5 eCommerce engines
Posted by. farabi disrupt. August 19, 2019
E-commerce engines are online programs that help businesses build, manage and host their online stores. There are various types of platforms divided into the following categories:
Self-hosted– These are mostly open-source e-commerce solutions that you can install on your server itself. This gives the user a ton of control.
Hosted– Software hosted by someone else. Software as a service (SaaS) solutions are an example. The advantages are lower technical overhead, fast start, easier for beginners and low cost.
Mixed– Several of the options below provide CaaS (Commerce as a service), which give the option to integrate a cart into an existing website.
Depending on personal needs, an ecommerce platform can be chosen depending on: costs, scalability, ease of use, customizations, maintenance, commerce options, mobile capabilities, marketing and support.
The top five eCommerce engines:
Wix- Wix is one of the easiest solutions as it requires zero coding knowledge to use, as only drag and drop options and free templates and images produce web pages in the blink of an eye. A dilemma with wix is that it is not completely an ecommerce platform, it is a website builder by design. Packages in Wix start as low as $25.
Shopify is one of the most recognized ecommerce platforms in the world. It is a full-fledged hosting solution with hundreds of thousands of users around the world. Just a simple sign in opens up the possibility of building an elaborate ecommerce platform. There are SEO features as well such as title tag and meta description. This platform is also optimized for mobile phones, and does not require coding knowledge just like Wix, using drag and drop options to customize pages. There is a serevice centre which can be reached for queries or for trouble-shooting 24/7, round the clock. Shopify also supports lots of third-party payment gateways and has a large app marketplace. It can be integrated to physical stores and also works with Amazon. A setback is that costs can snowball due to the cost of plugins, etc. Another problem is that is uses its own language, namely ‘Ruby’. Shopify starts from $29 to $299.
Magento caters to enterprise-level ecommerce businesses. It is open-source, and as such requires programming skills and dev resources. Magento offers enterprise-standard features like discount offerings, recurring payments, unlimited product listings, etc. Magento is for large online stores. It can be downloaded and installed on servers, and also offers cloud hosting. It gives a lot of control to the user and is highly customizable, and features an elaborate plugin marketplace. Some cons of Magento are updates, resource heaviness, and expensiveness. Magento is free, but the enterprise version costs around $20,000.
Volusion is a small ecommerce platform for newer ecommerce sellers. The pricing tier is varied. It is a cloud-based hosted option. Much like Wix, it features drag and drop as well, utilizing themes. It has rich text product descriptions, native fulfillment options, subscription options, subscription options, loyalty programs, etc. For marketing it supports SEO, social selling, marketplace integration on Amazon and eBay. There is also 24/7 user support. Volution’s pricing structure is a wee bit confusing, as running out of bandwidth will lead to additional costs. You have to pay for SSL, and there is no blogging capacity. It will cost between $29 and $299.
Squarespace is renowned for its drag and drop templates as well as tools and features. There are product variants, inventory management, unlimited products, coupons and shippings. They provide many data points to optimize your site and conversions including sales, revenue, traffic sources and more. Marketing tools include SEO settings, social media, blogging and abandoned checkout recovery. On the side of disadvantages, Squarespace is somewhat restricted in features. Limited payment options (only Apple Pay and PayPal), and is missing important options for more complex shops and a large number of products or variations. Furthermore, there is no marketplace for apps to add more features and functionality. Your ability to customize your site via code and markup is also very limited. The platform integrates with only a few third-party tools and services. Pricing ranges from $26-$46 per month.
However, it is integral to note that each of the platforms are limited in one dimension or the other and the best possible way to create a scalable web platform is to build and manage one with an internal team. Disrupt Technologies Ltd. provides full fledged support in order for end to end development of eCommerce platform for a range of businesses and even help you build the right team in order manage the eCommerce services, allowing for greater flexibility, scalability and customization.
For online consultation: https://disruptglobal.com/contact-us/
Written By: Tasin Mahadir Rumy, Business Development Executive