Whether you’re a small business owner looking to enter the e-commerce world or a retail giant looking for a better e-commerce solution, it is imperative to choose a platform that allows you to launch, host, and manage a marketplace or a web store.

The opportunities seem endless, with tons of e-commerce solutions out there.

We’ve put together a list of the 10 best platforms to build an e-commerce website:

1) Shopify

Hosting over 400,000 e-commerce merchants from all over the world, Shopify is truly an e-commerce powerhouse.

After its launch in 2004, it quickly joined the list of North America’s most fast-paced SaaS companies.

The major reason for Shopify’s popularity is that it targeted the ‘dreamer’ audience who wished to make money by penetrating the world of e-commerce.

You might have absolutely no experience in running an e-commerce store, yet can easily set one up using Shopify’s drop-ship based platform.

Ranging from $29 to $299, it offers 3 plans. A 14-day trial is also available for free, so you can use the platform for a bit and see how it suits you and your business plans.

While Shopify is a great platform for small businesses, merchants who have outgrown their initial setup can switch to Shopify Plus, a platform primarily tailored to large-scale merchants.

However, instead of a fixed price, custom pricing applies on this platform.

Nevertheless, Shopify features an easy solution to design and market your e-commerce website.

You can add unlimited SKUs, apply discount codes, and manage your inventory.

Other features include free SSL, a customer-friendly buying procedure, digital marketing features, and multilingual, 24/7 support.

2) WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open source platform that is an ideal choice for smaller brands.

It is basically a WordPress plug-in that enables a merchant to convert their WordPress site into a web store.

With the development resources available from WordPress, WooCommerce offers its own shopping cart and a secure payment gateway.

While it’s a free plug-in, you’ll have to pay if you want to add advanced functionalities such as completely integrating the shopping cart.

One drawback of WooCommerce is the issue with scalability.

When you add more products to the store or generate more leads (customers), you’ll notice that the site slows down a little.

Hence, if you anticipate rapid business growth, opt for some other platform.

3) Magento

Primarily designed for enterprise-level e-commerce merchants, Magento is a free platform offering a wide range of features for vendors or sellers, such as offer discounts, unlimited product listings, automating recurring functions, etc.

However, unlike Shopify and WooCommerce, which pose little or no barriers to entry, Magento requires ongoing development and programming, so you need to have a developer with you all the time.

In addition, you need to keep buying expensive plug-ins to fulfill even the most basic needs.

For instance, Magento’s free basic version doesn’t allow you to have multiple e-commerce vendors or sellers.

You need to purchase a multi-vendor plug-in at a ridiculous price.

Besides the basic version, it also offers an enterprise version that costs more than $20,000 a year.

While it might be considered a good choice for large merchants, it is certainly not recommended for small businesses.

4) 3D Cart

3D cart is regarded as the best available e-commerce platform for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Its robust and flexible SEO features allow you to create custom URLs, title links, dynamic meta-tags, etc.

With plans ranging from $19 to $114.5 a month, 3D cart features a built-in blog, a Facebook store, an m-commerce version for mobile devices, outstanding security, 24/7 tech support, more than 100 payment processors, 50 free themes, and more.

5) OpenCart

OpenCart is a reliable and professional e-commerce platform that’s free of cost.

Besides easy development, the platform features a user-friendly administrative dashboard, with easy to configure menus such as catalogs, extensions, and systems and sales.

OpenCart 2 provides you with an admin panel for smartphones or tabs.

6) BigCommerce

The BigCommerce platform comes with incredible SEO features, tremendous scalability up to $100,000 a year, advanced product flexibility, more than 40 payment gateways, and so on.

It offers two different tiers, starting at $29.95 a month:

1. BigCommerce Essentials for small business merchants
2. BigCommerce for enterprise-level business merchants

BigCommerce creates your branded store that enables you to sell on eBay, Amazon, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

7) Volusion

This is a relatively small e-commerce platform tailored for e-commerce startups.

All its plans provide numerous themes for free, on-site blogging, and a facility to create discounts.

Yet, it remains a standalone platform owing to its limitations in terms of app integrations.

With prices ranging from $14 to $135 a month, it’s a cheap option for small businesses but becomes expensive as they grow.

8) Prestashop

Prestashop is another e-commerce startup solution for those looking to build an online store from scratch.

It has gained significant popularity over just a couple of years, managing a large community of more than 100,000 members, running 165,000 web stores from 100+ countries.

The platform is known for its smart administrative panel, SEO, website builder, fabulous mobile version, payment and other integrations, and so on.

9) MonsterCommerce

MonsterCommerce’s e-commerce solution has been around for a long time now.

Its solution includes e-commerce software, SEO services, design services, SSL security, and vendor accounts for both small to medium-sized businesses looking to start selling online.

Its features include a fully customizable storefront, real-time payment and shipping, and easy-to-add and manage products.

Pricing starts from just $9.95 per month.

10) Squarespace

Squarespace is popular among artists who typically have small product catalogs.

What distinguishes it from other platforms is its easy drag-and-drop templates, allowing you to easily build your desired e-commerce website.

With prices starting from $18 a month, it comes with unlimited and varied product listings, marketing tools, support recurring subscriptions and payments, and so on.

Closing Thoughts

If you’re looking to get rich by entering the e-commerce world, you need to have an appealing web store that not only offers the best product listing but also comes with an effective marketing solution.

To have a promising web store, consider using one of the above-discussed platforms to build an e-commerce website.