What is an Ecommerce Platform and What are Your Options?

Choose an ecommerce platform that will allow for scalable, long-term growth when establishing your online business. This is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when starting your online business.

This decision, as one can expect, has far-reaching consequences:

• Providing assistance to clients who are interacting with your brand in order to eliminate friction when they are receiving the product they require.
• Ascertaining that your personnel have the tools and resources they require to implement campaign strategies.
• Protecting your bottom line in terms of sales growth, as well as the costs of maintenance and installation, is essential.

Read on to learn more about what to consider when choosing an ecommerce platform, as well as some of the most popular solutions available on the market.

See also: How to Increase Traffic on Your Website?

What is an Ecommerce Platform?

E-commerce refers to activities such as purchasing and selling that take place via the internet. The various sorts of commerce include B2B, B2C, C2C (consumer to consumer), and C2B (business to business) (consumer to business). An e-commerce platform is a software application that allows both sides, the vendor and the customer, to come together and perform their respective functions. 

Essentially, a consumer should be able to utilize an e-commerce platform to discover products, browse through them using a shopping cart, and then complete the transaction.

Related: Marketplaces in the Philippines

Why Use an Ecommerce Platform?

Ecommerce software has a significant impact on the profitability and stability of your business, regardless of whether you’re expanding a brick-and-mortar store, looking for an enterprise-level solution, or even starting from scratch.

The following are the only alternatives to an ecommerce platform:

• Building one from the ground up is out of the question for most firms — and is only justifiable for multimillion-dollar (or multibillion-dollar) enterprises.
• You’re utilizing a plugin, which is not ideal if you’re trying to start and grow a legitimate business of any size.

What Are Your Ecommerce Solution Options?

There are three primary ecommerce platform alternatives to choose from:

Open Source

Although all patches and platform updates must be implemented manually across the board, the hosting environment can be either cloud-based or on-premise. Open-source ecommerce systems are solutions that allow you to make changes to any part of the code you choose.

It is common for development and IT-intensive firms to use this type of ecommerce platform if they desire complete control over their ecommerce environment. When you use an open-source ecommerce platform, you – the brand — are responsible for the following:

• PCI Compliance is required.
• Hosting a party (depending on if your open-source solution is on-premise or cloud).
• When it comes to open-source cloud commerce solutions, they differ from on-premise solutions simply in that the hosting environment is provided by your provider and handled off-site.
• While using a cloud environment, you do not have unlimited bandwidth, as you would get with a software as a service option. Specific bandwidth allowances should be inquired about, particularly if you are contemplating Magento or Volusion.

SaaS or Software-as-a-Service 

Cloud computing is used as a hosting environment. SaaS ecommerce solutions simplify the process of running an online business by eliminating most of the complexity. As opposed to creating and developing a custom solution or an open-source solution (which is frequently improved upon to the point of being custom), you essentially “rent” the platform from the vendor.

When development costs are taken into consideration, this is a significantly less expensive option than open-source solutions. SaaS providers handle all of the tasks associated with operating your own software, including product updates, security, hosting, PCI compliance, and any other tasks that arise as a result of running your own software.

When it comes to ecommerce firms, the marketing and growth teams are frequently the internal advocates for SaaS ecommerce solutions within their enterprises. With a SaaS solution, you have the ability to get to market rapidly and at a reasonable cost.

As a result of the closed-off portion of code in a SaaS solution, IT and development teams are frequently concerned about the lack of flexibility and customization that may result. APIs, as well as non-proprietary code and staging environments for user interface development, all help to alleviate this problem. Platforms that match the criteria outlined above are sometimes referred to as “Open SaaS” platforms.

Headless Commerce Platforms

Headless commerce is a type of cloud-based ecommerce in which the shopping cart is separated from the content management system (CMS).

Companies who use a design experience platform (DXP) such as Adobe Experience Manager or Bloomreach, or a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress or Drupal, are more likely to succeed in their efforts. Then they connect a decoupled ecommerce shopping cart solution to the server.

Because of their low total cost of ownership and extensive API flexibility, SaaS technologies are also frequently employed in place of decoupled carts in this context. IT and development divisions at major corporations have traditionally served as the business’s controllers, whether through on-premise hosting, open-source platforms, or proprietary platform creation.

As a result of the high expense of monolithic technology stacks and the demand for speed and innovation from a marketing standpoint, SaaS and cloud hosting have thrown the paradigm out of whack and caused it to become obsolete. Headless commerce alleviates this problem by enabling a shorter time to market while also lowering the total cost of ownership by a large margin.

Brands can preserve their single source of truth monolithic systems on the operations side by utilizing APIs, plug-ins, and, on occasion, decoupled technologies.

Best Ecommerce Platform Comparison

The advantages and disadvantages of each ecommerce platform are different. The various platforms should be evaluated by organizations based on their own individual requirements and use cases, which can be found here.

See also: Types of Ecommerce

Magento

Magento has traditionally been an on-premises, open-source solution that has been favoured by firms who have already made significant investments in their IT or development teams. Magento 2 (also known as Magento Commerce Cloud or Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition) is a cloud-based, open-source solution that was launched in more recent years by Magento.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce software that integrates with WordPress to provide a cart solution in addition to a brand’s content. It is most commonly utilized by small businesses and amateurs, bloggers who want to branch out into ecommerce, and large corporations who hire developers who are familiar with the WordPress platform.

Shopify

Shopify is a well-funded SaaS ecommerce platform provider that is publicly traded. Their appeal is particularly strong among new businesses, amateurs, and companies with fewer than 100 SKUs. Shopify also offers a business-to-business option known as Shopify Plus. In order to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of each platform, check out this excellent Shopify Plus versus BigCommerce comparison from Cart Consultants.

Wix

Similarly to Squarespace, Wix is best recognized for its straightforward website setup and maintenance, which is made possible by a drag-and-drop interface, competitive pricing, and current themes, both for purchase and for free. Entrepreneurs and other small business creatives are the most common users of Wix, according to the company. The platform takes pride in being a solution that can be used by both novices and experts who are looking for a little more creative flexibility in their website work.

OpenCart

OpenCart is a free and open-source program for managing online stores. Customers can create several stores and payment choices, manage various product options and attributes, and add an endless number of products to their carts using the platform. For small enterprises, freelancers, and mid-market merchants, this is a popular option.

FAQs About Ecommerce Platforms

Was wondering which ecommerce platform would be the greatest for a small business?

• Large ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce, Shopify, and WooCommerce are the most popular among small enterprises. Each platform has its own set of advantages and limitations, which vary depending on your previous expertise and your specific brand requirements.

Should a company go for an ecommerce platform or develop a custom solution from the ground up?

• The majority of ecommerce firms rely on an ecommerce platform, specifically a SaaS solution. With software-as-a-service ecommerce platforms, firms may rent technology at a low cost, lowering the barrier to entry into the online selling market to an extreme degree. Custom solutions need significant financial resources to develop, and their time to market is significantly delayed.

Is it possible to find free ecommerce platforms?

• There are no free ecommerce systems available at this time. The cost of an ecommerce website varies. However, while most open-source platforms are technically free in the sense that you are not paying a licensing fee as part of your ecommerce plan, there is a significant expense associated with hosting and development. SaaS platforms charge a monthly subscription price that is reoccurring.

Ginee is Ecommerce’s Best Friend

In the course of your internet business endeavors, you may find Ginee Philippines to be a helpful resource. By working with well-known digital marketplaces, they have made it possible for all of your stores to be managed from a single dashboard, no matter what level they are on.

Despite the ERP system’s advantages, you may be able to deal with problems across all of your locations in a single operation as a result.

Utilize Ginee’s benefits to increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Users have the option to determine whether or not their postings are automatically replicated after a certain length of time has passed, depending on their preferences. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. situation in which both parties benefit For a short time, Ginee is providing a free seven-day trial of the service as a marketing tool.