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Ecommerce Platforms Comparison – Top 10 for Any Business
Since 2003, ScienceSoft has been offering end-to-end ecommerce services and boasting a list of businesses that rely on implemented solutions.
The Definition and the Role of Ecommerce Platforms
Ecommerce platforms go with pre-built architecture and functionality to launch an online commercial presence. Expectedly, platform-based ecommerce development allows reducing development costs and accelerating time to market. There are ecommerce software vendors that include in their offering support for all ecommerce business models – B2C, B2B and marketplaces. Others narrow their focus to best serve the needs of a single type.
Features to Expect from a Robust Ecommerce Platform
Support for different product types
- Simple product.
- Configurable product.
- Grouped product.
- Bundled product.
- Virtual product.
- Downloadable/digital product.
Core ecommerce functionality
- Core informational pages (e.g., Home, About Us, Privacy Policy).
- Product and catalog management.
- Shopping cart.
- Guest and registered checkout.
- Embedded payment gateways.
- Order and return management.
- Reporting.
- Web APIs for third-party integrations.
Marketing suite
- Online merchandising.
- Pricing and promotion management.
- Customer segmentation.
- SEO.
- Email marketing.
- Loyalty management.
- Social media integration.
- Content management.
- A/B testing.
Product browsing and discovery
- Layered navigation.
- Product filtering.
- Product description and attributes.
- Multiple images per product.
- Product stock availability.
- Product rating and reviews.
- Related products, upsells and cross-sells.
Customer account
- Saved personal, shipment and payment details.
- Order status and history.
- A reorder possibility.
- Wish list.
- Tracking of reward points.
- Personalized coupons.
- Newsletter subscription management.
Application security
- Secure admin access levels.
- Patching application vulnerabilities.
For hosted ecommerce platforms:
- Day-to-day infrastructure management.
- Automated data backup in case of incidents.
- PCI DSS compliance.
Extra features for B2B ecommerce
Complex pricing calculation
- Automated pricing rules.
- Volume-based pricing.
- Quotes for negotiated pricing.
- Custom catalogs with pricing available only to specified corporate accounts.
Facilitated bulk ordering
- Order export before submission.
- Quick reorder of previously purchased items.
- Multiple requisition lists per customer account.
- Minimum and maximum order volume storewide or by customer.
Top Ecommerce Platforms Shortlisted by ScienceSoft
We have evaluated the most popular and well-established online store platforms capable of delivering on ever-growing ecommerce demands.
Adobe Commerce (previously Magento)
Best for mid-to-enterprise market
Description
A leader in Garner’s Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce. Adobe Commerce is open-source offering wide opportunities for custom experience design. Besides, the Adobe Commerce team evolves their core product with functional and security enhancements and supports the marketplace with about 3,600 developed and quality approved extensions to optimize the customization cost. Adobe Commerce is an AWS-hosted SaaS ecommerce platform but can also be deployed on-premises or hosted on a private or any public cloud.
Adobe Commerce targets midsized and enterprise companies in both B2C and B2B business arenas.
Pricing
Starts at $1,999 a month.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Best for enterprise market
Description
Salesforce Commerce Cloud (former Demandware) has B2C and B2B solutions, both ranked as Leaders by Forrester. For B2C, Salesforce offers an ecommerce solution empowered with AI and an add-on to build consistent customer experience across online and offline sales channels. The B2B suite integrates natively with other Salesforce products (e.g., Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Community Cloud) widely used by B2B businesses. However, Salesforce B2B is built on the proprietary Lightning Platform and B2C is not, which can be the point of concern for businesses seeking to run both models on the same platform.
For both B2C and B2B, Salesforce offers three editions depending on business maturity and calculates the solution cost from the gross merchandise value (GMV) of a prospect.
Pricing
The vendor provides exact prices by request.
Dynamics 365 Commerce
Best for mid-to-enterprise market
Description
Microsoft owns a Dynamic 365 product line consisting of 10+ applications, altogether automating all enterprise resource and process management. In its commerce line, Microsoft focuses on omnichannel retail, offering a dedicated platform for omnichannel management and an ecommerce add-on. Naturally, companies already using other apps from the Dynamics 365 product line readily shortlist this vendor for an ecommerce store. A flexible pricing policy becomes a compelling argument in favor of a Microsoft-centered ecosystem for mid-sized and enterprise businesses.
Pricing
- $180 per user/month for the omnichannel retail management platform.
- From $5,000/month for the ecommerce add-on.
Oracle
Best for enterprise market
Description
Oracle offers an ecommerce-focused platform and an application suite for digital marketing, loyalty, data intelligence, content management, and more. The vendor mostly targets companies with GMV of $250 million to over $1 billion and covers comprehensively B2C, B2B and B2B2C needs. A full-function offering for digital experience management positions Oracle as one of the best ecommerce platforms for large businesses.
Pricing
Depends fully on business requirements and requires contacting the vendor directly.
Shopify Plus
Best for small-to-middle market
Description
Gartner calls Shopify a Challenger, which stands firmly on the market but lacks the scope and authority of Leaders. Shopify is valued for no-code configuration capabilities, which makes it a clear choice for midsized companies that don’t need heavy modifications to website logic. Shopify Plus, though, steps into the enterprise sector too.
The native Shopify functionality, however, loses to competing ecommerce platforms in the midmarket array. The need for multiple third-party apps installed is one of the biggest Shopify cons specified by their clients.
Pricing
Starts at $2,000/month, and companies pay a fee of 0.15% per transaction if they use a third-party payment processor and not Shopify Payments.
Episerver
Best for middle market
Description
Gartner notes the impact of Episerver in both digital commerce and more general digital experience areas. Episerver offers its Digital Experience Platform as full-packed online ecommerce software. Along with its core – a cloud-based ecommerce platform for an online store named Commerce Cloud – Episerver provides complementary applications for content intelligence, personalization and enhanced analytics. The combo is a win-win solution for companies planning a highly personalized and content-rich ecommerce experience.
Pricing
The license pricing varies depending on the number of SKUs listed. The vendor provides exact prices by request.
BigCommerce
Best for small-to-midsize market
Description
Though BigCommerce targets small-to-midsized retail businesses, it offers the solution portfolio comparable to the best ecommerce platforms in the enterprise sector: for B2C, B2B and headless commerce. The company bets big on multi-channel retail and offers seamless ecommerce integration with the largest marketplaces and social media platforms. With the offering diverse and well-balanced, BigCommerce’s position on the market is stable – the company reports 20% year-to-year growth.
Pricing
4 pricing plans starting from $29.95/month to custom pricing for an advanced offering
Sitecore
Best for middle market
Description
Sitecore is a digital experience software provider with the highest evaluation score by Gartner. Software suits experience-first businesses that have invested in Sitecore’s DXP and want to expand their operations to ecommerce. The company’s share on the ecommerce market is not large, yet their customer base is geographically spread across the world’s most commercial regions of Northern America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
Sitecore DXP is mostly B2C-centric. It offers a strong digital marketing suite and native DAM and PIM capabilities.
Pricing
Depends fully on business requirements and requires contacting the vendor directly.
Intershop Communications
Best for middle market
Description
Based in Europe, Intershop Communications also works successfully for the US and the Asia-Pacific region. The target market of this ecommerce software vendor is predominantly mid-sized B2B companies, though they have clients from the enterprise sector too.
Intershop offers separate applications to manage digital commerce, product information, orders and digital experience. Also, the company makes a unique offering – Commerce-as-a-Service – assuming the role of an ecommerce service provider. They deliver a turnkey full-functional ecommerce environment, designed and developed according to specific business needs.
Pricing
4 price packages by request.
Criteria of Ecommerce Platform Comparison
The choice of an ecommerce solution provider is a crucial business decision. As we care for your time and give only a high-level platform description, we want also to be helpful with important aspects to bear in mind to compare ecommerce platforms on your own.
Impact on business strategy and internal workflows
- SKU limit.
- Headless architecture.
- Functional limitations (native functionality, platform customizability).
- Ecommerce admin experience.
- Ready-made integration solutions on the market covering core business workflows and the most popular technology vendors.
- Data analytics capabilities.
Business models supported
- B2C ecommerce.
- B2B ecommerce.
- A multi-vendor marketplace.
- A multi-store managed from the same back end.
- Mobile commerce.
Cost of ownership
- Platform licensing.
- Hosting and deployment models.
- Availability and average cost of platform developers and consultants.
- Support complexity.
- The platform roadmap and the frequency of new feature delivery.
If No Ecommerce Platform Really Suits Your Business
All ecommerce platforms listed have monolithic architecture where the front end and the back end are tightly connected. Though you do have certain flexibility in website design, fully custom front-end theme development is time- and cost-consuming and challenges the delivery of design modifications down the road. If you are seeking full freedom to frame any kind of user experience on the website, consider implementing a custom headless ecommerce solution. With that, you get the required ecommerce functionality in the back-end (built on any ecommerce platform) and have a decoupled presentation layer to deliver on your design and content ideas.
What Else Do You Need for Ecommerce Launch?
Your implementation partner is as important as the ecommerce platform you choose. From 21 years in ecommerce implementation services, we know the needs of ecommerce companies and can ensure the value of our involvement.
Ecommerce consulting
- Technology consulting – to choose the ecommerce platform in line with your roadmap and scalable for evolution.
- Market-entry consulting – to make your launch investments reasonable.
- Strategy consulting – to shape the target audience and craft a powerful customer experience.
Ecommerce development
- Migration – to bring to balance the effectiveness and cost of ownership of your ecommerce software.
- Website design and development, including:
- Website architecture.
- UX and UI design.
- Personalization.
- Checkout optimization.
- Integrations to automate all supporting business operations.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a digital success provider with 35 years of experience, a trusted partner of the world’s technology leaders and a team of 750+ IT experts. Since 2003, we’ve been bringing companies on the digital commerce market. You can learn more about our ecommerce service offering or contact our team directly for assistance.