08/15/2022

Top Website Builders For Your Ecommerce Store

Insights

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An ecommerce website builder can make it simple to set up an online store, take payments, process orders, and drive traffic. We have used almost every website builder available and can recommend Shopify as the best choice for most online shops. You can build as many websites as you want.

The Best Ecommerce Website Builder

Shopify

Best for the Most

Shopify offers everything you need to build an ecommerce website. This makes it as simple as possible. Shopify offers ecommerce website templates and a built-in payment processing system with no transaction fees. It also has the largest ecommerce marketplace. Shopify plans start from $29 per month

Shopify has been voted our top choice because it includes everything you need to start, manage and scale your online store. It powers thousands of online businesses in 175 countries. Shopify offers everything, from dropshipping support to payment processing and SEO tools.

Sign up today for a free 14-day trial to find the right plan for your business. You can start by creating an ecommerce template. Once you have added your content, your online store will be ready to go. Shopify offers a free trial, with no credit card required.

These are the 8 best ecommerce website builders to consider:

  1. Shopify – Best ecommerce website builder for most
  2. Web.com The most powerful fulfillment and inventory features
  3. Zyro- The best price for customer tracking, analytics, and reporting
  4. Wix – Best for beginners
  5. BigCommerce is best for rapid scaling
  6. Squarespace is best for selling and showcasing creative work
  7. Weebly – Ideal for small shops that want to remain small
  8. Shift4Shop is the best for unlimited customization

It makes sense to invest in an Ecommerce website builder

An ecommerce website builder will most likely be the best way to sell products online. You can easily create a website using drag-and-drop editors.

These include everything you need for managing orders, shipping, and other responsibilities.

This exception is only if you are a skilled website developer or have a website elsewhere.

For example, if you already have a WordPress website, you can easily install the WooCommerce plugin and add ecommerce functionality without having to start over.

You can also use Shopify Lite to manage inventory and embed “Buy Now” buttons on existing websites.

Site builders are the best option for anyone else.

Even if you are just setting up an online platform for COVID-19 sales, this is still true.

The best ecommerce website builders can increase your company’s revenues by selling online, even if brick-and-mortar sales are declining.

You can also use it to find new customers that otherwise would not have discovered your business.

Bottom line: Ecommerce website builders are the fastest and easiest way to sell your products online, even if you don’t have a website or are a developer.

#1 – Shopify — The Best Ecommerce Website Builder for Most

Shopify

Best for the Most

Shopify is an easy-to-use ecommerce website builder. All you need to open an online store are included, as well as 24/7 customer support. There are no activation fees and no long wait for sales to begin. Paid plans start from $29 per month

Shopify provides all the tools you need to create an online store. Shopify offers everything you need to help your business succeed, no matter how big or small.

You can launch your online store quickly and easily with the feature-rich platform and drag-and-drop page builders.

You can even use a variety of premium and free store themes to get started with the design process.

You can create a professional-looking online store with all the necessary features, including shipping, taxes, and inventory management.

Shopify Payments comes with all plans and allows you to start processing credit cards as well as digital payments such as Google Pay. Shopify Payments does not require you to share information with any third party. Shopify Payments activates the moment that you sign up.

The platform has many valuable features, including built-in marketing tools, digital gift cards, shipping discounts, unlimited products, and support for 133 currency.

You can get more functionality from the app marketplace. There are over 4,000+ premium and free apps that will enhance your online store’s capabilities.

There are many apps for everything, from email marketing and social media integrations to shipping platforms and special discounts.

Shopify’s customer service was also impressive. Shopify’s customer support team is available to assist you at any hour of the day, whether you have a question about your business strategy or technical questions about your website’s backend.

They are available via live chat 24 hours a day. We have found that their response time is almost instant. This means you don’t need to be in panic mode for hours waiting for a reply.

Six Shopify plans are available, including:

  • Starter: $5 per Month (only includes shoppable hyperlinks)
  • Lite $9 per Month (only includes an embedded buy button).
  • Basic – $29/month with essential features
  • Shopify – $79/month with standard features
  • Advanced – $299/month with all features
  • Plus – Starting at $2,000 per Month for Large Stores

Shopify’s page builders are not available in the Starter and Lite plans. We do not recommend this unless you have a website already set up elsewhere or if you plan to sell via social media using links.

We recommend that you start with the Basic plan. For most users, it’s enough to get started.

The Basic plan and the marketplace apps are perfect for most users. However, you can upgrade to a higher level tier if you want more functionality and features.

Shopify’s team is available to assist you with any questions you may have about how to use these new capabilities.

You should also be aware that all Shopify plans come with additional transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify’s built-in payment processor. While this won’t affect most users, it is something to consider.

Register for a 14-day free trial and take Shopify for an evaluation today! No credit card is required.

#2 – Web.com — Most Powerful Inventory & Fulfillment Features

Web.com

Best for Inventory and Fulfillment

Web.com pros can help you build a website, or you can do it yourself. Either way, you will get the best ecommerce tools and features for growth at a lower price than you might think.

>> Get started with Web.com today

Website builders often require you to make a decision early on whether you want something simple that is quick and easy to set up or powerful features that will help you grow your website store.

Web.com doesn’t mean you have to compromise. The web store creator is extremely user-friendly and includes tons of features to help you track inventory and sell across multiple channels.

Let’s begin with their website builder. Web.com has two options for creating an ecommerce site.

You can also use their WYSIWYG website builder to create your website. Drag-and-drop functionality allows you to move elements around, and some templates will give your site a solid foundation. This will allow you to create an online store that fits your vision.

Let’s suppose you have an urgent need for a web shop. It’s not possible to find the time and resources to build your web store.

Web.com is the best. Web.com offers in-house web design for any customer.

Web.com will provide a fully-functional, SEO-friendly web store for your business that you can immediately deploy.

They’ll communicate every step of their process, from the initial meeting to get to know you and learn more about your business strategy to the final walkthrough and welcome all of your new site before it goes live.

Building your website store is just half of the battle in either case. Web.com can help you achieve rapid growth.

Web.com’s eCommerce Premium Plan gives you a lot of options to sell products and services beyond what your website can offer.

This is just a small glimpse of the benefits that this plan can bring to your ecommerce business:

  • Tracking inventory across multiple warehouses from unlimited locations
  • Marketplace selling to Etsy.com, Amazon.com, and Google. Walmart.
  • Facebook and Instagram social selling
  • Fulfillment automation includes the use of dropships and third-party suppliers
  • Inventory synchronization, including restock administration
  • Shipping rates and sales tax are automatically calculated
  • Creation of barcodes

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Web.com’s eCommerce Premium package shows you how high-powered an ecommerce operation could look.

You can house inventory locally for fast fulfillment to all customers, find additional sales opportunities through some of the largest shopping and social media platforms on the internet, automate large parts of the inventory and order processing, and automate large amounts of the inventory and ordering processes.

Web.com has all the tools you need to do this and much more. Even if you don’t have a large company, Web.com has the tools you need. You can be sure that your Web.com online shop won’t grow just because you are seeing positive revenue growth.

This is a great deal, and it won’t cost you a lot. You can grab Web.com’s eCommerce Premium plan now for $19.95 per year. This is a much cheaper option than many other mid-grade web store building plans.

Choose Web.com to start your journey toward ecommerce dominance. They are accessible at any level, so there is no limit to your ecommerce business.

#3 – Zyro — The Best price for customer tracking and analytics

Zyro

Best for Customer Analytics

Zyro offers a simple site builder and a variety of ecommerce tools. Integration with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Ads is easy. This allows you to gain a better understanding of your customers and make improvements based on that information. All this is available at one of the best prices in the market.

Zyro’s greatest virtue is its simplicity in website building. Its ecommerce plans are also easy to use. It takes most users less than an hour to set up their ecommerce store. There are 24 professionally designed templates available and an intuitive drag-and-drop builder.

Importing and adding products to your inventory will take you longer than building your store.

Zyro’s website builder is easy to use. However, it also offers deep marketing, tracking, and targeting capabilities. It’s the most affordable price for such detailed analytics.

You need to have a good understanding of your customer’s behavior, their origins, and the things they are responding to in your marketing if you want to be successful in ecommerce.

Zyro’s Ecommerce Plans make it simple to integrate with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook ads. You can refine your efforts by analyzing data and tangible behavior from Google and Facebook, as Google and Facebook provide information about your audience and what they do on your website.

This information will allow you to optimize your store based on what you know about your customers.

You can, for example, rearrange products on Zyro based on how they are selling. Or, if one of your most expensive items leads to a lot of abandoned carts, sell it and focus your marketing efforts only on those channels that bring in real customers.

Just to be clear, this adds to the intuitive Zyro builders. You also get inventory and order management built in.

Zyro makes it simple to accept all types of payments, including Stripe, PayPal, traditional credit cards, and many other options. Online payments are not always easy to use and implement.

Zyro’s two plans for ecommerce are very competitive, especially if there is a limited selection of products and services you wish to sell.

The Online Store plan is lower priced and allows you to buy up to 100 products. It’s possible to get it at a bargain price if you sign up for four years upfront. You can also get a great deal by choosing a one-year, two-year, or three-year commitment.

Zyro’s Advanced Store plan is a little more expensive, but it allows you to purchase up to 2,500 products. You get product filters for your web store, translation in other languages, and integration with your Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram stores, among other useful features.

You get a lot of useful tools to build, improve, and market your web store at one of the best prices in the industry.

Zyro’s 24/7 customer service is available to assist you if ever you feel overwhelmed or have any issues.

Create your ecommerce website on Zyro and get better data about your customers and visitors. Then watch the growth opportunities unfold in front of your eyes.

#4 – Wix — The Best For Beginners

Wix

Ideal for beginners

Wix offers everything you need to build an ecommerce website. It makes the process simple. Wix offers a drag-and-drop builder, unlimited products, and 700+ starter templates. It also includes integrated SEO tools, web hosting, commission-free sales, and built-in SEO tools. Ecommerce plans start from $27 per monthly

Wix, a drag-and-drop website builder that is extremely versatile, turns non-designers into Miami website design agency pros. It includes everything you need to launch and start your online store.

Wix doesn’t charge additional transaction fees, which is our favorite feature. You get to keep all your hard-earned cash (except for standard payment processing fees).

Other options can charge up to 3% on top of processing fees. Wix’s 0% offer however is exceptional.

Wix has over 50 payment providers that meet PCI DSS compliance standards. TLS 1.3 encryption is standard on Wix so that everyone’s data remains secure from prying eyes.

This is a great thing because it means that ecommerce stores are less vulnerable to data breaches or web browsers flagging them as unsafe.

It is also very easy to use and learn. Once you are comfortable with it, you will be able to make changes, update your website at will, add new products, and manage your orders easily.

There are no restrictions on how many products you can sell. There are no limits on how much revenue you can make from your online shop.

Wix does not have such a cap. On the lowest tier, you can theoretically make millions of dollars and sell thousands upon thousands of products.

However, storage space and included features are the biggest limitations. It is a good idea to upgrade at some point.

The cheapest plan includes 20GB of storage (which is plenty for most stores), abandoned cart recovery, and the ability to sell via social media. Wix also offers an online booking platform that allows you to sell classes and services, hold public and private events, manage orders online for delivery, or pick them up in-store.

Access to 975+ pre-built templates is also available that you can use to start your online shop.

Wix templates are professionally designed, responsive, SEO-optimized, and modern. Site visitors will enjoy a great experience no matter what device they are shopping from.

Wix’s SEO tools and features can be used to make sure your website appears in search engine results. This will increase traffic to your online store, and help you to boost sales. Wix offers basic email marketing features and social media marketing tools to help you build your brand.

Wix websites run on highly reliable server infrastructure. Wix websites run smoothly thanks to their managed optimization an array of data centers, which hold multiple backups for your web store’s data.

You’ll always be available to help a customer who wants to purchase from your online shop.

Even if the plan isn’t the most expensive, you still get all you need to get going. Get started.

You can upgrade to more advanced features from your account dashboard. Upgrades are seamless and there is no downtime. Your site will still offer amazing shopping experiences for your visitors.

Wix offers advanced features such as priority customer support, selling memberships and subscriptions with automated sales tax, shipping discounts and customer loyalty programs.

Wix offers three options for ecommerce, including:

  • Basic – $27 per Month
  • Unlimited – $32 per month
  • VIP – $59 per month

Pro-tip: We signed up for a free forever plan and were given a 50% discount on the Unlimited and VIP plans. Although the offer might not be available to everyone, it is worth looking into if you are interested in one of these plans.

The Basic plan is sufficient if you are just starting. You can upgrade when you earn more revenue or want to take advantage of more advanced features.

Wix’s advanced functionality at higher tiers will be a little restrictive for advanced users and developers.

It’s a great choice for intermediate and complete beginners who are looking for an all-around outstanding platform that provides all the essentials of ecommerce at an affordable price.

Sign up today for a free 14-day trial, or a forever-free plan to find out if Wix is right in your life!

#5 – BigCommerce — The Best For Rapid Scaling 

BigCommerce

Ideal for rapid scaling

Without the right tools, rapid growth can be devastating for an online store. BigCommerce is an ecommerce platform that scales with you regardless of how quickly you grow. Paid plans start from $29.95 per month

Many ecommerce builders are focused on small businesses, whether they’re new and established or not. BigCommerce is a company that focuses on online shops that are in the middle of this spectrum but want to grow as quickly as possible.

The entry-level plan costs more than Wix but offers more functionality and advanced features that will help you grow your online store.

Automation, personalizing customer experiences, and enhanced strategies to draw new customers are the key ingredients for rapid growth. BigCommerce brings together the best of each to scale your business as quickly as possible.

These are the three core areas of what this website builder does.

You can also sell on multiple platforms, such as Facebook and Pinterest. You can even choose your payment gateway and avoid transaction fees, so you can keep more of the product you sell.

BigCommerce has revenue limits, which is a departure from other ecommerce website builders. The lowest plan has a cap of $50,000 annually in revenue. It’s a great place to start, but it will quickly become obsolete as your business grows.

You’ll be able to make a larger investment after you reach the $50k mark. This means that upgrading shouldn’t be too costly. You can stay on the plan until your annual income reaches $180k.

Each plan comes with unlimited products and unlimited staff accounts. This allows you to onboard all your team members and each product in your catalog without having to pay additional. Your store can be connected to powerful marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.

BigCommerce’s most distinctive feature is its single-page checkout process, which helps increase conversions.

Our list has many builders who use a two-page checkout process. This means potential customers must go through additional steps before they can complete their purchase. A one-page design can make the process more efficient and result in more sales.

Customers can also pay using a variety of payment methods including Apple, Google, and Amazon Pay. This makes it simple to choose the best method for them.

No matter what plan you choose you will get the essentials of ecommerce such as discounts and coupons and enterprise-grade reporting tools. Product ratings and reviews are available, along with a blog and real-time shipping estimates from various carriers.

The software can scale with you when you are ready to use more advanced features.

Higher tiers allow you to take advantage of advanced segmentation and advanced SEO optimization capabilities to boost your growth.

Customer support is also top-notch, with over 85% of issues being resolved within the first contact.

They are available 24/7/365 to answer your questions and provide tailored advice. You will also find extensive product documentation and a strong community forum to assist you.

BigCommerce offers four pricing options, including:

  • Standard – $29.95/month with a $50k annual income cap
  • Plus, $79.95 per Month with a $180k annual income cap
  • Pro – $299.95/month with a $400k annual income cap
  • Enterprise – For those earning more than $400k, we can offer custom pricing

Transaction fees are not charged on any plan. This is a huge advantage. You have a lot to choose from when it comes to adding products and users to your web store.

Register for a 15-day free trial and take BigCommerce for an immediate test drive!

#6 – squarespace — The Best to Showcase & Sell Creative Work

Squarespace

Best for Creatives

You will find everything you need to tell the brand story. Your visuals will be at the heart of the user experience. You will find dozens of pre-made, visual-focused templates and social media marketing tools. Plans start at $18 per Month

Squarespace can help you sell your work online if you heavily rely on branding and imagery. Because users cannot interact with the product you are selling, your website, photos, and videos must do all of the heavy liftings.

It was designed for visually-oriented websites and comes with many attractive templates. Squarespace’s templates are the best out of all the products that we reviewed.

They are aesthetically pleasing and don’t require any editing. But you can easily customize the template you choose using an intuitive what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor.

It is 100% drag-and-drop, making it simple to create a visually appealing online portfolio even if your website design skills are limited.

It takes only a few minutes to change the colors on your entire website. You can choose a template and upload your images or videos. Once you are done, you can set up your product listings.

You can also sell premium slots on your calendar for custom work and consultations via the online booking tool.

The advanced ecommerce plan also allows you to sell subscriptions and memberships. This feature is great if you want to sell stock photography subscriptions or digital assets with recurring revenues.

Squarespace offers many tools that will help you market your store via social media.

Squarespace’s social media integrations allow you to tell your brand story and promote your products within Squarespace. Your customers don’t have to leave Squarespace to purchase products from you. This makes the buying process easy.

Squarespace can be used to create shoppable posts for Instagram users. This allows them to see all your products in one click.

Each plan includes tax tools that allow you to create discounts, gift certificates, mobile inventory, store management, and in-person payments for sales at pop-up events and art shows.

You have three options for ecommerce-ready plans:

  • Small Business – $18/month with 3% transaction fees
  • Basic Ecommerce – $26 per Month with no transaction fees
  • Advanced Ecommerce – $40 per Month with no transaction fee

A personal plan is also available for $12 per month. However, it does not include commerce functionality nor the ability to take payments.

While the Business Plan provides basic functionality and all you need, you will have to pay 3% on every transaction. You can also opt for the Basic Ecommerce Plan to keep more of your earnings and gain more advanced features.

Get a 14-day free trial today to find out if Squarespace is right for you!

#7 – Weebly — The Best Small Stores That Want to Stay Small

Weebly

Best for Small Stores

Weebly is our most simple site builder. It’s perfect for small businesses or local shops that want to transition to online sales. You can easily build an online store using Weebly’s free forever plan. This includes in-person pickups and delivery options.

Weebly has the most straightforward ecommerce website builders on our list. This is a great option for small businesses, independent sellers, or local operations who need an easy, straightforward way to create a webshop.

Over the last year, a lot of businesses–especially ones that lean hard on walk-up customers, like restaurants and small retailers–have needed to pivot to online sales because of the global pandemic.

Weebly is a popular choice for small shops and businesses, as well as newcomers, latecomers, and anyone who suddenly needs to integrate ecommerce. You can create an online store and list your products in less than an hour.

It is easy to add products, remove out-of-stock products, push updates, and track inventory levels without having to fiddle too much with the platform.

It’s unnecessary to spend hours fiddling around with your webshop to get it working the way you want, regardless of whether you rely heavily on online sales or just ecommerce as an adjunct.

All Weebly plans, even the free ones, come with an integrated shopping cart and a quick shop option. Customers can also check out quickly. Unlimited products are available, as well as delivery and in-store options.

You can also create custom coupons and offer digital gift certificates, as well as manage inventory in real-time, according to customers’ orders.

Optimize your website for SEO in your area and collect leads to increase your email list.

That’s it. Everything you need to start and manage your small business is included in the free plan.

You can’t connect custom domain names to a free account. This could be a deal-breaker or not.

You can upgrade to a premium plan for $6 per month if it is.

Be aware that both the Personal ($6/month), and Free plans will display Square ads on your site. This is not a big deal if your store is small or if you are selling products as a hobby.

They’re very subtle. There are no pop-ups or in-line advertisements. It is just a small bar at the bottom of your website that can be set to either a light or dark theme.

Upgrade to a higher level for $12 per month and enjoy an ad-free site, as well as a free domain name, no transaction fees, and unlimited storage, and an ad-free website.

Weebly offers the following pricing plans:

  • There are no monthly fees and a 3% transaction charge.
  • Personal: $6 per month + a 3.3% transaction fee
  • Professionals – $12 per Month with no transaction fees
  • Performance – $26/month to access all features

Smaller stores will find the Personal and Free plans sufficient. We recommend that you start there. The Professional plan will suit you best if you need your domain with no transaction fees.

The Performance plan is not as good as other providers in terms of the features that you get for the price. You can find a better package elsewhere with better overall value if you are looking for performance at the top of the heap.

If you require more than Weebly Professional, we recommend that you look elsewhere.

Register for a forever-free plan today to find out if Weebly is right in your case!

#8 – Shift4Shop – The Best for Limitless Customization

Shift4Shop

Ideal for unlimited customization

Shift4 Shops ecommerce website builder is limitless and offers you the flexibility, control, and scalability that you need. You can create an individual buying experience with the help of various tools such as a core template engine, customizable checkout pages, and a core templating engine. It’s also free!

The other options in our list may feel very restrictive if you are a skilled website developer or you have one on your staff. You don’t have much control over the way your website looks and functions.

Shift4Shop, formerly 3DCart, was created to provide complete control over ecommerce website building.

Shift4Shop offers everything you need to create a truly unique online shopping experience, whether you want to start from a template or customize it to your liking.

Sign up to get Shift4Shop’s Core Templating Engine, which makes creating custom themes faster than ever.

The platform can also be used to create a mobile app that allows you to shop on the move.

Every plan includes unlimited products, unlimited bandwidth, and an integrated CRM.

The cheapest plan is more affordable than other high-priced ones and allows you to sell unlimited products and traffic. It’s also one of our few options that offer bulk discounts.

This feature is essential for any person who wants to sell products wholesale or directly to consumers (or other businesses).

Shift4Shop’s most notable feature is its ability to personalize your checkout page.

This feature is not available in any other ecommerce website builders we have looked at. It’s a great way to simplify the ordering process for your customers.

Even with the cheapest plan you still get FTP access and the ability to use REST APIs to create a seamless experience. You also have access to Shift4Shop engineers and developers if you have any questions or encounter snags.

The company has also changed the way it deals with pricing.

Shift4Shop provides an end-to-end, 100% free ecommerce platform that includes access to all its features. Only one caveat: you must use Shift4Shop’s payment processor and be located in the United States.

You’ll be charged a transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 for the integrated payment processor.

You can sign up for a standard plan if you are based in another country or want to use another processor. There are three options available:

  • Basic – $29/month for 2 users, with essential features (upto $100k/year in Sales)
  • Plus: $79 per user for 5 users, standard features included (up to $250k/year).
  • Pro – $299/month for 15 users, all features (up to $1M/year in Sales)

We recommend the Shift4Shop free plan. This will give you access to all features including sales automation and marketing. There are no annual sales limits or user accounts.

Register for a free forever account at Shift4Shop today

Methodology to Choose the Best Ecommerce Website Builder

Any of these ecommerce builders can be used to accomplish the task. However, this doesn’t mean you have to be satisfied with the result.

Although they may all look the same, there are very few details that distinguish one ecommerce platform from the other.

We have created a method that helps you make a decision. These criteria will help to narrow down your choices and help you make the right decision about your online store.

Pricing Structure and Limitations on Plans

There are many plans available for ecommerce website builders. They have different limitations depending on which platform you select. It can be confusing.

BigCommerce limits your annual online sales. If you have less than $50,000 annually in sales, the introductory plan will not work.

Squarespace, on the other hand, charges 3% transaction fees in addition to processor fees. It also removes many features unless you select an e-commerce-specific package. However, you can make unlimited sales.

Wix does not calculate sales tax on your first 100 transactions per month unless you upgrade. There are also 1,000 product reviews.

Others may limit your product list or restrict access to your account. Every plan has its limitations that may vary depending on the platform. Make sure you read everything before making a decision.

These limitations can seem insignificant when you’re just starting. You must choose a platform that offers the flexibility your business needs as it grows.

Think about the advanced features that you might need in the future, such as customizable checkout pages and abandoned cart recovery emails.

When you are ready to access these features, make sure you know the price.

Many platforms offer plugins and add-ons that can enhance the functionality of your online shop. Some of these are free while others may cost extra.

As you calculate your monthly payments and choose the right platform for you, don’t forget about these extra costs.

Many website builders also charge transaction fees in addition to plan restrictions. We’ve already discussed Squarespace. However, Weebly adds additional fees to your transaction when you use a third-party processor.

Weebly charges an additional 3% unless you’re on the Professional plan. This starts at $12 per month or more.

If you are looking for something that doesn’t charge extra, Wix and Shift4Shop are the best choices.

Your site-building skill level

It takes a lot to build websites from scratch. You don’t want a tech-madness nightmare that adds more stress to your life. It is important to choose an option that suits your skills.

We recommend Wix or Weebly if you have never created a website. Zyro and Squarespace are also great options.

All of them are beginner-friendly and have drag-and-drop editors. There’s plenty of room for you to expand your ecommerce capabilities once you’re ready.

Or, even better, use Web.com’s in-house design services, and you won’t have to lift a finger.

Shopify can also be a good choice for beginners but will take more time to get used to. Although it is not difficult to learn, many ecommerce features can feel overwhelming for those just starting.

Shift4Shop and BigCommerce are better options for more experienced users.

This is not to suggest that you shouldn’t use them even if your website has never been built. However, you will struggle more if this route is chosen.

BigCommerce and Shift4Shop offer more flexibility, and customization, and are easier to use by developers than platforms designed for beginners. It may be worth spending the extra time to learn how to use them if that is something you are interested in.

Each platform has different skill levels. However, it also comes with many tools that will make your life easier. Wix’s advanced designer intelligence (ADI), pre-built templates, and training materials are just a few examples.

Pre-built templates will be your best friend if you want to quickly get started. Take some time to look at the various templates that come with each option.

Does it look professional? Do they do what you need? Or will you need to hire a designer or developer to make it work for you? Are you happy with any of these designs?

You will need to spend more time creating an online store you love.

Tech Support and Platform Policies

Shopify is a top-notch ecommerce website creator with excellent tech support and great customer service.

It is the best option and its support team is always prompt, friendly, and knowledgeable. It has never taken more than a few hours for us to receive a reply.

Apart from Shopify and others, many ecommerce website builders have a reputation for poor customer service and technical support. This is not something you want to hear. They are sufficient for most users, which is good news.

Even for complete beginners.

Many of the problems you are facing can be solved by using community forums, online training manuals, implementation guides, or video tutorials. You won’t likely need to contact them.

We have seen confusion around cancellation and refund policies as the most serious issues. The quality of support is good, but it’s the policies that aren’t great that can be problematic.

Many users forget to disable auto-renew. Users are then faced with an unexpected bill when the renewal period arrives. Worse, many platforms have policies that say mistakes like these are not eligible for a refund.

Some users fail to cancel their trial before it expires. They can’t get a full refund as there is a policy (somewhere) that addresses this exact situation.

It is important to carefully read all terms and conditions before you make a decision. Every platform has its policies. You have to ensure you fully understand the policies before you sign up.

Most support teams will respond to your requests for quality support. It is often difficult to get a response, especially when builders claim to offer 24/7 support.

Our experience shows that 24/7 support is a good option, but it does not guarantee a prompt response.

It may take you 17 phone menus to understand that you cannot talk to a real person.

You may even be connected to six people before you finally reach someone who can help.

We recommend that you reach out to every platform you are considering using various support channels such as email, phone, or live chat. Keep track of the time it takes for a response and the quality of their reply.

Customer reviews are often the best indicators of customer support.

Find the UI you like the most

Our research showed that the majority of people make their final decisions based on how they interact with the platform’s interface.

Squarespace might feel intuitive to an artist who wants to sell prints online. However, BigCommerce may be more familiar to your friends.

Weebly is a great tool for starting a side business. It’s easy to use and affordable. However, an experienced business owner might feel limited by Weebly. Instead, they may prefer Shift4Shop as it offers the most flexibility and control.

You can only discover what you love by giving them a try. We recommend that you use the first three criteria to narrow down your choices to three or fewer options. You can then sign up to receive a free trial and a forever plan to have fun with them.

To get an idea of how each site editor works, you can start by creating two to three pages.

Next, add products to your homepage and experiment with different design templates to determine how they work together.

Pay attention to your intuition during the entire process. Do you find the structure makes sense? Do you feel comfortable making small adjustments and updating product listings regularly?

Are you frustrated after the first ten minutes of adding your first product to the platform? Are you feeling restricted in the things you can do on the platform? You can do the same with all your top choices. Cross any that you find frustrating, restrictive, or burdensome. This will allow you to narrow down your search for the best ecommerce website designer.

About the author

Kobe Digital is a unified team of performance marketing, design, and video production experts. Our mastery of these disciplines is what makes us effective. Our ability to integrate them seamlessly is what makes us unique.