Which E-commerce Platform Wins the Hosting Game?
What do a first-time online store owner and a large-scale business have in common? — The need to create an eye-catching and efficient online store on a stable and secure e-commerce platform. No matter whether you’re learning how to deploy an online store or competing with the big players in the industry, selecting an ideal e-commerce hosting plan is the initial stage in the website development cycle.
This blog will help you understand what an e-commerce platform is, explore the top e-commerce hosting services—especially for businesses using the best PHP hosting—and highlight key features to consider when choosing an ideal e-commerce platform for your online business—let’s get started!
What Is an E-commerce Platform?
An e-commerce platform is a solution using which a merchant can run commercial operations on the web. Owing to their intuitive front-end and dynamic back-end functionalities, a trader can organize and manage all operations, marketing, and inventory from a centralized dashboard without additional assistance.
The excellence of e-commerce platforms lies in the fact that you wouldn’t need to develop your store functions from scratch. Of course, certain e-commerce platform installations demand good programming knowledge (such as Magento), but you won’t need to invest massively in your website layout and core features, which will become inflexible and costly when it comes to the integration.
Among the numerous advantages of e-commerce platforms are
- Drag-and-drop-friendly website-building interface
- Myriads of readymade themes and design features
- Seamless third-party integration with CRM, ERP, and much more.
- Pre-integrated payment gateways
- Dedicated client support and security solutions
Best E-commerce Platforms
In the world of e-commerce, startups or growing businesses are typically defined by a moderate product base, restricted budget, security, and inadequate human resources, at times comprising a vendor only. For web development, these organizations require minimal modification, capitalize on readymade themes, and experience less website traffic.
However, while considering the choices, e-commerce businesses can look at the following reliable platforms.
- Shopify
Being one of the finest e-commerce platforms, Shopify offers a hassle-free SaaS solution for entrepreneurs. A vendor doesn’t require too much technical expertise to create a web store and shouldn’t have to be an expert designer to apply a theme from the extensive Shopify theme repository. Shopify promises a free SSL certificate, comprehensive assistance, and numerous payment gateway support.
Significant Benefits
- User-friendly platform to post content, such as services, product information, media, and much more.
- An encrypted SSL certificate and hosting plan are included in the cost.
- Extended library of applications, themes, and extensions.
- Cross-channel compatibility to integrate various online platforms, such as social media channels, Amazon, and much more, to sell on diverse platforms.
- Pre-integrated email marketing solutions and analytics.
- OpenCart
OpenCart is a freely available e-commerce platform. Website owners can download it without paying any additional costs and augment their features with pre-configured plugins. Manual customization is a cakewalk for users having adequate coding skills. OpenCart has a low initial investment and could be an ideal choice for growing brands that are in an expanding phase and seeking innovative website designs.
Significant Benefits
- Users can customize the code to experiment with the store’s UI and features.
- Pre-integrated payment solutions to streamline the shopping experience.
- Extensive library of themes, plugins, and add-ons.
- An infinite number of products and services to be created.
- Completely free to install.
- WooCommerce
From blogs to web stores! WooCommerce is an open-source, customizable WordPress plug-in that can be used to convert any website into a shop. WooCommerce is the market leader in offering intuitive and unique website design solutions. Small shops looking for simple e-commerce needs can leverage the potential and built-in security features of this e-commerce platform.
Significant Benefits
- Easy-to-deploy and user-friendly setup with a centralized user interface.
- Extensive collection of eye-catching themes and plugins to modify with ease.
- No transaction fees and seamless integration with prominent payment gateways, like PayPal, Stripe, and much more.
- Powerful SEO and marketing features.
- An extensive community of developers providing insightful blogs and knowledge bases for users willing to troubleshoot their issues on their own.
- Magento Open Source
It is one of the most affordable Magento versions with essential shopping features and efficient code. Unlike the rest of the free e-commerce solutions, it provides unlimited solutions for customization and offers scalability options. It’s significantly cheaper than other enterprise-level e-commerce platforms and versatile in third-party integrations.
Significant Benefits
- Flexible and user-friendly.
- Catalog management; marketing, campaigning, and conversion tools
- A huge client base and rich articles on how to use the platform.
- A mobile-optimized and responsive platform
- Completely free to install.
Which E-commerce Platform Should I Choose? Features to Consider
Now, you might be confused by all these choices available in the industry and wondering which e-commerce platform to go for among all these options. Don’t get stuck! Here are the principal aspects you should take into account while making a well-informed decision:
- Scalability
If you have a budding online store, you can start with an open-source platform like OpenCart and then scale to an advanced one.
- Business Model
It’s worthless to choose a solution with advanced B2B features if you’re having a B2C or D2C business.
- Present and future business requirements
If you’re willing to experience a traffic spike in the coming days, go for a platform that provides effortless scaling of resources.
- Budget
Never overlook website maintenance and server management expenses after its primary development.
Conclusion
E-commerce has grown in popularity over the years and continued to expand as vendors discovered the potential of the Internet as a market. E-commerce websites assist start-ups in scaling up and also contribute to the growth of larger and bustling enterprises.
Presently, organizations harmonize their marketing campaigns with the broader, digital client base by exploring the power of the e-commerce sector. Hence, it’s a smart practice to analyze the pricing table of each prospective provider, evaluate your business needs, and investigate what they can offer.
Selecting the most suitable e-commerce platform might not be a once-in-a-lifetime task; however, a reliable and optimized web hosting platform like MilesWeb can certainly propel your business towards the right direction and accelerate growth.
