Introduction
The first challenge facing any entrepreneur who wants to enter the digital market is: which platform do I use?
This question is extremely valid, as the market is full of different solutions - each with a focus and a price. And that's where the problems begin.
An entrepreneur who doesn't want to invest a lot of money will opt for the cheapest platform. This can lead to losses in the future if the choice is not well planned. For the platform to be cheaper, it has to be:
- It may not have all the resources necessary for a good operation: this will limit your strategies and force you to hire other solutions that are equally important for your ecosystem (CRM, NF issuing, Analytics, Ads integration, etc.).
- It can suffer from stability: a website that is always down generates real damage for the company - both for the brand and financially - as the user is unable to buy the product and starts to disbelieve in the company;
- Difficulty with support: it's expensive to have a team ready and willing to help a customer in trouble. Bad support will leave you in the lurch when your site goes down or even when you need help with a configuration.
Okay, we already know that choosing just because it's the cheapest option isn't a good choice. But it's not necessarily the case that going for the most expensive platform will be good for your business.
Although you won't suffer from the problems mentioned above, on a very expensive platform you will:
- You'll lose profit margin: since your operating costs will be higher, you'll need to reduce your margin to maintain your prices - which can make your operation more expensive;
- You may need to increase your prices: if you can't reduce your margin, the alternative is to increase the price of the product. But we know that for more competitive markets, a 10% increase in price can be decisive in terms of loss of market share and sales volume.
- More complex tools to use: more robust platforms are also more complex and require greater technical knowledge. Otherwise, you will have contracted a complete solution and will continue to use only a small part of it.
So how do I choose the best platform for my business?
Choosing the platform
To choose the ideal platform for your e-commerce, you need to understand the current state of your business. In addition, some features are important for any digital business:
Analytics - One of the great advantages of a digital business is the amount of behavioral data that can be obtained from the site. It would be a shame to make a website where you can't analyze the user's final conversion rate, bounce rate, or even know the origin of users by UTM.
Ads - For a digital business to gain scale, investment in ads is inevitable. And your investment will be much safer and more effective if you have a website that integrates well with the main advertising platforms. Without this, conversions will not be counted and you may not be able to see the return on your investment in Ads.
Fluid checkout - You know those sites where you try to make a purchase but simply can't get through the checkout? Then don't have a site like that. Incredibly, the cart abandonment rate (when the user adds products to the cart but doesn't make the purchase) is far from 0% even on good sites. Now imagine how much you can lose with a site that makes the whole buying process even more difficult.
With these three points in mind, we can move on to the 10 best e-commerce platforms for 2021 and their main features.
Note: The list is not in order of quality. As we've seen, it depends on your business needs.
- Integrated Store
- Magento
- Moovin
- Cloudshop
- Oracle OCC
- Prestashop
- Shopify
- Tray Commerce
- VTEX
- WooCommerce
Integrated Store
A Loja Integrada is considered to be the most popular online store platform in Brazil, with over 1.5 million stores created. It's the only one that allows anyone to start and continue without ever paying anything. Both the paid and freeit never charges commission on product sales.
It is concerned with delivering an easy and very human experience for each shopkeeper.
In addition to the technology, it provides a complete support network: trusted agencies; an app store; extra services; customized themes; lots of educational material and a public space where shopkeepers can ask questions and exchange experiences.
All this together allows each person to develop and optimize their business on their own. With a total store turnover of more than 1 billion reais, it's a safe and fast bet for anyone who wants to make that business idea happen or grow.
It's worth remembering that, in the quest for ease and simplicity, some features may not be available in the free version.
Magento
A Magento Commerce is the leading e-commerce platform in innovation and freedom of customization for brands in the B2B and B2C industry. The company was acquired by Adobe in 2018, making it the most complete solution in the digital market - with the addition of all the marketing cloud and artificial intelligence technologies it has received.
It also has a robust portfolio of omnichannelthat help companies successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences. The company is supported by a global network of partners and developers who make their services available in the largest marketplace of extensions available for download.
Moovin
A Moovin is a SaaS e-commerce platform that offers a true ecosystem of solutions for its customers, such as services for B2C, B2B, integration with the main social networks, a telesales center, an exclusive mobile experience and omnichannel integration.
It has been operating in the digital market for more than 14 years and has more than 300 companies in its portfolio, serving small, medium and large businesses and B2B and B2C segments.
Cloudshop
With more than 70,000 active stores, the Nuvemshop is a leader in digital commerce in Latin America and was voted the best e-commerce platform by the Brazilian Electronic Commerce Association (ABComm) in 2020and was also awarded in this category in 2017 and 2019.
Among the features offered are the availability of modern layouts; an app for mobile devices; integration with the biggest players in the market in the payment and logistics categories; and association with other sales channels, such as Instagram Shopping and Facebook Store.
In addition, the platform offers Enterprise Cloudshop - a complete e-commerce solution for large brands looking to increase their revenues online.
Oracle CX Commerce
A Oracle CX Commerce (OCC) has been a leader 11 times in a row in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce. It is known for simplifying complex systemsby connecting back-office data, workflows and policies with the online store experience, and creating personalized experiences for each shopper, using customer data to efficiently deliver the right content and products.
It is also an open and scalable platform that prioritizes API integration.
Prestashop
The PrestaShop platform is a complete, innovative and efficient solution for creating and developing online stores. With a client portfolio that includes brands such as Danone, Huygens, Pylones, Bobbies, Le Chocolat des Français, among others, PrestaShop allows the shopkeeper to customize the storechoosing colors, logo and design from the available selection of themes.
It also gives autonomy for them to manage their products, orders, customer relations and track statistics. And it makes it possible to attract visitors by integrating with social networks and blogs, allowing content to be shared directly from the online store. It also makes it possible to international sales because it's easy to create a store in different languages and currencies.
Shopify
A Shopify is a SaaS platform that was born in Canada and has been revolutionizing global retail since 2004. Its intuitive solutionssolutions global ecosystem with open APIs and a powerful App Store with more than 5500 apps, have made Shopify the choice of more than a million businesses in 175 different countries.
From small retailers to large corporate companies, Shopify's portfolio includes global clients such as GE, SpaceX, Nestlé, Decathlon, Staples, among others. Brazilian brands such as Arezzo Group, Zee.Dog, Grand Cru, Pampili, Sallve, La Bella Mafia, Cia Marítima and many others also trust Shopify to create high-performance national or international stores.
It's worth remembering that Shopify was born with democratizing e-commercein other words, to turn what seems complex into something simple. To this end, it has a wealth of help content, as well as a community, local support and various price packages.
Tray Commerce
For over 18 years in the market, with Tray Commerce you can set up your own online store with a complete ecosystem and integration with more than 20 marketplaces in a single panel. The platform also has more than 300 features for selling on the internet, finding and retaining customers on various channels with maximum management.
It has integration with WhatsApp and social networks and several customizable themes, with free layouts, paid options, an open front-end and even certified partners, if the client so wishes. It also has payment options, shipping, abandoned cart recovery and marketing 100% native to the platform.
VTEX
A VTEX is the first and only fully integrated global commerce solution with marketplace and native OMSend-to-end. It helps companies in retail, manufacturing, wholesale, groceries, consumer goods and other verticals sell more, operate more efficiently and scale without barriers, providing a unique end-customer experience.
Its microservices-based architecture and powerful business and engineering tools allow VTEX to protect the future of its customers' businesses and free them from software upgrades.
The platform's clients include Sony, Walmart, Whirlpool, Coca-Cola, Stanley Black & Decker, Nestlé, Carrefour and more than 3,000 online stores in 45 countries. The company was named Leader in Digital Commerce Platforms IDC MarketScape Worldwide B2C of 2020 and classified as a "Visionary" in Gartner's 2020 Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce.
WooCommerce
A WooCommerce is a flexible platform built on WordPress. With it, it's easy to get started quickly and build your store the way you want it, and if you already have a WordPress site, installing WooCommerce will only take a few minutes.
It accepts all major credit cards, bank transfers, checks and cash on delivery. And it has 140 gateways that can be integrated, such as Stripe, PayPal, Square and Amazon Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. It has automated tax calculations, real-time shipping ratesoptions for printing labels and a mobile app for iOS and Android.
It is possible to have multilingual content and prices in several currencies, as it is 100% translated into 24 languages.
It's worth noting that a basic knowledge of WordPress programming may be necessary to take advantage of the benefits of this platform.
Conclusion
We know that choosing the ideal e-commerce platform varies according to the needs of each company. It's a very important definition for the scaling and performance of the business.
As you've seen, there are some great platforms with a wide range of options. All that remains is to understand your business and make the most assertive choice. Still in doubt about which platform to choose?
