5 Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups


Quick links for the Best Ecommerce Platforms

1) Best Overall 🏆

Shopify

An E-commerce platform simplifying online store creation, management, and sales for businesses of all sizes.

Read Review

2) Most Popular🥈

Amazon

A global online marketplace offering a vast range of products, from electronics to books and more.

Read Review

3) WordPress Plugin 🥉

Woocommerce

A WordPress plugin enabling seamless creation and management of online stores for businesses.

Read Review


So, you are in the market for an eCommerce platform that suits Startups.

Ideal, because in this article we have our compilation list for our top picks, and we compare the features and pricing for you. 

If you just want the best choice, we’ve added that right at the top of the article as this was what is most requested by our customers and what we see the best feedback with. So, that’ll be the “can’t go wrong” option. 

Otherwise, feel free to explore all the options we’ve reviewed on the market to find something that might fit you a little better.

Enjoy the list!

The Best eCommerce Platform for Startups Specifically

Startups have to focus on growing their business outside of their demographics, generate constant revenue and maintain profitability. An eCommerce store that goes easy on the pockets and helps startups build an online presence will be the perfect fit for this category. Have a look at the products below to choose the best eCommerce platform for startups specifically:

1. BigCartel

BigCartel is a popular e-commerce platform usually preferred by creatives like artists and designers. It allows you to set up your custom online store, make sales and market your brand. With BigCartel, you get all the necessary tools to fulfil orders, update inventory, check statistics and run promotions.

BigCartel Features

Here are some exclusive features of BigCartel:

Shipment Tracking: BigCartel ensures you stay on top of the shipment process and regularly updates your clients with shipping details. You can add tracking information to your orders, and BigCartel will automatically detect what shipment carrier you are using. Additionally, it populates the tracking URL so your clients can follow the real-time status of the order.

Promotion: BigCartel understands that marketing and promotion are necessary for creatives to build a clientele. The best way to promote yourself as an artist is by building a social following and putting your product out there. With BigCartel, you can connect your online store with social accounts to effortlessly market your creative talent and gain more clientele.

Store Editor: With BigCartel, you can customize the premade templates and turn them into a functional online store. Moreover, its simple drag-and-drop functionality ensures you can easily add or remove elements from your eCommerce store without coding. BigCartel allows you to focus on designing new content or products by automating store management.

Inventory Management: BigCartel keeps your inventory up-to-date with the latest order fulfilment. Artists can see which products are generating more interest and accordingly update their product lists. With BigCartel, you don’t have to go through the hassle of manually inputting items into your database.

Discount Creator: BigCartel lets you create promotional codes and personalized discount offers for your clientele. It helps you increase conversions and clear out the inventory. Additionally, you can set up automation to connect with your customers through personalized emails.

BigCartel Pricing

BigCartel offers 3 Pricing options for its eCommerce store builder tool. However, they mostly differ only in inventory size.

The “Gold” plan is priced at $0 and allows you to add up to 5 products to your inventory. Additionally, you get real-time stats, shipment tracking and customizable themes.

The “Platinum” plan is priced at $9.99/month and allows you to add up to 50 products to your inventory. Additionally, you can use Google Analytics, theme code editing and inventory management.

The “Diamond” plan is priced at $19.99/month and allows you to add 500 products to your inventory. Additionally, you can do bulk editing, use a custom domain and autopilot sales tax.

2. OpenCart

OpenCart is an eCommerce platform that offers all the prerequisite features to create, scale and run your online store. Its marketplace features over 13000 modules and themes to jumpstart and expand your business. Additionally, OpenCart comes with free lifetime updates and built-in SEO to drive traffic to your online store.

OpenCart Features

Here are some exclusive features of OpenCart:

Admin Features: OpenCart offers an administrator dashboard that provides all the important information at a glimpse. You can set advanced user privileges and separate access for user groups. Additionally, OpenCart lets you manage multiple stores from one admin interface and localize store settings.

Unlimited Everything: OpenCart does not have any limitations and makes it simpler to sell digital products. You can run reward programs that drive results and increase the customer’s lifetime value. Moreover, OpenCart comes with a robust integrated comment, reviews and ratings system.

Customer-Oriented: OpenCart lets you create filters so your clients can refine and narrow down the search results. You can make sales in any currency, set up different taxes and get automatic rate updates. Additionally, OpenCart offers an easy way for clients to get subscribed to your newsletter and email marketing campaigns.

Shipping, Payments and Reports: With OpenCart, you can set up recurring payments for your customers and offer discounts or promotional codes. It integrates with the leading shipment methods like Australia Post, FedEx, Royal mail and UPS. Moreover, OpenCart comes powered up with a sales report and offers external reporting extensions.

Mobile & SEO: OpenCart is responsive by default, meaning your site looks awesome irrespective of the device. You can use SEO extensions to enhance your visibility on search engines. Additionally, OpenCart offers a marketing dashboard to help you track the campaigns.

OpenCart Pricing

OpenCart is completely free to use. You can click the “Download” tab and install OpenCart on your device.

3. Zyro

Zyro offers a robust eCommerce builder with all prerequisite tools to start, manage and grow your online business. It helps you unleash the power of AI tools and third-party integrations to scale your online store. With Zyro, you can sell physical or digital products and services plus collect donations or accept bookings.

Zyro Features

Here are some exclusive features of Zyro:

Drag & Drop Editor: Zyro offers professional designer-made templates with full customization. You can use the drag-and-drop functionality to input elements from your online store. Additionally, you can include blog posts in your eCommerce store to share thoughts and attract new traffic.

eCommerce Functionality: Zyro offers a centralized platform to process all your eCommerce tasks. It provides a multi-functional dashboard that handles your inventory, shipment tracking, orders, reporting and customer service. Moreover, you can optimize your online store with simple SEO settings and marketing integrations.

Universal Payment Solution: Zyro eCommerce supports various payment methods to offer your clients flexibility in the checkout phase. Additionally, you can store the card details to fasten the checkout experience for your clients. With Zyro, you minimize the risk of abandoned carts and failed orders.

Domain & Hosting: Zyro offers free hosting with every pricing option. It uses cloud servers to guarantee your visitors a fast and reliable experience. Moreover, Zyro automatically scales your online store according to your clientele base and ensures your eCommerce store is always operational.

Search Optimization: With Zyro, you get speedy loading mobile optimization, cloud hosting and encrypted SSL security. You can take control of your on-page SEO by editing the page titles and meta descriptions. Additionally, Zyro provides an AI writer tool to help you generate relevant content in seconds.

Zyro Pricing

Zyro offers 2 Pricing options for its website builder and eCommerce platform.

The “Website” plan is priced at $2.99/month and offers SSL security, blogging tools, Google analytics, AI logo maker, plus visitor remarketing.

The “Business” plan is priced at $3.99/month and offers order management, inventory management, email notifications, plus online payments.

4. Wix

Wix is a website and online store-building platform for people who don’t necessarily have coding skills or designing experience. It’s an extremely flexible platform that provides absolute control over layout customization. Wix is a design-driven eCommerce tool that helps you build an online presence and churn out more sales.

Wix Features

Here are some exclusive features of Wix:

Wix Editor: Wix offers an innovative drag-and-drop online store builder with over 500 designer-made templates. You can bring your eCommerce store to life with animation, video backgrounds and scroll effects. Additionally, Wix helps you drive organic traffic with built-in SEO tools and custom meta tags.

Store Manager: With Wix, you can track orders and manage inventory from a centralized platform. It ensures your product database is regularly updated with the latest orders and item availability. Moreover, you can showcase your products and in-stock inventory with a beautiful layout.

Wix Music: Wix offers a personalized online store option for musicians to showcase their albums, tracks and playlists. Your listeners can buy your music directly from the store without any hidden commissions. Moreover, you get advanced statistics showing your most popular songs and trending albums.

Social Tools and Email Marketing: Building a social following is necessary for individual business owners to amplify their reach. With Wix, you can keep your site content fresh and post regular blogs to increase your social presence on the internet. Additionally, you can send personalized emails to prospects regarding abandoned carts or upcoming promotions.

Visitor Analytics: Wix provides insights into your store traffic and visitor behaviour. You can see which products generate more clicks or trigger purchases. Wix ensures you’re on top of the analytical data and enhances the effectiveness of your eCommerce store. Additionally, you can get periodic reports regarding sales, inventory and lead conversions.

Wix Pricing

Wix offers 3 Pricing options for its website building and eCommerce platform.

The “Business Basic” plan is priced: at $3.99/month upon annual billing. It offers a free domain for 1 Year and 20 GB of storage space.

The “Business Unlimited” plan is priced: at $4.99/month upon annual billing. It offers unlimited bandwidth and 35 GB of storage space.

The “Business VIP” plan is priced: at $7.99/month upon annual billing. It offers customized reports and 50 GB of storage space.

5. WooCommerce

WooCommerce provides you with absolute control over your shop, starting with what you sell and how your shop looks. It lets you add new inventory on the go, no matter what type of product or services you’re offering. WooCommerce is ideal for every business or individual looking to build an online presence.

WooCommerce Features

Here are some exclusive features of WooCommerce:

Sell Online: With WooCommerce, you can launch your online store in minutes and grow for years. Its flexible and customizable e-commerce store provides you with all essentials for selling online out of the box. Additionally, you can connect your online store with popular advertising channels like Google Ads, TikTok and Facebook.

No-Code Customization: WooCommerce lets you personalize every aspect of your online store to create a special shopping experience for your prospects. With WooCommerce’s Block themes, you can edit the entire site visually without touching a line of code. Moreover, WooCommerce provides several templates to help you quickly set up an online store.

Marketing: WooCommerce allows you to promote your store through additional channels by connecting with third-party marketplaces. You can create campaigns and connect your store with Google to reach shoppers across the Google network. It ensures you stay close to your clientele and increase conversions by following up quickly.

Shipping: WooCommerce allows you to print USPS and DHL labels from its dashboard. You don’t have to spend your valuable time copy-and-pasting order details into fulfilment software. WooCommerce centralizes all shipping, marketing and selling aspects of your online business.

Payments: With WooCommerce, you can run your business and manage payments. It lets you accept online and in-person payments, track revenue and handle all payment activity from the store dashboard. Additionally, you can maximize checkout conversions by providing buyers with flexible payment methods.

WooCommerce Pricing

WooCommerce does not offer subscription plans for its e-commerce platform. It provides various extensions for your WordPress website that help you set up an online store.

Why use an eCommerce platform at all?

In today’s world, online shopping is highly prominent among consumers. Businesses need an online store that reflects their brand and provides a seamless shopping experience to the customers. With an eCommerce platform, you can start selling online and improve your sales conversion.

eCommerce platforms allow you to set up an online store and manage your inventory or process orders. You can create personalized promotional codes for your prospects to save abandoned carts and make more sales. Additionally, eCommerce platforms enable you to build an online presence and drive more traffic to your online store.

Why should Startups use an eCommerce platform?

Setting up an online store is a real challenge. From product cataloguing to learning the tech, it almost feels like years have passed till your customers can shop with you online. eCommerce platforms remove the coding requirements and time constraints involved in running an online store.

eCommerce platform sets up your online shop from scratch with minimal effort from your end. It offers a one-stop solution for online selling and elevates your brand value by opening you up to a global clientele base.

eCommerce platform ensures your business scales and serves an international community instead of a specific marketing segment or demographic. Moreover, you can improve your store’s visibility by optimizing the shopping experience for your clients and offering a seamless checkout experience.

Additionally, eCommerce platforms let you manage inventory and process orders from a centralized dashboard. You can save abandoned carts by sending follow-up emails, and increase conversions through personalized promotions codes.

eCommerce Platform for Startups, A Summary

Startups usually struggle to build a stronghold in the market already populated with enterprises. An eCommerce platform helps them set up an online store and increase their sales revenue. Moreover, it provides reporting and analytical features that help you analyze your profitability.

BigCartel allows startups and creatives to set up an online store and enhance their sales. Moreover, it offers a free pricing option to avoid straining your budget. BigCartel is our suggested pick for an eCommerce platform that suits startups. Visit the website to get started.

What Ecommerce Platform would you recommend?

In short, It’s Shopify.com

Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform simplifying online store creation and management. It offers a user-friendly interface, customizable templates, and robust tools for inventory management, payments, and shipping. Trusted by businesses worldwide, Shopify enables seamless online sales for entrepreneurs and established brands alike.

“🚀Try Shopify.com For Free, It’s my favorite Ecommerce Platform to use and recommend.” -Scott Max

It has robust tools for product management, allowing easy catalogue setup, customisation, and inventory tracking. Its secure payment gateways and seamless checkout process enhance customer experience. Shopify’s responsive themes ensure a visually appealing online store, making it a preferred choice for e-commerce entrepreneurs.

For more details, read our Shopify.com Review.