What is e-commerce? Definition, Types and Getting Started – Forbes Advisor

There are many platforms to build your e-commerce store such as Shopify, Squarespace and Wix. Each website builder differs in ease of use, price, features, and customization capabilities, so it’s important to identify which one is right for your online store. The major e-commerce platforms are listed below.

Square space

Squarespace has all the features you need to run an e-commerce website, so you don’t need to install a plugin. The e-commerce builder starts at $23 per month and provides you with many free templates. You can also customize your e-commerce website with CSS or JavaScript and sell as many products as you want. Squarespace also offers e-commerce analytics and the ability to tag your products on Instagram.

You also get a shipping calculator to calculate and show customers their shipping charges. You can also send automated emails to customers who abandon their carts. But don’t expect to find all these features on low-end plans. Also, note that the business-only option exempts businesses from an additional 3% fee on each transaction.

Shopify

Shopify provides everything you need to start your e-commerce store, even without design experience. This e-commerce website builder allows for smooth integration with up to 6,000 applications, making it easy to run your website. The plans offer unlimited storage and bandwidth, multiple employee accounts, point of sale (POS) access, abandoned cart recovery, shipping discounts, free SSL certificate and shipping label printing. You can also sell as many products as you want.

Shopify’s top plans offer advanced features like analytics and reports, and pay lower fees on transactions, credit card processing, and shipping. You can start with the three-day trial opportunity.

Wix

Wix offers over 500 free templates and lets you customize your website with editing tools that make your website responsive on different devices. Depending on your plan, you can sell unlimited products, recover abandoned carts, manage inventory and complete payments. And you get priority customer support, unlimited downloads, custom reports and a customer loyalty program to make e-commerce easier and better connect with your customers.

This e-commerce website builder has built-in SEO tools to improve your site’s ranking and seamlessly integrates with hundreds of apps, allowing you to add features to your website without coding. Wix also offers a free version, but don’t expect much from it. Also, you need to pay $59 per month to enjoy unlimited storage that can handle a content-heavy e-commerce store.