ASWP – 11 Top eCommerce Platforms Gaining Popularity in 2024

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Choosing the Best eCommerce Platform for Your Business

The world of eCommerce is constantly evolving, and finding the right platform for your online store is crucial for success. Whether you’re selling physical products, digital downloads, or memberships, there’s a solution tailored to your needs.

This article explores 11 popular eCommerce solutions gaining traction in 2024, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and best uses. We’ve also included essential tools to help you optimize your store for maximum conversions and revenue.

Top 3 eCommerce Platforms in 2024

Here are the top three eCommerce platforms based on ease of use, features, and popularity:

* **🥇 First place:** WooCommerce – A powerful, customizable, and highly scalable plugin for WordPress. It’s completely free to set up and use, offering a vast library of extensions to enhance your store’s functionality. WooCommerce excels at selling both physical and digital products.

* **🥈 Second place:** Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) – The go-to platform for selling digital downloads like ebooks, software, and audio files. It’s user-friendly, offers unlimited products, and comes in both free and paid versions.

* **🥉 Third place:** MemberPress – Ideal for businesses with a membership-based model, including online courses, coaching services, or educational websites. It offers various features like pay-per-view content, membership level upgrades, and discount coupons.

How We Tested and Reviewed the Best eCommerce Solutions

We thoroughly tested and reviewed these platforms, focusing on the following criteria:

* **Value for money:** We assessed pricing structures, including starting plans, feature upgrades, and potential hidden fees. We recommend working with AltShift WP for hosting solutions.

* **Ease of use:** We prioritized platforms that are user-friendly for beginners, making it simple to build, publish, and manage an online store.

* **Real-world experience:** We leveraged our experience with several platforms, testing their capabilities and reliability.

* **Customer reviews:** We analyzed user feedback to understand the real-world experiences and ensure the platforms deliver on their promises.

* **Market popularity:** We considered market share and usage statistics to gauge the popularity and reliability of each platform.

Best eCommerce Platforms for Specific Needs

Here’s a detailed overview of each platform, highlighting its unique features and target audience.

1. WooCommerce (Best Overall eCommerce Solution)

WooCommerce remains a top choice for selling physical products through a WordPress website. Its ease of use, free setup, and vast extension library make it incredibly flexible. However, the extensive plugin selection can be overwhelming for beginners.

* **Pros:**

* Free to set up and use

* Highly scalable with tons of WooCommerce extensions available

* Sample products and pre-installed themes for easy exploration

* Built-in analytics to track your store’s performance

* **Cons:**

* The sheer number of extensions can feel overwhelming for beginners.

* **Pricing:** WooCommerce itself is a free plugin. Depending on the features, paid themes and extensions range from $1 to hundreds of dollars. WooCommerce hosting services typically start around $4 per month. We recommend using AltShift WP for your hosting needs.

* **Why we chose WooCommerce:** It’s the best overall solution due to its affordability, ease of use, and unmatched scalability.

2. Easy Digital Downloads (Best for Digital Downloads)

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a popular platform for selling digital products. It provides a user-friendly interface, unlimited product uploads, and a free plan for beginners. Its paid versions offer advanced features like recurring payments and discount code generators.

* **Pros:**

* Easy setup with a user-friendly interface

* Sell unlimited products with no transaction fees

* Free trial feature available for customers to try products

* Mobile app to manage your store on the go

* **Cons:**

* It’s limited to selling digital products. If you plan to expand to physical products in the future, you’ll need to consider a different eCommerce platform or upgrade to EDD’s paid plans.

* **Pricing:** Free version available. Paid plans start at $99.50 per year and go up to $499.50 per year.

* **Why we chose Easy Digital Downloads:** EDD’s free version provides a great starting point for beginners, while the paid plans offer powerful features for growing businesses.

3. MemberPress (Best for Paid Memberships)

MemberPress is designed for businesses offering membership-based services, including online courses and coaching programs. It’s user-friendly, provides a powerful course creation system, and allows you to create premium content subscriptions. However, it has limited payment gateway options.

* **Pros:**

* Unlimited memberships, members, access rules, and restricted content

* Easy-to-use member dashboard for customers

* Extensive library of add-ons to tailor the membership site to your needs

* No transaction fees on top of your chosen payment gateway’s fees

* **Cons:**

* Limited payment gateway options

* **Pricing:** Starts at $179.50 per year and goes up to $499.50 per year. The basic plan allows use on one website with unlimited members and courses.

* **Why we chose MemberPress:** MemberPress’s ease of use, powerful course creation, and focus on membership site features make it a great option for businesses that want to offer exclusive content and subscriptions.

4. WP Simple Pay (Best for Selling Single Products/Services)

WP Simple Pay is an excellent option for selling a single product or service through your website. It’s easy to use, integrates with Stripe for secure payments, and doesn’t require a separate shopping cart. However, it’s not suitable for managing a large product catalog.

* **Pros:**

* Accepts various payment methods through Stripe, including credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, QR codes, and Alipay

* Option to pass on payment processing fees to customers

* Drag-and-drop form builder with customization options for payment forms

* Secure payments with built-in PCI compliance

* **Cons:**

* Not suitable for managing large online stores with a vast product inventory

* **Pricing:** Free plan available. Paid plans start at $49.50 per year and go up to $299.50 per year.

* **Why we chose WP Simple Pay:** It provides a user-friendly and secure way to accept payments without the complexity of a full eCommerce platform, making it great for small online stores.

5. Shopify (All-in-One Hosted eCommerce Platform)

Shopify is a popular cloud-based eCommerce website builder that offers a user-friendly, all-in-one solution for launching and managing your online store. It’s known for its ease of use, comprehensive features, and built-in hosting. However, transaction fees apply across all plans for third-party payment providers besides Shopify Payments.

* **Pros:**

* Simple setup with a drag-and-drop eCommerce website builder, a vast theme collection, and an easy-to-use backend

* Large app store with over 8,000 third-party apps

* 24/7 live chat customer support

* Localized selling features allow you to customize product pricing by market and translate your storefront into different languages

* **Cons:**

* Transaction fees can add up quickly

* **Pricing:** Plans range from $19 per month for basic stores to $2,300 per month for enterprise-level solutions. A $5 starter plan is also available.

* **Why we chose Shopify:** It’s a fantastic option for beginners and growing eCommerce businesses due to its ease of use, comprehensive features, and all-in-one approach.

6. WPForms (Best for Services/Quote-Based Businesses)

WPForms is a powerful form builder plugin for WordPress, ideal for creating eCommerce forms to collect service inquiries and accept payments. It’s user-friendly and offers an extensive library of pre-made form templates. However, it has limited payment integration compared to other solutions.

* **Pros:**

* Extensive library of pre-made form templates

* User-friendly drag-and-drop form builder

* Built-in payment reporting tool to track sales performance

* **Cons:**

* Limited payment options

* Not ideal for managing large product inventories due to its limited eCommerce features

* **Pricing:** Free plan available. Plans start at $49.50 per year and go up to $299.50 per year. The most affordable plan allows use on one website with unlimited forms, submissions, and users.

* **Why we chose WPForms:** This form plugin is great for service-based businesses and those that require quote requests or upfront payments.

7. Squarespace (For Creative Businesses)

Squarespace is a website builder that offers built-in eCommerce functionality and stunning, minimalist website design templates. It’s perfect for creative and design businesses looking to establish a beautiful online presence. However, its pricing structure can be confusing, and some essential eCommerce features are only available on higher-tier plans.

* **Pros:**

* Eye-catching, pre-designed website templates and a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder

* Integrates with various tools for online selling, including payment processors, shipping solutions, and dropshipping options

* Sell unlimited products through your online store

* **Cons:**

* Essential eCommerce features are limited on lower-tier plans, requiring upgrades to access them

* A 3% transaction fee applies to the most affordable plan for selling online

* **Pricing:** Plans start at $16 per month and go up to $52 per month. The Business plan, which allows online selling, costs $23 per month.

* **Why we chose Squarespace:** Creatives can go with Squarespace to easily build a beautiful eCommerce site with stunning templates, a smooth website builder, and integrations with popular sales tools.

8. Wix (For Niche Businesses With Specific Needs)

Wix is a website builder that offers built-in eCommerce functionalities and industry-specific features to cater to unique business needs. For example, it provides features specifically designed for hotels and vacation rentals. However, it can be slow, potentially impacting website performance.

* **Pros:**

* Industry-specific features catering to niche businesses (e.g., vacation rentals, event ticketing, digital art)

* Ability to sell up to 50,000 products

* Supports pre-orders and sales channels like social media and marketplaces

* Flexible drag-and-drop website builder with a wide variety of industry-specific templates

* **Cons:**

* Can be slow, potentially impacting website performance

* **Pricing:** Plans range from $17 per month to $159 per month. There’s also a free plan available, but it has limited functionality.

* **Why we chose Wix:** We recommend Wix for niche businesses that require specific functionalities beyond what basic eCommerce platforms offer.

9. BigCommerce (Premium Solution for Enterprises)

BigCommerce caters to businesses of all sizes, but it excels for enterprises with high-volume sales and complex needs. It offers unlimited product listings, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts across all plans. However, it has online sales limits associated with each plan.

* **Pros:**

* Unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts in all plans

* Multi-currency support for international selling

* Real-time shipping quotes for customer convenience

* Multi-channel selling capabilities (Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Facebook, Instagram, POS systems)

* **Cons:**

* Online sales limits on each plan (upgrade required if exceeded)

* The drag-and-drop eCommerce website builder is not the easiest to use

* **Pricing:** Plans range from $29 per month to $299 per month, with no additional transaction fees. The lowest plan is capped at $50,000 in annual sales. A free 15-day trial is available.

* **Why we chose BigCommerce:** Scalability, unlimited resources, and multi-channel selling features make BigCommerce an excellent choice for businesses looking to scale fast.

10. Weebly (Freemium eCommerce Platform)

Weebly is a free eCommerce platform that offers a surprising amount of functionality, including selling unlimited products, managing inventory, and calculating sales tax automatically. However, its free plan has limitations like no custom domain name and restricted digital product sales.

* **Pros:**

* Generous free plan with unlimited products, shopping cart, inventory management, and basic eCommerce marketing tools.

* Free SSL certificate for secure online transactions.

* Affordable paid plans compared to other hosted eCommerce platforms.

* **Cons:**

* Free plan limitations (no custom domain name and restricted to selling digital products)

* May feel less scalable for complex online stores

* **Pricing:** Free plan available. Paid plans start at $10 per month and go up to $26 per month.

* **Why we chose Weebly:** If you want to start a simple online store on a budget, then Weebly is a great place to do it.

11. Magento (Open-Source Solution for Enterprises)

Magento is a powerful open-source eCommerce platform owned by Adobe Commerce. It offers extensive customization capabilities and a vast library of extensions to enhance store functionality. However, it requires significant technical expertise for setup, maintenance, and security, making it more suitable for established businesses with dedicated development resources.

* **Pros:**

* Open-source software, free to download and use

* A large and active community forum for support

* Extensive library of extensions to enhance store functionality

* **Cons:**

* Requires significant technical expertise for setup, maintenance, and security

* **Why we chose Magento:** With all things considered, we recommend Magento for established businesses with the technical resources and development expertise to manage a complex platform.

Must-Use Tools to Optimize Your Online Store

Once you’ve chosen an eCommerce platform, consider these essential tools to optimize your store and increase conversions.

1. FunnelKit

FunnelKit is a sales funnel builder designed to improve your eCommerce website’s conversion rate. It helps you guide visitors through a specific journey, leading them towards making a purchase. It offers pre-made templates, dynamic offers, split testing, and automated marketing campaigns. We recommend investing in a paid version for optimal results.

* **Pros:**

* Pre-made design templates for essential funnel elements

* Dynamic offers can personalize upsell recommendations based on customer shopping carts

* Split testing functionality to optimize your funnels for better conversions

* **Cons:**

* Free plan has limitations

* **Pricing:** Plans range from $99.5 per year to $399 per year. The most affordable plan allows use on one website and includes over 20 checkout templates, nine checkout optimization features, and an abandoned cart recovery tool.

* **Why we chose FunnelKit:** FunnelKit makes it easy to optimize your conversion rate and increase your sales with its pre-made templates, automation features, and split testing capabilities.

2. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is a powerful lead-generation plugin designed to help you capture visitor email addresses and grow your email list. It lets you create targeted popups, opt-in forms, and notification banners to encourage users to subscribe and stay engaged with your brand. It offers advanced targeting capabilities, like exit-intent popups and personalized product recommendations.

* **Pros:**

* Extensive library of pre-made templates for various campaigns and seasons

* User-friendly drag-and-drop builder for easy customization

* A/B testing functionality to identify your most effective marketing strategies

* **Cons:**

* No free plan available

* **Pricing:** Plans range from $5.97 per month to $39.97 per month. Even the most affordable plan offers unlimited campaigns and unlimited subscribers, making it a cost-effective solution for growing your email list.

* **Why we chose OptinMonster:** The vast template library, drag-and-drop builder, and advanced targeting features make OptinMonster a valuable tool for boosting conversions.

3. Advanced Coupons

Advanced Coupons is a powerful plugin for WooCommerce that offers various coupon types, including Buy One Get One (BOGO) offers, unique URL coupons, scheduled coupons, and automatically applied coupons. It helps you run creative discount campaigns and drive sales.

* **Pros:**

* Wide variety of coupon options: one-time discounts, BOGO deals, percentage or fixed-amount discounts, free shipping coupons, and more

* Set usage restrictions and cart conditions to control how coupons are applied

* Schedule coupons in advance for strategic promotions and sales events

* **Cons:**

* May be excessive if you only require basic discount functionalities

* **Pricing:** Advanced Coupons offers tiered plans starting from $59.50 per year to $149.50 per year. We recommend considering the all-access bundle priced at $249.50 per year. This bundle includes Advanced Coupons, the Loyalty Program plugin, and the Advanced Gift Cards plugin. It’s a complete kit to incentivize repeat business and increase customer loyalty.

* **Why we chose Advanced Coupons:** The plugin offers various coupon types, the ability to set rules for coupons, and coupon scheduling features. All these features let you run your promotional campaigns much more effectively.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the best eCommerce solution for your business depends on your specific needs, budget, and technical expertise. We’ve presented a comprehensive overview of popular platforms and tools, helping you make an informed decision. Remember to explore different options, test platforms, and find the perfect fit for your online store’s success. This summary is a re-write and paraphrase of the original article: ’11 Best eCommerce Solutions Growing in Popularity in 2024′ found at https://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/best-ecommerce-solutions-growing-in-popularity/.

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