Best Ecommerce Tools To Boost Your Small Business in 2020
Whether you’re starting a new online business or transitioning from a brick and mortar shop to an ecommerce site, or bridging your point of sale channels, you need an effective platform to sell your products from. Selling on the internet brings up a need for a different set of tools and strategies, such as online shopping carts, ecommerce platforms, virtual payment gateways and digital inventory management.
Every small business is unique, and may need a customized set of solutions to address your specific ecommerce requirements, however, there is a wealth of tools and software packages readily available that can help meet your needs without having to reinvent the technology wheel, so that you can focus on attracting leads and servicing your customers. These can be standalone software packages that you can buy off the shelf, or a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution on a cloud, or complete end-to-end platforms designed for online selling.
As you research what you need for your ecommerce business, some of the questions you could be asking yourself are:
- How hands-on do I want to be? How much do you want to do yourself and save dollars in the process, versus taking advantage of a comprehensive platform.
- How much customization do I need? The more brand-customized you want your storefront and backend fulfillment, the more expensive the solutions will be.
- How much customer/tech support do I need? If you enjoy playing with technology and prefer figuring things out yourself, there are free and lower priced options available to suit you.
Given the plethora of options available, it can be a daunting task to assess what you need. In this article, we provide you with our best recommendations in each area of your ecommerce business.
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All seem like good, useful tools. I’ve started using PayPal recently and things are going ok. While they have a lot of questions answered on their website I would love it if they’d offer a much faster way to reach them when/if needed. A live chat would be a great option. I realize they have a lot of clients and running a chat could cost a lot of money but I feel I’m not the only one that has questions which need quick answers. And I can’t always find the answer in their database. Other than this, their system works well.
I am currently considering going with either Shopify or Wix. I’ve heard good things about both of them but I am still undecided. I may have to try both of them but if there’s people who used either (or both of them) please share your thoughts. Thank you!
It’s pretty simple: if you have a small store and would like something easier to use then go with Wix. It’s cheaper and better at handling smaller stores. As your store grows you may want to go for Shopify. They have a bigger experience in handling bigger stores and have the options in place to make things run smoother. Wix is not (yet) equipped to handle bigger stores. Hope this helps you!
Wix is great if your store is not the top reason why you have the website. If you’re into creating content and want easy drag-and-drop functionality (plus many other features that work well for content creating) then Wix is your best bet.