Your lucky ticket to the e-commerce world is the right platform choice for your online store. Various e-commerce platforms differ not only in price, but also in the availability of features, integrations, commissions and support cost.
Unsure which platform will be the best for your business? Let's discuss the pros and cons of popular e-commerce platforms: CMS, SaaS and framework development.
What influences the choice of platform for an online store?
Selecting the right platform for an online store can save you from unnecessary problems in sales and automate your business, as well as to add some new issues. Start with the analysis of your business processes, then pick the best e-commerce platform option.
E-commerce platform is:
The future of your online store.
The scaling capabilities, advancement, synchronization with external services depends on the e-commerce platform. Your business can grow in a few months, and a low-quality website might not handle the load. Then you have to start an online store development from scratch. But unfortunately, the money and the time spent cannot be returned.
Your team's work.
Listen to the opinion of your employees, who will support and develop the online store platform. If employees are already familiar with the framework or technologies of a high-quality e-commerce platform, this can make your research and work easier. Want to maintain the website yourself? Then study which platforms provide technical support and warranties.
SaaS services have limited functionality, and the online store does not belong to you. Creating an online store on the framework costs from several thousand dollars, it takes a lot of time, but this solution can be flexibly advanced. CMS often have ready-made functionality and modules, but many systems cannot be refined.
Our Mercurio CMS combines the advantages of developing on a framework (we used Laravel) and ready-made functionality that can be launched in about a week. Let's compare all solutions!
Features of SaaS platform for online store
A simple solution for creating a small online store for which you have a minimum of requirements. Such a service is suitable to try your hand at e-commerce. You can launch a website even in a few hours, simply by selecting a ready-made template.
SaaS (“software as a service”) — is a website constructor with a certain number of features. You pay a subscription fee and get access to your account. The disadvantage of this e-commerce platform is that you cannot become the full owner of your website.
For a large, highly loaded online store, a SaaS platform is not suitable. This solution cannot be finalized, the website is not unique, development capabilities are limited. Since the SaaS service works for thousands of websites at once, the hosting may not be able to withstand the load. The speed will decrease, glitches are possible, but you won’t be able to do anything about it.
Popular SaaS solutions for e-commerce:
Horoshop — is a Ukrainian service for online stores creation. There is a certain set of features right away, the platform is well suited for e-commerce in Ukraine, but the quantity of products is limited.
Wix — is a constructor with a large selection of design templates (several hundred), but with lack of e-commerce functionality. The integrations with many services, templates, domain and additional GB of storage require a surcharge.
Shopify — is a service for creating an online store with focus on the Western market. You need to pay every month of use and 2% of commission for each purchase.
Prom — is a marketplace that has an extended bulletin board. The design of all online stores is identical, there is no way to stand out. The service charges a commission for your website visits and promotion in the catalog.
Advantages
1. A simple online store can be launched in a short time.
2. To start sales and first attempts in e-commerce, you can select a free service, and then launch a full-fledged website.
3. Ready-made design.
4. If you use a simple constructor, you do not need a contractor.
5. There is technical support service straight away.
Disadvantages
1. You will not be able to modify the functionality, add integrations, only use the set provided by the company.
2. You can’t pick up or download your online store. The e-commerce website can only be rented.
3. The performance may decrease at high loads, and it is impossible to impact on it.
4. The online store will not stand out from other websites. Also, the most SaaS services have limited SEO capabilities.
5. You can’t decline technical support and monthly fees.
6. The safety of your data and customer information depends on your SaaS service choice.
CMS for an online store and why is it the best option for e-commerce
CMS (Content Management System) — is a software that allows you to create, modify, add content for your website. In different CMS, the set of functions can vary. There are ready-made box systems and those, that need to be assembled of modules.
CMS is an excellent engine for an online store, as it is a standalone solution with ready-made functionality. This type of e-commerce platform is suitable for almost any online store, if you don’t need an entirely custom development.
Of course, various CMS for an online store are different. Paid and free, modular, ready-made box systems - the selection is huge. You can get confused in advice on selection of systems and searches, but this choice is important. We developed our own Mercurio CMS because most market solutions did not satisfy customers, and we had to use custom development.
Which CMS for an online store to choose? Study 3-10 popular market options in order not to overpay and pick a solution for your business processes.
Pay attention to the technologies used, the capability of customization, scaling, the technical support availability. For example, WordPress may be suitable for a small online store with low traffic. To create an e-commerce platform with millions of products, dozens of filters and high traffic, Mercurio CMS is better option, that can easily withstand loads.
You can create an online store on CMS faster and cheaper than on frameworks, and the level of security is higher than that of SaaS services. CMS in e-commerce is the golden mean if you compare all possible platforms.
Advantages
1. You can launch an online store out of the box in a few days.
2. You can select a solution for your business processes from dozens of CMS for an online store.
3. No need to invent a wheel and create functionality from scratch, you will get everything ready.
4. Many CMS can be refined or minimally customized: change the design or pick a new hosting.
5. You become a full owner of an online store platform if you choose a CMS with this option.
6. It's easy to find specialists for popular CMS and maintain the website.
Disadvantages
1. Not all CMS can be customized and developed.
2. For some systems, you need to purchase additional modules, improvements to start sales.
3. Different CMS types have different functionality. You should review all of them for your purpose.
4. There are systems, that work great for the Western market. However, they should be modified for Ukraine.
5. Possible conflict of modules, additional settings.
CMS for online stores:
Mercurio CMS — is a ready-made platform for e-commerce, which consists of an online store and a management system. Your website is prepared for development and any customization, regardless of size. We don’t close the system from refinements and provide technical support.
Opencart — is a free, open-source engine for an online store. This is not a ready-made e-commerce platform, the online store must be assembled of modules. The downside of this platform is the conflict of modules, also it’s hard to refine something for yourself. Although the platform is free, customization and installation of modules is expensive.
1C-Bitrix — is a russian CMS for an online store with a specific set of modules. You need to find developers or configure this system yourself on the 1C-Bitrix website.
Magento — is an open-source platform based on PHP. Well suited for complex, high-load websites.
Joomla — is an old free open-source CMS that works well for small online stores. There are many ready-made modules, but they should be configured.
When you need a flexible creation of an online store on frameworks
Framework — is a set of solutions that are the software basis for an online store or website. The framework provides a skeleton on which you need to “build up” the functionality. An online store is being developed from scratch, you will not have ready-made modules, plug-ins or out-of-the-box features.
Creating an online store on a framework is much more difficult than using a ready-made CMS, but you can’t avoid it if the special solution is needed, and the standard systems' functionality is not enough.
Framework development is an opportunity to create any functions, blocks, design without restrictions and flexibly refine the solution. But you can only feel the benefits if you choose a quality developer. Select a professional studio, learn about guarantees, make sure that development standards are taken into account.
Nowadays, most of the owners of online stores have selected the ready-made CMS, and custom development fades into the background. This is because modern systems have a well-thought-out set of functions, and it is easy to select a CMS for your business processes.
You can also pick a win-win option - CMS on the framework. Such a system can be quickly launched, and it is easy to refine at any time.
Advantages
1. Flexible development. You can refine any functionality for e-commerce. For example, when you need a complex management system, integration with your systems or unpopular ones.
2. It is possible to create a unique solution and non-standard functions.
3. More options to improve the website performance.
4. Flexible settings for online store promotion. This is convenient for organizing different sales channels in e-commerce.
5. The data is secured, the system is closed.
Disadvantages
1. Expensive solution. If you require a standard solution, the online store development on framework is non-beneficial.
2. The quality of work and future development capabilities depend on the choice of contractors. Even on Laravel, you can create a poorly performing online store.
3. It is necessary to organize support for the solution, hire specialists.
4. The development of an online store platform on framework takes much time because this is the work from scratch.
Examples of popular frameworks:
Laravel — is the most popular PHP framework in the world since 2015. An open source framework with a user-friendly interface, using the MVC architectural model.
Zend Framework — is a PHP-based framework for creating web applications. The popular e-commerce system Magento is based on this framework.
Yii2 — is a highly productive PHP framework that implements the MVC model.
What is the best engine for an online store?
Don't look for the prettiest e-commerce solutions or free systems. Look for a platform that will perfectly cover all your business needs at the lowest possible cost.
Which platform you need for an online store and when:
SaaS-solution might be useful to start with, you can quickly configure it and start selling. However, the system might quickly reach the peak of its capabilities, and you will have to transfer your online store.
CMS — is a convenient and functional solution, an online store can be set up relatively quickly. If you choose a system with the development capabilities, you are ready for expansion straight away.
Development on frameworks is required in particular cases, when the capabilities of any single CMS are not enough, and you don’t wish to adapt your business processes.
There is simply no magic pill. Focus on your needs and capabilities. We will be happy to help you create a high-quality and progressive online store based on Mercurio CMS. Join the community of online store owners without glitches and issues!
