Top eCommerce Platforms Review: Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify, PrestaShop
It strains and challenges both experienced online merchants and newbies to select among ecommerce platforms. The choice of the right tool meeting business requirements will positively influence further online activities and help increase revenue.
To help you with decision-making, NEKLO’s writers together with the company’s ecommerce specialists have reviewed, structured, and compared 4 leading ecommerce platforms: Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify, and PrestaShop.
The smart choice will make a difference.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Introduction
Online shopping has become the norm. Why not? It’s hassle-free, much faster, and convenient. The data provided by Statista show that online activity will continue to increase in popularity. In 2021, retail ecommerce sales are projected to amount to $4.9 billion compared to $3.5 billion in 2019 and $4.2 billion in 2020.
2020 has proved that moving online is the differentiating and right way for every business to retain customers and keep winning new audiences. At the start of online activity, merchants have a fundamental decision to make. This is selecting an ecommerce platform to build a web store.
NEKLO’s team of web developers and ecommerce specialists have contributed their expertise to help make the selection process easier for you. We’ve made up a short review of the four top ecommerce platforms: Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify, and PrestaShop.
Read on to find the right solution for your online store.
What Is an eCommerce Platform and Why Use One?
To start selling online through an ecommerce platform, you should understand first what an ecommerce platform is. To put it short, it’s a user-friendly software tool, specifically designed to help run online stores.
As for the reasons for using ecommerce platforms, we’ve been coming across web store owners naming:
- Price. Using an ecommerce platform costs less than hiring a team of ecommerce software developers. Today, many platforms have a free version.
- Ease of use. Building an intuitive and well-functioning online store doesn’t always require extensive programming expertise. The right ecommerce software will help to create an online store easily and fast and start selling right away.
- Support. Ecommerce software providers deliver technical support to customers. Direct assistance is provided 24/7/365 via phone, email, and \ or other suitable means of communication.
Ecommerce platform providers can also offer such perks as customer support, regular platform updates, improved security patches, technical video tutorials, and detailed guides.
At least this is exactly what our teams at NEKLO offer as part of custom web development services.
Brands and companies don’t stop at plain advertising anymore. They work on turning every platform that they have access to into a shopping platform.
— Mikhail Klimovich, Senior Magento Developer at NEKLO LLC
Top eCommerce Platforms: Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify, and PrestaShop Review
Online retail is a never-ending competition. Functional ecommerce platforms existing on the market today help businesses grow and deliver better shopping experiences. The main challenge here is to find that one proper platform that can be a revenue-driving tool for your business activities.
We’ve been working on ecommerce projects for over 10 years now and have acquired vast experience in software development to be able to compare and analyze popular ecommerce solutions for online retail without biases for you.
So, here’s the top ecommerce platforms review. Study and pick your winner.
General information
Ecommerce solutions which we’ve selected for this review are:
There’s no one and only option or the best of the best. Each of them has its advantages and drawbacks. What is the best option for your ecommerce activity depends purely on the specifics and requirements of your business.
Customizations and ease-of-use
Ecommerce businesses are all different. Chosen niches differ and so do business requirements. The “one-fits-all” solution doesn’t exist. However, there’s good news. Customization and integration features provided by the majority of ecommerce platforms will help you achieve goals and tailor the platform’s functionalities to your specific web store.
Popularity and usability
As your business grows and you set new business goals, your software requires advancement too. Extensions and plugins provided by marketplaces and specialized stores for ecommerce solutions will help to improve the software functionality by adding features that are not available out-of-the-box.
And don’t worry if the necessary extension or tool is not available on the market. This will become just another software challenge for an ecommerce software development company.
This is what our teams here at NEKLO work on regularly. We’ll be glad to help you expand your web store’s powers by building a custom solution.
Core users and developer community
Before considering a certain ecommerce platform, keep in mind such parameters as your company size, business requirements, and ultimate customers. The right solution for a small company with 10 members in-house will not be the right one for a world-famous organization with offices worldwide.
The availability of an experienced developer community means that you will be able to get professional assistance and support in case issues arise. Certified developers at NEKLO offer their help if needed. We will take all the obstacles away from your path.
Main pros and cons. Pricing on plans.
Budget is one of the essential aspects you have to keep in mind when considering options of ecommerce tools. No matter if you are running a small business taking first steps in online retail or a large ecommerce corporation searching to strengthen the position on the market through online presence, it’s always better to be aware of what you are going to be charged for.
Summing Up
Choosing an ecommerce platform for your business is not only about considering pricing and extensions. There’re always aspects that must be taken into account, aspects influential for your specific activity.
Claiming one particular ecommerce solution the best would be a mistake from our side as each of the reviewed platforms has its valuable benefits to offer and downsides to know about.
As a software development company that specializes in ecommerce development, NEKLO developers and specialists are open to talk and assess the viability of your idea.
Mostly, we focus on Magento development and recommend considering Magento as a dedicated ecommerce platform. However, in case Magento doesn’t seem to be working for the development of your business, we will help you choose the right path on the way to ecommerce success as we know the peculiarities of each of the above-reviewed tools.
The review has key information about ecommerce platforms only. If you are interested in learning more in detail, contact us, and together we will discover what platform can become your ideal one.
Written by Nadya Bakhur, NEKLO Content Team’s eCommerce Technology Writer | Find her on LinkedIn
