The online marketplace is continually attracting new shoppers. It is projected that by 2021, the eCommerce share of total global retail sales will reach 18.1%, and by 2023 the number will go even higher to up to 22%. One is certain, eCommerce is the future.
What these numbers also tell us is that competition in the digital marketplace is growing. Customers have more choices than ever to browse and experiment with different online businesses.
If you want to stand out in the crowd, you'll need a comprehensive eCommerce solution that will provide customers with a personalized, fast, and intuitive shopping experience.
Luckily, there are eCommerce solutions that aim to help you create a high-quality digital storefront. To narrow down your choice, here are some of the most popular solutions for eCommerce businesses.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce powers 22% of the top 1 million eCommerce sites. Additionally, 93.7% of all WordPress eCommerce websites use the WooCommerce plugin.
Why is WooCommerce so popular among eCommerce owners? Because it is easily integrated with the existing website, it provides customization options, numerous themes, plugins, and more.
If you are a medium-sized business looking for a good and quick solution for your WordPress website, WooCommerce can offer you the flexibility and help you provide customers with a painless shopping experience. Simply integrate the eCommerce features alongside your current content, and you'll be good to go.
Some of the top features that WooCommerce provide are:
- Powerful product sorting and filtering
- Built-in payment processing capabilities
- Tax options
- Seamless checkout system
- Inventory and orders management
Medium-sized businesses will find WooCommerce suitable for their evolving needs as you can use extensions to link your WooCommerce store to third-party solutions like Google Analytics, Fulfillment by Amazon, Authorize.net, Facebook, and MailChimp. Some medium and large-sized businesses that have put their trust into WooCommerce are Orange, Weber, Ripley's Believe it or Not! Bookstore and Singer.
The only drawback of WooCommerce is that it only runs on WordPress. Since it is an extension of WordPress, WooCommerce doesn't have its own hosting, so if you expect high traffic, the costs can rise notably.
Magento
Another popular choice for eCommerce brands is Magento. This eCommerce solution will give you the power to create an intuitive and highly-personalized shopping experience thanks to its drag-and-drop editing tools.
Medium-size businesses that desire full control over their online store can find this platform to be the ideal choice for them. Businesses like Marie Claire, HP, Shinola, and Albertsons rely on Magento to provide their customer with a responsive and customized eCommerce journey.
There are 3 Magento editions you can choose from:
- Magento Open Source (former Magento Community)
- Magento Commerce (former Magento Enterprise)
- New Magento Cloud proposition
Magento Open Source and Commerce have the same core features; however, the paid version is more useful for online business owners. Magento Commerce, formerly known as Magento Enterprise, had introduced some improvements to SEO, database, order management, checkout experience, customer loyalty, and more. All these enhancements make Magento Commerce even more valuable to online merchants.
Magento Cloud edition gives you an automated and self-managed hosting platform. If you use Magento Cloud, you'll have the capability to scale and provision resources.
eCommerce companies can have the opportunity to present their brand's personality and create a unique shopping experience for their target audience with the full-featured Page Builder. Magento Commerce's content creation tools have incredible options, such as:
- In-line editing features
- Reusable dynamic blocks
- Publication schedules to deploy new content
- Engaging page designs
To take personalization to the next level, Magento Commerce integrates customer segmentation tools. You can boost conversation rates with the help of highly-targeted content.
Magento understands the importance of a quick and easy checkout process which is why it can provide your customers with instant purchase capabilities.
Magento Commerce also aims to maximize efficiency for medium-sized businesses with business intelligence and operations features. Use Magento data to analyze your business from different aspects such as the success of your marketing campaigns, conversion rate, retention rate, etc.
There is a full range of extensions on the Magento Marketplace so you can integrate Magento with popular eCommerce solutions like PayPal or MailChimp. Magento will let you advance your store with extensions for enhanced digital security, professionally-designed themes, or additional SEO capabilities.
What eCommerce businesses value about Magento is that it lets you create a personalized and original experience with the ability to incorporate features individually depending on your needs.
Custom eCommerce Solution
Online businesses that want to be certain that their customer experience is not similar to any other eCommerce experience can build eCommerce experiences on their own.
Crafting a unique eCommerce solution lets you dictate the user experience according to your goals. Moreover, custom eCommerce solutions can eliminate the spending on unnecessary features and let you allocate your costs to meet your budget.
Instead of depending on in-house staff, many online businesses turn to custom eCommerce solution companies.
With customized solutions, it is all about matching your business's specific and unique needs.
Final Thoughts
The eCommerce solution you'll opt for solely depends on your business's goals. Consider the complexity of your desired user experience, the amount of control you want to have, and the level of originality you want to reach.
All these solutions have their advantages, but the determining factor is the needs of your eCommerce business.