7 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses in 2022

Do you want strangers on the internet to trust your business out of the countless options they have? Then you need an online storefront that looks premium and professional. Choose the best ecommerce platform for your small business and you could see boosted sales and your goals within reach. Think of it as one of the first steps of your small business ecommerce blueprint. 

But how do you know which platform is best for your growing business? And which features should you look out for? With so many choices out there, your search for the best can get overwhelming.

That’s why we put together this list of the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses. Sift through it and pick the one that suits your business. 

1. Shopify

Best for small businesses seeking a plug-and-play all-in-one package

Shopify at a glance: 

• Price: Basic Shopify: $39/month; Shopify: $105/month; Advanced Shopify: $399/month
• Integrated sales channels: Facebook, Instagram, Google, Walmart Marketplace, eBay, and Amazon.
• Mobile app features: Suite of mobile tools to fully manage your online business.
• POS: Yes. 
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.3/5

Shopify is widely regarded as the best ecommerce platform for small businesses. Our comprehensive site builder comes with free tools and features that allow you to sell both online and in person, as well as via social commerce, third-party marketplaces, and dropshippers. With Shopify, you can design your store using any of more than 100 paid or free themes—zero code skills necessary. 

Shopify also has features to handle other areas of your company, not just small business ecommerce. You can use our best-in-class suite of business tools to build a complete business command center. Shop Pay gives you affordable online transaction fees, Shopify POS offers in-person sales, and Shopify Fulfillment can help you ship out orders. Shopify users also get competitive shipping rates from USPS, UPS, DHL Express, and other shipping carriers. The platform offers unlimited bandwidth and online storage, so your prices won’t go up as your site gets more traffic and sales. 

Shopify also offers a free email marketing service, abandoned cart recovery, search engine optimization (SEO), and more native tools for business owners. Shopify’s mobile app is so powerful, you can manage your business from your phone using features for fulfilling orders, adding products, real-time sales and inventory updates, and more. Missing a feature? There’s an extensive library of over 6,000 third-party apps that can extend your website’s capability even further.

With Shopify, you can set up a beautiful ecommerce store without knowing how to code, design, or do anything technical online. If you want to see some examples of online stores built with the Shopify ecommerce platform, check out the following: 

• ​50 Exceptional Shopify Stores to Inspire Entrepreneurs
• 27 Best Ecommerce Website Designs to Stand Out

2. WooCommerce

Best for small businesses with an existing WordPress site

WooCommerce at a glance: 

• Price: Average monthly fee is up to $30; WooCommerce estimates costs to be $120/year for hosting, $15/year for domain name registration, up to $100/year for your site theme, up to $108/year for shipping, 2.9% plus 30¢ per sale, up to $348/year for marketing and communications, up to $79/year for SEO, up to $65/year for SSL certificate.
• Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, Etsy, eBay, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, and Walmart; integrations are disjointed.
• Mobile app features: Add products, manage orders, and view analytics.
• Point-of-sale: Native POS available.
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

WooCommerce is WordPress’s answer to selling online. What launched as a platform for blogging websites has now evolved into a full-fledged website builder, with the option of adding WooCommerce for the ability to make online sales. 

WooCommerce is open source so it’s highly customizable, especially if you have the technical skills to design and code websites. Like Shopify, there are more than 6,000 third-party integrations to choose from if you want to expand the functionality of your store. As a result, WooCommerce offers a lot of flexibility. 

 The WooCommerce plug-in is technically a free business platform, so it can be budget-friendly. But when you start adding integrations and plug-ins, you may need to pay for premium tools, which can add up over time if you’re not careful. 

 Here’s an example of an online store built with WordPress and WooCommerce: Surf&Hemp sells a variety of CBD and surf products from its WooCommerce site, using a Google Pay integration. 

 Learn more: Monetize your WordPress blog without migrating to an entirely new platform, with the Shopify Buy Button. You can embed the button and start selling on your blog starting at only $9/month.

3. BigCommerce

Best for small businesses that have grown into large corporations or enterprises

BigCommerce at a glance: 

• Price: Standard: $29.95/month; Plus: $79.95/month, or $71.95/month when paid annually; Pro: $299.95/month, or $269.96/month when paid annually; Enterprise custom pricing.
• Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, Facebook, price comparison engines, eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and Instagram.
• Mobile app features: View analytics, update orders, manage inventory and products, and search for customers; some features are Android-only.
• Point-of-sale: Yes.
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5

BigCommerce is an extremely robust and full-featured ecommerce platform. As such, it can be overwhelming for small businesses. But if you have growth plans or access to technical resources, BigCommerce could be the best platform for you. 

In most cases, BigCommerce is most valuable to large businesses, corporations, or enterprises that need specific, customizable solutions. These sized companies typically have access to more technical resources or budget to bring on those resources, which is necessary when building and customizing an online store through BigCommerce. 

BigCommerce has features for international commerce, SEO, and multichannel selling on social and third-party marketplaces. It’s also compatible with many payment options and offers extremely affordable (sometimes free) payment processing rates. 

Sharpstone Grinders is built with the BigCommerce ecommerce platform. The brand sells direct to consumers, as well as wholesale. It also has an integration with PayPal for additional payment options, including buy now, pay later. 

4. Squarespace

Best for a do-it-yourself ecommerce website

Squarespace at a glance:

• Price: Personal: $16/month, or $12/month when paid annually; Business: $26/month, or $18/month when paid annually; Basic Commerce: $30/month, or $26/month when paid annually; Advanced Commerce: $46/month, or $40/month when paid annually; Enterprise pricing also available.
• Integrated sales channels: Shopping Feed extension to sell on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Google Actions.
• Mobile app features: Website editing, shipping label scanning, order management, inventory management, and customer communication.
• Point-of-sale: Available via mobile app.
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

Squarespace is another best ecommerce website builder for small businesses because of its easy-to-use interface. Even with little technical experience, you can set up an online store using Squarespace’s templates, drag-and-drop tools, and reliable functionality. 

Squarespace originally launched as a website builder, not necessarily an ecommerce platform, but has since added features to accommodate online sellers. Many Squarespace users sell services rather than products, but you can still use it for product-based businesses. 

Top features include tight scheduling and calendar integrations, email marketing, social media integrations, and embeddable maps to help people find your physical location (if you have one). Squarespace also offers features for recurring billing for subscription-based businesses. 

Online store Apostrophe Puzzles has built its website using the Squarespace ecommerce platform. You can see the design and functionality are simple but impactful. 

 

5. Wix

Best for visual, image-centric ecommerce site designs

Wix at a glance:  

• Price: Business Basic: $23/month; Business Unlimited: $27/month; Business VIP: $49/month.
• Integrated sales channels: Facebook and Instagram require third-party app Ecwid.
• Mobile app features: The ability to manage your website, though lacks key business tools like inventory management; requires a separate app to use mobile POS.
• Point-of-sale: Yes.
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5 

Wix also has a user-friendly website builder with additional ecommerce-specific features. Paid plans offer ecommerce capabilities, including order tracking, online payments, multi-channel selling, and abandoned cart campaigns. You also need a paid plan for access to analytics tracking to monitor your ecommerce key performance indicators (KPIs). 

 When it comes to designing your storefront, there are more than 500 templates to choose from. The drag-and-drop interface is easy to use as you customize the look and feel of your online store. Wix supports subscription-based billing and dropshipping through third parties. 

Evolve Clothing Gallery is one ecommerce website example built with Wix. The site features big multimedia visuals, voice search, and live chat. 

 

6. Weebly

Best for simple online storefronts with small product catalogs

Weebly at a glance:

• Price: Free.
• Integrated sales channels: n/a
• Mobile app features: Drag-and-drop builder, order fulfillment, inventory management, payments, and analytics.
• Point-of-sale: Integrated Square POS.
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5

Weebly is powered and operated by Square, so it has tight integrations with other Square-owned small business platforms. These include a fully integrated and secure online shopping cart and inventory management. 

As far as ecommerce is concerned, Weebly’s ecommerce platform for small businesses also has filtered product search, optimized mobile checkout, order management and processing, and flexible shipping options. Weebly is definitely one of the most basic ecommerce platforms as far as features go, but it’s simple and approachable, so any new business can get started. 

One example of a Wix-powered ecommerce site is Companion Bike Seat. The online store sells only a few products, so it’s a perfect candidate for the platform. 

 

7. Square Online

Best for physical retailers expanding into ecommerce selling

Square Online at a glance: 

• Price: Free; Professional: $12/month; Performance: $26/month; Premium: $72/month.
• Integrated sales channels: Google Shopping, Instagram, and Facebook.
• Mobile app features: View live sales data, data analytics, payment processing, mobile POS, money transfers, receipts, discounts, refunds, and inventory tracking.
• Point-of-sale: Integrated Square POS. 
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.3/5 

Square originally launched with its POS device for retailers but has since expanded its product offerings to include other business management tools. One of those tools is Square Online. Along with strong integrations with other Square products, Square Online works with mobile wallets, Afterpay, and more. 

 When you build an online storefront with Square, you can start with one of many templates tailored for retail, restaurants, non-profits, and more. Square Online offers built-in payment processing for 0.9% plus 30¢ per transaction. 

Vermont-based salon Parlour expanded its online presence with Square, adding products available for purchase through its ecommerce site. 

 

The best ecommerce platform is different for each business

There really is no universal answer when it comes to finding the best ecommerce platform available. Many business decisions are unique to your organization and your specific goals. Whether budget or features are the priority, or something else entirely, there’s an ecommerce platform out there for every business. 

At the end of the day, it comes down to finding a platform that’s easy to use and ready to grow with you. Don’t be afraid to try a few out before committing. Free trials, like Shopify’s free trial, can give you an early impression as to whether a platform will work for you. 

 

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