Whether you’re just starting out or if you’re considering moving platforms, deciding on an e-commerce platform is no easy task. At the end of the day, they all allow your customers to buy from you online. How do you know which option to choose? What makes one better or worse for your business?

The answer to that largely depends on you, the business, your market, and your goals. Are you a small local retailer looking to make sales more convenient for your customers? On the opposite end of the spectrum, maybe you’re the owner of a huge international e-commerce business who’s looking to upgrade your e-commerce platform.

Luckily, most platforms are flexible enough to accommodate many types and sizes of businesses. Here at Ventura, we have clients using all 3 of these platforms, and each makes sense for their business. So let’s go over each platform and we’ll explain what makes each one great!

BigCommerce

Pricing:

• $29.95 per month (Standard)
• $79.95 per month (Plus)
• $249.95 per month (Pro)
• Custom Pricing (Enterprise)
• Free Trial Available

BigCommerce is a popular ecommerce solution for small-to-medium sized businesses. Its dashboard is noticeably straight-forward and easy to use, making it a favorable choice for non-technical users.

BigCommerce has great SEO features, it’s easy to customize and it’s reliable. All plans come with 7 free themes and a variety of paid themes are available.

If you want a store without tons of plugins and add-ons, BigCommerce is your go-to. It comes equipped with tools to help you get your store up quickly.

Overall, it’s a strong competitor when compared to other e-commerce platforms.

Visit the Official BigCommerce Website

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Yahoo! Small Business

Pricing:

• $10.95 per month (Starter)
• $25.95 per month (Standard)
• $254.95 per month (Professional)
• Free Trial Available

Yahoo! Small Business is the oldest platform on our list, but is also reliable and affordable. It offers the most customization of any platform, if not quite as user friendly.

While there are free and paid themes available for Yahoo! Small Business stores, the power of the platform is in the ability to have completely custom store designs. This means your store can be uniquely you, yet still function as you would expect from any e-commerce platform.

Recently reinvigorated by a merger with Verizon, Yahoo! Small Business is constantly improving and won’t be going anywhere for awhile.

Visit the Official Yahoo! Small Business Website

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Shopify

Pricing:

• $29.00 per month (Basic)
• $79.00 per month (Shopify Standard)
• $299.00 per month (Advanced)
• $2000.00+ per month (Shopify Plus)
• Free Trial Available

Shopify is a very well-rounded e-commerce platform. It’s approachable and easy to set up even for new store owners. It’s extremely popular and it can scale for small, medium or large businesses.

Shopify has a huge library of themes, plugins and apps to choose from, both for free and premium.

This platform shows no signs of slowing down with it’s new Shopify Plus enterprise platform, designed for even larger stores.

Visit the Official Shopify Website

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While all these options offer free and paid site templates, serious merchants customize their stores to stand out from their competition.  These custom designs provide a much better shopping experience for their customers, thus increasing conversions.

If you’re still having trouble deciding which is best for you, we’d be glad to discuss your goals and current situation and offer a specific recommendation. Send us a note via our Contact Us page or give us a call at 702-515-2057.