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A Comparison Of The Top 4 E-commerce Platforms Online

Discussion in 'eCommerce' started by Norah Lim, Jul 26, 2013.

?

So what's YOUR choice?

  1. BigCommerce

    1 vote(s)
    11.1%
  2. Shopify

    4 vote(s)
    44.4%
  3. Izzonet

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Prestashop

    2 vote(s)
    22.2%
  5. Your own wordpress site

    2 vote(s)
    22.2%
  1. #1
    Whenever I visit the ecommerce section of any internet marketing forum on the web, there's always at least 10 active threads about which ecommerce platform is the best online. So here I am, trying to clear out your minds and helping you decide.

    BigCommerce

    I chose to make this my first because this was the first platform I used when I tried ecommerce. BigCommerce, unlike its competitors, makes everything simple, yet suprisingly effective.

    The possibilities with this platform is endless. Their staff are always ready to answer your questions, which is great for newbies. They have a very useful knowledgebase but this causes information overload.

    Their website analysis and stats are detailed, yet easy to understand. You can easily manage everything from your user control panel. What really makes me like this is their step-by-step campaign that takes you by the hand and guides you along the process of fully setting up your website. When you're done, they provide you with another campaign that guides you to promoting your store.

    Overall, bigcommerce is a great place to start for any newbie, though you need to have a budget to suit their monthly pricing.

    Shopify

    This is a very good platform if you are an experienced ecommerce marketer. The staff here tries to suit your account settings to your needs, whereas bigcommerce tries to guide you through doing it yourself.

    One Point for shopify!

    They have a bunch of very professional themes in their store. If you don't like the free ones, there are always plenty of paid ones to choose from. They also support custom themes, which accounts for another point.

    What makes shopify unique is their blog feature, where you can add a blog to your store. This makes your store very compatible to search engines. All the rest of the features are pretty much the same in every other ecommerce platform

    Izzonet (Did I spell that correctly?)

    Though I've never used this platform, izzonet is a very good service, according to all the reviews I've read online. They have top-notch security standards, and their support teams are really friendly.

    The two features that make izzonet really stand out is their affiliate management system and their dropshipping capability. Any other hosted ecommerce platform will charge a tremendous fee for affiliate management, while izzonet offers it for free. Their dropshipping system allows you to sell your products in other websites, all while managing it through the control panel.

    Prestashop

    This is another platform that I haven't used but a lot of people recommend it so I decided to add it into this thread.

    The thing about prestashop is that you have to have at least some knowledge in complicated technical junk such as mySQL and yadda yadda, because there's a possibility that you might be one of the unlucky prestashop users who have experienced a lot of bugs and glitches in the stores.

    What I really like about this is that prestashop gives better seo benefits than any other hosted platform. You can definitely expect to see more traffic from search engines to your store. Their advanced marketing features such as newsletters, coupons, vouchers, etc., are far more better than other platforms.

    If you have the (technical) skills to manage prestashop, then there's no reason for you to just sit here reading this article - go sign up!

    What I recommend right now:

    None of them! You know, when running an ecommerce type of business, it's all in the website. So what you need to do is go to godaddy, sign up and select wordpress as your site, install a suitable e-commerce theme and e-commerce plugin and bam! You're already up on your feet.

    While this may take longer to get started, it's really the best option you have. I only recommend hosted ecommerce platforms if you're just starting off, or if you're not too familiar with websites. They have support teams ready to answer your questions. Your own hosted wordpress website doesn't.

    So what do YOU think? What are YOUR favorite ecommerce platforms? What do you NOT recommend and why?
     
    Norah Lim, Jul 26, 2013 IP
    gkd_uk likes this.
  2. socialmerchant

    socialmerchant Greenhorn

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    #2
    Hi Norah, honestly I've make mine the same but theres always a limitation with bandwith and takes time to make an online shop plus theres a lot of extra fines.

    With a lot of new ecommerce platform right now, i would recommend to try to review nerover, not yet fully launched but basically all the things that i needed is there. I just have to upload my products and share it with my friends. they can easily pay me via checkout as wel. very simple yet they have the lowest rate.
     
    socialmerchant, Jul 27, 2013 IP
  3. ReferralCandy

    ReferralCandy Member

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    #3
    Hey Norah!

    Thanks for your detailed review on the ecommerce platforms :) I took the poll and voted Shopify! I actually find Shopify really easy to set up, with a plethora of themes and apps ready at hand for installation. It's less of a headache to be worrying about the nitty gritty with pre-made solutions that work. The thing i love about Shopify the most is the community they've built over there. People are always helpful and cheery - and that goes for all the people hanging out at the Store Feedback forums and other threads, not just the service staff themselves. I've picked up a ton of things just from their forums and it's really nice when they're such a happy place.
     
    ReferralCandy, Jul 29, 2013 IP
  4. DarrenLim

    DarrenLim Peon

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    #4
    Personally I am using xiaobazaar , you can DIY your own store, although it is not power packed with features, they just want to make the user interface simple to use

    Good thing is , it is always free for 10 products upload (no 1 month trial bs thingy) , so no harm trying out , to test your business ideas at no cost .

    I been using them to sell my swimming lessons [​IMG]

    just google xiaobazaar
     
    DarrenLim, Jul 30, 2013 IP
  5. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #5
    Terrible advise, never host anything on godaddy.... EVER.....

    Nigel
     
    Nigel Lew, Jul 30, 2013 IP
    Matthew H likes this.
  6. Matthew H

    Matthew H Member

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    #6

    If there's one thing I agree with on this forum, it's this. GoDaddy is by far the worst hosting platform I've ever come across... I'd even go as far to say that I've seen free hosting services that are more reliable and allow you to do more than GoDaddy hosting.
     
    Matthew H, Jul 30, 2013 IP
  7. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #7
    Indeed. I had to mess with a site hosted on godaddy last week. Not only does stuff barely run in the first place its about 8 clicks to get to your files vs. 2 with anyone else on the planet. My client thought I was nuts when I said nope, no way bro, not futzing with godaddy. I simply decline the work. Its that bad.

    N.
     
    Nigel Lew, Jul 30, 2013 IP
  8. yaros

    yaros Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Agree with statement above - don't like Godaddy hosting too.
     
    yaros, Aug 1, 2013 IP
  9. theinternetmarketingkid

    theinternetmarketingkid Peon

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    #9
    Shopify is an incredible site to host professional online stores. But there is also a great free alternative that mixes Social Media, a Marketplace, and you're own professional storefront in one. I'm talking about Storenvy and it's worth checking out. It's an incredible site - allows you to build a incredible professional eCommerce site. They also list all your products from your site to their active and social marketplace. Also did I mention it was completely free? No product listing limitations or transaction fees. Hope this helps out.

    - The Internet Marketing Kid
     
  10. crazy4warez

    crazy4warez Well-Known Member

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    #10
    I've played a little with Prestashop and it has turned out to be a decent and reliable platform. I think Magento is another good option only for large scale stores through but can't comment much as I haven't used Magento thoroughly.
     
    crazy4warez, Aug 4, 2013 IP
  11. OliverTrent

    OliverTrent Peon

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    #11
    Agreed on GoDaddy - Never use them for hosting. WP Engine is my weapon of choice.
     
    OliverTrent, Aug 15, 2013 IP
  12. DarrenLim

    DarrenLim Peon

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    #12
    hi all, we are a 2 man team from Singapore, working very hard, we are providing free online store platform for all, - an alternative to shopify.
    our website is called www.xiaobazaar.com and you will be able to google it. Thanks for trying and would love to hear your feedback!
     
    DarrenLim, Sep 2, 2013 IP