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What could be the best ecommerce platform for small business?

salmonjames21salmonjames21 subscriber Posts: 22 Bronze Level Member
edited January 2017 in E-Commerce
I know there are so many platforms and are working fine enough, people are using it though.

Still, I would like an honest opinion with the valid reasons that which one should you suggest and why?
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Comments

  • bharat.nimblechappsbharat.nimblechapps subscriber Posts: 186 Silver Level Member
    I would like to suggest "Magento" it is the best ecommerce platform.

    You can hire Magento certify developer easily for your customization requirement.
    I am online marketer at Nimblechapps Web Development Company | Mobile Game Development Company
  • salmonjames21salmonjames21 subscriber Posts: 22 Bronze Level Member
    Thanks dear for suggesting Magento. After reading your suggestion, I have done some research and have found out that Magento's CMS is bit complex as compared to Shopify and Tibolli(.)NET. And at the moment, I don't have that much funds to hire the services of professional. I would like to do things by my own. So what do you suggest now?
  • BostonBoston subscriber Posts: 9 Member
    Like everything else in internet marketing, there is no one right anwer. Every solution has to match the business. If you are a one person operation, then learning how to manage Magento can be overwhelming. If your website is not WordPress, then Woocommerce won't be the solution. Third party platforms like Big commerce have a lot of great features. Facebook even offers a way to sell on their platform. Maybe even set up an Amazon store.
    I recommend talking to a consultant that will discuss your business and recommend the right solution. Not just the solution they provide.
  • ArunaAruna subscriber Posts: 4 Member
    edited January 2017

    Dear James,

    When you are looking for an e-commerce platform, you firstly need to understand your business requirements i.e. 

    • whether your e-commerce will be a single store or multivendor platform
    • who will be the target audience
    • what is the market size
    • whether you will sell products or services
    • what will be the business and revenue model?

    After answering these questions next step is to list down all the features you want to add in your e-commerce. Creating a business model and revenue model will be the right thing to do. Your business model will answer how things will work and revenue model will describe what will be the sources of income.

    The next step will be finding a platform completely or somewhat similar to your requirements. Check the features and prices of the platforms. Don’t forget to check the extra benefits you will be getting with the software i.e. free hosting, Technical support etc. 

    This article from Inc. Magazine will help you getting the overview of best 5 e-commerce platforms http://www.inc.com/bill-carmody/top-5-ecommerce-platforms-for-2017.html

    PS. I would recommend you to check websites of all these platforms and make a list of features and benefits they are offering, only then make the final decision.

    Regards,

  • ross03ross03 subscriber Posts: 14 Bronze Level Member
    edited February 2017
    Magento is the best choice for you guys , 
    Tiered pricing depending on the business. It’s can cost nothing (Magento Community) , it is Free to download , you can download at this link 
    Why Magento is cool for your store?
    This is for serious large-scale retailers who want a high-end ecommerce store. They want the best of the best and have the capital to pay for it. They also have the revenue to hire on-going top developers to manage their system. 

    Ease of use - The least user friendly on this list - It’s a more complex product and can take some getting use, as mentioned above, you’ll need an experienced programmer on-board to manage the platform. 

    Performance - High level of security. Can have delayed loading speed. Can also have trouble with mobile friendliness. Perfect for scaling a large business
    Features - Full of all the bells and whistles any business could want and fully customizable. Customer segmentation and targeted promotions. Private sales feature. Multiple wish list. Multiple storefront option. Multi-language, multi-currency support, detailed content and information on stock

    Good and various extensions for your choice such as:
  • JesssmartJesssmart subscriber Posts: 6 Member
    edited March 2017
  • salmonjames21salmonjames21 subscriber Posts: 22 Bronze Level Member
    Thanks to all the guys who did their part and suggested me the right one based on their experiences. I would like to have an apology that I couldn't get back in time as I was busy. Well, I have used some of the platforms and got my test store too. 
    The only thing is, the time wave of their trial period is really weird. Just 14 days or a month and that's all? Seriously. In a month, you will barely be able to understand any platform and would get faimilar with it. 
    Why is that, these eCommerce website builders are not free or at least they should be offering at least 3 to 4 months free. 
    What do you guys say?
  • Ryan O'BlenessRyan O'Bleness administrator Posts: 1,137 Site Admin
    @salmonjames21, the companies who build these platforms have to make money, too. They want money back for the time, effort and resources they put into building the platforms. 

    Trials are generally for short periods on purpose, because it familiarizes you with the product, and then right when you're getting used to it, the company either takes it away or auto-bills you at the end of the cycle. So basically the hope is you either loved the product enough to purchase it, and if not, you are sneakily auto-enrolled into it after the trial expires. Even if you cancel before the deadline, the company has captured your name, email and other personal info.

    Free trials are quite deceiving, though they may be helpful when you're trying to find the correct product for your needs. 

    Here is an article on the subject from the Federal Trade Commission: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0101-free-trial-offers
    Ryan O'Bleness
    Community Manager
    StartupNation, LLC
  • salmonjames21salmonjames21 subscriber Posts: 22 Bronze Level Member
    At @Ryan O'Bleness
    But couple of my friends have been advocating about an eCommerce platform and they got very good online store too. They say that it is almost like zero risk, zero investment and one of my friends even got a mobile application for his online store too. What do you think, Can it be a tactic too? and if not, so should I give them the try?
  • Ryan O'BlenessRyan O'Bleness administrator Posts: 1,137 Site Admin
    At @Ryan O'Bleness
    But couple of my friends have been advocating about an eCommerce platform and they got very good online store too. They say that it is almost like zero risk, zero investment and one of my friends even got a mobile application for his online store too. What do you think, Can it be a tactic too? and if not, so should I give them the try?
    I would maybe ask for a demo with their platform first, or a trial period. If they're your friends, they shouldn't try to auto-bill you or anything afterward. I'm sure there are different levels of platforms. Perhaps they found a way to build it with limited resources, but then it likely isn't as powerful as some of the more well-known platforms out there. I have never built an e-commerce platform, so I can't say what exactly needs to go into it, but you should be abel to tell pretty quickly if the functionality is on par with your business needs or not. 

    But if you test it out and like it, and you're certain it can accomplish what you need it to, then of course you should go with it. 
    Ryan O'Bleness
    Community Manager
    StartupNation, LLC
  • euruseurus subscriber Posts: 17 Bronze Level Member
    Hmm, this question has not been answered properly in my opinion.
    Why? I’m guessing that since you are a shop owner, you’re not a technical person. This means you need to either outsource the development/setup of the site in the beginning, or you use a hosted “all-in-one” platform to just do it’s thing, with disregard for complete control of customization. As a technology provider, our number one suggestion is to use Magento.
    It’s simple, super customizable, automated, and provides enterprise level control at a startup price, using smarter software. Most often you will choose to have a company create the website for you, but you still need complete control to edit each aspect of the site itself. This is done within the admin panel of the system itself. Each of the systems you mentioned do offer some sort of admin control panel, but as others have pointed out Shopify is very limited in the customization of your site without extensive programming knowledge or Shopify Plus.
  • AnkitKapAnkitKap subscriber Posts: 5 Member
    In this digital era, the biggest struggles startups and small businesses have is choosing a good e-commerce development platform as per their budget to launch online stores. Selecting a right eCommerce development platform from the get-go ensures that the business owners are capable to scale their business as easy as possible, and having to change platforms at a later stage can cost these businesses thousands of dollars.

    Magento:
    With two editions – Magento Open Source (formerly Community Edition) & Magento Commerce (also known as Enterprise) – it offers different levels for different business requirements.
    Some articles claim that the Magento 2 Enterprise Edition pricing begins at $22,000 to $32,000 per year which is a powerful system for large and fast growing businesses. However, it is quite expensive to afford for small businesses and beginners.

    WooCommerce
    WooCommerce eCommerce store is free to download and it doesn’t charge transaction fees also. It’s a free plugin of WordPress. The prices in WooCommerce are in the form of the type & number of extensions that you would need to install on online store.

    OpenCart
    OpenCart is also free to download, use and upgrade. You can download it from the official website of OpenCart. However, you need to pay additional amounts like any other eCommerce development platform for extended features.

    Recently it has launched support plans that are worth taking a look at. It provides two plans that are: a $99/month premium support plan and a one-time fix (pricing varies). The premium support plan of OpenCart ort issues like installations and bug fixes, but without unlimited support. You will receive help only up to 5 installations and 3 bug fixes every month.

    Shopify
    Shopify’s starter plan, Shopify Lite costs $9 per month, represents a cheaper ways to sell online while Shopify gold is designed for fast growing brands and online sellers by providing world-class enterprise commerce technology at a fraction of the cost.

    There are many good companies providing eCommerce website development services. Here are some cost effective eCommerce website development companies which are established and good customer satisfaction:
    1. PixelCrayons
    2. AppSquadz Technologies Pvt. Ltd
    3. Embitel Technologies
    4. Contus

  • Olivia CaitlinOlivia Caitlin subscriber Posts: 26 Bronze Level Member
    If you don't have that much technical expertise then i recommend you to go for shopift. that is easy and simple to manage. The store is already created and if you want to customise it further you can choose a theme and the cost of hiring a developer is very low compared to Magento. another platform you want to try is the Big commerce which is also a simple and easy platform for the new persons. 
  • faiyneenfaiyneen subscriber Posts: 10 Bronze Level Member
    Thanks for all the comments ..Use these platforms for small business and can develop your own mobile app also for the growth of the business.
  • LogicJoshLogicJosh subscriber Posts: 12 Bronze Level Member
    Check out Shopify, it could be pretty useful but it's a lot of work to put into.
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