Top 5 Most Preferable E Commerce Platforms For Small To Mid Sized Businesses

7
Jun 2014

Posted by: Category:Web Design & Development

 

Literally dozens of e-commerce website development frameworks are available around the world but as far as you are a small or mid-sized business, a FREE platform will work best for you.

However, opting for a free e-commerce framework/platform doesn’t mean you have to bargain with features and facilities. You can still have best of both worlds by choosing your platform wisely.

According to me, the most preferable E commerce web development platform for your business should be the one that is most widely used over the world.

Simply the reason to believe it is; the more the features are, the more the people would be using it. The more the people use it, the more the developers will be there. The more the developers will be, the more chances of facilities and features it will stand for future.

With that point of view in your mind, here is your takeaway:

Top 5 Most Preferable E Commerce Platforms/Frameworks For Your Small To Mid Sized Business

Top 5 Most Preferable E Commerce Platforms For Small To Mid Sized Businesses

Most Popular E Commerce Platforms/Frameworks By Usage | source: builtwith.com




1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is currently the most popular WordPress extension in context to the number of presently active installs. The most obvious reason behind that is probably its free availability and light code-base that empowers you develop a highly functional, extensible and customizable website. However, if you need an advanced website with some extra features, you will have to buy some paid extensions and a nice paid theme.

WooCommerce- Key highlights:
-Free
-Easy-to-install and use
-Ideal for small to mid-sized business
-Extensive tax options
-Supports featured product
-Supports price filter
-Easy to read graphs for sales reports and inventory system
-Free and flat-rate shipping options
-One page checkout for maximum conversion
-Dynamic pricing options
-Shortcodes to display products anywhere
-All basic product options including grouping, affiliate, bulk edit etc
-Payment options: Bank, PayPal, Checks, Cash-on-delivery & more as paid options

Overall, WooCommerce is:
Good for:
design, easy interface & free for all basic features  &
Bad for:
Lack of support for multi-stores, multi-currencies & multi-language, Lack of extensions

Example E-commerce websites:
https://goodyfoodssf.com/
http://shop.spectator.co.uk/
http://hypebeast.com/

Buy reliable WooCommerce design service 

 

2. Magento

Being choice of more than 1,60,000 online stores including famous ones like Nike & Samsung, probably Magento is much likely for your website rather than any other platform. Magento is a feature-rich, heavyweight e commerce platform offered in three different versions Magento Go, Magento Community and Magento Enterprise. Ideally for e commerce websites getting more than 25,000 visitors per month, the community version is ideal. For websites with very small business, 15-25$ version Magento Go is advised while for extremely huge e-commerce websites, Magento Enterprise is suitable.

Magento- Key highlights:
-Free version available
-Easy-to-install
-Complex to manage, requires some programming skills
-Better design abilities for products & categories
-Large user community- easy solution for issues
-Extended shopping cart & catalog management
-Product search
-Extended admin functions
-One of the most SEO friendly e commerce platform
-Costs more than other platforms as you require professional developers
-Needs efficient hosting setup as it is heavier than WordPress based platforms
-Marketing & promotional tools
-International support

Overall, Magento is:
Good for:
Feature-richness, multi-lingual support, SEO, marketing & community profits for issue & bugs
Bad for:
Complex to manage, costs more, loading speed & poor documentation

Example E-commerce websites:
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/
http://www.rovio.com/en/our-work/games/
http://us.gant.com/

Buy reliable Magento e commerce design service 

 

3. OpenCart

OpenCart works with any web server that utilizes PHP and MySQL. OpenCart is an open source e commerce platform available under standard GNU General Public License. The success of OpenCart is in its straightforwardness and excellent usability for online merchants as well as their customers. Among all salient features of OpenCart, Tax options and order management are most noticeable. Also in context to SEO, OpenCart gives good performance. Below are key characteristics of OpenCart

OpenCart- Key highlights:
-Open source
-Unlimited products, categories and manufacturers
-Multi currency and multi lingual support
-SEO friendly
-Downloadable products
-Multiple tax rates
-Sales reports & printable invoices
-Error logging
-Multi-store support
-Convenient and clean control panel- no technical knowledge required
-Suitable for small to medium level businesses
-Sufficient number of extensions for various purpose
-Supportive user community for help in errors and issues

Overall, OpenCart is:
Good for:
Easy interface, multi-lingual, multi-currency and multi-store support, huge user community & easy setup
Bad for:
No SEO friendly URLs, not suitable for large stores & limited product features

Example E-commerce websites:
http://www.postcardcollecting.com/
http://www.maxgioie.com/shop/
http://www.redcross.org.uk/

Buy reliable Opencart e commerce design service

 

4. ZenCart

ZenCart is PHP/MySQL based e commerce platform and an extension of osCommerce. It is easier to use than osCommerce and requires knowledge of PHP to get the most out of it. Except the rugged looks and setup, Zencart performs well in terms of e-commerce website management. You get enough of controls and functions to handle up to a mid-sized online store. However, I wouldn’t recommend Zencart to those in needs of setting up a large online store. For those who want to instantly set up a web store and manage it the same until it gets quite larger, Zencart can be an option.

WooCommerce- Key highlights:
-Free
-Easy-to-install and setup
-Ideal for small to mid-sized business
-Quite customizable back-end
-Offers standard marketing tools like newsletter, coupons, gift cards etc
-Strong community support
-Bulk product import
-Powerful inventory management
-Hundreds of free customizable plugins
-Not so good for SEO
-Few theme designs available compared to other e commerce platforms
-Below average design aesthetics
-Needs amount of technical knowledge to get things done
-Supports wide range of payment gateways

Overall, Zencart is:
Good for:
Marketing promotion, straight-forward installation & implementation and efficient product management
Bad for:
SEO-friendliness, design aesthetics, skinning customization, overwhelming admin interface

Example E-commerce websites:
http://dezines2amaze.com/
http://www.shopcybermidi.com/
http://www.001galerie.com/

Buy reliable Zencart e commerce design service

 

5. PrestaShop

Prestashop is PHP based open-source framework for e commerce website development. Prestashop was released in 2007 and has currently more than 130K active installs. With a large community of 3,50,000+ members & lots of add-ons and modules, Prestashop has definitely made its mark at very rare pace in the e commerce site development industry. Having a simple, easy-to-use interface, Prestashop has very small learning curve compared to Magento and other complex e commerce platforms. Below are the key characteristics of Prestashop worth highlighting:

Prestashop- Key highlights:
-Free
-Easy-to-install and use
-Easy-to-master admin panel
-Doesn’t need much of technical knowledge
-Easy graphical modification with ‘Smarty’ based themes
-Many built-in functionalities
-A significant library of free and premium addons
-SEO friendly URLs and meta data
-Built-in page indexing system
-Large base of users for support with issues
-Reportedly prone to bugs, can be tougher for non-technical executives
-Easy import of products
-Free marketing tools
-Analytics and reporting suite included
-Multi-lingual and multi-currency support

Overall, Prestashop is:
Good for:
Ease-of-use, product management, SEO, low complexity, customizability and light-weight
Bad for:
Bug complaints by users, poor direct support, no built-in export tool, some important modules will need to be paid, limits of script customization for shopping cart

Example E-commerce websites:
http://www.yourdesignpick.com/
http://www.planetechocolat.com/en/
http://www.ooh-design.com/

 Buy reliable Prestashop e commerce design service

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