Small and medium businesses (SMBs) need to have online visibility to sell their products. If you’re an SMB owner and you don’t have a website, you’re missing out because an online platform is vital to boosting your sales operations. However, if you’re not a web developer yourself, it may be hard for you to create a functional and aesthetically-pleasing website. Lucky for you, there are other options that can make the process easier. 

Platforms like Shopify or Squarespace, for instance, can help provide an online space where you can grow and manage your business. Not only most of them are user-friendly, but they also have beautiful templates that will ultimately guarantee satisfactory user experience. We’ve created a guide to show you some of the best e-commerce platforms that you can take advantage of to spur the growth of your own SMB.

Pinnacle Cart

Thousands of small, medium and enterprise ecommerce retailers rely on Pinnacle Cart as their go-to solution. That’s because this shopping cart integrates with all their sales channels (e.g. Amazon and eBay) and gives them direct access to their favorite shipping carriers and point of sale systems. What’s more, this cart also has hundreds of carefully crafted, built-in features that are designed to improve accuracy, increase marketing efficiency and save users time and money.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is one of the most famous e-commerce platforms in the market. It is easy to use and very straightforward. Users that have a BigCommerce website experience a significant rise in their conversion rates and they have dropped their abandoned charts rates. 

The good thing about BigCommerce is that you have a lot of freedom to customize your website. However, you need to have some coding background to play around with the customization of the website. 

BigCommerce is also an excellent choice for those who have a small budget. All BigCommerce plans start at $29.99. However, they can vary depending on the features of the project.

Big Cartel

Big Cartel is another budget-friendly e-commerce platform for SMBs—its plans literally start at zero dollars. However, you can always upgrade your subscription to a paid plan if you require more customization. Big Cartel’s sales have reached more than $2.5 billion, meaning that this platform has helped thousands of SMBs reach their business goals. Besides, it also has a wide range of themes you can choose from.  

One of the most outstanding features of this platform is the financial analysis and metrics that allow business owners to track the performance of their sales and inventory easily. On the other hand, you can also create promotional pop-ups that could boost your sales. 

OpenCart

OpenCart is the preferred platform for those SBMs e-commerce that cater mostly to an international audience. The reason for this preference is because OpenCart makes it easier for them to handle shipping and a variety of payment methods. On the other hand, this company has one of the most efficient technical support. OpenCart’s metrics report is also very detailed, so this way, you’ll be able to track every single activity in your operations.

In terms of SEO Management, OpenCart has one drawback. Most users have gotten duplicate URLs. However, in the overall performance, this is still a great platform that is worth checking out.

PrestaShop

One of the most attractive features of this platform is its demographic assistance. PrestaShop can be translated into more than 40 languages, with principal languages being Spanish, English, and French. It has an adaptive location system that helps customers all around the globe to purchase from your company efficiently. Some of the countries where PrestaShop is widely used are Canada, India, and the United States. 

PrestaShop’s UX design is not a high-level one because it is meant to be used for SMBs, but once your company scales to a higher range and requires a more versatile website, you can always change to a different platform.  

Shopify

Shopify is another widely used platform for e-commerce. According to some surveys posted on the Hosting Tribunal, more than 80% of merchants use Shopify App Store. This could give you an idea of how big and popular the company is. Shopify’s plans go between $9 to $2,000. The huge gap shows how versatile and adaptable Shopify is to your budget. So if you don’t have a $2000 budget, but you want to invest in a highly functional and complete website, you can go for the $299 plan. Or if you’re on a budget and are only starting your SMB, you can start with the most basic $9 plan that offers minimal features. 

With Shopify’s payment method, you don’t have to worry about fees. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, such as credit card payment that usually charges a 2% to 3% fee per transaction. In terms of design, Shopify has very appealing themes. Most users say that they love that the designs are intuitive. However, its designs are still limited when compared to other e-commerce platforms.

Squarespace

Squarespace is all about design and synchronization. It has one of the most diversified sets of themes and they all rely on photography, so you can trust that they’re designed with strong aesthetic principles in mind. The other good thing about Squarespace is that you don’t need any plugins or outside features. All the tools you could ever need are made readily available, allowing you to establish your own site quickly. However, this could also be a drawback if you ever required a plugin because Squarespace doesn’t support that extra feature.  

When we say that Squarespace is all about synchronization, it is because it orchestrates all your payments in a single fee—from hosting, security, and other expenses. Another point to note is that this platform is a little more expensive than others in the market.

Conclusion 

There are several great platforms out there but you need to choose one that best fits your company in all sense; budget, functionality, and design. Choosing a platform for your SMBs is not that hard when you’re able to identify the things you need and how you want to be discovered.

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