So you have a fantastic product or even a collection that you are ready to sell online. You know it is going to fly off the shelves and let you make a grand entrance into the world of eCommerce. But wait! Are you sure you know how to choose the best platform to set up your online store?
Of course, you can choose to invest big time and create an eCommerce website from scratch, but is that something you want to funnel your money in at this stage?
If not, here’s an excellent alternative for you - eCommerce website builders. eCommerce website builders are a great way to get your business online without having to learn any code. They are also quite affordable and can be used by anyone with basic computer skills and just an internet-connected device.
Before we move further, let us first get familiar with the terminology.
Disclaimer*: I am currently employed by Appy Pie as a search manager and thus have a vested interest in the Appy Pie products mentioned in the article. However, this article reflects my unbiased and genuine opinions about every product mentioned in the article.*
What are eCommerce website builders?
An eCommerce website builder is a tool that allows you to build your own website without any coding knowledge. It’s like a WYSIWYG editor, but for websites. You can drag and drop elements on the page, change colors and fonts, add images or videos – all from within the software interface.
The best eCommerce website builders are intuitive and easy to use. They allow you to create an online store without any specialized technical skills! This makes them perfect for people who want to start their own business but don’t have the time to learn to do it themselves or the money to hire web developers.
Typically a website builder has a pretty flat learning curve and requires no special training to use them. The idea behind eCommerce website builders is to let even the complete beginners create a professional-looking site in minutes!
Benefits of eCommerce website builders
An eCommerce website lets you establish your online presence and expand your audience, among other things. Here’s a quick look at the major benefits of using an eCommerce website builder to create an eCommerce website.
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Sell directly without commissions - The eCommerce website builder is a great way to start your online business. It gives you the ability to create an online store and sell products or services directly from your own website without paying any commissions to anyone.
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No coding needed - You can build an eCommerce website in less than 10 minutes without any coding knowledge.
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No need to hire special resources - The eCommerce website builder allows you to build a professional-looking online store without hiring a web developer or designer.
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Save time and money - Creating an eCommerce website is highly time and money-efficient with no-code eCommerce website builders.
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Use templates - You need not start creating websites from scratch, as eCommerce website builders offer you various editable templates to create websites.
How to design an eCommerce website without coding?
There are several no-code website builder platforms available online. You can choose the one that caters best to your business needs. Once you choose the right builder, follow the steps given below to design your own eCommerce website.
First, enter a name for your eCommerce website that truly resonates with your brand’s image and has a high recall value. Then, select the theme of your website as per your target audience so that they can easily relate to the products and services you offer.
Second, choose a website template to give a professional look to your eCommerce website that can be easily edited. Customize your website template by modifying its color palette, adding a header and footer, the logo of your brand, and other elements you want in your eCommerce website.
Finally, preview your eCommerce website, update the changes and publish your website to reach a global audience.
However, before any of these steps, you must first choose the right eCommerce website builder. We have listed the top 5 eCommerce website builders to help you make the right choice.
Top 5 eCommerce website builders in 2022
1. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free e-commerce plugin that allows you to create an eCommerce website and sell anything online. It is the most popular e-commerce solution in use today, powering over 30% of all online stores.
WooCommerce comes with many features, including:
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Product catalog and management – Create an unlimited number of products and product categories on your eCommerce website. You can add custom fields to your products, such as pricing, taxonomies, attributes, and more.
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Product customization – Allow customers to customize their orders by adding extra options like colors or sizes.
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Shipping & tax options – Set up shipping rates based on location and weight for each product individually or by category.
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Payment gateways – Accept payments from any country worldwide using one of our many supported payment gateways (including Stripe).
2. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a leading eCommerce platform that allows you to create an online store and sell products. BigCommerce has been around since 2009 and has over 300,000 merchants using their platform.
It has the following features:
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Easy-to-understand: BigCommerce is one of the most accessible platforms to use for building your own eCommerce website as it has a simple and crisp user interface.
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Drag-n-drop editor: You can choose from thousands of pre-designed themes or create one yourself with a drag-and-drop eCommerce website builder tool.
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Multiple features: BigCommerce allows you to add features like social sharing buttons, product reviews, wishlists, etc., to your website to enrich the customer experience.
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Customer support: BigCommerce also offers 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat during business hours.
3. Weebly
Weebly eCommerce website builder has a drag and drop interface, a WYSIWYG editor and is one of the simplest ways to build an eCommerce website. It is an easy-to-use website builder that allows you to create a professional-looking website without any experience in web design or coding.
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Cost-efficient: Weebly is a freemium model website builder. It offers all the features you would expect from a professional eCommerce website builder without burning a hole in your pocket.
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Easy-to-use interface: The Weebly interface is very easy to use, even for novices. You do not even need any technical knowledge to build your own eCommerce website with Weebly.
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Hundreds of templates: There are hundreds of templates available for creating web pages for eCommerce websites. You can create as many pages as you want on your website, and each page can have its own unique design and layout.
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Multiple useful tools: There are tools available within the Weebly interface that make the web building process much easier than it would otherwise be. The drag-and-drop feature makes it really simple for anyone with little to no experience in eCommerce web development.
4. Appy Pie’s Website Builder
Appy Pie’s website builder is an online free no-code eCommerce website builder that lets you create websites without coding. Irrespective of your technical and coding knowledge, you can design an eCommerce website on your own.
Appy Pie’s website builder has the following features:
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Lightweight and fast eCommerce website: All the eCommerce websites built on Appy Pie’s platform have minimal loading time and take even less than a few seconds to load. This lets you deliver a seamless customer experience.
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Offline capabilities: Appy Pie’s website builder lets you create websites with some features that can also work in offline mode. It helps you build eCommerce websites that can deliver content even with a 2G connection.
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Customizable templates: Appy Pie offers numerous editable templates that can be easily used to create eCommerce websites. You can personalize it as per your brand’s color palette, target audience, and other elements to boost your online presence.
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Safe and secure: Appy Pie is fully compliant with the strictest security standards. All the eCommerce websites built on this platform are hosted on a secure AWS cloud space to assure data security and privacy.
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Intuitive user interface: Creating your eCommerce website is easy with Appy Pie’s eCommerce website builder, as it has a highly intuitive and user-friendly interface.
5. Wix
With Wix website builder, you don’t need any coding experience to build an eCommerce website. You just need to pick one of the many available templates and customize it with your own images and text to create an eCommerce website.
Wix has the following features:
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Hundreds of templates: Wix offers hundreds of professionally designed templates, including mobile-responsive themes for your business, blog, or personal site.
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SEO friendly: Wix provides built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your eCommerce site for search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo! and more. You can also add a meta description, keywords, and title tags directly from the editor.
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Free domain name: When you sign up for Wix Website Builder, you get a free .com domain name (or .co if you prefer) for your eCommerce website.
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24/7 customer support: If you ever have any questions about using the platform or need help getting started building your eCommerce website, a 24/7 support team via live chat or phone call is available for your assistance.
Conclusion
You can easily create your eCommerce website with the help of any of the eCommerce website builders available online. You must research well before deciding which eCommerce website builder to use. Study your target audience, and then choose a website builder before creating a website in just a few minutes. So, what’s the holdup?
Create your eCommerce website now!
Disclaimer*: I am currently employed by Appy Pie as a search manager and thus have a vested interest in the Appy Pie products mentioned in the article. However, this article reflects my unbiased and genuine opinions about every product mentioned in the article.*