There is no need to mention how important it is to have an ecommerce business in this digital age. We are doing everything online now. From kitchen groceries to household services, from fashion to booking tickets, from education to entertainment —there is hardly anything that cannot be ordered online.
But things are not as simple as they seem. For many people, it’s quite hard to move their traditional business to an online store. Because the challenge is to choose the right CMS platform, which must be easy-to-use, and, above all, cost-effective.
And to be totally honest, choosing the right Content Management System (CMS) has always been a hot topic. We’ve heard many people say there is nothing better than WordPress. In contrast, many companies use Shopify or Magento as their go-to content management systems.
However, since everyone is different, so are their needs and business requirements. In this post, we are going to see what possible CMS platforms we have available in the market and, most importantly, how to find a suitable platform for your specific business.
Why is a CMS important for ecommerce growth?
Without a content management system, running an ecommerce website is like opening a store without racks and shelves. Because without racks you would end up cluttering the floor, and it would be so hard for you to find a particular thing.
A CMS, for example, provides you with the tools to easily create, manage, and update your online store without having technical experience. With the help of a CMS platform, you can speed up the process of adding your new arrivals, updating the blog post, uploading images during festival season, offering special offers & discounts, and much more.
Things to consider when selecting the right ecommerce CMS
Scalability:
With the growth of your ecommerce business, your website requirements will change. You should choose a CMS that can grow along with your business, allowing you to add new products, expand product lines, and handle increased traffic.
User-friendliness:
Managing an ecommerce website can be a lot of hard work, especially if you’re not a tech-savvy individual. So, you must choose a CMS with easy-to-use interfaces and drag-and-drop capabilities to simplify the process of managing and updating content without coding knowledge.
Customization options:
Your ecommerce website is an important part of your brand, and it should showcase your unique identity and values to the customers. Having said that, make sure you choose a CMS that offers extensive customization options so you can customize the look, layout, colors, and branding features of your site.
Popular CMS options for your ecommerce store
WordPress
WordPress is everyone’s favorite open-source CMS platform that powers millions of websites, including an eCommerce store. Its user-friendly and easy-to-use features have made it one of the best ecommerce content management systems in the world. To build an online ecommerce store on WordPress, WooCommerce is the plugin that helps you do that.
With plenty of themes (with the option to customize according to your personal taste), plugins, and, of course, easy page and post creation options, WordPress has everything your business needs. There are also some advanced and paid options in the WordPress dashboard which you can choose from if your business requires that.
Shopify
Shopify is another all-in-one popular choice for the majority of established and retail businesses in the world. Shopify is one of the world’s biggest brands when it comes to supporting ecommerce stores. With its user-friendly interface, extensive app store, and built-in features like payment processing and order management, you can build your store the way you want.
With its drag-and-drop store creator, you can create your dream store. In order to create a store, you do not need to have coding expertise. You just need to select the templates, which you can, of course, customize according to your business style. In addition, if you want to improve your online store by adding some extra features and functionality, you can visit the app store, which is developed by Shopify experts.
Magento
Magento is a powerful, feature-rich CMS designed for large and enterprise-level businesses, offering advanced features like multi-store capabilities, customizable product catalogs, and extensive third-party integrations. Magento is known for its scalability and flexibility, but as compared to other platforms, it may require a higher level of technical expertise to set up and maintain things later.
Adobe Commerce, which is powered by the global leader Magento, is a flexible and scalable CMS platform that enables you to design truly unique B2C and B2B experiences across multiple brands. Adobe Commerce platform’s most appealing features are live chat, product recommendations, inventory management, and payment services.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a name that small businesses around the world trust. BigCommerce powers over 600,000 stores in around 150 countries. This content management platform is best known for its world-class features, such as built-in SEO tools, flexible third-party payment services, omnichannel content delivery, and much more. It is one of the best platforms for businesses that are looking for a secure, scalable, and reliable SaaS eCommerce website builder.
With BigCommerce, you can create your online store with almost 320 themes, integrate SEO and multi-channel marketing, and scale to the next level. As a third-party solution, BigCommerce can also be integrated with other content management platforms seamlessly.
OpenCart
OpenCart, on the other hand, is one of the easiest and most free-to-use content management systems for your ecommerce store. OpenCart is also open-source self-hosted eCommerce software that comes with a range of feature-rich built-in tools to power your ecommerce business. With its tons of customizable options and features, you can create your store as you like. Aside from its comfortable and easy-to-use dashboard, you can track all the data you need, including store performance, total order volume, and sales analysis.
With more than 14,000 extensions and themes, OpenCart can be customized to fit the needs of an ecommerce business of any size. Plus, OpenCart lets you integrate over 20 payment gateways and eight shipping options.
The final say
By the end of 2024, Statista predicts that the ecommerce market will reach a value of $6.3 trillion, giving you an idea of its potential growth. We cannot believe how fast the ecommerce business is growing. This data underscores the importance of starting an online store at this time.
From the above ecommerce CMS platforms, you can select the one which you think is gong to suit your business requirements. With all these options, you can build a beautiful yet user-friendly ecommerce store. As said earlier, every business is different, so it’s quite hard to recommend you the most effective content management system. While deciding, you should not forget the type of business you run.
However, by understanding the importance of a CMS, considering key factors, checking out popular options, and comparing features and functionality, you can find the right platform for your business needs.