Which is the Best Ecommerce Platform?

If you've searched for a platform to run your ecommerce store, you've no doubt stumbled upon at least a few of the names we're comparing today. Although popularity isn't exactly the best motivating factor to make a decision that will affect your future business life, it's certainly worth talking about, considering that when large groups of people lean to a certain solution, we like to hope that it's for a reason.

That said, if you take a look at a comparison on Google trends, Shopify is the clear winner in terms of what people are searching and how many people are showing interest in the five popular consumer solutions:

The 3dcart platform is and has always been, at the bottom in terms of trending on Google. It's interesting to point out that Bigcommerce has made a recent surge past the previous second place contender Big Cartel, and we're certain it has to do with many of the changes Bigcommerce has implemented over the past few years.

However, it's hard to see what's happening with the other platforms when Shopify is in the mix. Therefore, I removed the Shopify comparison to only look at Bigcommerce, Volusion, BigCartel, and 3dcart. As you can see, BigCartel has been experiencing a downward trend over the past five years. At one point it was a far more popular search term.

Bigcommerce is the only one that seems to have a slight upward trend, but there's a sharp drop recently, most likely due to the drastic pricing changes made by the company.

Volusion doesn't look bad, but the trend has been going downward. Finally, 3dcart is in the last place, but it has remained pretty consistent over the years.

Let's also have a look at another Google Trends comparison – a slightly broader one:

No matter which Google Trends comparison we look at, Shopify is becoming the clear winner in terms of popularity. Perhaps the Shopify pricing has something to do with this.

Although you shouldn't make a decision based primarily on popularity, I would argue there's a reason Shopify is king and Bigcommerce is slowly on the rise (although that seems to be changing in the recent months).

Another way to analyze popularity is to tie it in with where customers are going when they leave a certain ecommerce platform. The reason this is interesting is because it gives you an indicator of which of the companies have kept up with technologies and made improvements to bring in additional customers. A quick market share search on Shopify shows that the Shopify company is gaining most of its customers from Bigcommerce, BigCartel, and Volusion, but Shopify is losing most of its customers to Wix Stores, an indicator that many customers enjoy how easy the new Wix Stores interface is (along with the pricing). Bigcommerce is still stealing some customers from Shopify, but it used to be the number one place that people would go after Shopify. We assume it's because of the Bigcommerce pricing.

» Try Shopify «

3dcart also offers wonderful tutorials and setup steps to help you do everything from picking a template to setting up your shipping options. The clean wizard is ideal for beginners.

However, the visual composer is basically a frontend view of your website, then you can click on the areas that let you edit something. Like with the screenshot below you'd be able to click on the “Customize this Carousel” button, then it would bring you to the backend customization page. There's also the ability to adjust HTML and CSS if that's your style.

» Try 3dcart «

» Try Big Cartel «

» Try Bigcommerce «

When you look at the cheapest pricing tier, if you ignore Big Cartel, then you can see that Shopify offers the cheapest plan, then Volusion, then 3dcart, then Bigcommerce.

For me, what it really comes down to is whether you are looking to sell just a few products or a large number of products, as well as which platforms offer the features you want for a reasonable price.

It's also worth mentioning Shopify is best for those stores that plan on scaling up quick, since it provides the functionality to really handle large amounts of traffic and turn your site into something special.

Be warned that Bigcommerce has made some recent changes to its pricing structure, making it difficult for companies to scale up with the system. If you start to make more than $125,000 in revenue, Bigcommerce pretty much forces you to switch to an Enterprise plan.

According to our reports from readers, this spikes your rates up to around $900 to $1,500 per month. It's still unclear how this will affect those businesses who plan on remaining in the lower tiered pricing plans, but one thing is certain: Customers that surpass certain revenue points are not happy with Bigcommerce. We would put them on the bottom of our list if your company will end up with one of the most expensive plans.

That said, if you need a simple, small store, the cheaper Shopify or Volusion solutions work just fine.

If you are looking for a platform that offers some of the most professional looking themes, then you should really be looking into Shopify, the truth is there is no platform that offers better themes than Shopify.

Compared to Shopify and Bigcommerce, the collection of themes offered by 3dcart or Big Cartel shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. In fact, Bigcommerce themes are pretty remarkable, and as of May 2017, Bigcommerce has 7 free themes and about 84 paid themes ranging from $145 to $235. You can find them in the theme store. They were developed to establish a more modern, fluid user experience, utilizing cool new merchandising features for categorization and differently sized catalogs.

While 3dcart does offer lots of modern themes, they're not exactly what you would call creative. That said, they all work wonderfully for large stores. I like to consider these types of themes like what you would see from Best Buy. 3dcart offers beautiful product galleries and they get right to the point of selling to customers. In the past, we talked about how the 3dcart themes looked outdated, but that's not the case anymore. Both free and premium themes can be found. The premium themes typically go for around $200.

In the past, we talked about how the 3dcart themes looked outdated, but that's not the case anymore. Both free and premium themes can be found. The premium themes typically go for around $200.

Big Cartel on the other hand only offers a grand total of nine themes (seen below). This is unacceptable since unique branding is a huge part of selling online. However, you can search for Big Cartel themes through Google to find some pretty darn nice solutions from third-party sellers.

It works kind of like WordPress where you buy the themes separate the platform. It's not the easiest way to go about finding themes, but it gives you more options.

While you might think that the number of themes offered by a platform isn't such a big deal. You need to remember that if your store lacks originality, such as having the same theme as 50 other stores, then customers are quick to attribute this to poor quality management from the store owner.

This is much more likely to make them leave your site without even giving you a fair shot.

Another solution would be to sign up with 3cart who also offers access to apps and add-ons, however, they do not offer as many as Shopify or Bigcommerce.

Another thing to keep in mind is how easy it is to search for the apps and add-ons, considering you probably have a few items in mind that you want to add to your store. Maybe you need an automated email receipt solution or an app that helps you build a loyalty program.

With Shopify and Bigcommerce you can search, filter and browse through categories when in need of a certain app. The other ecommerce solutions either make it super hard to do so, or you don't have the functionality at all.

If access to additional apps and add-ons are important then I don't recommend signing up with either Volusion or Big Cartel. The first company offers a grand total of one app, while the latter doesn't offer any apps at all.

Shopify and 3dcart both offer 24/7 support through phone as well as chat and email. Bigcommerce offers 24/7 email and chat support, however, their phone support comes with time constraints.

The one company who doesn't seem to offer phone or chat support would be Big Cartel who only offers email support, and what's more they only offer it Monday – Friday from 9AM to 6PM EST.

So if you are looking for a company that offers great customer support any time of the day, then you really should give Shopify and 3dcart a try.

All of the solutions we're talking about have knowledge bases, which basically let you search a topic and see if someone else has talked about it and addressed it in the past. In my opinion, this is one of the best support areas you can find, since it allows you to resolve a problem while maybe sitting on the phone waiting for a support rep.

Even though they all have these knowledge bases, along with blogs, FAQs and other documentation, Shopify and BigCommerce have the most users, making them far superior in terms of knowledge base content. Why is this the case? Simple. Since more people are discussing the systems, by default, more questions have been asked and more answers have been posted.

The Best Ecommerce Platform Reviews: More head to head comparisons

Volusion vs Shopify

Magento vs Volusion

Volusion vs Magento

Shopify vs Magento

Shopify vs Volusion

Shopify vs Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce vs Shopify

Concluding Remarks

It really doesn't matter how many comparison articles you read, there is only one person who knows which platform offers exactly what you need, and that person is you. What it all boils down to is which platform will allow you to sell the products you offer in the best manner for both you as a store owner and for your clients.

Based on the recommendations you read above, feel free to click on one, or all of the links below to discover what each platform offers you. I highly recommend starting a free trial with at least two of the solutions so that you can play around with them and see which one feels easiest for you.

Shopify (complete Shopify reviews here)

There is a reason why Shopify is at the top of the comparison chart. Not only does the company offer some amazing features, but the themes they offer are also top notch. I wouldn't have a problem recommending this platform to anyone looking to get started in the ecommerce industry.

Bigcommerce (full review here)

The differences between Bigcommerce and Shopify are rather subtle, there are some features offered by this platform that Shopify doesn't offer and vice versa. If you don't mind a bit of a learning curve then perhaps this offer is the right platform for you. The main downside is that Bigcommerce has shifted its pricing structure, and many of its users have complained about significant cost increases. It seems to mainly be happening to Pro and Enterprise users, so you're good if you have a more basic plan.

Volusion (full review here)

When deciding whether to use Volusion or not, it really comes down to one very simple decision. Do you feel comfortable editing the HTML and CSS code in order to optimize your template? If this isn't a problem, then Volusion might be the right platform for you, otherwise I would really suggest looking at Shopify or Bigcommerce.

3dcart (full review here)

The 3dcart platform is very user-friendly. One problem I do have with this company however is the fact that they offer a limited number of original themes, as I mentioned earlier many of their themes are duplicates. That said, the platform has been restructed recently, and it looks and feels more like Shopify. Not only that, but the built-in features seem to surpass that of Shopify, without having to go get additional apps.

Big Cartel (full review here)

Big Cartel might not offer some of the features provided by their competitors, however, as I mentioned in the review, it feels as if they are catering towards a different set of customers. If you are looking to sell a few products to your clients and do not need all the features offered by competitors, then I would really consider giving Big Cartel a try.

If you are still uncertain about which platforms best fits your needs, then every company offers a free trial, and my suggestion is that you give these a shot before making your final decision. You can also read the individual reviews for each and for a more visual way of comparing them I suggest taking a look at my top 10 comparison chart.

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