When was the last time you physically walked into a retail store and made an actual purchase? The reason that may sound like a foreign concept to some is that millennials make approximately 54% of the online purchases. In the United States, Ecommerce makes up from 10-15% of retail sales (Amazon had a whopping net revenue of 178 billion dollars) and those numbers are growing at a rate of almost 25% every year.
Even with the rapid growth of Ecommerce shopping, the numbers show that approximately 46% of American small businesses still do not have ecommerce websites. Imagine how much business and exposure a small business is missing by not having an online presence.
If you are one of those small businesses that currently do not have an ecommerce site and are looking to expand to one, below are the current top four ecommerce platforms to select from.
1. Shopify
Shopify is one of the most popular and used ecommerce platforms. Based in Canada, they are so widely popular that they have just opened their first freestanding location in Los Angeles. Shopify offers an easy setup, with a variety of template designs. Shopify is mobile friendly so that secures that your site will meet Google’s mobile-first indexing requirements. Your customers can trust that their information is secure. Lastly, Shopify has an APP for your back-end operations along with offering SEO and marketing tools.
2. Wix
Wix is a free website builder that is preferred by those who want to “do-it-yourself”. Wix specific audience is small business owners. Wix offers short-term pricing including a free option if you use their domain (wix.com/insert your business name). They do offer design templates, however, they are on the simple design side. Wix does make up for it with quality customer service, speed, and website security.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace is like Wix in that it is a free website builder. What sets Squarespace apart from Wix is first they have a large variety of beautiful templates to select from that are fresh and modern in design. Like Shopify, Squarespace is mobile friendly. Squarespace manages all updates for you and is easy to manage. However, Squarespace does lack a choice of plan and pricing options.
4. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is often compared to Shopify. Although the two share many of the same benefits, BigCommerce has its areas that are stronger. BigCommerce offers the most tools out of all the ecommerce platforms. BigCommerce offers email newsletter tools, you can create and run campaigns, unlimited product variations, and tax configurations (which can be difficult as it varies when it comes to local tax and if you are shipping product out of your base state there are varying state tax). Another bonus of BigCommerce is 3rd party integration. You are able to
connect your store to Facebook, eBay, and Google Shopping. All which helps with your marketing and getting your brand/product visible in the marketplace.
Not everyone is tech savvy enough to create and operate an ecommerce site all on their own. For a small business owner looking to expand their online presence, visit BingDigital.com. Not only can they assist with the design of your website, but they can also assist with helping market and growing your site as well
