Best eCommerce Platform for Small Business (8 Platforms Compared)

If you are a small business owner looking to take your business online, then here is a list of the best eCommerce platform for small business that you should consider.

With eCommerce changing the shopping habits of people, it is important for small businesses to take their place in the digital space in order to be successful.

Though there are quite a few ways to do this, building an online store via an eCommerce platform is the simplest one of them.

In this article, you will find a detailed comparison of the 8 best eCommerce platform for small business.

Best eCommerce Platform for Small Business

Without further ado, here are the best eCommerce platforms for small business in 2022.

1. Dukaan

If there is one platform that is best suited for small businesses, then it should be Dukaan!

We are not kidding you! There is a valid reason why Dukaan is topping this list. It is the easiest platform to get started. Let’s take a deeper look at the features and functionalities of this platform.

Features:

The most attractive feature of Dukaan is speed. You can set up your online store in under a minute. It is effortless to add/edit your product listings, customize your store, handle the orders, and much more.

The eCommerce sites on Dukaan also load very quickly and is highly responsive across all devices.

Design:

As a small business, if you want your online store to look as good as an established brand without having to spend as much money, then Dukaan has your back!

All the themes in the Dukaan theme library are free to use and highly customizable. You do not need any design skills to customize your theme. You can edit it very easily to reflect your brand.

See it in action:

Pricing:

Dukaan’s value-added subscription plans are easy on the pocket too. This is very advantageous for small businesses that have to make do on a low investment.

Here is the detailed pricing plan:

Ease of use:

We have mentioned this many times already, but we do not mind reiterating how easy it is to use Dukaan. It is very simplified, from setting up your online store to customizing the store, from adding products to managing orders.

You can also add more functionalities to your store by installing relevant plugins. Dukaan also has a range of free business tools that make things a lot easier for you!

2. Squarespace

Squarespace is one of the top content management systems (CMS) that closely follows WordPress.

That said, it offers a platform to build your online store very quickly and easily. Moreover, you can build the most aesthetically pleasing website on Squarespace.

Features:

Squarespace is primarily a website builder that also offers eCommerce features to convert your website into an online store so that you can sell online.

The eCommerce-specific features are limited for this very reason. However, it is suitable for small businesses. You can sell digital products, handmade products, or retail products.

Design:

As mentioned above, you can build a really aesthetic online store with Squarespace. While building an aesthetically pleasing brick-and-mortar store can cost you a fortune, your online store will cost only a fraction of that cost!

It has an extensive range of themes that you can choose from and then edit to customize. It uses the easy drag-and-drop feature to edit your website. You do not need any design skills to create a unique store that reflects your brand.

See it in action:

Pricing:

Here is a breakdown of Squarespace pricing plans:

Ease of use:

Squarespace’s drag-and-drop website builder makes it very easy to build the website, customize the store, add the necessary eCommerce features, etc. The platform tops in its ease of use.

It can, however, feel restricted if you have various products and an extensive catalog. You can access marketing tools like Google Analytics, Google search console, etc. in advanced settings.

3. Wix

Wix is also a CMS platform and a website builder, just like Squarespace. You can convert your blog or website into an eCommerce store via a suitable plugin.

It is a great eCommerce platform for small business as you can create a website that looks very professional, like a branded store.

Features:

Wix helps you set up a fully functional eCommerce website that is also very aesthetically pleasing. It uses the drag-and-drop feature to easily build and customize your online store.

All the eCommerce features required for a small business, like payment gateways, abandoned cart emails, SEO tools, logistics, tracking, etc. are included. You can also design landing pages, social media ad banners, and more on Wix.

Design:

Wix uses their famous Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) to build the website. You can simply enter a few details, answer a few questions, and the platform will put together a website that suits your needs.

This will save a lot of time and effort for small businesses. You can edit this website to your heart’s content and include all the branding elements like color, logo, tagline, etc.

See it in action:

Pricing:

This is the detailed breakdown of the subscription plans on Wix:

Ease of use:

Wix is a very easy-to-use eCommerce platform. When it comes to building your website, you basically do not have to do anything! Wix will populate a website that is pretty up to mark.

It also offers a lot of flexibility with the design and you can customize it to a huge extent, without any design skills.

4. Square Online

This platform is a combination of payment processor Square and the website builder Weebly.

One of the best features of Square Online is that you can sell on this platform for free of cost, except for a minimal transaction fee, which you can add to the price of the product.

For this reason, Square online can be the best eCommerce platform for small businesses.

Features:

The reason Square online is here on the list above Weebly is that it is packed with a lot more eCommerce features when compared to Weebly.

The necessary features like shopping cart, payment gateway, inventory management, etc. are covered. Additionally, it uses the help of AI to help in the product listing, product description, etc. making it very beginner-friendly.

Design:

Since Square online combines Weebly, it uses the same ADI used by Weebly to automatically create a website using a few details. This website can then be tweaked as per your requirements.

You can also choose a theme and edit it from scratch. The website themes available on the platform are all clean, elegant, and aesthetic.

See it in action:

Pricing:

Square online has a forever-free plan which does not compromise on the features either. Here is the pricing plans:

Ease of use:

Since the platform uses the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at every step of the way, it makes things easier for beginners. It can build an entire website based on your inputs.

Recently, Square Online has released a new product called “Square Online Checkout” that allows small businesses to accept payments online without having to build an online store!

5. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free-to-download plugin for WordPress websites. With this plugin, you can add the eCommerce functionality to your WordPress website.

Since it is a free plugin, it is very suitable for small businesses to get started. But you should have an existing website on WordPress for this plugin.

Features:

WordPress is the most popular content management system there is, and it is also a great website builder. To have your website on WordPress in itself will give you a lot of advantages in terms of features and functionality.

You may need some help with setting up your hosting provider, SSL certificate, etc. It is an initial investment that you cannot avoid.

Design:

With WooCommerce, you get access to the WordPress theme library, which is very extensive. There is a range of themes, from basic to advanced, available in the library.

As a small business owner, you may not have the need for a highly customized website. However, if you are very particular about how your store should look, then WooCommerce is the best eCommerce Software for you!

See it in action:

Pricing:

Here is a detailed breakdown of how much it might cost to have your eCommerce website with WooCommerce:

Ease of use:

Unlike other eCommerce platforms, WooCommerce is more of a Do It Yourself (DIY) platform. You can have the most basic website or an advanced website with WooCommerce.

However, you need to have coding skills to dabble around with WooCommerce. If not, you can always hire coders and developers to help you set up your store and customize it.

6. Weebly

Weebly is a great eCommerce platform for small businesses, which can get you started with a basic online store at a considerably low price.

Since it is a website builder that uses the drag-and-drop feature, you can build your eCommerce website very quickly. It fares pretty well in terms of its eCommerce features too.

Features:

Weebly has most of the basic eCommerce features built into the platform. It also has a marketing automation feature included in the platform for which even legacy platforms use a third-party extension.

However, it doesn’t include a few advanced features like abandoned cart mail, shipment tracking, etc. and these cannot be added on either.

Design:

Weebly has a range of themes that are unique and modern. The templates are well designed and responsive across multiple devices.

You can customize the themes to create the most professional-looking eCommerce website without any design or coding skills.

See it in action:

Pricing:

Weebly is an affordable platform for small businesses, here are the pricing plans:

Ease of use:

It is very beginner-friendly compared to other eCommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce, which takes a long time to get used to.

You can easily sell a range of products from retail to handmade. You can sell digital products too, but you need to upgrade to the highest-paid plan.

7. Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a platform dedicated to handicrafts and artisan products, much like Etsy. It is best suited for small businesses that sell handcrafted products.

If your catalog consists of less than 5 products, then Big Cartel has a forever free plan that allows you to sell on the platform for free of cost.

Features:

Big Cartel is a very basic eCommerce platform and, for this very reason, it is the best option for small businesses.

It has all the basic eCommerce features like a shopping cart, payment gateway, etc. If you need advanced features, you can use extensions to add them to your site.

Design:

Big Cartel is simple from the design point of view, too. There are a very limited number of website templates available. The available themes are all well-designed and very responsive.

There are a lot of restrictions on the customization of the themes. Once you have gone live with your store, you cannot change the theme.

See it in action:

Pricing:

Here are the pricing plan details of Big Cartel:

Ease of use:

Looking away from the restrictions, Big Cartel is a very easy-to-use platform and beginner-friendly. It is a basic and straightforward platform.

You can set up your store quickly, add your products, and start selling right away.

8. Shopify

Shopify is a legacy eCommerce platform that every seller has a basic idea about for sure. Many sellers choose the platform simply for its popularity.

However, it is very expensive to run your store on Shopify. Hence, you should choose this platform only if you think that your small business is going to grow quickly.

Features:

Shopify’s eCommerce features are pretty unparalleled. It has all the basic features, plus a lot of advanced features like abandoned cart recovery mail, live tracking, email marketing, SEO integrations, and much more.

This is the eCommerce platform for small businesses that want very eCommerce-focused features and functionality.

Design:

Shopify has a range of themes and templates that are all very eCommerce focused. There are themes dedicated to stores across multiple categories. You can choose the theme that suits your business category the most.

However, you should know that a lot of their themes come at an additional cost. Their premium themes can cost you close to $300.

See it in action:

Pricing:

Shopify’s plans are quite expensive compared to a lot of other platforms. Here is a detailed list of their paid plans:

Ease of use:

Shopify is not an open-source platform and hence minute customization of the themes or the templates is impossible, even with the required technical knowledge.

It also takes a lot of time to get used to things on Shopify. If you stick with the basic features, you can start selling quickly. However, as your business grows, you will have a tough time getting accustomed to things.

Recap of eCommerce Platform For Small Business

Posts you may like to read… 📚

Conclusion

When you are starting out in a business, there are already a lot of variables that need to be taken into account.

For this very reason, choosing the best eCommerce platform for small businesses makes a lot of difference. Your choice should make things easier rather than add to your woes.

While legacy eCommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce can be just good enough, newer, stronger options like Dukaan can be the BEST!

If you are going to be investing your time and energy into building your small business into a brand one day, then you should never settle for good when you can get the best.

Here is a detailed video on how to get started with your online store on Dukaan: