Top E-commerce Platforms in 2017

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Top E-commerce Platforms for 2017

• E- commerce Platforms
• An Introduction
• By
• www.edeskhub.com

2
 What is an E-commerce Platform?

• It is a software technology solution that allows
  you to build storefronts
• (a storefront is any customer or business facing
  proposition relating to the selling of products
  and services)

3
Top E- commerce Platforms

• Some popular and top e-commerce development
  platforms that can serve varied businesses most
  effectively
• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• Magento
• YoKart
• Big Cartel

4
Shopify

• Shopify can be an excellent choice for the new
  entrants in the ecommerce domain.
• Shopify is for you! Its stunning designs and
  focus on mobile and social commerce makes it
  evolvable to meet growing requirements of online
  stores. 
• Especially for beginners who have conventional
  requirements, Shopify can be the ideal ecommerce
  solution.
• Based on your requirement and usage, you can
  choose its diverse packages as per your need.

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Top Benefits of Shopify

• Over 100 store templates (themes) to choose from
• 1500 apps (plugins/extensions) to extend the
  store's functionality.
• Ability to connect your online store with your
  Facebook page and sell directly on Facebook.
• Built in mobile-friendly shopping cart and seller
  mobile apps (and Shopify provides a platform to
  connect store owners with app developers for the
  development of their store's app).
• 24/7 support via live chat, phone and tutorials
  as well as the Shopify community forum.

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Downsides with Shopify

• If you don't use Shopify Payment, there will be
  an additional transaction fee on every sale.
• Plus, many of the extensions for additional
  functionality aren't free, so, running your store
  on Shopify might cost a little more than you
  expected.
• Shopify has its own coding language called
  'Liquid', so any customization in the system
  comes at an additional expense.

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When is Shopify a good choice?

• For beginners with conventional requirements,
  Shopify remains the ideal ecommerce solution.
• Based on your budget requirements, you can choose
  different packages which range from 29 to
  299/month.
• But if you have unique features and
  functionalities in mind for your store, it might
  be better to look elsewhere.

8
BigCommerce

• BigCommerce is one of the most popular ecommerce
  platforms
• Presently has over 55,000 stores.
• It can cater to businesses of any type and size,
  and can be the most apt option for those who have
  zero or minimal technical knowledge.

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Top Benefits of BigCommerce

• Extensive built in features including
  newsletters, coupons, shipping, tax, analytics,
  and more.
• Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce charges no
  transaction fee
• All free and paid themes are responsive and offer
  a smooth mobile experience.
• Integrate your store with Facebook, eBay, Google
  shopping and a range of comparison sites
• Powerful support with extremely helpful setup
  wizard, educational videos, and extensive guides
  with visual representations.

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Concerns with BigCommerce

• One concern with BigCommerce is the lack of free
  themes.
• Currently it offers only 7 free themes, while
  most of their immediate competitors offer more
  than 20 free themes.
• However, the platform has a comprehensive list
  of premium themes, and it also allows
  customization of these themes if you want to give
  your store an entirely unique look and feel.

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When should you go with BigCommerce?

• If you want a full-fledged store, but don't want
  the hassles of integrating plug-ins, editing
  HTML/CSS or other code, then BigCommerce is
  definitely the go-to ecommerce platform for you.
• If you are willing to compromise a bit on
  themes, then BigCommerce is a strong alternative
  to Shopify at roughly the same pricing
  (BigCommerce's plans are between 29 and
  199/month) without the incremental transaction
  fees.

12
Magento

• Magento is considered the market leader among
  ecommerce platforms. Owing to its reliability and
  scalability, several brands use this platform for
  their online stores, which includes Burger King,
  Huawei, Pepe Jeans among many others. For
  enterprise level online stores, this platform is
  the best. 
• Magento is an open source and flexible platform
  and hence businesses must employ competent
  developers for customization. However, it can be
  the most optimal choice for enterprise level
  online business owners who have a high volume of
  products on offer.

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The Benefits of Magento

• Good user experience easy to use and manage
• Open source platform and therefore open to all
  sorts of customization.
• 9000 plugins/extensions to scale your business
• Free extensions that enable social commerce so
  you can sell on social media platforms.
• Extensive resource library for store management,
  growth, demos, and online community of store
  owners as well as plugin developers you can tap
  for help.

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Critical Factors associated with Magento

• One of the critical factors associated with
  Magento is the pricing of its versions. The basic
  Community version is free, while the advanced
  Enterprise version costs a minimum 20,000/year.
• Needless to say, the Community version is no
  match for the Enterprise version, which offers
  many built in high-end features such as customer
  segmentation, a support module, 24/7 support and
  a much more.

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When is Magento the ideal solution?

• Magento is considered the right ecommerce
  platform for enterprise-level merchants with a
  large volume of products. Given the complexity of
  store setup and management with Magento, the
  platform is not recommended for beginners.

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YoKart

• With its feature richness and smart pricing
  models, YoKart is built with a specific focus on
  helping startups build ecommerce ecosystem
  easily.
• Think of it as the one-stop solution for
  launching multi-vendor stores like eBay and Etsy.
• Although many other ecommerce platforms also
  provide their multi-vendor version, YoKart does
  this seamlessly.

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The Benefits of YoKart are

• A ready-to-launch multi-vendor marketplace
  solution
• Other than the framework, you own the source code
  and can customize the portal to your
  requirements.
• YoKart is built on an encrypted framework. Which
  means that customization would require knowledge
  of that framework. In general, an experienced PHP
  developer would quickly understand the framework
  and how to modify it as needed.
• Mobile-friendly platform and a dedicated Android
  app for marketplaces
• Same features across all pricing packages
  (briefed below)
• Comprehensive manuals for store owners and
  merchants, video tutorials, FAQs, and 12-month
  free support for store management

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Concerns with YoKart

• Being a relatively new entrant in the industry,
  there are no third-party extensions currently
  available for YoKart.
• But the system offers built in analytics tool,
  over a dozen supported payment gateways, rewards
  and discount coupon management features.
• A big drawback, however, is its lack of social
  commerce capabilities, meaning that that it
  currently lacks the features to allow merchants
  to sell on Facebook and other social media
  platforms.

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When is YoKart the right ecommerce platform?

• For multi-vendor stores such as eBay and Etsy,
  YoKart is a great choice. Its startup package is
  a hosted solution with one-year license, which
  costs 250 and allows startups to verify their
  business model.
• The advanced version is self-hosted,
  customizable, costs 999 (one time), and is
  intended for companies who have a sound business
  model. Switching from a startup to an advanced
  package is also quite easy.

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Big Cartel

• Big Cartel is perfect for independent workers and
  small scale home based businesses. Over the years
  since its launch in 2005, the platform claims to
  have helped over a million artists in selling
  their creations over the web.
• The hosting system is simple and considered the
  best for creatively inclined home business owners
  who are entering the ecommerce domain. The
  platform is an ideal pick for individual artists
  with its simplistic store and economic pricing
  features.

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The Benefits of Big Cartel are

• Extremely simple to setup a store and manage it.
• Facebook shop access.
• Aesthetically sound themes.
• WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) code
  editor to customize your theme including HTML,
  CSS JavaScript.
• Comprehensive Help Center (detailed guides
  FAQs), useful video tutorials, support via email,
  and Big Cartel's Facebook Twitter accounts.

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Challenges with Big Cartel are

• The simplicity of Big Cartel also results in
  limited functionality, which is definitely a
  downside for those who want to do more than just
  sell products.
• Big Cartel's theme library is limited to 12
  themes, out of which only 2 are responsive
  (meaning optimized for mobile devices). There are
  limited add-ons however, store owners can get
  access to 500 apps via Zapier integration.

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When Big Cartel is the right ecommerce solution?

•  This platform is ideal for individual artists
  and creative people (not for typical retailers).
  With its simplistic stores and economical pricing
  (0 to 29.99/month), Big Cartel allows artists
  to sell things online easily with a good-looking
  website, thereby allowing artist to focus on
  creating things instead of managing their online
  store.
• The growing dominance of mobile and social media
  shows no sign of slowing down. Using social and
  mobile platforms as vehicles to reach new
  customers and drive more sales is a critical
  aspect to any ecommerce platform in 2017 and
  beyond.
• While searching for an ecommerce solution, be
  sure to check whether the platform will allow you
  to capitalize on these trends and that the
  selected ecommerce platform aligns with the
  projected needs and goals of your business.

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• Hamad Al Muraikhi Hamad_at_edeskhub.com
• Sweta Thakur Sweta_at_edeskhub.com
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