What Is An E-Commerce Podium?

e Commerce platform gives you the aptitude to create and design an online presence that allows you to make sales and fulfill orders. Regardless of where your customers are or where they like to shop.

Most people think of their eCommerce stage as a tool for displaying products and accepting payments. However, there is much more to a true eCommerce store. The platform should be a complete control center where you control all from account to marketing. It would allow you to process payments and give you ongoing access to all the essential tools to sell online, including (but not limited to!) your own online store.

1. Hosted

Some e commerce store systems offer a hosted platform. In this case, you don’t have to worry about the hassle of self-hosting or third-party hosting and the extra prices that come with it. For example, Shopify comes with website hosting included with every pricing plan. (What is Shopify? Learn here!) With it, all updates are automatic and hassle-free, so your site is always up to date. Building on a hosted eCommerce platform gives you more freedom to focus on your business, and not on solving problems caused by downtime and necessary troubleshooting.

3.DIY

Like hosting platforms, this setup has mostly customizable templates and an easy-to-use editor. But just like with a licensed platform, you are on your own with the hosting. For this reason, it also makes sense to have some technical skills here. But don’t worry: you don’t have to be a professional programmer to create a functional and beautiful online store.

Which E COMMERCE PLATFORM IS THE BEST?

The best selling platform depends on your unique business model and growth plan. Here is an impression of certain of the best ecommerce platforms in 2022 to help you find a suitable option for your business:

Shopify

Type: Hosted

Price: Basic Shopify: 27 EUR/month; Shopify: €79/month; Advanced Shopify: 289 EUR/month; 10% discount on annual and 20% on two-year plans when paid in advance.

Free trial: 14 days

Customer Care Options: Free phone call-back support; Email support; Support in 19 languages; Community forum; support content

Integrated sales channels: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Google, Walmart Marketplace, eBay and Amazon

Mobile App Features: Choice of mobile tools to fully manage your online business

pos: me

Recommended for: Small to medium merchants across all industries (Shopify Plus is the go-to business solution)

Woocommerce Too

As one of the most general eCommerce platforms, WooCommerce offers everything an eCommerce owner needs, and it’s technically free. On the disadvantage, it takes a bit of effort to create and inform.

See how Kinsta stacks up in contradiction of the competition.

Select your provider

Comparasion

Unlike the other eCommerce stages on this list, WooCommerce is just a WordPress plugin. That is one of its greatest strengths, which means that all the features of WordPress are at your fingertips. Any plugin or theme for WordPress can be co-opt for your WooCommerce store, but you also have a great list of WooCommerce-specific extensions and plugins to choose from.

The disadvantages of WooCommerce are the disadvantages of WordPress. First, you must find the right hosting provider responsible for keeping your website and your customers’ finances safe, not to mention the amount of traffic you can accept. You should also choose the best WordPress hosting plan for your needs.

Second, you need to get your hands dirty with the theme, which can take some time if you’ve never used WordPress before. It’s not that WordPress is difficult, it’s actually quite easy to use, but there are a lot of little things you need to do to make your site look and work the way you want, like: B. finding the right plugins or optimizing your plugin settings. website. Make sure you don’t miss a thing with a professionally coded WordPress theme and this step-by-step WooCommerce setup guide.

main features

The entire WordPress plugin library.

WooCommerce specific plugins and extensions with a selection of eCommerce topographies.

Easy blog integration.

Unlimited products.

Prices

Strictly free, but you still have to pay for hosting

Depending on the features you want, you can spend anywhere from $0 to $200 or more on plugins/extensions.

advantage

Own your own data.

Scalable price starting at $0.

Native platform for blogs.

No borders for products or images.

As open source software, WordPress has many communities that can ask for help and support.

Disadvantages

Accommodation not included.

Little learning curve for WordPress if it’s your first time.

4. Will

Alongside popular eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, and BigCommerce, Volusion is the second best. It doesn’t bargain as much as its more recognised competitors, nor is its name as recognizable. Still, Volusion is slowly growing as an alternative to Shopify for convenience and speed.

Where Volusion really shines is with subscriptions and recurring expenditures. Perfect for subscription boxes and alike business models, Volusion offers these payment methods out of the box.

You can still find these choices on some platforms, for example WooCommerce has subscription plugins, but you usually have to track down these plugins yourself and sometimes even pay extra for them.

Since it doesn’t offer many advanced features, Volusion can focus more on usability. For example, it includes an effortless drag-and-drop site editor so you can rearrange site elements however you like.

This kind of simple simplicity works well for first-time website builders, but seasoned eCommerce managers will miss out on many of the +structures that other platforms offer for free, such as B. SSL certificates, blogging features, or even selling of digital products. On the plus side, there are no business fees and you can have as much bandwidth as you want.

main features

Drag and drop site editor.

No transaction fees.

Unlimited bandwidth.

Responsive themes for heavy mobile traffic.

Accept subscriptions and recurring payments.

Prices

Personal: $29 per month.

Professional: $79 per month.

Business: $299 per month.

Bonus: Custom.

advantage

Low cost e Commerce platform, especially considering there are no transaction fees.

One of the few e-commerce platforms that allows subscriptions and recurring payments natively.

Simple site editor aimed at beginners.

Disadvantages

Limited features.

You will need to purchase your SSL certificate elsewhere.

No blog integration.

No sale of digital products.

Also Read: marketing-certifications/