The Best Ecommerce Software to Sell Your Products Online

ou are thinking about enhancing your brick and mortar store or opening your own online store, but can’t figure out what eCommerce software to use? There are plenty on the market to choose from, and it can get quite overwhelming. This is why here you will find only the best ecommerce software solutions. Whether you are new to the field or want to change your provider. Keep reading to find out what works for your ecommerce business!

The best ecommerce software solutions for your website

• Shopify - overall user friendly, it has a complete suite of selling services
• Wix - is a free website builder with a subscription-based eCommerce platform add on
• BigCommerce - is the most popular eCommerce software for big companies
• Squarespace - is a website builder with eCommerce features add ons appealing to creative people
• GoDaddy - quick and easy eCommerce website builder with integrated SEO features
• PrestaShop - is a free eCommerce platform designed to be very flexible and customizable
• Volusion - helps you get started fast and offers web hosting services

Now that you know what each of them offers, it’s time to dive deeper into their features, pros and cons, and transaction fees (if any).

Let’s take a look into the details of each popular eCommerce platforms

Shopify

Start your business with Shopify. This eCommerce software gives you access to unlimited products, ideal to start your free online shop platform. It is easy to use, has a good range of templates that you can customise, and you enjoy 24/7 online customer support from trained professionals.

The many payment options make Shopify the most popular eCommerce software among online businesses. They have low transaction fees, making it easy for you to accept online payments. It also has integrated sales channels, such as Instagram and Amazon, perfect to promote and sell your products online.

It offers you multiple apps that make your website top-notch. Shopify Fulfillment delivers your customers’ orders, Shop Pay checks out their products fast. Even in a physical shop, you can use Shopify POS to take card payments.

Take advantage of the 3-day free trial to make sure it is the right fit for you, with no card required. You have five types of plans at your disposal - starter, basic, Shopify, advanced, and Shopify plus. They include web hosting, business tools, inventory management, and CRM features to grow your business.

Subscription prices billed yearly:

• Starter - $1/ mo the first 3 month
• Basic -$24/ mo
• Shopify - $69/ mo
• Advanced - $299/ mo
• Shopify Plus - $2000/ mo

Free online store platform - Wix

Wix is another good software to build an eCommerce website. Its dashboard is easy to use and you can customise your preferences however you like. Make sure the template you choose reflects your business goals because you will not be able to change it later on.

While creating a website with Wix is free, when you are using their eCommerce features to start selling online, you're paying for a subscription. They have the basic elements - email automation, order tracking, accepting online payments, abandoned cart recovery, and multi-channel selling. When you purchase a plan, you will be able to sell and receive payments.

As an all-in-one eCommerce software, Wix gives you all the professional SEO tools you need to grow organically and get in front of your audience. Choose and upgrade your plan as your business grows, taking advantage of more storage, bandwidth, and website hosting.

Subscription prices billed yearly:

• Connect domain - €5,50/ mo
• Combo- €10/ mo
• Unlimited - €17/ mo
• VIP - €29/ mo
• Business basic - €20/ mo
• Business unlimited - €30/ mo
• Business VIP - €44/ mo

BigCommerce - software to build an eCommerce website

BigCommerce is very popular among big business websites. So if you are looking to change your software provider, they might be worth a look. Either plan package gives you access to unlimited products, storage, bandwidth, and no transaction fees. Because they can be expensive, you have a 15-day free trial to make up your mind.

What makes BigCommerce stand out is its range of deep knowledge in video tutorials and forums their users actively post QAs. They take pride in their (eco)system with best-in-class technology providers. They help you succeed with no limits and integrated sales channels.

This eCommerce software is more than prepared to support you at the start of your business as well, by providing the essentials to thrive online. You have access to marketing tools, abandoned cart recovery, conversion features of high quality, and 24/7 online customer support.

Subscription prices billed yearly:

• Standard - $29,95/ mo
• Plus - $79,95/ mo
• Pro - $299,95/ mo
• Enterprise - custom pricing

Squarespace

Start your online business by creating your website and get in front of your target audience. Then, sell your products and track analytics with Squarespace, your all-in-one Content Management System (CMS). And, you can do all that from your mobile app as well.

Besides the variety of templates, you get a free, custom domain for a whole year and the online tools to rank on Google. The integrated sales channels available are extensions for Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Google Actions.

Squarespace is the best eCommerce software for creative people that like to play around with colours and designs. If you feel like that is you, a 14-day free trial, with no card required, is waiting for you. As your business grows, they offer progressive plans to cover your online business needs and keep your customers coming back for more.

Subscription prices billed yearly:

• Personal - $16/ mo
• Business - $23/ mo
• Commerce basic - $27/ mo
• Commerce advanced - $49/ mo
• Enterprise - custom pricing

Free eCommerce software - GoDaddy

How do you get to own an online store? Get your domain name, create your website, and sell your products with GoDaddy. The all-in-one, best eCommerce free platform for small businesses. This software is great for SEO on mobile and desktop, and it gives you the built-in tools you need to market your online store like a pro.

Keep an eye on your website on the move, from the mobile app. Look at metrics, edit your pages, and even get notifications to be up to date. The integrated sales channels include Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay.

Upgrade to the eCommerce plan when you are ready to sell up to 1500 products on your website, with low transaction fees. Enjoy the web hosting service without needing a third party. Grow your business by learning from the best with video tutorials and online training courses.

Subscription prices billed yearly:

• Basic - $9,99/ mo
• Standard - $10,49/ mo
• Premium - $14,99/ mo
• Ecommerce - $16,99/ mo

Free eCommerce website development software - PrestaShop

If flexibility and unlimited customization of your online store are what you are looking for, then this simple eCommerce software is for you. PrestaShop offers you high-quality eCommerce and marketing features, as well as experts to support you.

Prestashop is an open source ecommerce software that receives community updates constantly. You can manage multiple stores and even get access to customer support from the Prestashop Forum. Like most eCommerce software it comes with many third party apps to manage your processing. You'll find support to process online payments, manage inventory and even handle marketing campaigns.

Prestashop ecommerce software dashboard

Being a free online store builder, there is no free trial - just getting started. You have access to a large variety of templates, marketing tools to get in front of your audience, and basic eCommerce features; they include international online selling, inventory management, online checkout, and a shopping cart.

Your costs with PrestaShop will involve getting a hosting provider, and many of the advanced features that come through third-party apps have either one time or subscription-based models.

Overall, PrestaShop is one of the best ecommerce solutions and should cover all your needs.

Volusion

This platform is another easy-to-use eCommerce software that comes in handy to set up your website fast. Start your 14-day free trial and take advantage of all the tools available to grow your business. On desktop and on mobile, while managing it in-house.

You can upgrade your basic online store through SEO tools, fast loading and ROI tracking to better manage inventory. That's why this hosted ecommerce software is great for new small businesses.

They process payments and orders and promote related products. On your website or the 200+ integrated eCommerce channels, through the GoDataFeed extension.

Subscription prices billed yearly:

• Personal - $35/ mo
• Professional - $79/ mo
• Business - $299/ mo
• Prime - custom pricing

What to look for in the best eCommerce platform

Despite the ease of use that eCommerce software brings to an online business, it is a multifaceted and complex machine. It involves knowledge about web hosting, inventory management and processing online payments.

Sure, all these software look good, but how do you pick the best one that fits your business needs? Well, there are a few key features you should look for when you’re making a decision on which eCommerce platform to use.

Reliability and security of your eCommerce site builder

First of all, you want your software to be reliable and secure. Here you will look for the smallest probability of failure in software operations in a given time frame, and if they offer SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).

Reliability is based on the upgrades the provider makes to improve the software. It is quite difficult to achieve due to the complexity of software, so a provider with good reliability is worth taking a look into.

An SSL is meant to keep your customer’s information safe while shopping without using VPN. Make sure your web hosting provider (the software itself, like Wix, or a third party) offers an SSL certificate or allows you to purchase one externally.

Usability of your eCommerce software

Secondly, quickly learning how to navigate the website builder dashboard is important, so easy-to-use software is a big plus. A simple eCommerce platform with built-in tools goes a long way and PrestaShop is such a software for eCommerce - it is intuitive, easy to understand, and free.

Most software offers have a free trial period where you can see which one better fits your business goals and needs. Look for relevant templates, a good range of tools, payment processing, and features for growth.

Constant customer support of the eCommerce platform

Thirdly, your eCommerce store provider has to offer customer support. Especially if you’re at the beginning of your website-building journey. You never know when problems occur, so you should be able to contact representatives of the provider at any time of the day.

While forums, video tutorials, and QAs are good sources of information, they are not enough. Shopify, BigCommerce, and others also offer 24/7 customer support when you create your website with them.

Included SEO features to grow your eCommerce site

Next, success in selling online means good Search Engine Optimization. Some important features are metadata manipulation, image optimization, and page loading speed. They get you in front of your customers by bringing organic traffic to your website.

The better your page user experience and the more search volume your keywords have, the higher you will rank in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). But, the slower your page loads and the more keywords with no search volume you use, the less likely it is to rank.

The best eCommerce software offers streamlined checkout

Then, what better way to keep customers loyal and drive conversions than setting up a secure checkout stage? Go for software with a streamlined, no-friction checkout and familiar payment processing options such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and eWallets.

More so, you can use this stage to gather information on your customers to make their experience on your website better. Besides security, the faster and simpler the process is, the better.

Multi-channel selling for your eCommerce store

Lastly, you want eCommerce software that brings together many sale channels under one database. We are talking about selling online through your website, social media, or a third party, like Amazon or eBay, and selling in person in a physical store.

Not only that but keeping accurate metrics of your online business sales is an important feature you should look for. And Volusion can help with its big portfolio of integrated sales channels.

Conclusion

Choose the eCommerce software that best meets your business goals and has good plan package options. Take advantage of the free trials to get familiar with the dashboard and the templates. Make sure you also take a look into reviews left by customers when deciding what provider to go with from the big range of quality e-commerce platforms.