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If you have an eCommerce business, or you are planning to start one, you need to have a clear understanding of the technologies that you will need — commonly referred to as a tech stack.

It can be an overwhelming factor to choose the right framework for you especially if you are a beginner, or someone who does not have a tech background. The best known frameworks for e-commerce platforms are Shopify, Magento, and Woocommerce, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. But nothing to worry about, as we can assure you that by the end of this blog, you will know exactly which technologies are required for your eCommerce business and how you should implement them.

Let us take a detailed look at each of the three platforms, along with their pros and cons and help you make an informed decision.

Shopify

Shopify is a very popular online platform for merchants globally. It is a platform that has been around for more than a decade that allows sellers to set up an online store and ship their products from the comfort of their space. Here are some of the benefits of using Shopify to develop your website –

• One of the prominent benefits of Shopify is the ease of its use. It is a completely hassle-free process and does not require you to go through a rigorous process to be able to launch your e-commerce website.
• They also offer continuous customer support through live chats, emails or you can just call them up at any time with your queries. Apart from that, their FAQs section is also well-structured and will clear your doubts.
• Multiple payment gateways are available on Shopify, including third-party payment gateways. Transactions are smooth and easy to process, which allows you to sell globally.
• The better the appearance of your online store, the more people you are likely to attract. Shopify offers more than hundred pre-designed themes. And there are themes for everyone, no matter what your niche is, you will surely find a theme for it.
• Even after being provided with various themes, Shopify still gives you the option to customise your online store. You can design it and add features however you like.

However, everything has its drawbacks, and so does Shopify. So let’s see what they are –

• The cost of setting up a platform on Shopify may be more than your budget. You will get a 14-day free trial period after which you will have to subscribe to their plans. They have a total of three plans fairing at $29, $79 and $299 per month, as per your requirements. The basic packages will most likely not meet your requirements.
• For every sale made through Shopify’s payment gateway, a transaction fee is charged.
• Even though customization is available, it is very limited. You will have to pay to get the most out of it. These limitations may deprive you of the opportunity to create a diverse portfolio for your online business.

Magento

Magento is one of the most popular and flexible e-commerce development websites that provides online retailers to create and customise a new website or migrate from an old one. There are two distinct platforms within Magento itself – Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce Cloud. Open source is completely free to download and use while the other one requires a licensing fee. With that being said, let us take a look at the benefits of using Magento –

• As an e-commerce business, your website should be mobile friendly. Magento provides the ideal experience for its users with its responsive design that can be adjusted with your store’s layout. They also come with a unique set of tools that will help you create your own, personalised mobile app.
• It is one of the most secure e-commerce platforms that comes with many features to protect your privacy and security and also save you from threats such as leaks or false transactions.
• It also comes with SEO features that will help you rank your website. They provide custom meta titles and descriptions that can improve click-through rates on search engines.
• Magento is one of the most flexible platforms as it allows a lot of customization. You can design your website however you desire, the theme, content, functionalities and everything.
• They have a very wide community of developers, designers and customer support available who are continuously working on creating new themes, designs and modules. If you have any queries, there is a high chance that someone has already posted a blog or a tutorial to clear your doubts.

Magento does come with a few drawbacks as well, which are –

• The cost of development is quite high. The free community version of Magento does not give access to more than half of the features. To get this access, you will have to invest in the Enterprise version that would easily cost you around $15000.
• The process of development using Magento is quite complicated. To handle its complexities, you will require a professional team of developers. And even though Magento itself provides developers, it is very difficult to find reliable developers, and even if you do, their charge is very high.
• Hosting on Magento servers can be slow because it is a large space, so you would have to invest in a dedicated server and still your website has chances of crashing due to the vast size of the platform.

WooCommerce

Woocommerce is yet another flexible, open source platform that is based on WordPress, at first launched as WooThemes. They later decided to focus completely on ecommerce platforms. Now, they support small as well as medium sized businesses and help them build the online store that they desire. They are renowned for the seamless experience they create with a straightforward shop system. So, let us take a look at the pros of choosing WooCommerce –

• The high flexibility of this platform is what makes it so famous. You can sell anything here, and by that we mean literally anything. Whether it’s physical products like furniture, affiliated products, e-books and novels for download, or even invitations to seminars or talk-shows.
• It has multiple free plug-in options on the WordPress Plugin Directory that will help you set up a store specific to the products you offer and customise it accordingly. You don’t need to be tech-savvy or have expertise in CSS or HTML to set it up. And to handle the extra tech services, you can hire a website development company like ours.
• The major problem with online platforms are delicate payment gateways. But you won’t be facing that problem with WooCommerce. They ensure secure payment methods and also allow you to add a separate security plugin to check your website regularly for hackers.
• They have a very interactive community. Around four billion websites are in operation. The user base is distributed in separate forums where members can post blogs, or guides on which configurations work best for them.
• They have an Advanced Facebook Group with their professional developers and other trained members. This is where you can go if you want a more in–depth glimpse into the world of WooCommerce. It creates a direct forum of communication between you and its developers.

Let us now assess the drawbacks of WooCommerce –

• Since the plugin is WordPress specific, you cannot use it in sites that they don’t host. This means if you already have an established business, you won’t be able to use WooCommerce unless you remake your website.
• If you want your site to work at maximum capacity, you will need to make some purchases on this platform. Even though it is free to install, you will find that it comes with many hidden expenses such as subscriptions and security fees for payment gateways.
• The lack of terms and conditions or other legal policies can cause trouble for users outside of the United States of America and lead to legal or tax related issues.

Hopefully by now, you have some idea on which platform would be best suited for you. As experts in development, it is advisable to take assistance from the best web development company before making a move in the eCommerce market. Given its high competitive ground, things can fall apart easily if you don’t have a team of developers facilitating these platforms at each step.