A Guide for Understanding and Choosing the Best E-Commerce Platforms

Every time you make any type of transaction online, you’re participating in e-commerce. That means every Amazon purchase, UberEats delivery, and sweater you get delivered to your door makes up your online profile — and more and more businesses are getting into the e-commerce game day by day. It’s even estimated that by 2040, 95% of all purchases will be made online!

Conceptualizing and creating your brand is one thing, but what if you have physical goods to sell?

In today’s day and age, brick and mortar establishments are less relevant while e-commerce has become the most vital way to generate sales and grow your company.

And whether or not you’re well-versed in e-commerce platforms, you know what makes a good one and what constitutes a bad site. Chances are you’ve taken up some online shopping of your own, which means it’s likely that you’ve come across an extremely frustrating online site once or twice — maybe it was a site that was super slow, forced you to create an account before a purchase, or maybe it was a site that had limited search capability and thus you couldn’t find what you were looking for.

Either way, it’s important to choose a site that can offer features suited to your brand and customers. 

So whether you sell physical goods or non-tangible digital services, e-commerce is here to stay, so it’s important to understand the different platforms and what they have to offer.

Here are some things to look for in an e-commerce platform:

• Cost-effectiveness (aka won’t blow your budget)
• Accepts international payments
• Allows you to upload multiple products at once
• 24/7 support
• Scalability
• SEO-friendliness (so you can rank higher in searches)
• Security
• Mobile-friendliness
• Social media integration
• Multiple payment options
• Built-in review systems
• Flexible shipping

Depending on your company, different aspects will matter more or less, but it’s important to consider each feature nonetheless. 

Here are some of the major e-commerce players and the pros and cons that come with each:

Wix

Best for: those with a small business

PROS	CONS
Easy to use (has a drag and drop builder) Good for small businesses Integrates with Facebook and Instagram	Limited storage on basic plan No free trial

Shopify

Best for: those interested in drop shipping

PROS	CONS
Easy to use (has a drag and drop builder) 14 day free trial Live chat functionality	Extra fees on some types of payments Limited free themes Less Customizability

Squarespace

Best for: those who love design and aesthetic 

PROS	CONS
Widest range of appealing layouts and themes 14 day free trial Email Marketing features	No phone support Limited integrations Charges an extra transaction fee for payment processing

GoDaddy

Best for: those who are newbies to e-commerce and tech

PROS	CONS
No tech experience necessary  24/7 support Easy to use	Only one plan for e-commerce Limited customizations

BigCommerce

Best for: those who want everything in one

PROS	CONS
15 day free trial Easy to set up coupons and discount codes Can accept international payments	More complicated to use (not as intuitive) On the higher end in terms of cost

Overall, e-commerce is essential if you have goods to sell and want to play the long game. 

What e-commerce platforms have you found most effective?

Email: catherine@catherinenikkel.com

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