Which one eCommerce platform?

by Etoot
60 replies
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Hi Guys,

I am very soon starting to build one of my very own social eCommerce site, but I need your help and guidance in selecting the best eCommerce platform which is very rich in features such as design controlling, state of the art security, instant credit card process and blah blah.

So which one platform you guys would like to recommend;

1) Woocommerce
2) Opentcart
3) OScommerce
4) Bigcommerce
5) Shopify
6) Magento

Thanks
#ecommerce #platform
  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    Choose a hosted cart starting out, it will mean you don't have to focus on technology and can therefore focus on shipping orders, returns, content etc. I'd recommend either Shopify or BigCommerce.

    Once you build the business, switch to your own platform.
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  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    P.S - is your ecommerce site going to be etoot.com or is that a separate venture? I'm working on something similar so I'm interested.
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    • Profile picture of the author genny2kuk
      I'm looking at setting up an eCommerce platform using Wordpress. There seems to be lots of options out there.

      Which would be best for digital goods, as users are meant to pay and download the products?
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      • Profile picture of the author Ayodejiaa
        Originally Posted by genny2kuk View Post

        I'm looking at setting up an eCommerce platform using Wordpress. There seems to be lots of options out there.

        Which would be best for digital goods, as users are meant to pay and download the products?
        For didtal goods there are quite a few options and woocommerce might be an overkill for you! Take a look at Easy Digital Downloads Plugin or the Sell Media Plugin
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by genny2kuk View Post

        I'm looking at setting up an eCommerce platform using Wordpress. There seems to be lots of options out there.

        Which would be best for digital goods, as users are meant to pay and download the products?

        Woocommerce has digital delivery built in as well as physical products and affiliate urls. It has Paypal payment built in and many extensions available for just about any merchant account available. I use it for my ecommerce sites.
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      • Profile picture of the author KingRosales
        The Wordpress/Woocommerce combo is really great for digital downloads. Really easy to setup. Configuring any ecommerce site takes time though.
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      • Profile picture of the author spearce000
        Originally Posted by genny2kuk View Post

        I'm looking at setting up an eCommerce platform using Wordpress. There seems to be lots of options out there.

        Which would be best for digital goods, as users are meant to pay and download the products?
        Woocommerce would be my choice. It handles digital downloads well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Etoot
      Hi amcg,

      Yes! It's going to be an etoot.com a social shopping site.
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      • Profile picture of the author amcg
        Originally Posted by Etoot View Post

        Hi amcg,

        Yes! It's going to be an etoot.com a social shopping site.
        So...it's a shop where I can buy actual stuff (Amazon) or just some place I can share stuff to buy with others (Pinterest)?
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        • Profile picture of the author Etoot
          Originally Posted by amcg View Post

          So...it's a shop where I can buy actual stuff (Amazon) or just some place I can share stuff to buy with others (Pinterest)?
          It is a social shop where you can buy things like we do on (Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Wanelo, Polyvore) and then can share those buying experience with our fellow peers and our online communities. You can also recommend your experiences to your friends, family and other communities

          Thanks for taking so much interest!

          Highly appreciate your feedback.

          Stay in touch!

          Regards
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          • Profile picture of the author amcg
            Originally Posted by Etoot View Post

            It is a social shop where you can buy things like we do on (Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Wanelo, Polyvore) and then can share those buying experience with our fellow peers and our online communities. You can also recommend your experiences to your friends, family and other communities

            Thanks for taking so much interest!

            Highly appreciate your feedback.

            Stay in touch!

            Regards
            So you have inventory? Or is this a drop-ship operation?

            I think the lead-generation space, which Pinterest and Wanelo to name just two are in, can be lucrative. The problem you might have is the sheer number of competitors in the space.
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            • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
              Bigcommerce is very highly customizable, and has a 15-day free trial, so you can try it out and make sure it's capable of the functionality that you're looking for.

              In terms of usability, I do know that it's pretty straightforward right out of the box. We're not all geniuses when it comes to coding (at least I know I'm not!), so this type of option can be a good fit for someone who has some specific functionality in mind, but isn't quite ready to dig deep and sift through some complicated code in order to get there.

              Bigcommerce is a newer solution, and even has a new version coming out in the very near future (Bigcommerce Next), so you can definitely bet that things like security, integrations, and other helpful features are going to be kept up-to-date.
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            • Profile picture of the author Etoot
              Originally Posted by amcg View Post

              So you have inventory? Or is this a drop-ship operation?

              I think the lead-generation space, which Pinterest and Wanelo to name just two are in, can be lucrative. The problem you might have is the sheer number of competitors in the space.
              Etoot will be completely a drop ship social shop. You are right the competitors are very high in number in this space but if you have a unique shop with plethora of unique features then you can grab some of that space too. But the most important thing is that the service or product you are offering should be outstanding and
              people will automatically come to you.

              Highly appreciate your feedback!

              Really enjoying conversation with you regarding this subject.

              Keep up the good work.

              Have a nice day!

              Thanks

              Regards,
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  • Profile picture of the author kates59
    Well just visit https://www.magentocommerce.com/product/features this and you will know how Magento is the best platform as compared with others.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheCodex
    Any of those you mentioned would be fine, just try them out.

    Question, why such a specific launch date before you even have a platform?
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  • Profile picture of the author spiderseo1
    most of the shopping cart's are similar but it's depend on your need , but you can go with opencart or manually development like joomla , word press etc .
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  • Profile picture of the author koal
    Here's my take on Americommerce based on my personal experience, and just the facts. They have some newer responsive templates which use twitter bootstrap development. While they do have a low monthly fee and facebook and mobile marketing is integrated into their templates, overall I have found their technical support to be both unprofessional and lacking in expertise in many instances. There are support tickets where I had to repeat my question over and over. In addition they have a old knowledge base which they are in the process of updating and will link to which is totally unrelated (in some instances) to the support problem. The overall back admin section is not intuitive. You will have to learn the backend. It's not a quick startup and go. The knowledge base as it is now does not help when starting out. My experience was on the response times for html/css issues can take 10 days or more, depending on the problem. Some of their templates have "hot fixes" or updates that need to be done. Hope that helps.

    A link with other reviews: http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews139735.html
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  • Profile picture of the author kjamesnv
    Originally Posted by Etoot View Post

    Hi Guys,
    So which one platform you guys would like to recommend;

    1) Woocommerce
    2) Opentcart
    3) OScommerce
    4) Bigcommerce
    5) Shopify
    6) Magento

    Thanks
    Based on how you have described your project you should take a close look at both Magento and OpenCart. The others on your list probably would not be as a good fit.
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  • Profile picture of the author repricerexpress
    I would suggest you trial at least three of the solutions to see which is the best fit for you. Shopify, Bigcommerce and Magento are all very well supported but the others may be better depending on your needs. Recommendations on here are fine, but not a replacement for trialling some of the solutions.
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  • Profile picture of the author PSDCenter
    Hi There,

    I think the big difference you are looking at is dedicated hosting vs hosting it yourself.

    Bigcommerce, Shopify, Corecommerce or however you go. They are all good hosting platforms. The main thing you get with them is the support. They are responsible for any internal website functionality. If you ever have an issue, then call up support and they will guide you free. Yes if there are errors in the code that you have done or your developer has done, they will not be able to help you. They will tell you to reach out to the the premium partners.

    Now OpenCart, WooCommerce, and other self hosted platform, you will get very limited support. If something breaks you will have to pay a developer to troubleshoot and figure out the issues.

    I would test out the dedicated hosted ecommerce solutions. They all offer free trials. You can see if the platform works for you.

    We built responsive themes that are currently being sold on the Bigcommerce theme store. If you are looking to go that route, we can help you get a nice responsive website up.

    Reach out to me directly if you need anymore consultation. We have built many websites on this platform.

    Thanks,
    PSDCenter Team
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  • Profile picture of the author robertstephenl85
    You can use open-cart CMS for your e-commerce website.
    Wordpress is best CMS for SEO. And you can use woocommerce plugin to your site. Which will give you all e-commerce feature on your wordpress site. Good Luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mrnace
    Shopify and Magento are also very popular.
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  • Profile picture of the author jenniferrini
    When you go with these mentioned platform,it definitely lacks the dynamic features and option.whereas you il get all your desired features by means of opting with ready made e-commerce scripts in the market.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dizain
    You missed a really good one called Prestashop. I would select opencart from your list.

    For security concerns I would stay away from Wordpress. I have made many ecommerce website and tried many platforms. So far Prestashop is the best. Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author HilaludinWahid
    i ussually use prestashop for eCommerce site.
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  • Profile picture of the author TPS2012
    Hi

    Go for Opencart

    simple but can scale up , lots of free or low cost extensions,

    Prashant
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  • Profile picture of the author emidelicious
    If you need solid framework, and scalability then go for Magento, its free, open source, easy to use and customize . Plenty of Plugins for Magento to chose which can help your website run smarter.
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  • Profile picture of the author nehaj
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    • Profile picture of the author JassieN
      I visited Magento website... is look good and I am thinking is too much for me as a beginer on the eCommerce. Any simpler version can intro to me?
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  • Profile picture of the author OneMotion
    For starting ecommerce I recommended using hosted platform like shopify or bigcommerce. All the technical problem like payment, shipping, tax will be take care by them. All you need is just focus driving targeted traffic using facebook ads to your site and make sales. After you get stable income then use more advance ecommerce platform you desire.
    Just my 2 cent
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  • Profile picture of the author webdeveloperindia
    Magento is scalable and I think you may check this closely.
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  • Profile picture of the author bawany
    Choosing a E-commerce platform completely depends on your requirements and its scale, these days Woo-commerce is going really good, but it's not recommended for huge scale like if you have more than 25,000 products, there are ways to optimize the database, if you'll have products like 10,000 to 15,000 Woo-commerce is best option in my opinion, but i won't recommend you go with woo-commerce if your scale is gonna be bigger than 25,000 products.

    In this case, Magento is a very good option, but maintenance, getting modifications, and custom features building would be much costly on magento compared to other platforms, if you have good budget for this project, than go ahead with magento.
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    • I work on two separate e-commerce sites both built on WP.

      I love the site I built on Woocommerce, CASE IT UP - Amazing Cases & Accessories for Smartphones & Tablets, because it has developer support, an entire spectrum of amazing themes and just a beautiful level of ease of use.

      I tested Shopify, Magento, and many, many more solutions and Woocommerce just simply won out. I can easily make landing pages and I have access to entire universe of great plugins like Wordpress SEO by Joost & awesome caching plugins.

      I have complete control of who hosts my site and what I can do with it. Hosted carts just do not give you that level of control. Let me know if you have any questions.
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      Need Help with your E-Commerce/WooCommerce Website? PM ME!


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  • Profile picture of the author phoenixseo
    I would like to suggest shopify.Its the best platform for e commerce.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheCodex
    If you have the chops or the money Magento is what I'd recommend... I'd never look back at woocommerce again, especially with a large shop...
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    • Profile picture of the author javarog
      Originally Posted by TheCodex View Post

      If you have the chops or the money Magento is what I'd recommend... I'd never look back at woocommerce again, especially with a large shop...
      The more I work with magento the better it gets, I have tried almost every cart out there and hands down I come back to magento... Its not perfect but its getting close
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      • Profile picture of the author christinamikki
        Yes, Magento has excellent features and its good to create eCommerce websites also update anytime with less effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author sidiniquity
    Wow, lots of varied suggestions here. Listen Etoot, the platform you choose really depends on what your needs are.

    First off you need to decide between self-hosting a platform (on your own servers) or going with a hosted platform. Since you're starting out, and if you don't have time or the technical expertise, I suggest you pick a hosted platform.

    Now as you can see there are many, many options. Each with its own pros and cons. Shopify and Bigcommerce are full-featured. Then there are some that cater only to creative products, others cater only to small businesses, and others only to large stores.

    It's up to you to decide what features you need and pick a platform based on that. No one here can tell you exactly what to go with. If option A has Feature X but option B doesn't, then go with A. Pricing tiers matter too. Some will have Feature X for $79/month, while others will have it in all plans. Then there are others that will have Feature X only as an add-on or separate integration rather than built-in.

    For a full break down of all available hosted platforms, check out this roundup I created. Hopefully it will help you make a better decision.
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    • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
      Originally Posted by sidiniquity View Post

      Wow, lots of varied suggestions here. Listen Etoot, the platform you choose really depends on what your needs are.

      First off you need to decide between self-hosting a platform (on your own servers) or going with a hosted platform. Since you're starting out, and if you don't have time or the technical expertise, I suggest you pick a hosted platform.

      Now as you can see there are many, many options. Each with its own pros and cons. Shopify and Bigcommerce are full-featured. Then there are some that cater only to creative products, others cater only to small businesses, and others only to large stores.

      It's up to you to decide what features you need and pick a platform based on that. No one here can tell you exactly what to go with. If option A has Feature X but option B doesn't, then go with A. Pricing tiers matter too. Some will have Feature X for $79/month, while others will have it in all plans. Then there are others that will have Feature X only as an add-on or separate integration rather than built-in.

      For a full break down of all available hosted platforms, check out this roundup I created. Hopefully it will help you make a better decision.
      For the record, I think THIS post really hits the nail on the head for this whole thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author naidyphoon
    If you're looking for functionality definitely go with Bigcommerce. I used Shopify in the past it was really easy to use so it's ideal if you don't have technical skills and you want a clean and pretty interface.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Range
    After trying several e-commerce platforms I usually just stick with OpenCart.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Operman
    I think Magento is the way to go. Not only is it very good, there are many professionals out there that work with Magneto so it is not too hard to find qualified people to work on the site at an affordable price.
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  • Profile picture of the author JenChan
    I would not recommend using any hosted cart.

    I've been using wix for 3 months and that's the biggest mistake i did so far. My client has a busy site and when wix have their issues a while back we have been deeply affected, our sale for February really drops 30%.... ;(

    In short avoid any hosted platform as your business will be dependent to the company. If they are out of business then you are sorry.

    I recommend between Woocommerce and Opencart. Both of these cart has plenty developers who can help you out. But better watch these closely first and do your own homework.
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    • Profile picture of the author Xavbar1
      I am an upgrading author to Oscommerce. I have included an affiliate referrals system for your online store. You can choose product/item specific commission amounts to give your affiliates or specific percentage amount from sales of all listed products in your store. The Oscommerce template is a cleaner look as well and easy to modify. PLR Script is 3 Scripts in 1, being Oscommerce, Membership Site Script & Wordpress. From the main admin area you can choose which platform to use as your home page index.php page so if your not happy with one try the other. A Business needs handy options. With PLR Script being 3 scripts in one you can experiment more to your taste.

      For full feature details to the PLR Script go to PLRScript.com

      Xavier Barroso
      PLRScript.com
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  • Profile picture of the author sociafly
    In my opinion Magento is the best open source solution around, in terms of flexibility and scalability. However, the learning curve might be steep, so if you have little or no experience with basic PHP, HTML, etc and are starting out with a small scale shop, you might be better off looking at something like a WordPress based solution like WooCommerce. If you need to hire someone to help you setting the shop up, my experience is that WordPress developers are much cheaper than Magento experts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryce
    Jeremy from websitebuilderexpert has a ton of experience when it comes to those hosted solution platforms
    you might want to check them at:

    Best eCommerce Platform: Leverage Apps Grow Your Business

    or

    E-Commerce Online Store Builders Comparison Chart
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  • Profile picture of the author st0le
    7) Prestashop!

    hahaha Prestashop or Magento
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    • Profile picture of the author mbwani
      If u r not expert in coding then .. Use readymade plateforms like magneto, shopify or big commerce .. But magneto will charge you more bucks ..
      However if you know the coding setup .. And about modules , then opencart is the best one but you have to host on seperate servers so only hosting charges will be there and also all modules are available either free or paid as per requirement...
      Hope it will help..
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  • Profile picture of the author w13
    If you don't have problem with limited budget, just use magento platform for selling digital products. But if you have limited budget, just use easydigitaldownloads.
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  • Profile picture of the author easypr
    According to me, Magento is the best ecommerce platfrom in these days, its has lots of features and Magento has more e-commerce stores (over 100,000) than any other platform. So market demands Magento..
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  • Profile picture of the author shopmages
    Hi. As collegues mentioned Magento is one of the best. If you like simple owned solution you can take a look at Prestashop - is quick but not so powered with plugins/themes flexible as Magento.

    If you like full flexibility choose Magento (only free community version of course), if you like to be limited choose something hosted. But sooner or later everybody like to go for self owned solution (no-saas etc).

    There are thousands Magento Extensions and themes. For example on shopMAGES Magento Marketplace you can select from >300 plugins to anything you need for store. Plugins for Magento usually have one year free updates and support. But we have also lifetime free support and updates in many of them.

    Paul
    CEO of shopMAGES.com
    Magento Marketplace
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Mathers
    I will suggest you to go through with Magento...More than 150,000 businesses around the word choose Magento as their ecommerce platform. Magento is powerful, flexible and cost effective ecommerce solution. Companies such as Nike, Lindt, Samsung, Olympus, OfficeMax, The North Face, Stussy and Nespresso all make their ecommerce website by using Magento to boost their online business. Magento can be compared to WordPress in that they both revolutionized and dominated the space they targeted Magento in e-commerce, WordPress in blogging and content management.

    Why we choose Magento as an ecommerce platform?

    Magento built in stable and reliable structure.
    Open source platform
    Magento allow us to adjust existing features and add new ones.
    Magento contains all excellence features to enhanced your online business such as the shopping cart, catalog management, search, checkout and administration functions.
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  • Profile picture of the author jakjim
    I think anything between opencart or wp woocommerce should be good. Both have easy to manage. Also you will find support and additional extension easily. Try themeforest and you will find alot of solution in a low cost.

    eCommerce - Garbini - Stylish Opencart Responsive Theme | ThemeForest

    Just an example of a opencart template. Easy and stylish.
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  • Profile picture of the author Williamcn
    I think Magento is best eCommerce Platform. It contain all excellence feature to your online business.
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  • Profile picture of the author frankjames018
    No doubt, Magento is the best platform for developing an eCommerce website. It beat all those platform in race. Features provided by magento are best compared to others.
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    • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
      Hi, Etoot! Looks like that launch date is getting closer -- is that still your day? Did you find a platform that you're interested in using?

      We're excited to hear how things are working out for you so far!
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  • Profile picture of the author kiddoman
    I am only familiar with 2 eCommerce platforms, the first one is Mycommerce (RegNow), because I am using it to sell my software online. The second one is Magento, because I am using it to sell Lolita dresses and accessories. I have been using these 2 eCommerce platforms for a long time, it works well so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author SkyTaylor
    Shopify and Magneto is Popular E-Commerce Platforms.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stephaniejason20
    Magento is the best eCommerce site because easily customization structure, user friendly more advanced plugin, free and paid extension available in online store. Several web design and development company using this Magento.
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  • Profile picture of the author LABEShops
    Originally Posted by Etoot View Post

    Hi Guys,

    I am very soon starting to build one of my very own social eCommerce site, but I need your help and guidance in selecting the best eCommerce platform which is very rich in features such as design controlling, state of the art security, instant credit card process and blah blah.

    So which one platform you guys would like to recommend;

    1) Woocommerce
    2) Opentcart
    3) OScommerce
    4) Bigcommerce
    5) Shopify
    6) Magento

    Thanks
    This really depends on a lot of factors:

    1. How many products are you going to have and is your main focus building an authority site with products on the side? If so, Woocommerce would be best. But imo it starts looking messy if you try to add 100s of products to it as it's not as database driven as the other options.

    2. Do you know even basic coding? If you have no experience in coding, html, or css, I recommend going with a hosted solution like Shopify or BigCommerce. Far less chance you can mess up the code and break your store if you don't really know what you are doing and Shopify has a more active help community and more plugins last I checked so of these 2, I'd go with Shopify.

    3. What is your level of experience setting up ecommerce sites and what is your time frame for launch? Magento has a lot of features, but is not one I recommend for beginners as they have a steep learning curve. They do have a training program, but it means you will need to invest time to learn (or hire someone to do it for you). It will take you longer to set up than other options, so if you want to open your store in say 6 months, it might be a viable option. Plug ins also tend to be more expensive for it than Opencart in what I've seen, so that might be an option as well.

    4. If you are comfortable with html, php, ftp, and css, then Opencart or OS Commerce would work for you though last I know, OSCommerce is very slow on updates, especially if security is your concern. My own stores run on opencart and I have some knowledge of php - I can modify things, but cannot create them from scratch. I had my store open and running within hours with it too just using it out of the box, so it is my first recommendation for a full featured store with lots of expansion options and that can handle lots of products.

    If you go with any of the self hosted solutions (Opencart, Magento, OsCommerce, etc), be sure you have a strong hosting plan (for opencart, I recommend evolvewebhosts.com as they know oc well) that not only will handle your shop when you launch it, but as it grows. You also need to take into account SSL certificates.

    Whatever cart you select, you will also need to set up a merchant account service, so be sure which ever you select will handle the one you choose (Paypal, Authorize.net, etc).
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