The Best e-Commerce Platforms of 2022

The biggest eCommerce platforms in the world are constantly evolving to meet the needs of their users and make more money for themselves. As such, it’s hard to know which ones will still be around in the coming years, let alone if they’ll still be performing at their peak potential by then.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait until 2050 to find out! We put together this article about the best eCommerce platforms of 2022 based on current trends and our predictions about what the future holds for eCommerce. Enjoy reading, and let us know if you agree with our picks!

What Is an eCommerce Platform?

eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Amazon and Big Commerce offer a platform for entrepreneurs to create their own online store and sell their products directly to customers. Entrepreneurs can use these platforms to take orders, track inventory, manage customer relationships and more.

Most eCommerce platforms provide you with pre-built templates that allow you to get started quickly. The most popular options for eCommerce platforms are Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento. These three platforms have been around since the early 2000s, and all have hundreds of thousands of merchants utilizing them. Their popularity is due in part to their ease of use, reliability and ability to grow as your business grows.

One thing to note about eCommerce platforms is that they don't usually come with any software or technology built-in (like payment processing or analytics). So, if you're interested in those services as well, be sure to research each option before committing so that you know what will work best for your needs.

Get Ahead of the Curve with These eCommerce Platforms!

For those looking to get ahead of the curve, here are the best eCommerce platforms that you’ll want to consider using in 2022.

1. Shopify

One of the top eCommerce platforms, Shopify offers an all-in-one solution. Customers can sell their products across several channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and other similar platforms. It also provides a professional shopping cart to accept payments, as well as features such as recurring billing and a built-in blog that attracts prospects.

Many small businesses start with a free account and choose to upgrade to access more features. As for Shopify's monthly pricing plan, it starts at $19 per month and goes up to $299 per month, depending on what you need from it.

Shopify also has dedicated and more advanced plans for those website owners looking to scale up. For example, for business owners who want to pay for some advertising outside of the app itself and are willing to give up a bit of control over their site design and layout, there is Shopify Plus. And for those who want something more tailored (like if they are selling services or intellectual property), there is Oberlo Plus. Once your business has reached a certain size, it will no longer be feasible to run the business without any paid memberships; so this level would be appropriate.

Overall, this platform is very intuitive and user-friendly. After selecting a type of store you want to launch, Shopify will recommend options for apps to integrate, like search engine optimization, blogs, blog templates, website hosting options, social media plug-ins, etc.

Now, you may have heard about these before but don't know how they work - don't worry! They've got videos showing exactly how everything works, so you won't get lost trying to figure out which plug-ins and apps address your needs best.

2. BigCommerce

Its huge suite of features is another reason why Bigcommerce stands out among other e-commerce platforms. Its features include inventory management, real-time insights from Google Analytics, and integrations with business tools such as QuickBooks Online.

What's more, this platform is one of the most flexible in terms of pricing for both merchants and developers alike. It’s worth mentioning that its easy-to-navigate interface offers a much more user-friendly experience than many other solutions on the market today.

There's also a BigCommerce University which provides 24/7 live chat customer support to ensure that users have all their questions answered quickly!

In addition, if you need help developing your website using the BigCommerce platform or want someone else to handle it for you, there's an option available: BigCommerce Enterprise. Your website can be up and running within hours at a price point that varies depending on what you need.

A large variety of features and flexibility make Bigcommerce an excellent choice for startups and small businesses. Here are some examples of things included in the starter package:

• Products + Inventory Management
  
• Order + Shipping Management
  
• Inventory Control & Reporting
  
• Advanced Order Management Tools (including tracking)
  
• Customer Service Support Tools (Chat, Live Chat)

The Standard BigCommerce plan starts at $29.95 per month, while the Pro plan is at $299.95. All plans include an unlimited product, file, storage, and bandwidth, as well as unlimited staff accounts. The sales channels included are Amazon/Walmart/eBay, Facebook/Instagram, Google Shopping, and your online storefront.

3. Yo!Kart

Yo!Kart is a multivendor eCommerce marketplace software with no coding, no learning curve, and no hassle. It enables business owners to build a fully functional eCommerce marketplace that facilitates transactions with powerful search, payment processing, and user profiles. Be it a store with just a fraction of products or with thousands of variations, Yo!Kart - an extremely dependable eCommerce marketplace software is delivered to handle them all with just a few clicks.

This eCommerce marketplace software comes packed with features to create modern-looking storefronts easily, and behaving remarkably with outstanding capabilities. The B2B version of the software is purpose-built with core B2B specific features that perfectly cater to the needs of distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers, and service providers to capture the growth in this flourishing domain.

4. Magento

The Magento eCommerce platform is free to use, and its features include order management, customer management, inventory tracking, and reporting tools. It is also compatible with popular languages such as PHP and JavaScript, which make it flexible for development purposes.

As one of the top leading eCommerce platforms for small- and medium-sized businesses, Magento offers many of the same benefits as other popular platforms, including Shopify.

In addition to its affordable pricing structure, Magento offers plenty of scalability and enterprise-level features to take your business from small and simple to large-scale enterprise success. While not as user-friendly or intuitive as some more recent solutions, Magento is still a popular choice due to its robust set of features.

Furthermore, for some stores, customization can be difficult and expensive. Still, if you're looking for a well-rounded platform that's customizable yet easy to use and deploy, Magento is worth checking out.

5. WooCommerce

Among the most popular eCommerce platforms is WooCommerce, which is free and open-source, making it easy to set up a store and start selling. There are many benefits to using this platform, such as it being user-friendly and having low hosting fees. It offers a drag-and-drop page builder and fully customizable templates that you can use for both your front and backend pages.

Then again, WooCommerce also offers certain downsides to those who run their own online stores. One major downside is that because there are no limitations on what can be sold using WooCommerce, your site will show up in searches with items such as guns and drugs that other platforms won't allow due to censorship policies.

It also means that people might post shady reviews on your products since the only requirement for signing up is entering your email address and name. Lastly, unlike some other platforms, such as Shopify, WooCommerce does not have a built-in way to accept payments from customers through PayPal or Stripe unless you get an additional plugin installed.

Despite these drawbacks, the ease of use and low cost still makes WooCommerce a very desirable choice for small businesses just starting out.

6. WordPress

When you think about eCommerce platforms, you might automatically think about Shopify or BigCommerce. Well, that isn’t surprising because these are both solid options for a start-up business owner.

However, the game is always changing, and it's important to stay ahead of trends to make sure your new business is one step ahead of your competition. And currently, WordPress is just one of the platforms that business owners are looking to invest in. So, if you're looking for an easy solution with lots of helpful resources on how to succeed in the eCommerce space, then WP seems like the way to go.

WordPress is a must-have for eCommerce for these reasons:

• Ease of use for anyone with an internet connection
• Endless customizable themes to create any look you want
• Extensive app market (both free and paid) with tools that help automate aspects of your store such as shipping labels, taxes, sales reports and coupons.
• Simplified design process so it's easy to launch without being overwhelmed by complicated design options and coding.
• WordPress has taken care of pesky things like soap 2 day virus and data security so you can focus on building your business without having to worry about hacking.

In addition to its powerful features, WordPress' popularity is due to its ease of use. Once it’s set up, new updates can be implemented with a simple click or a few clicks from within the admin dashboard. It's perfect for bloggers and online stores alike. And because you're using a CMS, all your website data is stored in one location and backed up regularly.

WordPress has been around since 2003 and powers over 30% of websites worldwide. One of the reasons why people love it so much is because of how easy it is to customize templates and make changes without having any coding knowledge. The downside? If you DIY, there are limited customer support options when things go wrong, which could lead to long hours trying to figure out what went wrong on your own or being stuck with an expensive expert who knows everything about WordPress but doesn't know your business at all!

7. OpenCart

An open-source platform is free to use, so OpenCart saves you money, but it's not for beginners because it doesn't have support in many languages. Unlike other platforms, OpenCart provides more flexibility because it has a lot of templates and extensions available, making it great for developers.

It also has a user-friendly admin panel, integrates well with Google Analytics, includes extensive shipping options like FedEx shipping zones and offers integration tools such as PayPal Pro or 2Checkout without requiring additional programming skills.

With an open-source eCommerce platform like OpenCart, developers can also help out by contributing code. While some features are missing from this platform, there are plenty of extensions available to add functionality.

For those who want a flexible platform that doesn't come with any limitations and requires no coding skills, OpenCart is worth considering.

8. Sparespace

One of the newest eCommerce platforms on this list is Squarespace. It started with an aim to meet the needs of a handful of high-end websites for some friends and eventually became one of the most widely used platforms for both small and large businesses looking to launch their stores.

What's so great about it? One main reason is its cost; for example, you can set up your own shop for a few dollars per month and choose any color you want! If you’re really looking to step it up a notch, then take advantage of some awesome features like integration with PayPal or Amazon. And if that doesn’t convince you, how about some customer satisfaction numbers? More than 90% of customers say they would recommend Squarespace to other entrepreneurs and companies.

9. Wix

If you're ready to start an online store and need a reliable, convenient platform, Wix is one of the best choices. The site offers professional templates for eCommerce stores, making it easier than ever to get your product in front of customers.

In addition, they have a feature called Wishlist that lets customers save items they want to buy later and keep track of them with their email addresses or Facebook accounts. Plus, as part of the package deal, Wix also provides social media marketing services such as managing ad campaigns and contests on Facebook.

The downside? You can't make major changes to your website without being connected to a web designer. For this reason, most experienced business owners would recommend finding someone who's got more experience with websites before using this platform.

What Is the Best eCommerce Platform For Your Business?

Choosing an eCommerce platform for your business depends on a number of factors. If you are starting a digital product company, for example, there are two key factors to consider: what kind of inventory or products do you need to manage, and how many customers do you expect to be handling at once?

There are plenty of eCommerce platforms out there that are hailed as the best out there. And among the best characteristics they share include an intuitive user experience that is easy for people to use. They generally don’t require high levels of hassle, or they don’t even put stress on users who have never set up an eCommerce platform before. Most of the time, they only require you to start by uploading a logo and customize everything from settings to pricing while having full control over store content like product descriptions, images, etc.

Then again, there are also some more traditional options, such as Magento, which gives users high flexibility when it comes to their products through modular architecture while giving them plenty of control over the look and feel, including customizing layouts, colors, fonts, etc.

Even though Magento doesn't come with features such as order management right out-of-the-box (you would need extensions), it is still one of the most popular open-source shopping cart systems available today because it offers great scalability making it perfect for businesses scaling up rapidly! It also includes strong customer service with dedicated customer care teams in North America, Europe, Australia, and the Asia Pacific to help solve any problems that arise during setup.

Tips to Choose the Best eCommerce Platform for Your Business

With the ever-changing nature of online retail, it’s important to keep up with the best eCommerce platforms so that you can remain competitive in your industry. eCommerce platforms are something that every business owner will have to deal with at some point, and knowing which one to choose can be the difference between success and failure.

One of the most crucial things and aspects to consider is whether or not you plan on running a large or small business. If your business is a small-scale enterprise with no plans for global expansion, then WooCommerce might be right for you.

However, if you want to start with something more powerful, either Magento or Shopify would be a better choice because they offer more features and additional customer support. Whichever platform you choose will depend on what your goals are in the long run and how much time you want to invest in developing it.

The key to choosing the best eCommerce platform is simply to make sure you choose something versatile enough to grow with your business!