Choosing the right ecommerce software is an important, if stressful, part of starting anecommerce business.
The ecommerce software you select will determine what features are available in your online store. It will also impact your ability to harness sales channels andscale your business.
So, where to start? This post covers what to look for in ecommerce software and some of the best ecommerce solutions to try in 2024.
What is ecommerce software?
Ecommerce software is the system that allows your欧宝体育官网入口首页to operate. It can include business tools likeinventory management, accounting, and email marketing.
The most basic ecommerce software solutions let you list products for sale andaccept paymentsonline. However, most platforms go further, serving broader online business needs, such as website-building and social media integration. The best ecommerce software provides an entire ecosystem of tools and features to help your business grow.
The best ecommerce software for 2024
The best ecommerce software depends on your individual business goals. Let’s look at some of thebest ecommerce platformsfor 2024:
- Shopify
- Wix
- BigCommerce
- Adobe Commerce
- WooCommerce
- PrestaShop
- Squarespace
- GoDaddy
- Volusion
- Amazon
- Shift4Shop
1. Shopify
Shopifyis the best ecommerce software for most online sellers. It combines an intuitive interface with advanced ecommerce features.
Whether you’re selling through a website, on social media, via marketplaces, or in person, Shopify users can manage their business through a single platform.
Shopify’s suite of tools and products include:
- An online store builder
- Hosting services
- Payment processing
- Shipping and fulfillment
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- And moretools and products
When you’re up and running, take your website to the next level withShop Pay,best-converting online checkout. Harness custom storefronts, abandoned cart recovery, and product subscriptions for a better shopping experience.
As your orders increase, useShopify POSto capture in-person sales andShopify Fulfillmentto handle delivery and inventory.
Want more features? Tap into theShopify App Storefor more than 8,000 apps designed to connect and upgrade your site.
With Shopify, you don’t need technical expertise or funding. The ecommerce software contains everything required to launch and scale a business.
Free trial length:Three days. Then enjoy three months for $1 per month.
Pricing:
- Shopify Basic: $39 per month
- Shopify: $105 per month
- Shopify Advanced: $399 per month
Integrated sales channels:
- Walmart Marketplace
- eBay
- Amazon
- And moreShopify sales channels
Mobile app features:A suite of mobile tools to fully manage your online business.
Point of sale:Yes.
Build your store with the best ecommerce software
Discover why millions of entrepreneurs choose Shopify with a 3-day free trial.
2. Wix
Wixis awebsite builderwith drag-and-drop functionality. The platform has ecommerce features that can be added to your website if you want tosell products online. While the Wix website builder is free, you will need a paid subscription to remove Wix branding and take advantage of the ecommerce tools.
Websites created with Wix can perform basic ecommerce tasks: you can track orders, process online payments, sell through multiple channels (on higher-tier plans), and automate customer emails.
However, Wix lacks some of the more detailed ecommerce features available through Shopify, such as low-stock alerts to help you avoid stockouts. If you have a moderate-to-large inventory, Wix software may be too simple for your needs.
Free trial length:No free trial.
Price:From $16 to $159 per month, depending on features included.
Integrated sales channels:Available on higher-tier plans.
Mobile app features:Yes.
Point of sale:Yes.
Learn more about howShopify and Wix compare.
3. BigCommerce
BigCommerce’s ecommerce software is designed for enterprise-level companies. The platform is powerful enough to handle retail businesses with high turnover and large inventories.
BigCommerce支持范围广泛的电子商务有限元分析tures, including cross-border sales, SEO,social selling, and third-party marketplaces—but it may be overkill for smaller stores.
It’s also more rigid in terms of customization. When ecommerce brandGrace & Lacewanted to implement upselling and cross-selling, it switchedfrom BigCommerce to Shopify Plusto access more flexible selling features.
Price:From $29 to $299 monthly, depending on features included. Custom pricing for enterprise businesses.
Free trial length:15 days.
Integrated sales channels:Yes, includingprice comparison sites.
Mobile app features:Yes.
Point of sale:Third-party integrations available.
Learn more about howShopify and BigCommerce compare.
4. Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)
Adobe Commerceis an ecommerce platform for established companies with the resources to build and maintain an online store. It requires a third-party hosting provider and a basic level of technical expertise.
Adobe Commerce is likely not the best platform for ecommerce outlets that want to sell across multiple channels. Integrating selling channels and international payments is a more complicated process than with other software in this list.
Previously, ecommerce siteCharacter.com现在有一个复杂的磁(Adobe商务)网站that promoted thousands of products. To achieve the right functionality, the store required multiple integrations, making site management difficult. Aftermigrating to Shopify, Character.com experienced a 40% increase in conversions.
Free trial length:No free trial.
Price:Custom pricing only.
Integrated sales channels:Limited.
Mobile app features:No
Point of sale:Third-party integrations available.
Learn more about howShopify and Adobe Commerce compare.
5. WooCommerce
WooCommerceis a free plug-in for WordPress. It turns WordPressblogsinto ecommerce stores with their own branding, products, andcheckout.
Using WooCommerce, merchants can promote products, accept orders, and track sales. For more complex features, additional add-ons can be installed. While this adds to the platform’s flexibility, it also creates a complicated back end.
Because features likedomain nameregistration and hosting are not included with WooCommerce, you’ll also need to pay for them separately, which can make it hard to keep track of total fees.
Price:Free basic plug-in. Additional features sold separately.
Integrated sales channels:Yes.
Mobile app features:Yes.
Point of sale:Yes
Did you know you can monetize WordPress websiteswith theShopify Buy Button?Embed the button to start selling on your blog—for only $5 per month.
Learn more about howShopify and WooCommerce compare.
6. PrestaShop
PrestaShop is a platform for newer online businesses. The ecommerce software is basic but flexible, allowing merchants to tailor their stores as required.
对于简单的电子商务购物c等特性art and checkout, a free version of the PrestaShop is available. However, you’ll need to find a hosting provider.
The paid version of the platform, PrestaShop Edition, comes with hosting, installation, and developer support.
Free trial length:14 days.
Price:Free for the basic version. PrestaShop Edition begins at $24 per month.
Integrated sales channels:Yes.
Mobile app features:No.
Point of sale:Third-party integrations available.
7. Squarespace
Drag-and-drop site builderSquarespacefeatures a user-friendly interface and ecommerce features.
As a website creation platform rather than dedicated ecommerce software, however, some tools are lacking. There are only two payment integrations, for example.
One benefit of Squarespace is its inventory-tracking features. You can also upgrade your plan to sellsubscription products.
Free trial length:14 days.
Price:$23 to $65 per month, depending on features included.
Integrated sales channels:Yes.
Mobile app features:Yes.
Point of sale:Yes.
Addthe Shopify Buy Buttonto your Squarespace site for $5 monthly.
Learn more about howShopify and Squarespace compare.
8. GoDaddy
GoDaddyis a well-known domain seller that also offers anecommerce website builder. It uses artificial design intelligence to speed up site design, using the information you provide to build a customized website.
Although you can get up and running fast with GoDaddy, there are limits to the number of products you can sell via the platform. So, if you want to scale your store, GoDaddy isn’t the best ecommerce software.
Free trial length:7 days.
Price:$9.99 to $29.99 monthly, depending on features included.
Integrated sales channels:Yes.
Mobile app features:Yes
Point of sale:Yes.
Learn more about howShopify and GoDaddy compare.
9. Volusion
Volusion is another ecommerce software that started out as a basic website builder and has since expanded its functionality to accommodate online selling. While you need to register and pay for a domain name through a third party, Volusion includesweb hostingin its plans.
Volusion has basic ecommerce features such as order processing, recurring billing, inventory tracking, and related product promotion. You can also create and manage customer accounts and add taxes.
However, customization options are limited with Volusion, especially when changing site templates. Once merchants hit a certain stage of growth, they may want to upgrade to an ecommerce platform with a wider range of tools.
Free trial length:14 days.
Price:$35 to $299 monthly, depending on features included.
Integrated sales channels:Yes, via extensions.
Mobile app features:Yes, via extensions.
Point of sale:Yes.
10. Amazon
WhileAmazonis best-known as a third-party marketplace for promoting and selling products, it also allows merchants to create branded Amazon storefronts. This gives ecommerce companies a global audience of millions—although Amazon remains in control of your content and charges fees on every sale.
Creating an Amazon store is a great way to supplement your existing sales channels. As you reach new customers and build brand awareness, shoppers will migrate to your independent online store so you can avoid Amazon’s associated fees and restrictions.
Free trial length:No free trial
Price:$39.99 monthly plus additional seller fees.
Integrated sales channels:Integrate Amazon with your Shopify store.
Mobile app features:Yes.
Point of sale:No.
11. Shift4Shop
Formerly 3dcart, Shift4Shop offers free ecommerce software for businesses who process a minimum of $500 per month through Shift4Shop’s checkout tool. Merchants who make less or prefer to use PayPal payment processing pay $29 per month.
Shift4Shop doesn’t have extensive ecommerce functionality, but you can set up online shopping for your business quickly, with numerous website templates. You can use its API to integrate your store with third-party apps.
Price:Free for businesses that process a minimum of $500 per month through Shift4 payment processing, or $29 monthly using PayPal payment processing.
Integrated sales channels:Yes.
Mobile app features:Yes.
Point of sale:Third-party integrations available.
Features to look for in an ecommerce solution
Pricing
You can use ecommerce software to launch an online business with little-to-no money. But costs will grow as you make sales, start marketing, and require more complex features.
According to Shopify analysis, most small businesses spend around $40,000 in their first year, with 9% allocated to online business needs.
Shopify merchants spend an average of $38,000, while non-Shopify merchants average around $41,000:
It takes time to generate a return on your business investments. So it’s important to choose ecommerce software that won’t eat your entire budget—but still has the tools you need to grow your business.
While the most affordable ecommerce software may be tempting, there’s more to consider. Instead of focusing on where your business is now, think about your future operations and find ecommerce software that can scale with you.
Scalability and usability
First things first: your ecommerce software must align with your technical skills. Unless you’re a programmer, you’ll want to find ecommerce software with an accessible interface and intuitive tools.
Schedule a demo or start a free trial to ensure learning curves aren’t too steep.
It’s also important to consider how your ecommerce software will integrate with more complex elements of your business, such as inventory management and accounting.
When choosing ecommerce software, look for well-reviewed business management tools alongside store-building features. This will prevent migration issues when your operations grow.
Let’s say you plan to expand into physical retail. You’ll want ecommerce software with add-ons, plug-ins, and integrations to give you in-person selling features—like Shopify’s complementaryShopify POS.
Shopify POS instantly syncs all your inventory and sales data, so you always have up-to-date information. You can addlocal deliveryor outsource order fulfillment through theShopify Fulfillment Network.
Streamlined checkout
A friction-free checkout will make a measurable difference to your conversion rate. As an ecommerce entrepreneur, one of your priorities should be an easy and secure checkout experience for shoppers to complete their purchase.
Desirable checkout features include familiar payment options like Google Wallet and PayPal, and the ability to collect customer information for future use.
If you use Shopify, Shop Pay streamlines the checkout experience,increasing checkout speed by four times. You can also leverage Shopify integrations, with more than 100payment gatewaysto accommodate all payment methods and currencies.
SEO features
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps drive organic traffic to your website. When your online store is optimized for search, you’ll appear more frequently on search engine result pages (SERPs), which increases visibility and traffic.
Beyond keywords and metadata, search engines also consider a topic's relevance to your website’s area of expertise. In addition, the Google algorithm will determine how authoritative your content is by checking who is linking to your web pages.
To help with content optimization, choose ecommerce software with SEO features, such as the ability to manipulate metadata, increase page load speed, and optimize your images.
For example, with Shopify’s ecommerce software, Google’sWebPimage formatting comes built-in to make images load 30% faster.
Web hosting
Web hosting is a fundamental element of website development. Hosts store the information and content from your website in a publicly accessible server database. Every website is hosted somewhere, on dedicated server space from a web hosting provider. Some ecommerce software offers built-in web hosting, while others require an external solution.
If you use ecommerce software on ahosted platform, your solution is simple. You won’t need to search for a third-party solution or pay additional fees. If you use Shopify, web hosting comes free with every plan.
Multichannel selling
The lines between physical anddigital commerceare blurring. Even mom-and-pop stores now embrace a multichannel approach. You need ecommerce software that enables selling across social media, websites, and physical stores rather than restricting you to a specific channel.
Shopify acts as a business command center, syncing real-time online and in-person sales data. You can promote and sell onmultiple channels from within Shopify, including third-party marketplaces likeAmazonand wholesale.
Start selling online with Shopify
When choosing ecommerce software, remember to consider your current and future needs.
The right ecommerce software isn’t just an online store builder. It should provide support across your business—now, and when you grow.
Ready to create your first business? Start your free trial of Shopify—no credit card required.
Ecommerce software FAQ
What is the best ecommerce software?
Shopify is the best ecommerce software. Shopify has an extensive list of tools to help you manage your online business and streamline your checkout, with 24/7 customer support and a platform that scales with any stage of business growth.
What are the major types of ecommerce software?
There are three maintypes of ecommercesoftware: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and on-premise platforms.
How does ecommerce software work?
Ecommerce software connects all of your online systems in the back end to ensure you can promote your website, sell products, and fulfill orders.
How do I build an ecommerce website?
Choose an ecommerce software from this list, sign up for an account, and build your欧宝体育百家乐. Customize the look and feel, add products, and set up the back-end processes for checkout and fulfillment.