The top e-commerce platforms can be used to create an online store easily and at low cost. This is their main role. But with so many options on the market, it’s hard to choose which is right for you. To help, we’ve analysed the e-commerce platforms out there, their features, their pricing and what they excel at to draw up the list of the best e-commerce platforms for beginners in 2023!
Which criteria should you consider when choosing an e-commerce platform?
1. User experience and ease of use
The two main criteria to prioritise are the user experience offered by the platform and how easy it is to use.
Your future e-commerce site needs to be accessible, load quickly and look attractive. As the administrator, you must be able to change the settings and issue updates easily, especially if you’re a complete beginner at making websites.
2. How many items to sell
Some businesses only sell 20 products, while others market hundreds. What’s certainly true is you need to make sure the number of items for sale won’t cause problems, even if it increases.
Also ensure product information is easy to edit (e.g., change part of a description, update a price, modify how many items are available, etc.).
3. Customer service
If an online store is available 24/7, then its customer service should be too. If there are any mishaps, you’ll be glad an advisor is there to help at any time. In this post, we’ll explain how customer service works on the best e-commerce platforms.
4. Cost
Before you read about the top e-commerce platforms, we suggest you set a budget. While some tools are free, others have monthly subscriptions. The aim of this comprehensive guide is to help you find the e-commerce platform offering the best value for money.
5. Features
Some e-commerce features are more important than others. You need to make sure your e-commerce site is adapted for mobile devices and optimised for SEO, plus has multiple payment methods and delivery options.
Sometimes, e-commerce platforms offer marketing features like setting up promo codes and loyalty programmes.
And if you want to translate your e-commerce site into multiple languages, think of TextMaster!
6. Social media integration
Social commerce (buying and selling products or services online via social media) is getting bigger on the international e-commerce scene. So, you need to link your online store to your social media. By having multiple sales channels, you will enjoy the benefits of a multichannel strategy.
The best e-commerce platforms for beginners
1. Wix
About
Wix is one of the easiest e-commerce platforms to get to grips with. This all-in-one solution includes a website builder, reliable free web hosting, maximum security, powerful SEO and 24/7 assistance.
Why choose Wix?
Wix is accessible to all.
To create your site, choose between starting with a blank page or selecting a template created by a designer in the Wix builder. All you have to do in both cases is drag and drop the design elements you want onto your website:
- Images
- Texts
- Contact forms
This e-commerce platform is therefore accessible to beginners.
It can support the main types of websites: showcase sites, e-commerce sites, landing pages, blogs, e-learning sites and more.
Wix’s features
Here are the features of the Wix e-commerce platform:
- Over 500 site templates
- Advanced SEO tools
- Mobile optimisation
- Photo galleries
- Advanced design features
- Unlimited fonts
- Wix Chat
- Social media
- Worldwide delivery
- Many payment methods
- Coupons and discounts
- Option to create and manage a blog
The Wix tool is ideal for restaurant management (bookings, ordering online and creating smart menus). It’s also excellent for anyone in events (generating guests lists, selling tickets and sending designer invites).
Pricing
Wix’s first plan (Light) costs €12 a month excluding VAT. It includes 2GB of storage and can be shared by 2 users. This plan is useful for learning the basics and gives you a free domain for 1 year.
For bigger businesses, 4 plans are available:
- Essential at €24 a month excluding VAT
- Business at €34.80 a month excluding VAT
- Business Plus at €178.80 a month excluding VAT
- Enterprise (pricing on request)
Advantages
✅ Many templates, which is ideal for making a site unique
✅ Very easy to use
✅ Responsive support via live chat and email
Disadvantages
❌ For most features, the prices are high
❌ Wix uses the programming language JavaScript, which can make your site cumbersome and slow to load
2. Shopify
About
Millions of entrepreneurs choose Shopify when they launch and develop their online stores. This is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, with at least 800,000 active Shopify stores.
Why choose Shopify?
Shopify is a hosted solution (SaaS – Software as a Service) which evolves faster than traditional open source solutions. It offers more and better features every day.
If you’re looking for an omnichannel approach, it’s useful to know that this platform makes it easy to connect your e-commerce site to other sales channels like Facebook, Instagram and Amazon.
Shopify also allows you to create your store without web development skills and to manage your orders easily.
Shopify’s features
Here are the features of the Shopify e-commerce platform:
- Stock analysis and tracking
- Detailed stock reports
- Inventories
- Facilitated exchanges and returns
- Mobile payment
- Discount codes
- Personalised emails and SMS
- Unlimited products
- Detailed client profiles
- Daily sales reports
- Financial reports
- Multiple payment methods (even Bitcoin!)
- Payment in installments with Shop Pay
- Gift cards
- Product reviews
- And much more!
Pricing
Shopify has 3 user plans: Basic at €36 a month excluding VAT, Shopify at €105 a month excluding VAT and Advanced at €384 a month excluding VAT.
If you choose an annual plan, you save 25%. Here are Shopify’s plans if you select an annual subscription:
- Basic = €27 a month excluding VAT
- Shopify = €79 a month excluding VAT
- Advanced = €289 a month excluding VAT
Advantages
✅ Unlimited items
✅ Unlimited bandwidth
✅ Many themes and multiple features
Disadvantages
❌ Expensive
❌ Commission (2%) applied to transactions for the Basic plan (the least expensive)
3. Woocommerce
About
Woocommerce isn’t an e-commerce platform, but an open source extension affiliated with WordPress, the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS). Launched on 27 September 2011, this plug-in is designed for small and medium-sized companies. It’s quick to install and set up.
Why choose Woocommerce?
You can manage all aspects of the sales journey for your Woocommerce store from adding products to managing orders and choosing payment methods.
As well as allowing you to set up your store independently, Woocommerce is a bargain compared to competitors.
Your Woocommerce store’s SEO will also be optimised. As you may know, WordPress gives content its all. And as Woocommerce is designed for WordPress, all your texts will have quality referencing if written well.
Woocommerce’s features
Here are the features of the Woocommerce e-commerce platform:
- Flexible and secure payment methods
- Facilitated order management, even on the move
- Site secured with Jetpack
- Option to translate a site into 24 languages
- Full documentation and help forum
- Marketing integrations
- Connection with Google Shopping, Facebook, Mailchimp, Google Analytics and more
Pricing
How much does Woocommerce cost? Good news: the plug-in is free. However, as you would for any website, you will need to pay for hosting, a domain name, a premium theme (optional) and the online store’s operating costs.
Advantages
✅ No charges for transactions on top of those from the payment services provider
✅ Many free or paid plug-ins to boost your sales
✅ Affordable
✅ Intuitive
✅ Optimum security
Disadvantages
❌ Some web knowledge required
❌ You need to maintain the site
❌ Some extensions are paid for
4. Squarespace
About
If you want to create a website that’s responsive, personalised and effective at speed, Squarespace is a great candidate. This US e-commerce platform has many templates and marketing features useful for boosting your sales in summer or winter.
Why choose Squarespace?
Just like Wix, Squarespace allows you to create your online store from a browser without having to code.
Accessible to complete beginners, this e-commerce platform has an intuitive CMS.
The e-commerce features are compelling. They include: an easy shopping basket system, the option to sell an unlimited number of products and the chance to create client accounts.
Squarespace’s features
Here are the features of the Squarespace e-commerce platform:
- Product, service and/or subscription sales
- Personalised product sales
- Organise products using a drag and drop tool
- Product sub-categories
- Print shipping labels
- Discounts
- Stock management
- Related products
- Payment optimised for mobile
- Express payment method
- Digital gift cards
- Client accounts
- Product reviews
- Different payment methods
- 27 currencies accepted
- Multiple shipping methods
- Users can buy now and pay later (Afterpay)
- Optional delivery to a pick-up point
- High security
Pricing
Here are Squarespace’s prices for an annual subscription:
- Personal plan = €11 a month excluding VAT
- Business plan = €17 a month excluding VAT
- Basic Commerce plan = €24 a month excluding VAT
- Advanced Commerce plan = €36 a month excluding VAT
And Squarespace’s prices for a monthly subscription:
- Personal plan = €15 a month excluding VAT
- Business plan = €24 a month excluding VAT
- Basic Commerce plan = €28 a month excluding VAT
- Advanced Commerce plan = €42 a month excluding VAT
Advantages
✅ Responsive customer support (24/7 email assistance)
✅ SSL certificate included in the price
✅ Good SEO performance
Disadvantages
❌ Only 60 templates available
❌ Interface not always intuitive
❌ Sometimes slow to load (according to user feedback)
5. PrestaShop
About
PrestaShop is an open source content management system that launched in 2007. This tool facilitates content management. It has many native features enriched by a variety of modules.
Why choose PrestaShop?
Along with Woocommerce, PrestaShop is one of the top e-commerce platforms for SEO. You can easily edit web page meta tags, choose URLs, create a sitemap file, etc.
Another benefit: PrestaShop’s back office has significantly improved in recent years. The management interface is easy to use and accessible to all! Even if you know nothing about web development, you can learn to use the tool in a few hours.
PrestaShop also has a multi-store feature where you can manage different stores (e.g., in multiple countries) using a single back office, plus the associated orders and stock.
PrestaShop’s features
Here are the features of the PrestaShop e-commerce platform:
- Unlimited items
- Unlimited product images
- Display prices with or without VAT, with bulk discounts available
- Stock management
- Supplier management
- Create product batches
- Parcel tracking
- Unlimited currencies
- Unlimited payment options
- Set minimum order quantities
- Real-time analysis dashboard
Pricing
As with Woocommerce, you need to pay for hosting, the domain name, buying a premium theme, extra modules and app maintenance. Budget €800 to €1000 for designing all aspects of your e-commerce site with PrestaShop.
Advantages
✅ Facilitated online store personalisation
✅ No technical knowledge required
✅ Reliable and secure payment methods
Disadvantages
❌ Limited scalability
❌ E-commerce platform ill-suited to major online stores
Summary: the best e-commerce platforms for beginners
Looking for an e-commerce platform accessible to beginners? We suggest Wix or Squarespace.
If you’re seeking the most affordable e-commerce platform on the market or already have a WordPress blog, go for Woocommerce.
And we recommend Shopify or PrestaShop if you want a tool known for its advanced features.
Fancy some inspiration from the best? Here are the top 10 most popular e-commerce sites in France right now!
