Top 5 Ecommerce Website Builders For Small Businesses

This guide explores the top 5 ecommerce best small business ecommerce website builder, evaluating user-friendly interfaces and powerful features to assist your decision-making.

Key Takeaways

• Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Square Online, and BigCommerce shine as top website builders for small ecommerce businesses. Each platform brings its own strengths, catering to various business needs and preferences.
• Shopify emerges as the premier choice for small businesses seeking an all-encompassing ecommerce platform. With its versatile features, seamless multichannel selling, robust app ecosystem, and extensive customization capabilities, businesses can establish and manage their online stores quickly and effectively. 

The 5 Best Small Business Ecommerce Website Builders

Shopify

When it comes to crafting the best small business ecommerce website builder for a successful online presence, Shopify stands out as a powerhouse.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Versatility: Shopify boasts an array of versatile ecommerce features that cater to your business needs.
• Wide Selection of Themes: Take advantage of over 150 pre-designed free and paid themes, all offering seamless integration.
• User-Friendly Interface: The drag-and-drop interface ensures that even those without a technical background can build a professional-grade online store effortlessly.
• Effortless Customization: Tailor your website’s look and functionality to match your unique vision using intuitive customization tools.
• App Integration: The Shopify App Store offers more than 8,000 apps that allow you to easily connect extra tools and features to enhance your store’s functionality.
• All-Inclusive Ecommerce Toolkit: Shopify equips you with a comprehensive suite of tools, from domain management and seamless inventory control to multi-channel sales capabilities, secure payment gateways, efficient shipping options, dropshipping integration, abandoned cart recovery, marketing tools, and SEO optimization.

Cons:

• Transaction Fees: Lower-tier plans may incur additional transaction fees when using third-party payment gateways.
• Learning Curve for Advanced Features: Some advanced features might require a bit of technical know-how to fully use.

Pricing

Shopify offers five subscription plans, four of which allow you to create a full-function e-commerce website with prices starting at $39 per month. You’ll save 25% if you opt for an annual subscription.

Web design 

Here’s an in-depth look at how Shopify empowers you to create an ecommerce store that’s visually stunning:

• Drag and Drop Interface: Craft your website layout effortlessly by dragging and dropping elements, making design a seamless process.
• Diverse Ready-Made Themes: Choose from a library of over 150 ready-made themes, both free and paid, ensuring you find the one that aligns with your brand identity.
• Tailored Customization: Customize your chosen theme with ease, from colors and fonts to layouts, making it uniquely yours.
• Mobile-Responsive Design: Every theme is optimized for mobile devices, ensuring a consistent and user-friendly experience for shoppers on all platforms.
• Product Showcase: Display your products in a visually appealing manner as Shopify supports high-quality images, video, or even 360 3D media.

• Enhanced User Experience: With user-friendly interfaces and smooth navigation, Shopify ensures visitors have a positive shopping journey.
• SEO-Friendly Design: Built-in SEO features to optimize your store for search engines, boosting its visibility and potential traffic.

Ecommerce features

Shopify offers a comprehensive suite of features that amplify your online presence, including:

• Domain Mastery: Establish your brand identity with a custom domain that resonates with your business name. You can transfer your own domain name, buy it through Shopify, or take advantage of a free “.myshopify.com” domain.
• Effortless Inventory Management: Shopify helps you keep track of stock levels, product variations and restocking effortlessly in real time, ensuring a smooth operation. 
• Multichannel Selling: Shopify helps you connect with customers wherever they are by letting you sell in many different places. This could be on social media, online markets, your own site, or even in person. Shopify makes sure you have the same products available everywhere, and you can control everything using just one single dashboard.
• Secure Payments and Transactions: Shopify offers lots of payment methods, making it easy for customers to shop without any problems. Also, store owners can use Shopify Payments, which is Shopify’s built-in payment gateway, to get payments from customers to enjoy free transaction fees, or they can connect with more than 100 different payment providers.
• Efficient Shipping Solutions: From setting shipping rates to printing shipping labels, Shopify simplifies the entire shipping process. Real-time shipping rates, order tracking, and customizable shipping options are just a few of the tools at your disposal.
• Dropshipping Integration: If you’re considering dropshipping as a business model, Shopify has you covered. Integrate with dropshipping apps and suppliers like AliExpress, SaleHoo, and Alibaba to streamline order fulfillment and focus on what truly matters – growing your business.
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: Send automated reminders to customers who leave items in their carts, nudging them to complete their purchases.
• Marketing Tool: Shopify isn’t just about setting up shop; it’s about driving traffic and conversions. From SEO optimization tools to 10,000 free emails a month, you have the resources to elevate your store’s visibility and engagement marketing campaigns.
• SEO Optimization: With built-in SEO tools, Shopify empowers you to optimize your store’s content, meta tags, and URLs. This ensures your products are discoverable by search engines, driving organic traffic to your online store.

Customer support

Shopify provides around-the-clock customer support through various channels like live chat, phone help, and email assistance. They’re there to help with questions and technical problems and to give advice. If you want, you can also check out the Shopify community forums, FAQ page, or detailed guides to find solutions to your issues.

Who is Shopify best for

• New business owners
• Small businesses aiming to expand
• Individuals running their own businesses who appreciate attractive designs
• Shops transitioning from physical to online stores
• Dropshipping businesses
• Online content creators, freelancers, and artists who want to sell their digital products

Wix

Wix, renowned for its creative design possibilities, offers a platform that seamlessly combines artistic expression with essential ecommerce functionality.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Creative Design Possibilities: Wix empowers you with various design options, enabling you to bring your creative vision to life without technical expertise.
• User-Friendly Interface: Even if you’re not a tech-savvy individual, Wix’s interface is designed for simplicity.
• Abundance of Templates: Choose from a diverse collection of over 900 templates tailored to various industries. 
• App Integration: Wix boasts an app market of over 300 apps that lets you integrate additional tools and features seamlessly. Enhance your site’s functionality and user experience with ease.
• Mobile-Responsive Designs: In an era of mobile browsing, Wix ensures your website looks great on different devices, ensuring a positive user experience for your visitors.

Cons:

• Advanced Ecommerce Limitations: While Wix offers essential ecommerce functionalities, more advanced features might be limited. This is something to consider if you’re looking for extensive ecommerce capabilities.
• Scalability Consideration: As your business grows, you might encounter some challenges when it comes to scaling your online store with Wix. It’s important to assess your long-term business plans.

Pricing

Wix offers four plans with prices ranging from $16 to $159 per month.

Web design

• Drag-and-Drop Editor: Wix’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to create and customize your website without any coding. Simply drag elements onto the page, rearrange them, and adjust their properties.
• Customizable Elements: Customize text, images, videos, buttons, and other elements with just a few clicks. Adjust fonts, colors, sizes, and other styling options.
• Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence): Wix ADI is a tool that helps you build a website by answering a few questions about your preferences. It automatically generates a layout and design based on your answers.
• Image Galleries: Showcase your work, products, or portfolio using customizable image galleries and sliders.

Ecommerce features

Wix provides essential ecommerce tools for small businesses:

• Online Payments: Accept online payments through various payment gateways, including credit cards, PayPal, and more.
• Secure Checkout: Wix offers secure payment processing through various popular gateways, ensuring safe transactions for customers.
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: Send automated emails to customers who abandoned their carts to encourage them to complete their purchases.
• Currency Conversion: Wix supports multiple currencies, allowing customers from around the world to shop in their preferred currency. However, the currencies are limited in different plans.
• Shipping Rules: Create custom shipping rules based on criteria such as product weight, location, order value, and more. 
• Dropshipping: Wix does not have built-in dropshipping features like some dedicated Ecommerce platforms, such as Shopify. However, you can still set up a dropshipping business using Wix by integrating with third-party apps and services.

Customer support

Wix offers various ways to get help, such as phone support, live chat, and articles in the Wix Help Center. They provide support all the time, 24/7, to assist users.

Wix is best suited for

• Creative entrepreneurs
• Small businesses with a focus on design
• Startups and solopreneurs

Squarespace

Squarespace presents an elegant combination of visual appeal and e-commerce functionality, making it an attractive choice for small businesses looking for a harmonious online presence.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Captivating Visual Templates: Access a collection of professionally designed templates that elevate the aesthetics of your online store, fostering a polished and alluring look.
• Seamless Blog Integration: Integrate a blog seamlessly within your website, enabling you to leverage content marketing for enhanced engagement with your audience.
• User-Friendly Interface: Even if you’re new to website creation, Squarespace’s interface is tailored for intuitive use, ensuring accessibility for beginners.

Cons:

• Limited Third-Party Integrations: Compared to some competitors, Squarespace’s options for integrating external tools and services might be more limited.
• Advanced Customization Consideration: Achieving advanced levels of customization may necessitate a basic understanding of coding.

Pricing

Squarespace offers four pricing plans, ranging from $23 to $65 a month. You can enjoy up to 30% off on monthly fees if you subscribe annually.

Web design

Squarespace offers a seamless fusion of design prowess and ecommerce capabilities. Here’s a closer look at how Squarespace empowers you to craft your ideal online presence:

• Striking Templates: Choose from an array of over 100 visually captivating templates designed to elevate your online aesthetics and professionalism.
• Tailored Customization: Even without a design background, you can customize templates to reflect your brand’s identity and style.
• User-Friendly Platform: Squarespace’s intuitive interface ensures that building and modifying web pages is accessible to all, regardless of expertise.

• Dynamic Imagery: Seamlessly integrate high-quality visuals that showcase your products, services, or creative portfolio.
• Mobile-Ready: As mobile browsing surges, Squarespace ensures your website remains stunning and functional on smartphones and tablets.

Ecommerce features

Here’s a look at the crucial ecommerce features that define Squarespace’s offering:

• Free Transaction Fees: Squarespace’s Ecommerce plans eliminate transaction fees, allowing merchants to retain more of their earnings from each sale.
• Point of Sale (POS): Squarespace extends its Ecommerce capabilities to in-person sales through POS integration, enabling businesses to seamlessly sell products at physical locations or events. However, this feature is only available in the US.
• Unlimited Products: Merchants on Squarespace Ecommerce plans can list an unlimited number of products in their online stores, accommodating a diverse range of offerings.
• Sell on Facebook & Instagram: Integration with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram lets merchants expand their reach by selling directly on these popular platforms.
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: Available on Squarespace’s highest-tier Ecommerce plan, the abandoned cart recovery feature automatically sends follow-up emails to customers who’ve left items in their carts, encouraging them to complete their purchases.

Customer support

Squarespace offers a range of support options. Users can reach out to Squarespace’s dedicated customer support team through email, available 24/7, and can expect prompt and personalized assistance. For those seeking real-time support, live chat is available during business hours, offering instant help for pressing inquiries.

Squarespace is best for

• Side hustlers
• Non-profit organizations
• Boutique retailers and artisan shops
• Content-driven entrepreneurs
• Startups and businesses with basic ecommerce needs that don’t require complex functionalities.

While Squarespace may not offer Shopify’s full scope, it is a strategic fit for these specific small business categories, providing a stylish and user-friendly ecommerce solution.

Square Online

Square Online distinguishes itself by providing businesses with a user-friendly setup process, integrated payments, efficient inventory management, and seamless integration with Square POS.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• User-Friendly Setup: Square Online makes launching your online store a straightforward process.
• Integrated Payments: Seamlessly accept payments through the platform.
• Inventory Management: Efficiently manage your product inventory.
• Mobile Responsive: Templates ensure a consistent experience on mobile devices.
• Point of Sale Integration: Connect your online and physical store seamlessly.

Cons:

• Limited Advanced Features: Some advanced ecommerce features may be lacking.
• Design Customization: Customization options may be more restricted compared to other platforms.

Pricing

Square Online offers 3 subscription plans with a free option available. The other 2 paid plans have prices of $29 and $79/ monthly (billed annually), allowing flexibility to choose based on your budget and requirements.

Web design

• Drag-and-Drop Website Builder: Square Online’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows users to easily create and customize their websites without any coding skills.
• Mobile Responsiveness: All templates are mobile-responsive, ensuring your website looks great and functions well on various devices.
• Customization Options: Personalize templates by customizing colors, fonts, images, and layouts to align with your brand identity. However, this feature is only available on its 2 paid plans.
• Image and Video Integration: Incorporate images and videos into your website’s design to showcase products, tell your story, and engage visitors.
• Social Media Integration: Connect your social media profiles to your website for increased engagement and brand consistency. 

Ecommerce features

• Sell on Social Media: Square Online allows you to seamlessly integrate your online store with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to sell products directly to your audience.
• Manage Multiple Sites and Locations: For businesses with multiple locations or different websites, Square Online enables you to manage and maintain consistency across all your sites from a central dashboard.
• In-store & Curbside Pickup: With the increasing demand for convenient pickup options, Square Online lets you offer in-store and curbside pickup for orders, providing a seamless shopping experience for customers.
• Shipping Rate Discounts: Offering shipping rate discounts can incentivize larger orders and boost sales. Square Online allows you to apply different shipping rates based on various factors.
• Abandoned Cart Emails: Automated abandoned cart emails help recover potentially lost sales by sending reminders to customers who left items in their carts without completing their purchase.
• Multiple Payment Methods: Square Online supports a variety of payment methods, including popular options like Cash App Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Afterpay. This diversity accommodates different customer preferences and enhances checkout convenience.

Customer Support

Users can access help through multiple channels, including email and phone, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST Monday – Friday. Square Online’s Help Center is a valuable resource containing many articles, guides, and tutorials to address various topics, from store setup to managing orders and payments. Additionally, Square Online’s customer support extends to its active community forums.

Square Online is best for

• Local Businesses
• Startups with limited budgets
• Brick-and-mortar stores looking to expand their reach and offer online shopping options 
• Merchants using Square POS

BigCommerce

BigCommerce stands as a robust option for businesses with growth ambitions, offering a comprehensive suite of features and scalable solutions.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Robust Ecommerce Features: BigCommerce offers a wide array of features for seamless online selling.
• Scalability: The platform caters to businesses of varying sizes, accommodating growth.
• Customization: Enjoy extensive design and layout customization options.
• Multi-Channel Selling: Easily expand your reach by selling on various online channels.

Cons:

• Learning Curve: The platform’s depth may require time for newcomers to master.
• High Cost: Some users may find the pricing plans relatively higher compared to other options.

Pricing

BigCommerce offers four pricing tiers tailored to different business needs with prices ranging from $39 to $399 a month. You can save 25% by subscribing annually.

Web design

• Drag-and-Drop Builder: BigCommerce’s Stencil Theme Editor allows you to use a drag-and-drop interface to customize your store’s layout, colors, fonts, and more without any coding skills.
• HTML/CSS Access: For advanced users, BigCommerce offers access to the HTML and CSS code, enabling you to make custom modifications and create unique designs.
• Multi-Language Support: Create a multilingual store by easily translating content and offering different languages to cater to diverse customer bases.
• Mobile Responsiveness: All BigCommerce themes are optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that your store looks and functions seamlessly across different screen sizes.

Ecommerce features

• Point of Sale (POS): BigCommerce’s POS system enables you to seamlessly connect your online and offline sales. It integrates with hardware like barcode scanners and receipt printers, allowing you to manage in-person sales efficiently.
• Multi-Channel Selling: Expand your reach by selling across various channels like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, and Walmart. Centralize your inventory management and order processing for all channels.
• Single-Page Checkout: Simplify the checkout process with a single-page checkout experience. This reduces friction and increases the likelihood of completed purchases.
• Multi-Currency: Reach a global audience by offering pricing and transactions in multiple currencies, making the shopping experience more convenient for international customers.
• Multiple Payment Methods: Provide customers with various payment options, including popular digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay. Also, offers traditional methods and the ability to redeem coupons, discounts, and gift cards.
• Abandoned Cart Saver: Recover potentially lost sales with automated emails that remind customers about their abandoned carts and encourage them to complete their purchases.
• Multi-Location Inventory Management: Efficiently manage inventory across up to 8 locations, warehouses, or retail outlets. This feature ensures accurate stock levels and reduces the risk of overselling.

Customer support

BigCommerce offers around-the-clock live chat and phone support. The platform’s commitment extends to its comprehensive Help Center and extensive documentation, offering a treasure trove of resources for self-help and troubleshooting. In addition, BigCommerce enhances your knowledge through educational content like ebooks, guides, and videos, providing in-depth learning opportunities that contribute to your Ecommerce success. 

Who should use BigCommerce?

• Startups, small businesses, or growing mid-sized companies seeking a platform that supports growth.
• Ecommerce ventures that require scalability and a wide range of features.
• Brick-and-mortar retailers aiming to expand their operations
• Brands and manufacturers looking to sell directly to consumers
• Artists, crafters, and creators

Final Thoughts

Here are the top 5 e-commerce site builders for small businesses in the market. We suggest you sign up for a free trial and test all five to discover the one that suits you best. Additionally, we recommend Shopify because it offers a comprehensive set of tools to help you quickly and effectively launch your online business.

FAQs