So you’re starting an online store? Excellent decision. With an estimated 1.79 billion online shoppers, there’s a huge amount of earning potential. But before you can begin, you’ll need to decide which eCommerce platform is best for you. What will you use to tap into the keg of digital consumers?
Let’s take a look at three popular eCommerce platforms: Shopify, WooCommerce, and Neto. Each one has its own strengths – so we’ll be running through them all so you can decide what’s best for your business.
Shopify
For new businesses, Shopify makes it easy to set up a website, configure an online store, and start selling. If you’re starting from scratch, this is an all-in-one package that’ll have you up and running in no time. Established businesses can also integrate Shopify into their existing website without any dramas.
Shopify currently powers over half a million active online stores, and is constantly evolving to meet their requirements. Business of all sizes can benefit hugely from Shopify’s real focus on customer data capture. The platform gives you the insights you need to make macro-business decisions, and personalise your interactions with customers on an individual level. Shopify has reporting functionality already baked into the platform, but it’s also easy to sync your Shopify data with countless other tools for further analysis.
It’s easy to put this data to work for you, too. Numerous other apps and integrations allow you to create seriously intelligent automations based on your customer behaviour. For example, at Andzen, we’ve created some fantastic results for our clients by syncing their Shopify stores and e-marketing platforms to deliver highly-relevant content to their customers at any stage of their journeys.
Shopify truly epitomizes what computers can and should be doing for the retail industry. Plus it looks great, and is super easy to use.
Other benefits:
- 24/7 support with real people
- Hundreds of templates to choose from to perfectly fit your website design to your business, with complete control over HTML and CSS
- Thousands of plugins, extensions and integrations
- Ability to offer coupon codes, fixed discounts, free shipping and more marketing incentives to specific audiences
Perfect for:
Businesses of all sizes looking for a powerful, simple-to-use online store. Also perfect for anyone looking to implement lifecycle marketing principles. Find out more (or try free for 14 days) here.
WooCommerce
If you already have a website (more specifically, a WordPress website) WooCommerce could be perfect for you.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that allows you to turn your website into an online store. Plus, as an open source product, it’s absolutely free. (Don’t let the pricetag fool you – WooCommerce is an incredibly powerful platform).
Perhaps the best feature about WooCommerce is the enormous level of control it gives the user. From inventory management, to the design of your product pages, to the customer’s checkout experience, to your order fulfilment – you’re in the driver’s seat every step of the way. There are very few limitations.
Like Shopify, WooCommerce also allows for discounts, coupons and product reviews. These are all built directly into the plugin to truly bolster your marketing and sales strategies. The ability to easily offer incentives makes nurturing leads into their first purchase far easier.
Many of our clients have had great results with WooCommerce, and we’d strongly recommend it to any business running a WordPress website.
Other benefits:
- Completely open source
- Extendable and customisable through third party integrations (or custom development)
- A familiar interface for WordPress users
- Complete control of your customer’s checkout and payment experience
- Intuitive and detailed inventory management for fine-grained product ranges and pricing
Perfect for:
Tech-savvy businesses of all sizes who want incredibly fine-grained control over all aspects of their website and online store.
Neto
Neto, like Shopify, is an eCommerce platform for retailers looking for an ‘all-in-one’ solution.
Being a newcomer on the eComm’ scene, Neto’s functionality and design isn’t quite as comprehensive as Shopify – though the platform is still quite a powerful option for businesses of all sizes, and does have some notable benefits.
One of the biggest boons to business that Neto has conjured up is their integration with Ebay. Certain clients of ours have found that Neto’s ability to sell on multiple channels adds an extremely valuable revenue stream to their business.
For Australian businesses, Neto’s ability to sync with Australia Post is another notable feature – making the shipping process seamless, and saving you money on bulk shipping.
Speaking of bulk – businesses with high stock levels can really test Neto’s capabilities. Neto truly understands online retail – and put as much effort into fine tuning the behind-the-scenes processes as they do the shiny surface level functionality. Their innovative ‘Pick n Pack’ feature allows you to fulfil orders quickly, correctly and on-time – ultimately boosting customer satisfaction in a very real way.
Other benefits:
- Add single or multiple warehouse locations to products
- Create recurring billing schedules
- Sales Follow Up Emails
- Invoice Templates
- Multi level pricing
Perfect for:
Australian businesses with large product ranges, bulk sales, or several sales channels.