Ecommerce
Today’s Top 6 Ecommerce Software Tools
Whether you’re dealing with an inventory of 10 products or 10,000, moving your storefront to an online platform can be a daunting task. Finding the right ecommerce solution for your business can make the progression to online retail a rewarding improvement, rather than a dreadful experience.
What to Look for in Ecommerce Software
Each of these software solutions contain the same basic features: reputable SEO capabilities, mobile retailing, customization choices, social media integration, an array of shipping options and trial periods for site testing. While a solution that promises a lot of extra features could be optimal for large enterprises looking to expand their capabilities, basic software will provide the ideal amount of structure for a small business looking to take their first dip into the online marketplace. Business-Software.com has compiled a review of some of the top ecommerce solutions on the market today, each with noteworthy customer success stories.
Volusion
This software is ideal for businesses in large industries looking to out-sell their competition, in part because of Volusion’s prior client success. The company boasts of boosting business’ sales to four times that of their customer’s nearest competitors.
Their moderate prices are coupled with no transaction fees and a fully hosted solution. They also provide a built-in CRM system for customer service maintenance.
Unique Feature: The company donates life-long memberships to a number of nonprofits every year.
Price Point: $$
Notable Customers: Nalgene, Intel and Skates.com
Shopify
Shopify is great for midsized companies looking for reputable data security and online speed. The platform offers 24/7 customer support and acclaimed mobile capabilities. They also offer a fully hosted blogging platform that helps clients stay in touch with their customer community.
Unique Feature: They are one of the only ecommerce vendors to offer a complete in-house CMS system and are highly regarded for their speed and security.
Price Point: $$$
Notable Customers: SMS Audio, Pop Chart Lab and Jaxon Home
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is ideal for larger companies because their all-inclusive package drops transaction fees and adds in extensive features such as Quickbooks integration and powerful back-end management tools. BigCommerce also makes it easy to sell products on multiple sites, including eBay, Facebook, Pricegrabber and Shopzilla
Unique Feature: This solution is often chosen for its extensive supply of educational materials, which aid users in site creation. They also offer a generous amount of ad credit, justifying their pricier monthly costs.
Price Point: $$$
Notable Customers: Torie and Howard, Rock Revival and Quoddy
Magento
The company’s ‘Go Anywhere’ platform offers clients a maximum capacity of 10,000 products and eliminates a lot of superfluous features. This makes Magento Go great for businesses who don’t need all of the bells and whistles, aiming to display simplified content. However, they offer three customizable solutions that aim to cover various business sizes and industries, making their platform highly flexible.
Unique Feature: They offer a free trial period of 30 days, giving users an entire month to test sales and decide if they want to continue use.
Price Point: $$
Notable Customers: Toms, Fiji Water, Papyrus, The North Face and Men’s Health
Up-and-Coming Platforms:
While some of the lesser-known ecommerce platforms are not as established in the industry, some of their specific offerings could be just what your business needs. Many fairly new platforms that are emerging in the ecommerce industry have had extremely reputable customer success and are innovating the online retailing process with specialized focuses.
Squarespace
This platform is best for the client who values aesthetics. Squarespace provides an extremely low price point compared to their competitors, as well as 24/7 support with guaranteed responses within the hour. Though they only offer most platforms’ standard features, Squarespace is perfect for the retailer who is looking for a highly detailed and visually unique online storefront.
Unique Feature: Their templates are regarded as being among the most aesthetically pleasing in the entire industry.
Price Point: $
Notable Customers: Michael Kors, Target, Cisco, HBO, Sony and FourSquare
Spree Commerce
This is a unique platform that is great for businesses both looking for an entirely new service or an enhancement to their existing ecommerce software. Spree specializes in integrating with your current platform, allowing businesses to focus on their sales and minimize timely and expensive back-end management. They launched Wombat in 2013, which can integrate back-end software with existing storefronts from any ecommerce vendor, including their own.
Unique Feature: They are one of the only available platforms that will combine with your existing software, aiming to let your business go to market quicker, grow faster and run more efficiently.
Price Point: Contact for pricing.
Notable Customers: Chipotle, Blue Bottle Coffee Company and Loot Crate
Want more information on ecommerce software?
Discover and learn more about ecommerce software by exploring blog posts, white papers and more at our ecommerce research center. For comparisons of the best ecommerce solutions on the market, download Business-Software.com’s Top 10 Ecommerce Software report.
Photo courtesy of flickr user Infocux Technologies.
