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E-commerce is not new on the panorama, but the current global conditions increased it massively. Many people want to sell all sorts of products and services online, physical and digital items. 

E-commerce platforms exist to easily build your shop with all needed functionality: marketing, accounting, sorting and filtering, shipping methods, ratings and reviews, payment gateways, currency options, product images, and much more.

So if you are planning to join the trend, check what the best CMS platforms for e-commerce have in store for you! 

WooCommerce

This globally popular plug-in was built for WordPress, so it integrates content and commerce in one. It is free.

Pros:

• It is compatible with WordPress plug-ins and features. 
• The number of products, users, or orders don’t have limits.
• It is an open-source, so fully customizable. 
• It works with a modular system, so you just add the choices you need.
• There are more than 400 extra features (official extensions) available.
• More than a hundred payment gateways are available.
• Secure and direct payment option (free to install). Each payment gateway could include fees. 
• It is worldwide popular, so there is a large and active community to help you when needed.

Cons:

• Not all extensions are free, and some could be costly.
• It does not include a free SSL certificate. 
• Administrating a WooCommerce site could be hard for beginners.

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Shopify

Shopify is a popular, but not a free platform. Its rates are based on the features, account members, and payment fees each plan includes.

Pros:

• The hosting service is included in the cost of the plans. 
• There’s no limit on the number of products you sell or the traffic. 
• It opens extra sales channels by integrating FB, Instagram, eBay, Amazon.
• Its tools have a 14-day-free trial. Useful to avoid refund hustle.
• It has its own App store to expand your shop capabilities. Not all apps are free.
• 24 hours of support by email, phone, or chat. 

Cons:

• Few themes are free, and the best ones are expensive. You can buy or develop your own. 
• SEO limitations like you can’t customize URLs’ structure fully, and it’s not easy to create sub-categories. The blog layouts for content marketing are not so flexible. 
• It has over a hundred payment processors, but Shopify charges you 0.5% to 2% extra for all transactions not processed through the Shopify gateway (not available worldwide). 

Suggested article: How to make my website fast as a rocket?

Magento

It is an open-source CMS owned by Adobe. The platform is free, but it has a paid version too. 

Pros:

• The suite of features included is rich enough, but you can expand it’s possible through extensions on its Marketplace.
• Wide possibilities for customization.
• SEO friendly platform with control on metadata tagging, XML sitemap, well-built URL’s.
• Multiple site setting from the same installation. Even specific features in each site can be modified from the same back-end administration panel.
• Easy integration with all kinds of third-party services (analytic, inventory, shipment tracking… software).
• A worldwide Magento user community is ready to answer your questions.

Cons:

• It is heavy and requires a powerful server to run smoothly. 
• Some basic coding knowledge is required to develop.
• The enterprise version (paid) is expensive.

Conclusion 

These three CMSs are efficient ways to build your e-shop. 

Free platforms make things easier, but don’t take “free” literally. We talk about starting a business in a very competitive world, so investment will be required.

Choose the e-commerce CMS that better fits with your business budget and expected growth. 

Good luck, and I hope your server gets overwhelmed with plenty of orders soon!