Best ECommerce Platforms For Your Online Store

The Indian e-commerce market is growing at a fast pace. This decade has seen tremendous new trends. Before the entrepreneur bug bites you, for starting a new venture make sure that consider a few elements and don't run straight to an ecommerce platform. There's a lot to be figured out and everything is explained in detail in this article.

• Payment Gateway
• Product Photography
• Customer Acquisition
• Social Media Strategy
• SEO
• Customer Retention

And there's so much more to this! It takes all the specialists to work together in a web network and helps to familiarize themselves with the best of the digital marketing tactics.

Best ECommerce Platforms For Your Online Store

Initially, to focus on the primary step is the e-commerce platform and the number of platforms where the content management system plays an integral role in growing the business. This can take from a duration of six months to a year to foster into a well-established business. In such cases, one needs to focus on all platforms to be used when they are building an online store. It can be fairly a huge complicated task, altogether. Surely, when the individual is not from the technical background. We have compiled all the easy-to-go methods for you in this article such that this makes your research work less and helps you in choosing the best platform possible.

Managed E-Commerce Platforms Vs. Content Management Systems (CMS)

There are two alternatives available to manage an e-commerce website:

1. Hosted Platforms Such As Shopify, Zepo, Ship Rocket

2. Open-Source Content Management Systems (CMS) Like Woocommerce Or Magento.

For better understanding, we have created a list of few benefits that each option has in store for you:

Benefits Of Using A Hosted Platform: -

● Lower Development And Maintenance – It eliminates the need for a developer as there is no coding required. Also, know that the hosting is shared between the parties so it just lowers down all the extra cost of the server.

● Better Technical Support – Most online creators have a strong tech team that helps in assisting the customers with any queries or any issues that may alarm at any given point of time.

● Less Complex To Work With – The back end team takes care of the whole process particularly, therefore, these platforms are user friendly and are built for ease. It helps in keeping the technical knowledge aside and create a better system without any complexities.

Benefits Of Using A CMS Platform: -

● Better Functionality – There is an array of plug-ins that one can use and offer the themes in an effective way. The content management systems help with advanced functions.

● Better Customizability – You can modify your content later on or even edit the content without any restriction. CMS allows users to customize improvements accordingly. It can actually depend upon the uniqueness of the brand. It plays an integral role in the competitive market of today!

● Can Support Large Stores And Sophisticated Websites – They are self-hosted and have no limit restraining to the no. of products or categories to be allowed. It builds a sophisticated website and supports all the large stores in the most effective way.

The website designer knows what will be the ideal choice for your business. Further going, we have created a list of a few e-commerce options to explore.

3 Best Hosted Ecommerce Platforms

Most of the domestic players are playing in the same market and are ready to be in the local market. If you have made a final thought and are ready to get going with an online store creator, then consider these platforms that will help in making your process go in a smooth trail.

• Shopify
• Zepo
• Wix

Let's help understand each of them vividly!

1. Shopify: This is the first name that anybody can think of while simultaneously thinking about an online commerce platform. In a recent study that was taken out in 2019, it was found out that more than a 1.15 million websites are made using Shopify.

Pros:

• Large number of add-ons as well as beautiful and professional templates to choose from for a beautiful storefront
• 24/7 customer support – Can be reached by phone, online live chat or email.
• SEO Compliant
• Pay as you go pricing, which is great for newer startups
• Option to upgrade to Shopify Gold, an enterprise solution being used by 3600 brands
• 15+payment gateways and 10+ logistics integrations for India

Cons:

• May work out slightly more expensive as compared to other platforms
• The back-end UX is slightly complex to understand in the beginning

2. Zepo: This is a Mumbai based startup that has helped in established more than 1500 e-commerce stores to set up in the present time. It has been 9 years since its inception which was initially launched in the year, 2011. It has a smooth payment gateway for the customers, and has integrated logistics, along with other e-commerce services.

Pros:

• Local brand – local support as well as a better understanding and feel of local market
• An easy interface, especially for newbies
• Hosted on Rackspace servers - so you can expect a better speed as compared to most platforms.
• Fedex, Delhivery, DotZot, Aramex, BlueDart and DHL Support

Cons:

• Limited Images per product on the lower-priced plans

3. Wix: It has won almost 2000 eCommerce stores in India. More than 7% of the websites are under the same e-commerce segment.

Pros:

• Easy to use Wix editor
• Hundreds of templates to choose from, trusted by over 160 million people users as per their site
• They have simple to use logo makers
• Free hosting - and upgrade required only to get extra storage, connect your own domain or to remove Wix ads

Cons:

• May not be scalable beyond a point
• Logistics and Payment Gateway integrations in India may be limited

Conclusion

Every platform has its pros and cons, and the business owners know which one to choose for their niche of the business. Let us know in the comments section down below if you have any queries or want to share any new suggestions on the same.