The best website platforms for eCommerce brands.
In this post, I'll be covering the best website platforms for eCommerce brands as I share the pros and cons for 4 of the most popular options.
Let's dive in!
Which website platform is best for eCommerce brands?
Well, the short answer would be that any of them could work, but that's not what we're here for.
The longer, more helpful, answer is that it depends on what you need for your business.
How many products do you have now? How many do you plan to have in the future?
Will you have a blog?
Will you be designing the website yourself?
How much maintenance do you anticipate?
What features are important to you?
Take a few moments to jot down the answers to these questions and keep them close as we walk through the pros and cons of Squarespace, Showit, Shopify, and WordPress.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a highly rated platform that offers sleek design layouts and a variety of assets such as scheduling, email, blogging, eCommerce, membership pages, and great SEO capabilities. The back end of the site is very user-friendly making it a great option for beginners and it offers a variety of DIY design options for free.
However, if you’re wanting a website that has a lot of unique bells and whistles, you’ll need to learn CSS coding or hire a developer to code for you.
All in all, Squarespace is a great option for any service provider, but when it comes to eCommerce, it’s best suited for brands with a smaller range of products.
Showit
This one has become increasingly popular because of its drag-and-drop editor that allows its users to create any design they want without any coding knowledge. Being able to have a lot more creative freedom makes this platform a great option for anyone wanting a unique website, but the endless amount of possibilities can make the platform a bit overwhelming.
For service providers, this can be a great option, having strong SEO and blogging capabilities. But, for eCommerce businesses, this platform has very few shop options. If you’d like a small chop on Showit, you can pay for the Shopify Lite plugin or Thrive Cart.
These plugins are much more limited than Shopify or Squarespace making Showit far from the best option for eCommerce brands. It’s better suited for service providers with a handful of digital products to sell.
Responsive website design shown on desktop, laptop, tablet, and phone
WordPress
Wordpress is one of the most widely known and used website platforms around, since it’s been around for quite some time. It’s best known for its amazing SEO and blogging capabilities on a good day, but on a bad day, it’s known for it’s hard-to-learn and high-maintenance back end.
This platform, like most, has templates that you can purchase to get your started when designing your website. Otherwise, you’ll need to learn coding in order to truly customize your site.
Overall, WordPress is a great option for bloggers, service providers, or tech-savy business owners of any kind. It partners with WooCommerce for all your eCommerce needs, but, again, require more time, money, and effort to design and maintain over the years.
While it is a robust option for eCommerce businesses, I think you’ll like the next option much more.
Saving the best for last, it should be no surprise that Shopify is one of the best website platforms for eCommerce brands. It was, quite literally, designed for eCommerce brands alone. It offers the ability to blog, sell products, use a large variety of eCommerce app integrations, and customize your SEO.
It’s also very user-friendly on the back end of the platform making it easy for shop owners to manage as they grow. For those who can’t currently invest in professional website design, Shopify offers a large variety of templates that don’t require any additional coding.
In my opinion, the ease of use and endless plugin library makes Shopify the best option for all eCommerce brands large or small.
The Breakdown:
Here’s a chart you can reference for a side-by-side comparison. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram.
website platform breakdown
