	Value for Money	Target Audience	Capacity and Scalability	Customer Support
Shopify	4/5 stars Provides the basic functionalities you need when starting an online store but charges a transaction fee and does not have SEO support.	5/5 stars Allows you to reach buyers on several online marketplaces and social media platforms	5/5 stars Has plans that can accommodate your business needs as it grows.	5/5 stars Offers 24/7 support, which is easy to access.
WooCommerce	5/5 stars Gives you freedom to pay only for the functionalities that you need. It also has several extensions offering features that can improve your online store.	5/5 stars Allows you to reach buyers on several online marketplaces and social media platforms	5/5 stars Does not have an upper limit to the number of products that you can upload. You can easily scale your online store as long as you focus on certain factors.	5/5 stars Easy access to Help button, which will lead you to the resources you need. You can also reach out to WooCommerce Happiness Engineers.
BigCommerce	3/5 stars Basic plan is more expensive than other eCommerce platforms and does not offer as much features.	5/5 stars Allows you to reach buyers on several online marketplaces and social media platforms	4/5 stars Starter plan has limited capacity. Meanwhile, the most advanced plan still has an upper limit, which might not be enough as your business grows.	5/5 stars 24/7 technical support available to all subscribers.
Magento	2/5 stars Too expensive for smaller businesses.	5/5 stars Allows you to reach buyers on several online marketplaces and social media platforms	5/5 stars Allows you to upload an unlimited of products. It can also handle a large catalog and a huge amount of traffic.	4/5 stars Does not have a dedicated technical support. It relies on a large development community instead.
Squarespace	4/5 stars One of the cheapest eCommerce platform plans available. However, it does not have as much functionalities as you might need.	5/5 stars Allows you to reach buyers on several online marketplaces and social media platforms	5/5 stars Offers unlimited bandwidth and storage for all the available plans.	5/5 stars 24/7 technical support available to all subscribers.
Wix	4/5 stars Cheap starter plans with enough features for starting eCommerce businesses. However, it does not include customized reports.	5/5 stars Allows you to reach buyers on several online marketplaces and social media platforms	2/5 stars The most advanced plan only has 50GB of storage space. The platform also has a limited number of addons, which can affect its scalability.	5/5 stars 24/7 technical support available to all subscribers.

Nowadays, most people turn to online stores to shop for the products and services that they need and want. eCommerce allows them to acquire whatever they require without stepping out of their houses, providing them with a more convenient option.

On the other hand, businesses that run eCommerce sites always ensure to offer the best user experience to each of their customers. They do this by using an eCommerce platform to showcase their selection of products and services.

What are eCommerce Platforms?

eCommerce platforms are a kind of software where an online merchant and customer interact. This is where online transactions are started and completed.

An eCommerce platform serves as the avenue where a company can display and advertise the products and services they offer. It is also where a consumer can discover what a merchant offers, shop around conveniently, and check out.

eCommerce Platforms Comparison

If you are looking to enable eCommerce for your company, you must invest in a great eCommerce platform that will allow you to provide consumers with the best customer service. However, you might be aware by now that there are several eCommerce platforms available in the market today.

What makes your decision even harder is that all of these eCommerce platforms claim to be faster, more reliable, and more SEO-ready than the rest. So, how do you know which one to use for your company?

To help you decide, let us provide you with an unbiased comparison of the best eCommerce platforms that you can use to launch your online store. In this article, we will be talking about the following eCommerce platforms list:

Shopify
WooCommerce
BigCommerce
Magento
Squarespace
Wix

In order to see how these top eCommerce platforms match up to each other, we will discuss each one in terms of:

Value for Money: Almost all eCommerce platforms require you to pay anywhere from $10 to $10,000 depending on your needs. This metric helps you ensure that you are getting enough functionalities and features for every cent you are spending.
Target Audience: Make sure that you can reach a large audience with your eCommerce platform. One way to do this is by integrating your online store into your social media accounts.
Capacity and Scalability: This criterion focuses on how many unique products and services your online store can handle. It also measures how well your eCommerce site can keep up as your business grows.
Customer Support: Every now and then, you would need some help with managing your online store. Make sure that the eCommerce platform you choose can provide the assistance you need no matter what time of day it is.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the top eCommerce platforms in the Philippines that allows businesses to create an online shop, which can be integrated into their existing domains. It is a fully hosted platform that can help you manage your eCommerce store without having to worry about any server-related issues. You do not even have to deal with maintenance at all.

This eCommerce platform also has the tools that will help you open a storefront, promote your products, connect with your customers, accept payments, and do more for your online business. But for a more professional look, you can always acquire Shopify website design services from your trusted third-party service provider.

Additionally, you can use Shopify to support your brick-and-mortar store. Shopify POS lets you sell your products in person while tracking your orders and inventory across your online and retail stores.

Value for Money

Shopify plans start at $29 per month. This plan is recommended for businesses that are still starting with eCommerce and those that receive in-person sales occasionally.

For only $29 a month, you can get a free SSL certificate for your eCommerce store. This will provide your customers with peace of mind; knowing that their personal information and payment details are secure when they transact with you.

Basic Shopify also offers a free abandoned cart recovery feature. With this functionality, you can remind consumers who left your website before checking out about the products they have previously added to their cart.

However, one downside to the cheapest plan of Shopify is that you do not get any reports about the performance of your eCommerce store. You need to upgrade to a Shopify or Advanced Shopify plan to gain more insights into your online shop.

You also need to pay a 2% fee to Shopify for every successful transaction done on the platform if you paid for the basic plan. This might push you to raise the prices of your products and services.

Lastly, Shopify plans do not offer any SEO support, so you might need to work with an SEO company to help boost your eCommerce site’s rankings. Make sure to work with a provider that specializes in offering Shopify SEO services.

Target Audience

Shopify makes it easy for you to sell on several online marketplaces. The sales channel you can access through Shopify may vary depending on the country you are in, but you can be sure that this platform can help you display and advertise your products and services as much as possible.

You can also use this eCommerce platform to reach buyers where they are. Shopify can be integrated into your Facebook and Instagram pages, allowing you to market your products and services to users who are browsing through their social media feeds.

Capacity and Scalability

Shopify allows you to upload an unlimited number of products no matter which plan you have. Therefore, you can use this eCommerce platform no matter how small or large your product catalog is.

You can also use Shopify if your business has several inventory locations. If you are using Basic Shopify, you can add up to four inventory locations to your eCommerce site, which is enough for starting businesses.

However, as your company grows, you might need to upgrade to Advanced Shopify. This plan will allow you to add up to eight inventory locations to your online shop.

Customer Support

You do not need to worry when you encounter a problem with your eCommerce store when you choose Shopify. This eCommerce platform offers 24/7 support, regardless of the Shopify plan that you have.

Acquiring customer support is also easy. All you need to do is visit the Shopify help center and look for the topic that you need help with. You do not even need to log into your Shopify account for general concerns.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a standalone, open-source eCommerce platform, which can be fully customizable to your business’s needs. It is a software that was intended to be integrated with your existing WordPress website.

As one of the top eCommerce platforms, WooCommerce satisfies its users with the range of extensions on the WooCommerce marketplace. These extensions add features and improve the functionality of your online store.

Value for Money

WooCommerce is one of the free eCommerce platforms available for businesses worldwide. Although the software itself is free, you still need to pay for hosting—costing about $12 per year—and hosting service—about $5–$25 per month.

Additionally, you need to pay for the theme of your eCommerce store, which can cost about $59 each. You also need to buy plugins and extensions for your website (from $25 each) and pay for developer fees ($20–$150).

Note that the provided pricing only serves as an estimate. The actual cost of using WooCommerce as your eCommerce platform will vary depending on what you need, especially the functionalities that you add to your eCommerce site.

Overall, WooCommerce is best for businesses that are familiar with WordPress. If you have an existing WordPress website and would like to launch an eCommerce store, this is the platform that you should use.

Target Audience

WooCommerce needs to be integrated with your WordPress website, which can make you think that it has limited reach. However, what should know is that you can easily add plugins to this platform, which will allow you to link your WooCommerce products to Facebook and Instagram.

There are useful plugins in the WooCommerce marketplace that will help you set up customizable eCommerce stores on different social media platforms. These can then let you reach potential customers as they are scrolling through their news feeds.

Capacity and Scalability

There is no definite upper limit to the number of products that you can upload to WooCommerce. According to WooCommerce, you can easily scale your online store as much as you want as long as you focus on optimizing the following factors:

Traffic
WooCommerce code
Other System Code
Server Hardware

Prioritizing these aspects of your online store will allow it to grow alongside your business. This means that as you serve more customers, you would not have to worry about your eCommerce slowing down or crashing.

Customer Support

Easily answer any questions you may have about your WooCommerce store by clicking on the Help button available on every page of your WordPress Dashboard. This grants you access to different resources you might need, such as documentation, the WordPress forum, and WooCommerce Support.

If you have a more major concern, you can get in touch with a WooCommerce Happiness Engineer via their helpdesk. They offer professional support for all the extensions developed by or sold on WooCommerce.com and Jetpack/WordPress.com.

BigCommerce

Another eCommerce platform you should know about is BigCommerce. It serves as a subdomain and hosting space for your online shop, which can also be integrated into your domain.

This eCommerce platform focuses on supporting different-sized businesses, from startups to high-profile companies by providing them with exceptional eCommerce solutions. BigCommerce also offers built-in features and eCommerce SEO control.

However, this platform can be too technical for beginners. That is why BigCommerce is not recommended for non-technical users who are only starting with eCommerce.

Value for Money

The cheapest plan of BigCommerce costs $29.95 per month. It includes a free HTTPS and dedicated SSL, which can help your customers feel more confident when completing transactions on your website.

However, unlike Shopify and other eCommerce platforms, BigCommerce does not offer an abandoned cart saver feature with its cheapest plan. You would need to pay at least $79.95 per month to take advantage of this useful feature.

BigCommerce’s cheapest plan also does not include product filtering and credit card details storage features. These are only available for website owners who paid for more advanced plans.

Target Audience

BigCommerce grants you access to different sales channels, such as Amazon and eBay. These big online shopping sites will help you reach more buyers and generate more income for your business.

This eCommerce platform also has built-in integrations with Facebook and Instagram. You can easily link your Facebook and Instagram Shops with BigCommerce and allow your target audience to buy your products and services without leaving the social media platform they are in.

Capacity and Scalability

Getting BigCommerce’s standard plan is perfect if your business acquires less than $50k in sales per year. This plan will provide you with the basic functionalities that your eCommerce site might need as it starts.

As your business expands, you might need to upgrade to a more advanced plan. BigCommerce offers a plan that can accommodate businesses that have more than $400k of online sales every year.

Customer Support

BigCommerce offers 24/7 technical support to their subscribers regardless of the plan that they have. You can easily reach their tech support team through phone, chat, or by submitting a ticket.

Businesses that pay for more advanced plans receive more urgent tech support from BigCommerce. Those who have the Enterprise plan enjoy express routing, priority support, customer success management, and API support.

Magento

Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform that is owned by Adobe and trusted by large brands, such as Nike and Procter & Gamble. This platform requires users who are adept at coding, so it is preferred by companies that have already invested in an IT and website development company. Overall, it is a good platform if you want a fully customizable and powerful online store.

Value for Money

This eCommerce platform can be downloaded for free. However, you need to pay certain fees to launch and maintain your eCommerce website.

Licensing fees can cost up to $2,000 per month. This amount does not include the payment for your hosting, domain name, security certificates, or website development costs.

The pricing of Magento eCommerce sites varies per business, depending on your needs. That is why you must learn about the specific needs of your company to avoid spending money on unnecessary features.

Once you have a list of the functions you require, you can request a quote from Magento’s sales team to receive individualized pricing. This quote will be based on your store’s average order value and annual online revenue. Their pricing for eCommerce sites ranges from $22,000 to $125,000 per year.

Considering the amount you need to launch and manage a Magento eCommerce site, this platform is often recommended for larger eCommerce businesses. Smaller businesses may have trouble paying for the eCommerce platform because of how expensive it can be.

Target Audience

Magento can be easily integrated into your social media accounts. All you need to do is install the necessary extensions through your Magento account. For Facebook, you need the Facebook Business extension. On the other hand, if you want to integrate Magento with your Instagram Shop, you need Instagram Integration for Magento 2.

These additions will allow you to reach your target audience where they are. You can also provide them with the products and services they need without requiring them to leave the social media platform they are currently using.

Capacity and Scalability

With Magento, you can upload an unlimited number of products to your eCommerce store. This means that the platform can cater to your needs even as your company expands.

Additionally, its capacity and scalability are the reason why large brands prefer Magento. This eCommerce platform can handle a large catalog and a huge amount of traffic without slowing down or crashing.

Customer Support

Magento does not have dedicated 24/7 customer support. Instead, it relies on a large development community, where you can seek help from other professionals for free or for a fee.

If you need urgent help, you will not have any trouble reaching out to developers as Magento has the largest developer community in the eCommerce industry. You can be sure that no matter what time it is, there is a developer ready to help you with your concern.

You can also browse through the resources on Magento’s website for minor issues. There are available documentations, which you can consult to solve basic problems.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a SaaS website platform provider that is often preferred by the creative community. Individuals who do not know much about coding but want to start an eCommerce store turn to Squarespace because of its drag-and-drop interface. This platform also has sleek templates and design capabilities, which make designing an eCommerce website easier.

Value for Money

The eCommerce plan of Squarespace starts at $18 per month. This basic plan includes a free custom domain, mobile-optimized website, and free SSL certificate.

Squarespace’s cheapest eCommerce plan provides you access to various extensions that can address your business needs. Additionally, through this plan, you can receive advanced website analytics, which can help you improve your online store further.

You can also choose to build upon Squarespace’s design templates. Easily customize your online store as much as you want with CSS and JavaScript.

Target Audience

Squarespace, similar to other eCommerce platforms, can be integrated with your social media accounts. This way, you can reach more of your target audience and market your products and services more effectively.

This eCommerce platform also has SEO features that can boost your eCommerce site’s rankings. Through this functionality, customers can easily look for your online store by using search engines, such as Google.

Capacity and Scalability

Squarespace offers unlimited bandwidth and storage for all the plans that they have. The platform also allows you to upload and sell an unlimited number of products no matter the plan you have purchased. This means that you can easily scale your online store as your business grows without spending too much money on your eCommerce platform.

Customer Support

You do not have to worry when you encounter a problem while managing your online store because Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support. You can also consult the resources, such as forums and a help center, that they have provided for any questions you might have.

Wix

Wix is a beginner-friendly eCommerce platform that has an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface. If you are just starting your online business, you should consider using this platform because it has several themes available, 72 of which are free. This means that you do not need any coding knowledge to make your eCommerce site look good and presentable to customers.

This platform is most often used by entrepreneurs and small business creatives who do not have much knowledge about technical website development. Wix provides these professionals with tons of creative control, allowing them to represent their branding well.

Value for Money

Wix plans start at $17 per month. The cheapest Wix plan provides you with a custom domain and a free domain for one year.

It also allows you to upload up to five hours’ worth of video on your website, which can be useful to boost your eCommerce marketing services efforts. Additionally, you can add a variety of payment methods to your eCommerce site to accommodate more customers.

One of the downsides you may encounter is that the Business Basic plan does not include customized reports for your online store. This means that you might have trouble learning about your rooms for improvement. You need to upgrade to a more advanced plan if you want to generate reports regarding your eCommerce site.

Target Audience

Your Wix site can easily be integrated into your Facebook and Instagram Shops. This means that all the products and services that you have uploaded to your online store can be accessed by your target audience through your Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Capacity and Scalability

Wix plans come with unlimited bandwidth, which allows for faster loading times no matter how much media is uploaded on your online store. This platform also provides you with a storage limit of 20GB to 50GB, giving you enough space to upload as many products and services as you need.

However, you might have some trouble extending the default functionalities of your Wix eCommerce website. This is the case because Wix has fewer options and addons, which can affect the scalability of your eCommerce site. After some time, once your business has outgrown Wix, you might have to migrate to a more advanced eCommerce platform.

Customer Support

24/7 customer support is available for Wix customers no matter what plan you have. However, if you purchased the VIP plan, you could enjoy priority customer care. This means that Wix will always ensure to address your concerns first.

Choose the Right eCommerce Platform for Your Business

Finding the right platform for your online store will allow you to run a more successful business. This becomes possible because of the various benefits you can enjoy once you use an eCommerce platform.

First, you can run your online business 24/7 without staying up all night. Your eCommerce platform can take the orders of your customers on your behalf no matter what time of day it is. All you will need are a reliable server and a great user interface to complete a sale anytime.

A great eCommerce platform will also provide you with a wider reach. By using the right platform for your business, you can reach your target audience wherever they are, including social media sites.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of using an eCommerce platform is its scalability. As your business grows, you can easily expand your online store without shelling out too much money. You only need to add inventory and upgrade your website to accommodate more traffic.

Ultimately, the decision on which eCommerce platform to use is up to you. If you want to hear expert opinion on which one suits your business the best, turn to our team at Truelogic. We are here to help bring your company to success.