The # 1 most important task before launching an eCommerce website is to Find out which is the best eCommerce Platform for your business in 2022. In comparison of Shopify vs Magento vs Woo Commerce vs Open Cart vs Custom eCommerce development.
But there are 3 main categories – and dozens of unique solutions within it. Yet on what basis is it worth choosing? 😮
This is exactly what we will show in this article. Here’s a great eCommerce Platform comparison – categorized!
Types of Best eCommerce Platform
- Free eCommerce solutions
- Open source eCommerce platform
- Subscription based eCommerce Solution
- Custom eCommerce website development Dubai
Important! If you’re about to set up an eCommerce website to sell your products or services, chances are you’ll choose between the open source eCommerce platform or subscription based eCommerce solution – so be sure to read following categories sections!
eCommerce platforms have multiple differences between them.But on what basis are they worth examining?
Price
While the development of a eCommerce website development Dubai cost varies, and based on this we have another article to give you an idea of eCommerce website cost in Dubai. Surprisingly many eCommerce website development companies have different rates therefore aforementioned article is an estimation for you to budget your project.
Features
As the prices of an eCommerce Solutions are increasing day by day, so does the number of features and functionalities are enhancing based on an eCommerce platforms. If you don’t want anything special but a reliable, well-functioning online store, you won’t go with limited budget. But if you want to create something really special or 100% customized it will be expensive to suit your needs, see our portfolio.
Handling
It doesn’t matter how easy and intuitive the particular eCommerce Platform is. It won’t be a problem at first, as as a start-up entrepreneur, you’ll probably only start with a few products.But as you grow and your product range grows, it will be a huge hassle to manually add each product on your online store. It is useless for the eCommerce development to cost half as much if you need 5x as much time because it is complicated.
Scalability
When you choose an eCommerce Platform, you need to think about the future plans! Start with the assumption that your online store will be very successful – so you want to improve it after a while. But what happens if the eCommerce website development Dubai can’t support your growth as you grow in your online business.
Don’t worry, we’ll cover that in the list below 🙂
Category 1: Free eCommerce Platform
These are not really your eCommerce website, but online marketplaces where you can upload your products for free and sell your products without the inconvenience of eCommerce website development or arranging Payment Gateways or Shipping.
These free eCommerce Platforms are the first “free” eCommerce Platform category. Instead of your own eCommerce website, these marketplace website manage all the work you have to do to sell your products, including order fulfillment in Dubai or outside UAE, such as following are the most visited and successful marketplace websites:
- Amazon (UAE)
- Noon
- Facebook Marketplace
Perfect solutions if someone just wants to sell one product at a time. But if you want your own eCommerce website – it won’t be free. Never. You have to spend money and allocate your time or build an eCommerce team for maintenance and other associated tasks.
Benefits of free Marketplace Websites:
- Millions of people use them.
- It does not require any expertise or eCommerce website development for your business.
- The fastest solution of all, to start selling your products.
Disadvantages of free marketplaces:
- The platform is in another hand (they can block it in one go or ask for money to get your product in front of more people).
- Buyers typically have little purchasing power, looking for cheap products in comparison.
- Additionally you have to give the marketplace the commission to sell there products.
The best free marketplaces in Dubai are Noon & Amazon (UAE) – thanks to competition, the outcome of your efforts will be less beneficial as compare to starting your own online store.
Category 2: Open Source Best eCommerce platform
Open source eCommerce Platforms are the ones closest to the free online engine. This is because their installation cost is zero. In return, however, it often requires its own design and development, so it is slightly demanding.
However, it is worth hiring a specialist eCommerce website development company Dubai – because the open source eCommerce Platform is one of the convenient ways to go about eCommerce website to sell your products or services online.
There are several eCommerce Platforms in the market:
- Woo Commerce
- Magento
They are all very similar kind of eCommerce Platforms – but they have different properties. Let’s look at them one by one.
Woo Commerce eCommerce website builder
Woo Commerce is without a doubt the most popular open source eCommerce Platform. Its market share is about 40.6% of global market of eCommerce Platform.
By the way, this is a WordPress eCommerce Solution. This means that if your site is running on WordPress, you can also start an online store with a few clicks. However, for the online store to work flawlessly, you already need expert knowledge. By the way, every single extra feature or extension, you want to add to the online store will cost additional money! This is how all open source eCommerce Platforms work.
That’s why they’re not really free eCommerce Platforms.
We use this eCommerce Platforms ourselves – but because we have an expert on the team. Otherwise we would use a subscription based eCommerce Platform. It is worth comparing to the best online store for rent.
Who is it recommended for? Is your site running on WordPress and do you understand it (or do you have expert in house)? Then you should choose this eCommerce Platform for your business.
Magento eCommerce website builder
Magento is a very good and complete eCommerce Platform in which almost anything can be realized. In return, however, it unfortunately requires a lot of resources to run quickly and flawlessly. For an online store with thousands of products, this is a serious hurdle. Plus, the interface isn’t the easiest – you’ll almost certainly need expert help.
Who is it recommended for? If you thousands of Products and looking for very stable and secure eCommerce Platform for which you can afford full time team of experts help or dedicated eCommerce website maintenance services from an eCommerce agency, feel free to choose Magento eCommerce Platform for your business.
Benefits of an Open Source eCommerce Platforms:
- They are free to start, so many refer to them as free eCommerce Solution.
- They know almost everything a self-developed online store knows – but much cheaper
- They are much easier to manage than a self-developed eCommerce website
Disadvantages of the Open Source eCommerce Platforms:
- The “free” online stores are free until we start using them, because then you have to pay for all the extensions and extra features.
- Because they know almost everything, they often need expert help.
- There is no dedicated professional help as in the case of a subscription based eCommerce website.
Based on all this, which is the best “free” eCommerce Platform?
The best open source eCommerce Platform for your Business : Woo Commerce – not in vain market leader, this eCommerce Platform will give most to most people but if you are having thousands of products than Magento will be the ideal eCommerce Platform for your business.
Subscription based eCommerce Platform
Subscription model for eCommerce website is those for which we get almost everything in exchange for a given monthly fee.
This includes:
- Development
- Extensions
- Storage
- Integration
- Templates
You practically get a ready-made eCommerce website. Of course, this can be modified at any time and customized – but not required. The best in the market is Shopify
Let’s look into it.
Shopify website builder
Shopify website builder is the best known subscription based eCommerce Platform in the world. That’s why it’s unfortunately expensive – big knowledge comes with a big price tag. You have your own payment system for which you charge a commission on each purchase. Out of everything. The higher the monthly fee package, the lower the commission.
So Shopify:
- The most knowledgeable eCommerce Solution in the world
- Even the most expensive
Category 3: Custom eCommerce development
The self-developed eCommerce website is undoubtedly the most knowledgeable of all, as it has no limits. Anything you can figure out is feasible.
Although there is really no limit in terms of functions, it is even more so in terms of money and time.
A self-developed eCommerce website is incredibly expensive. It starts at thousands of dirhams, but often the final amount reaches more than expected budget. Plus, it’s a lot more expensive to maintain – and it’s very complicated to handle. This solution is only recommended for the largest eCommerce Solution (e.g. Amazon or Noon).
Advantages of Custom eCommerce development:
- There is limitless room for improvement, anything can be done with it
- You control 100%, there are no restrictions
- This type of conversion is the most effective
Disadvantages of Custom eCommerce development:
- Its development and maintenance further development will cost a fortune
- You don’t have support, templates, pre-built features and eCommerce software
- Its handling is the most complicated of all
In Conclusion
Finding the best eCommerce platform for your business depends on understanding your specific needs, budget, and long-term goals. Whether you prioritize ease of use, flexibility, scalability, or integration capabilities, there’s a platform out there tailored to your business model. Reach out to Si3 Digital for a free consultation to explore the best eCommerce platform options for your business!
