If you are the owner of an online or plan to be in the near future, then surely one of your biggest dilemmas is the choice of e-commerce platforms. Indeed, suppliers can come and go, much like any other partner, but your platform will ALWAYS be there. This is why you need it to be reliable; changing it is an ordeal, so you need to make the right choice from the very beginning.
If you are a small online shop, then you will probably want to do most of the work yourself. We have prepared a short list of the best e-commerce platforms in 2015 with a focus on their user-friendliness. Check it out and let us know which one you prefer:
Shopify
It’s no wonder Shopify has climbed at the top of users’ preferences so quickly. Besides being very affordable, it’s also incredibly user-friendly. The intuitive dashboard lets you add new products quickly, as well as customize the look and feel of your website. Even better, if you are planning to relocate to Shopify from another platform, you can do it with a single click with the “Import products” option. That’s right, you don’t have to waste hours adding each of them by hand again. Pretty smart, right?
When you add new products, everything is equally easy; much like all the other platforms, Shopify prompts you to add a title, a description, a price and other option; but they also provide short explanations for each one of them , so that you know what goes where – ideal for beginning entrepreneurs.
3dcart
It’s easy to get fooled by 3dcart’s product setup page; to be fair, it looks as if it’s last been updated in 2009. Still, you need to keep in mind that the backend is not visible to your buyers and, despite its old appearance, it’s actually very easy to use. Plus, they offer a ton of tutorials to help you setup and maintain your website.
Another aspect that increases 3dcart’s usability is their drag and drop editor. With its help, you can easily customize the look and feel of your pages without having to change anything in the CSS or HTML code. Yes, no coding experience required.
Volusion
This up & coming e-commerce platform also has a very user-friendly product creation area. However, before deciding on using it, take a look at what you need to do to change page layout or design. It’s impossible to do that without knowing how to code, so make sure you have someone with at least basic coding skills nearby.
Bigcommerce
Bigcommerce has the second friendliest dashboard after Shopify. Plus, it also offers great advice and tutorials on how to get started with your website. The reason it ranks so low in our top is that it still lacks a drag and drop editor – probably will be coming up soon, though. However, their design tools are not the worst we’ve seen. All in all, even though you might need some coding skills to get around, Bigcommerce is not the poorest choice we could make.
Big Cartel
At first sight, Big Cartel seems quite unfriendly with its visitors. The dashboard is not very intuitive and, even more, the text is in very pale colors, so it’s hard to read. It also lacks a drag and drop editor, but it makes up for this in customization options.
One nice thing about this is the tidy way in which the design elements are arranged – all of them to the left so that you can easily move around. Also, you can get by without coding for the basic needs, but if you want any advanced customization, you’ll have to put your HTML/CSS hat on.
What was your favorite e-commerce platform in 2015 and why?
