purpose-oriented Shopify themes and templates.  
  • The catalog management is very easy.
  • You will not be charged extra for SSL and hosting.

Cons

  • Shopify is proprietary software which renders site ownership and moving out nearly impossible.
  • The Shopify payments processing for merchant accounts adds an extra 2% fee.
  • You will not be able to control full customization with Shopify due to restricted codebase.
  • Its monthly fees are slightly higher than WooCommerce.

 

WooCommerce         

WooCommerce is the most popular way to build an e-commerce store due to the long familiarity of WordPress. Despite its relatively late launch vs. Magento and Shopify, WooCommerce holds the most market share at 22% with 2,000,000 users. This powerful e-commerce toolkit or plugin enables users to build their web store with the same functionalities as WordPress.

 

Features

  • Using WooCommerce is very easy regardless of coding expertise, given how most of us are already familiar with WordPress.
  • It is a great platform for selling digital products e.g., eBooks, podcasts, memberships and more.
  • If you are setting up a store with less than 100 products, WooCommerce is an excellent choice with its relatively simple configuration.
  • The premium plugins are highly customizable e.g., the perfect demonstration of custom WooCommerce software.
  • The hosting and support costs quite a reasonable amount especially in comparison with Magento
  • WooCommerce allows user to move their sites to assimilate with anyone who knows WooCommerce. 

Cons

  • WooCommerce falls closely short when it comes to scalability.
  • You will not have the liberty to connect to as many shipping & ERP solutions.
  • If your product catalog is going to be long and complicated then WooCommerce is not for you.

 

Wrapping it up

After examining the three best e-commerce options, let’s go back to the big question – Which one is the best platform for you? The most honest answer is that there is no definitive answer to this question.

There is way too much to consider that it should ideally be done with the help of professional web Design Company like Web Casa Design that regularly develops and maintains top of the range e-commerce websites.  Visit our e-commerce page for full details about our ecommerce development process and work.

With services like pre-determined packaged websites, Webcasa Design is the perfect choice for even people with a low budget and moderate start-ups. 

 

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