// Trends
Best Ecommerce Platforms 2018
// Trends
E-commerce segment is growing really fast. Every year, we observe a 20% growth there. For this moment, online trade market takes 10%. And this figure will be 11.5% in 2018. Total sales have exceeded $2.3 billion in 2017. As you could see, this is a huge market that shows significant annual growth. Many software companies have noticed this trend and developed flexible ecommerce platforms. However, not everyone has managed to succeed in gaining trust and popularity. Let's take look at the most popular e-commerce platforms and trends of 2020. If you use PPC advertising, I recommend you read our previous article Google Adwords Best Practices. Believe me, you can save money.
Below we will examine the most popular CMS for online shop along with hosting platforms. Online store could be created on the basis of CMS with an open source. In this case, you will be able to adjust flexibly your site and add new features. All data is stored on your server. Here are the most popular CMS systems: Magento, Woocomerce, PrestaShop etc. Hosting ecommerce platforms could limitate the built-in functions and place the site at their facilities. Still, it is worth to notice the easiness of using it. Usually, hosting platforms charge a fee of $10 to $200 per month. And the most popular companies are the following: Shopify and BigCommerce. Even though decentralization is the mainstream and to be prepared you need to know the details of ICO (here).
Ecommerce CMSs suit well for medium and large scale businesses. Lots of plugins allow you to add advanced functionalities and opportunities. The system has content management functions; moreover, it will also allow you to create a unique design.
Magento is one of the most popular ecommerce CMS platforms for online stores. And what is worth to notice, that at the same time it is one of the most expensive and demanding server resources. It is built on open source technology and allows you to adjust the online store in a flexible way. The system has content management functions, powerful marketing tools, search engine optimization and goods catalog management. It is great for medium and large businesses. Recently improved its logo.
Benefits:
- numerous plagins available;
- skilled developers could be found easily;
- high level of security;
- it is easy to scale it up.
Disadvantages:
- High server performance is required;
- Low site speed.
- Not the best option for restaurant websites
Top companies using Magento:
WooCommerce runs on the basis of Wordpress CSM platform. Essentially, it's a plugin that gives you an ability to create online stores. And the main advantage is easiness of managing it and great availability. There are lots of different themes and templates. However, there is an important issue – its poor scaling. Skilled specialist could be found easily. It is a great solution for small companies that offer up to 100 goods for sale. We should pay attention to the fact that a couple years ago WooCommerce was hacked. Hackers received data of numerous users’ credit cards. This problem was fixed; still, it left unpleasant memories in this plugin history.
Benefits:
- managing with ease;
- lots of free themes;
- numerous skilled professionals.
Disadvantages:
- low rate of security;
- low rate of scaling.
Top companies using WooCommerce:
PrestaShop is one of the few ecommerce CMS that is completely free. If you would like to expand its functional part, you will need to buy some additional modules. This CMS has a convenient control panel and flexible settings. Let’s say that it is something between WooCommerce and Magento. Though it has almost the full range of necessary functions, PrestaShop is not very popular. It’s a pity, but users notice lots of bugs and a rare update of modules and themes.
Benefits:
- Free of charge;
- it has an analytics system.
Disadvantages:
- difficulties in setting up payment and delivery;
- lots of bugs;
- out-of-date modules and themes.
Top companies using PrestaShop:
It is one of the easiest ecommerce CMS systems. Even a beginner could easily understand how to deal with it. It is perfect for small online shops, while it has good scalability; still it requires help of a web developer. Simple structure along with an open source code, make it easy to develop your own plugins. It has a distinction represented in a simple administrative part and deal with heavy loads. OpenCart suits well for small and medium online stores.
Benefits:
- user friendly administrative panel;
- high level of security.
Disadvantages:
- ready to use plugins are not numerous;
- problems with setting up themes;
- problems with setting up updates;
- low support level.
Top companies using OpenCart:
osCommerce is a pioneer of ecommerce CMS. Long time ago it was really popular and it make a good start for it. The CMS has a good network and great number of plugins. High level of vulnerability is its disadvantage. The system has low rate of security level.
Benefits:
- it could be set up easily;
- lots of plugins
Disadvantages:
- goods management is complicated
- it provides updates rarely;
- low level of security.
Top companies using osCommerce:
Summary
There are lots of CMS systems at the market. And as for our company, we prefer Magento for large scale businesses, OpenCart for a middle ones and WooCommerce for a small business. It’s up to you to decide which one will suit you the most. Moreover, I recommend correctly set up the Google Analytics system. It can increase your income. At the end, I want to offer you to check a chart of popular requests in Google to have a clear picture. For this I use Google Trends service.
If you have a small online store and you do not want to spend money on expensive solutions, then we would recommend using a hosting platform. Below, we will make a review of 3 most popular hosting services. In fact, they are slightly different from each other, and have mostly the same opportunities.
3dcart is a powerful software for e-commerce. The guys give the opportunity to launch an online business in a few minutes. The cost of the software starts from $19. It is a good solution for small e-commerce websites.
Top companies using 3dcart:
Shopify is the obvious leader at hosting platforms market. The site hosts more than 75,000 online stores. This is the most popular system that allows you to create your own online store in just in couple of clicks. Large number of diverse themes makes it possible to set up a store for almost every customer.
Benefits:
- numerous templates and themes;
- good CEO optimization;
- 24/7 online support
Disadvantages:
- complicated management interface
Costs:
$29/month – Basic plan.
$79/month – Standard plan.
$299/month – Advanced plan.
Top companies using Shopify:
BigCommerce is considered to be second in terms of popularity. It serves more than 50 000 online stores. It has many different themes for design.
Benefits:
- management interface is easy;
- variety of different templates.
Disadvantages:
- non-reliable support.
Costs:
$29.95/month – Standart plan.
$79.95/month – Plus plan.
$249.95/month – Pro plan.
Top companies using BigCommerce:
Volusion is one of the most popular platforms in USA. However, it is not really competitive one on a global market.
Benefits:
- management interface is easy;
- it has relatively low cost for maintenance.
Disadvantages:
- Insufficient number of plugins
Costs:
$15/month – Mini plan.
$35/month – Plus plan.
$75/month – Pro plan.
$135/month – Premium plan.
Top companies using Volusion:
Sorry, but I haven’t found such companies.
Summary
Finishing up the review it is worth to notice that there are several popular ecommerce platforms at the market; they are almost the same and provide users with similar services. Still, it is obvious that there is only one choice according to Google popular requests.
If you want to know the cost of developing a project, you can go through a short cost calculator or read the article how much does a website cost. Hopefully, you will find the aforesaid information useful and of interest. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me through a feedback form. It would be my pleasure to assist you.
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