According to Statista’s Global retail e-commerce sales 2014-2023 projections, e-retail revenues will grow to 6.54 trillion US dollars in 2022. This figure was 3.53 trillion US dollars in 2019, and clearly, the growth is approximately double in just 3 years!

As per a study made by Oberlo, currently, there are 1.8 billion online shoppers globally. This is leaving no other choice to businesses than to solidify their online presence to retain their position and enhance their sales.

This is why every business, irrespective of size, is turning towards eCommerce solutions. They are looking at experts who can help them set up eCommerce stores in the quickest possible time and cost-effective manner. Thanks to the plethora of eCommerce platforms, setting up an online store is now quick and seamless.

Understanding an eCommerce platform
An eCommerce platform named CMS (Content Management System) comes up with predefined online store architecture where one can find the readymade flow of:

• Consumer shopping
• Product catalog management
• Order management
• Shipping and Delivery
• Readymade Email templates

Businesses also prefer eCommerce CMS due to the various other benefits they offer. Affordable cost, variety of marketing, and promotional features are all bonus benefits with a well-proven eCommerce platform.

That said, there are many eCommerce platforms available in the market. The trick lies in choosing the best eCommerce platform that will make your life easy in maintaining and working with it.

Here are the top 5 Best eCommerce “Platforms” of 2021 that we handpicked based on their features, cost, and ease of working.

WooCommerce

Market Fact:
According to BuiltWith January 2021 reports, there are a total of 3,876,748 websites that use WooCommerce.

With its immense popularity, WooCommerce is one of the best open-source eCommerce platforms available in WordPress CMS. WooCommerce is an extended module of WordPress. Its ease of customizability is its main attraction. If you are looking for an eCommerce platform that is dynamic and customizable as per your changing needs, WooCommerce is your best bet. It provides thousands of free and paid readymade, easy-to-customize store themes, plus more than 300 plugins. This eCommerce platform also provides a quick turnaround time that is one of the not-to-miss aspects of an online business. 

Why users love WooCommerce?

It is a free extension module of WordPress, easy to manage and free eCommerce store templates are available. Plug-ins to customize the options on stores are readily available with minimal code modification. The WooCommerce developers are easily available with an economic cost. The business operations can be carried out by the business team itself without spending more on IT.

Plug-and-play features in WooCommerce

• Product Catalog Templates 
• Shipping Options
• Payment Methods
• Import and Export Products (Excel Sheets)
• Tax Options
• Coupons and Discounts

Who can choose WooCommerce and Why?

• Budding businesses just making an online presence and in the basic stages of website building.
• Reason: WooCommerce allows you seamless expansion in the later stages.

• Businesses with an existing website in WordPress.
• Reason: It is easy to add a WooCommerce extension and start adding product categories, products, and taking orders, shipping quickly. 

Magento
Market Fact:
As of 2021 start, there are over 1.5 billion websites designed on Magento, as per the records of the Hosting Tribunal.

Magento provides an easy-to-use interface to manage all eCommerce-related activities effectively. This eCommerce platform offers paid templates and paid/free plugins to customize the features and fulfill the business needs.

Why users love Magento?
Magento lets effective management of the store features; thus, businesses can change the strategies based on seasons and events. Customization of features is available via add-ons to some extent. With Magento, the store quality can be top-notch with good performance. For business owners who want to provide the best User Experience and look and feel, Magento is the go-to option.

However, the platform is built for developers; hence, business owners cannot manage the store without technical help. To achieve more customization, Magento developers are required. The operation team cannot customize them using the Interface. On the flip side, the cost of Magento developers is higher.

Plug-and-play features in Magento
• Dashboard for customers (by orders, by locations, by wishlist)
• Product Selling Strategies (upsell, cross-sell)
• Payment Methods
• Intelligent Checkout Process
• Business Monitoring through Dashboard (Customers, Orders, Products)

Who can choose Magento and Why?
At the growth stage of business, increasing sales is the main focus area.
Reason: Scope for customization as per trends and targeted audience taste.

Shopify

Market Fact: According to Shopify, there are over 5300 Shopify Plus stores currently, while approximately 350,000 paid themes have been purchased by merchants to date.

Experts opine that in 2021, this will be the rocking platform that businesses will use to manage their online stores. 

Why users love Shopify?

Shopify offers extensive customization with paid plugins. It comes with a bundle of installations and hosting. There are themes available with free and paid plugins for implementing customized eCommerce solutions.

The pricing strategy of Shopify is monthly with 3 plans. You can manage all your selling strategies using Shopify. If you have a good budget for your eCommerce store development, Shopify should be your first choice. 

Plug-and-play features in Shopify

• Hosted solution
• Free SSL certificate
• Varieties of Reports
• Discounts and Gift Cards
• Shipping Rates Calculation

Who can choose Shopify and Why?

Business owners with a solid budget and added security to their eCommerce store. 

Reason: There are additional features available in Shopify such as hosting solutions and security certificates along with basic eCommerce features. 

BigCommerce

Market Fact: According to the company’s records, 90,000 online stores in 65 countries use their e-commerce software platform.

Similar to Shopify, BigCommerce is also a cloud-based solution for eCommerce. Easy to set up an online store using this eCommerce platform.

Why users love BigCommerce?

It provides a facility to integrate WordPress UI with the BigCommerce backend panel for more customization. Hundreds of themes and plugins are available to customize the online store solution with ease. 

Plug and Play features in BigCommerce

• Industry-Specific Solutions
• Easy to use Visual Editor 
• Mobile / Checkout / Theme Customization
• Digital Wallets
• Elasticsearch Support
• Awesome Digital Experience

Who can choose BigCommerce and Why?

B2B and B2C eCommerce businesses can choose to build the online store with BigCommerce. Usually, IT consulting and development agencies use this eCommerce platform to build online stores for their clients. 

Reason: Technical Expertise is required to establish and maintain the eCommerce operations. Companies having in-house IT departments may choose this eCommerce platform to build the solution.

Wix
Market Fact: Wix powers more than 600,000 stores, and in 2020 alone, it added around 200,000 stores to its kitty.

Why users love Wix?
Wix had started with a content website solution with cloud-based services. It came up with an eCommerce platform with a premium service plan with all customization features.

Plug and Play features in Wix
• Multilingual Support
• Abandoned Cart Recovery Data
• Instagram Selling Support
• Advanced Customization of Themes
• Effective Editor Tool

Who can choose Wix and Why?
There is a dilemma to choose Wix over Shopify. Both have their pros and cons. Each one is equally effective to build an eCommerce store. It all depends on the technical expertise you have for that platform. Features and pricing are the evaluation points to choose Wix as an eCommerce platform.

Wrapping Up
Pricing and features offered are the two criteria to pick the best eCommerce platform or CMS to build an online store. Additionally, you should also consider the IT expertise needed to handle the eCommerce store.