E-commerce businesses are on the rise like never before. Despite the pandemic, e-commerce businesses have continued to boom, with total spending on e-commerce retail forecasted to increase past USD 7 trillion by 2025. Several components go into running a good e-commerce store, and a compatible content management system (CMS) is one of them.
A good CMS makes it easy to run an e-commerce store properly. E-commerce is a thriving industry, which is why it has a fair share of risks, especially with the fiercely growing competition by the day. A compatible content management system helps e-commerce entrepreneurs run profitable online businesses without occupying themselves with the extremely technical aspects of it.
In this article, we will talk about the seven best e-commerce content management systems for your online business. The article in no way expresses a hierarchy. Rather it simply lists some of the most popularly used and highly powerful content management systems. Let’s begin.
- Shopify
Shopify is a content management system designed specifically for building and running e-commerce stores. Given that it allows you to host websites on its web servers and saves you a lot of trouble, time, and effort, Shopify is incredibly well-equipped and powerful.
Some notable features of Shopify are:
- A user-friendly order management system
- Easy set-up of discounts, coupons, and gift cards
- A seamless email system enabling you to run email marketing campaigns from the platform itself
- Easy set-up of contact forms
- Permission to use personalized domain names
- Seamless integration of social media accounts and sales promotions on them
- Easy integration of mobile, desktop, and in-store sales
- A powerful mobile app to keep track of sales
- An extensive set of plugins for additional functionalities
Shopify’s user-friendliness allows even the non-tech-savvy audience to design interactive online stores easily. On the other hand, experienced developers also have the opportunity to make creative changes through CSS and HTML coding. However, it must also be noted that most themes on the platform are paid, and any sales done through third-party payment providers incur some transaction fee.
- WordPress
WordPress is one of the most widely used content management systems in the world. With 43% of the web using WordPress, the content management system is the top choice for building all sorts of web pages, including e-commerce websites.
Some notable features of WordPress are:
- Open-source
- Almost limitless choices for both free and paid themes
- Permission to add custom codes
- An extensive plugin library
- Seamless integration of all payment gateways
- Several free SEO extensions
- Easy integration of social media accounts
- Seamless publishing of video and written content in massive amounts
- Extensively customizable
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin for e-commerce functionality used popularly by users who leverage it for the purpose of building online businesses. Additionally, its popularity has led to the availability of plugins for almost every e-commerce service for easy integration. However, WordPress does not offer to host and any effective form of technical support.
- Drupal
Drupal is an open-source content management system that enables e-commerce businesses to build professional websites from scratch. As a relatively older content management system, it is a highly powerful and developer-friendly platform that functions like a website framework.
Some notable features of Drupal are:
- Simple and secure webpage creation with pages and panels
- Management of complex and multi-domain administration
- Inbuilt workflow system
- Appropriate security measures
- Multi-language support
- Useful SEO extensions and libraries to make websites search engine friendly
- Extensively flexible and customizable
- Separation of the store’s backend and front end, making content creation and publishing easier.
Drupal functions like a proper web development framework, making it complicated to understand. Additionally, it doesn’t offer hosted services, and many extensions or updates aren’t always compatible. However, it is free to use and open-source.
- Magento
Adobe’s Magento is a popular content management system for e-commerce solutions. As an open-source content management system, Magento offers various functionality and a rich extension marketplace that includes integrations with multiple enterprise-level software like ERP, CRM, chatbots, etc. Magento supports businesses of all sizes and integrates seamlessly with third-party providers to create unique digital retail experiences.
- BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a SaaS e-commerce platform. It offers web hosting, allows integration of third-party apps or plugins, and offers a user-friendly website builder. Additionally, it provides good blogging support and access to development services for enterprise clients. Considering that it is one of the most uncomplicated e-commerce website builders offering a robust and highly-flexible website editor, it is a good choice for small operations as well as large businesses. However, it isn’t open-source and might turn out expensive once certain sales thresholds are passed, or advanced features are accessed.
- OpenCart
OpenCart is an incredibly user-friendly and open-source e-commerce content management system. With over 13,000 modules and themes, OpenCart offers a unique combination of a simple core platform and powerful extensions. It integrates seamlessly with multiple payment gateways and supports several shipping modes. Additionally, its administrator dashboard system enables you to track your store’s performance and can be highly customizable if you code in PHP. However, some templates may look outdated, and services like hosting and security are paid.
- PrestaShop
PrestaShop is a simple content management system that gives users significant control over the set-up and management of websites. As a lightweight CMS, it allows users free access to basic software but charges some cost for additional features. It offers a user-friendly template editor, seamless integrations with social media, added payment gateways, and secure versions. However, its additional modules can be expensive, and customer support cannot be accessed unless you purchase premium plans.
Conclusion
Today’s e-commerce industry thrives on the quality of services that businesses offer. Considering that, having an interactive and user-friendly website is critical for your online store. Using a good content management system significantly contributes toward building and running a successful online store.
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