In 2020, the number of online shoppers reached 2.05 billion. Plus, it is estimated 75 percent of people shop online every month. That makes e-commerce a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs. Yet, setting up an online shop can require technical know-how you don’t have. That’s why we’re providing this guide to the best e-commerce website builder for small business.
You can launch your own online store. Yet, with the pace of change in e-commerce, it makes sense to partner with one of the best e-commerce website builders for small business. Knowing, for instance, that nearly half of e-commerce sales are made through mobile devices, they accommodate for that. They can also offer you tools to help meet accessibility requirements and ensure that your customers’ personal data is kept secure.
Turning to an e-commerce website platform lets you focus your efforts on other parts of your business. To save you time, we’ve put together this list of top contenders for the best e-commerce website builder for small business:
- Yahoo Stores
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Shopify
- Weebly/Square Online
- WooCommerce
- Zyro
1. Yahoo Stores
You knew we were going to start here, right? Well, for good reason. Yahoo Stores is a comprehensive platform that lets you host your e-commerce site, register your domain name, choose from pre-designed templates, or pick from a network of experienced web designers and developers to customize your store.
You’ll get a mobile-optimized storefront and all the tools you need, including a shopping cart, order management, SSL certificate (for security), and a business email address. Plus, with Yahoo Stores, your shoppers can conveniently pay via PayPal, Venmo, PayPal Credit, and more.
Yahoo Stores is also backed by customer care representatives who are available 24/7 and drawing on more than 20 years of expertise supporting small businesses. Take advantage of Live Insights and Google Analytics integrations to better understand your customers’ shopping trends and update your site.
2. Wix
Wix promises, “your stunning website is just a few clicks away.” The platform lets users build their own or choose from over 500 designer-made and mobile-optimized templates. The store manager function tracks orders and manages inventory, and users can also customize tax and shipping rules.
Advanced SEO tools and an app market make it possible to build out your online store to boost your business. Those with more technical expertise may want to take advantage of the Velo open development platform too.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace has a drag-and-drop page builder that’s easy-to-use whether you go the template route or design your own. The accompanying app lets small business owners manage the website from any device. Plus, if you’re doing a pop-up or have a physical venue, you can use the app as a point of sale (POS) solution.
Built-in SEO, blogging, and analytics tools streamline your e-commerce management in one platform too.
4. Shopify
A heavy hitter in e-commerce website building, Shopify “powers over one million businesses.” You’ll have access to over 100 templates with mobile optimization, SSL certification, domain hosting, and abandoned shopping cart recovery. Those with coding chops will enjoy full access to the HTML and CSS to customize the e-commerce website.
All payments are handled directly within the platform. Plus, Shopify has an app store with over 4,000 marketing, sales, and customer support tools and a POS system integration for those making both in-person and digital sales.
5. Weebly/Square Online
Weebly and Square Online are both powered by Square, which you may already be using to take payments. If not, you’ve probably at least paid someone who is using it.
Weebly is the basic storefront builder for small businesses. You could use a free plan to start, but you won’t get your own domain name. And, there will be ads. Still, this beginning level offers management and order control as well as mobile-optimized websites.
If you’re a small business owner with a physical store already, Square Online is a good option. The Square POS syncs with the online store to help users manage inventory, items, orders, customer data, loyalty, gift cards, marketing in one centralized platform.
6. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce website builder designed for WordPress users. Open source means a pool of developers has contributed to making this a free plugin that connects to WordPress.
You can further customize WooCommerce sites with access to the many extensions in the WooCommerce Marketplace. There’s a mobile app too. One thing, though, this isn’t going to be as intuitive as some of the other platforms. You’ll have decisions to make about page design, menus, site structure, payment, and shipping options.
7. Zyro
Labeled a “best ecommerce site builder for beginners” by Quicksprout, Zyro offers
“what you see is what you get” store building. This can help those without coding knowledge visualize the impact of their choices right away without having to move between preview and edit mode.
Zyro offers dozens of designer-crafted templates, SEO tools, 24/7 customer support, and SSL security. If you don’t have your business branding together yet, Zyro includes artificial intelligence tools to develop a business name, brand, and logo with its basic package. Zyro’s automation tools will also help manage inventory, shipping, and taxes.
Your E-Commerce Website Builder
The best e-commerce website builder for your small business will depend on what you’re looking for and how much effort you want to put in yourself. These options are a great place to start. Obviously, we’re biased towards Yahoo Stores, but regardless of your platform choice, you can find some more great resources on our site to help you build your small business.
