Launching an e-commerce website is nowadays one of the most money making way on the internet. In fact, benefitting from technological development which is constantly bringing new tools and techniques in the field, the creation of a website that is dedicated to e-commerce requires to make an important decision: whether you do it yourself or you choose to host your business on an e-commerce platform among numerous common platforms. It’s expected that the choice you will make implicates some advantages as well as some constraints. These few lines are discussing the implications of choosing among the common platforms the one that suits your business.

General schemes of the e-commerce website:

An e-commerce website is made to promote and sell products. The general layout has to reflect this activity. In fact, there are three essential properties that describe the general schemes of the e-commerce website. These three properties are:

  • Easy to browse: the website is made in a way to make the navigation easy and not confusing. Menus are readable, links are all live and accurate.
  • The design does not surpass the products: the design is simple and the included elements, besides the products, are not at high density and do not alter the visibility of the products.
  • Images are accurate and HD: the e-commerce website has to display HD images of the products and each photo represent the appropriate product.

E-commerce website creation: the platforms option?

The creation of the e-commerce website can be achieved in two ways: you can create the website (the design and the program) by yourself, which means, in this case, that you take over the creation process and the hosting process; or you can use an e-commerce platform which will then handle the most parts of the creation process. You won’t have to worry about the hosting process.

The common platforms and their implications on the e-commerce website:

The common platforms where you can create and launch an e-commerce business are reviewed and rated regularly. They offer the most appealing features and have several options that allow each of them to distinguish itself from the others. Regarding the e-commerce website requirements, there are some other factors that may orient the choice of the platform. These factors are the joining fees, the support, the CMS availability, etc.

For example, the low budget leads to platforms with free plans or with low charges (Wix, WooCommerce, OsCommerce); seeking the most effective support will make you choose featured platforms for this service (Shopify, Wix, Bigcartel). However, if you are seeking the easiest interface to use then you will be directed to the platforms with user-friendly interfaces (Shopify, Bigcartel). When it is about the offered features, only a few platforms are poorly rated at this side, the others are full of features that may compensate what they have lacking.

Conclusion:

The fact is, the choice of the platform to create an e-commerce business depends on the business owner capacities and intentions. But there are some recommended platforms that offer well-balanced options. Therefore, instead of looking for the price or the usability independently from the other features, it is better to consider the whole set of features then decide. Again, the business owner constraints still have their implications on the platform choice. If you are unable to decide, you may engage our freelance web designer singapore for more advice.