Best E-Commerce Platforms In Canada Forbes Advisor Canada

What’s even better is that you can build your own private apps to address your business’s specific needs. Keeping track of your inventory is important to ensure you never oversell or run out of stock. Most e-commerce platforms will offer some sort of inventory management, but the level of detail and features will vary from platform to platform. With Big Cartel, you can sell products online via your site, in person or on Facebook. It offers the key features online retailers need, such as order management and inventory tracking.

More diversity in options enhances the shopping experience and accelerates the development of Vietnam’s eCommerce market, experts say. Experts believe that the increasing number of players in the eCommerce field will lead to positive competition, offering consumers more choices. Currently, over 80% of internet users in the country shop online, and eCommerce continues to expand, attracting small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as individual businesses alike. Recently, Vietnamese consumers have become increasingly familiar with Chinese retail platforms such as Taobao, 1688 and Temu, which support direct purchases. A headless e-commerce platform is one that decouples the front-end of the website (the “head”) from the back-end (the “body”), which provides the e-commerce functionality.

Why the European Commission is investigating Temu, the Chinese e-commerce platform

Examples of e-commerce platforms include Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix and Squarespace. Given the large number of ecommerce platforms out there today, Shopify is best for complex stores. However, if you do want to offer a fairly personalised experience as well as have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to development setups and design, then Shopify is definitely for you. Otherwise, something like Lemon Squeezy, which doubles up as a Merchant of Record and offers the same storefront experience across all markets, would be simpler. Big Cartel is one of the most affordable platforms for building an online store.

What really makes them interesting is the Sections and Blocks that I mentioned earlier, as the perfect balance of creativity and design constraints really empowers marketing people to put their best promotions forward. Ultimately, design customisation in Shopify is as flexible as you (or your design system) need it to be. Ideally, you’d want the customisation options to match your design system’s rules, but Shopify doesn’t force you to approach storefront design in a certain way.

Squarespace is our number one pick because of its attractive templates—many of which are free. While it doesn’t offer a free plan, its Business package starts at just $23 USD ($31.39 CAD) per month (if paid annually). It comes with the ability to sell an unlimited number of products, customization using CSS and JavaScript and a professional email address from Google. It does have a lower-cost plan that starts at $16 USD ($21.83 CAD) per month (paid annually), but that doesn’t include e-commerce features. The two Vietnamese platforms, Sendo (by FPT) and Vo So (by Viettel), initially showed promise thanks to backing from major Vietnamese tech companies.

When a customer places an order, your inventory should drop proportionately without you needing to adjust anything. And, when you add inventory, you should be able to do it all from one screen. Security is important to protect your customers’ data and ensure your store is safe from fraud. Make sure the platform you choose offers features such as SSL certificates, password protection and PCI compliance. Its Online Store Marketplace plan allows for marketplace selling and starts at $12.95 USD ($17.65 CAD) per month (67% off during its current promotion). Both plans allow for bookings, appointments, analytics, gift cards, daily backups, unlimited products and wishlists.

Inventory management helps you keep track of your stock, no matter where a sale occurs. The payments we receive for those placements affects how and where advertisers’ offers appear on the site. This site does not include all companies or products available within the market. Sébastien Pant, spokesman for the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC), stressed the responsibility of platforms. Temu, a gigantic digital bazaar of objects, often made of plastic and often made in China, is in the crosshairs of the European Commission. On Thursday, October 31, the Commission launched an investigation into the commercial practices of the Chinese e-commerce platform, which is popular worldwide.

Trending in Business

Carbon neutrality, fair trade, sustainable and local sourcing, positive company culture and other pro-environment, pro-social responsibility movements have all gained steam. Companies practicing thoughtful environmental stewardship are seeing increased interest and business when compared to their competition. Cloud-based e-commerce platforms, on the other hand, are hosted by the platform provider. This means you don’t have to worry about things such as server maintenance, but you also have less control over your site. With Adobe Sensei, its AI, shoppers get personalized recommendations to help create an even better experience. It offers two levels of plans, though you’ll need to schedule a demo for pricing.

On that note, Shopify’s massive developer (and merchant) community ensures that there’s never a lack of support if needed. Also, Shopify’s new Managed Markets feature provides a Merchant ecommerce chatbot platform of Record powered by Global-e, but only if you’re in the US (for now). Without this, you’re responsible for local tax compliance and customs clearance for every country that you sell to.

Sales teams can also leverage the demonstration capabilities at trade shows. The convenient, comfortable and contactless nature of online shopping—whether on a desktop, tablet or mobile device—is here to stay. As technologies and algorithms continue to evolve, we expect to see continued growth of most businesses via e-commerce. If your business isn’t yet online or your online presence leaves something to be desired, optimizing your business to meet the demands of today’s shoppers on multiple platforms is key to staying on top of a rapidly evolving market. Standard features help sellers get their stores up and running quickly, while some platforms provide additional options such as POS and advanced reporting.

“Many major players have exited the market, such as Lotte.vn (from South Korea’s Lotte Group), Deca.vn (from 24h), and Adayroi.com (from Vingroup). Tiki and Sendo are still operating, but their growth has been negative for several quarters, with a market share shrinking to under 1%. Without breakthrough strategies or mergers and acquisitions, their long-term survival remains uncertain,” said Bui Quang Cuong, CEO of iViet Solution, speaking to VietNamNet. Either way, Shopify-powered businesses have complete control over how they scale and customize. This is compared to simpler alternatives which can be more all-or-nothing, causing growing pains during the business’s growth stage. At the highest level, designers can add, remove, and reorder components (or as Shopify calls them, “Sections”) without code.

As a customer, it’s reassuring to see their current location and how fast items can be delivered, out-of-stock items, and any other updates that enable the tracking of a shipment’s progress. Every e-commerce website needs to have this feature enabled by working with their global shipping partners. Many global platforms are looking for local suppliers to meet diverse consumer needs, offering Vietnamese companies access to global distribution networks and logistics systems to scale up rapidly. This puts pressure on Vietnamese businesses to adjust their pricing strategies to avoid losing customers.

You can develop a theme from scratch, which requires specialist knowledge of Shopify’s proprietary templating language, Liquid, which isn’t difficult for developers to learn, especially with Shopify’s decent documentation. Finally, you can build a headless storefront that decouples the front and back end so that developers can have full control over their front-end tech stack. Sustainable consumption trends are gaining traction globally, and products from Vietnam including handicrafts, agricultural goods, and wooden products, are increasingly attracting international customers. This robust growth has drawn not only domestic businesses but also international giants, especially from China.

To determine the best e-commerce platforms, we considered competitors across the industry and compiled a list of 17 contenders to analyze in-depth. We then compared 13 criteria regarding pricing, features and ease of use to determine the top 10. When narrowing down these choices, we also considered whether platforms have inventory management and multichannel selling capabilities. The best e-commerce platforms will offer a wide variety of features and integrations to choose from, making it easy to build the exact store you need. They will also be easy to use, so you can get your store up and running quickly and without any headaches. Keep in mind that because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, you will need to invest some time to learn WordPress as it’s not the most user-friendly content management system (CMS).

“Currently, international shipping to Vietnam is often faster and cheaper than domestic shipping, which makes it hard for us to compete,” he stated. Cuong noted that competitors continue to spend heavily on market competition, and with the arrival of more international e-commerce giants, the battle remains heated. If Temu can address its legal and product quality issues, it could soon shake up the current market rankings. According to YouNet ECI, by Q2 2024, only Shopee (with about 71.4% market share) and Tiktok Shop (with around 22%) maintained positive growth, together accounting for over 93% of the market share.

It also is not geared towards those selling services or subscriptions online. Weebly is a top-rated website builder that is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It’s owned by the same company as Square, however, the two e-commerce platforms offer different product offerings. As with Square, all of its website plans are designed to meet the needs of online retailers on a budget. Paid plans start at $36 CAD per month (billed annually) and include a free domain name for a year, no ads and sellers can upload custom fonts. Its most expensive plan costs $99 CAD per month (billed annually) and gives discounted transaction fees and shipping rates.

Alternatively, you can use WordPress with a WooCommerce plugin or Ecwid plugin. It has a drag-and-drop page builder so you don’t need a developer, and it’ll integrate with all the other Adobe products, making it ideal for advanced personalization. These other products include Experience Manager, Analytics and Real-Time CDP. BigCommerce is best for online retailers that are looking to utilize built-in sales and marketing tools to more effectively foster leads and increase sales.

According to industry data, this is more than 20 per cent growth from last year’s festive sales on major e-commerce platforms in the country. The first week of festive sales (which began on September 26) alone saw business worth Rs 55,000 crore, which is almost half of the total sales. This festive season’s increase in sales was estimated at over 23 per cent by e-commerce consultancy Datum Intelligence. Mobiles, electronics and fashion categories gained momentum while other categories (beauty and personal care, home and quick-commerce-led grocery) had a better business as usual (BAU) performance. At the same time, competition with international platforms will drive Vietnamese businesses to accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

Pharmaceutical products, jewelry and all kinds of manufactured goods are of concern. The Commission is investigating whether these errors are “systemic” in terms of the DSA. For specialized skills like advanced design or SEO audits, you can rotate freelancers or agencies in and out as needed instead of keeping them on retainer. And for more common tasks like graphic design, look to international freelancers who can offer competitive rates without sacrificing quality. This way, you can build a deep bench of affordable talent, ensuring you get the best work for the best price without overcommitting financially.

GoDaddy is best for small businesses and first-time sellers who want an easy-to-use platform with email included. Another difference is that BigCommerce plans have a limit on the number of sales you make per year, so its entry-level plan has a cap of $50,000 USD ($68,180.40 CAD) in annual sales. If you earn more than that, you’ll need to choose a higher plan, such as the Plus plan for $105 USD ($143.35 CAD) per month for up to $180,000 USD ($245,449.44 CAD) in annual sales. This can make BigCommerce less affordable to grow with, though its built-in sales and marketing tools can help you drive more sales—making it a good value for many. Generally, most sellers find the $51 CAD per month plan more than sufficient to handletheir store’s needs.

Vietnam’s eCommerce sector grew by 25% last year, making it the fastest-growing market in east Asia and one of the top 10 fastest-growing eCommerce markets globally. The expansion of large Chinese platforms like Taobao, Tmall, Pinduoduo, and ChatGPT App JD.com, with Vietnamese-language interfaces, signals their intent to dominate the market. However, the strong presence of international eCommerce giants, particularly from China, poses significant challenges for Vietnamese enterprises.

Merchandising folks will be the heaviest users of your Shopify admin dashboard after the initial design and development is over and done with. While the data isn’t as insightful as you’d want it to be, it can allow for some super sleek automations that make your business feel like a living, breathing operation. Additionally, the presence of foreign platforms compels domestic businesses to innovate, improve product quality, and enhance services. Analytics are vital to understanding your business and seeing where you can improve.

Over time, new names have emerged, challenging established market leaders. Lazada initially dominated Vietnam’s market but was later overtaken by Shopee. Just when it started to see profit in Q4 2022, Tiktok Shop entered the scene. Despite Shopee reporting profits throughout 2023, it faced losses again in Q and continued to see declining profits in 2024 as competition intensified.

If you aren’t satisfied with the platform within 30 days, you can get a full refund. It also offers 24/7 customer support, which is an ideal feature for any e-commerce platform. Saving the best for last, Shopify’s new-ish Markets features enable merchants to publish multiple storefronts, each having different languages, currencies, catalogues, payment options, delivery options, sales taxes, and so on. Naturally, this comes with many design challenges but you can have a modified theme for each storefront to simplify things.

It offers a free forever plan with unlimited products, which buys users plenty of time to build an online store without an upfront investment. However, this plan does not allow you to connect a domain name, so it’s not suitable for business use. Wix is a leading all-in-one website builder that offers a highly customizable drag-and-drop site editor.

“There is a suspicion that not enough is done, not in an effective way to really prevent the dissemination of illegal products,” a Commission official said, briefing reporters ahead of the announcement. “We have reasons to believe that Temu didn’t properly analyze the addictive nature” of some of its features, they added. You could develop the outlines, tone, voice and audience insights in-house and then outsource the actual writing to a freelancer, and your job again is clarity so that they can focus on creative execution.

Shopify is best for omnichannel sellers, as well as sellers who want a user-friendly way of building a dropshipping business thanks to its numerous dropshipping integrations. Behind the platform’s dazzling success, the commercial practices of this online digital bazaar are worrying the European authorities. The import of potentially dangerous products and the addictive nature of the app are being targeted. Consumers benefit the most from increased competition, enjoying more options and lower prices as platforms cut out intermediaries and offer promotions. However, issues like counterfeit goods and online scams have emerged, and despite the efforts of platforms and authorities, complete prevention remains elusive.

It’s worth noting that unless you have either one of the Commerce plans, there is a 3% transaction fee on sales. These fees are in addition to the standard credit card fees per sale charged on each plan. ChatGPT To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive payment from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Advisor site.

Roundup: Türkiye expects record e-commerce sales from upcoming shopping spree

Domestic production faces threats as foreign platforms directly bring international products to Vietnamese consumers without intermediaries. It takes first-hand experience to determine the best e-commerce platforms, as factors such as ease of use, customization capabilities and the quality of online selling tools often do not become evident until using the platform. Along with our own first-hand experience, we factored in popularity, stand-out features, value for the money and ease of use to account for 40% of the overall score. Managing your products is important to ensure accuracy and keep things organized.

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. All platforms will offer some sort of payment processing, but make sure to check what types of payment they accept. With so many e-commerce platform choices, it’s vital to pay attention to which features matter most to your business. For example, you may only sell seven different things, which means you don’t need software that supports a large inventory. Wix is the best e-commerce platform for businesses that want a very easy-to-use site builder that comes with everything you need to build and manage an online store. To help, we performed an in-depth analysis to hone in on the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses in 2024. These solutions include all the features you need to launch your site quickly, grow your traffic and land more sales.

This allows for greater flexibility and customization, but can be more difficult to set up and manage. In a study conducted by eMarketer, worldwide retail e-commerce sales reached about $2.3 trillion USD in 2017, reflecting a 24.8% increase from the previous year. Mobile sales made up $1.4 trillion USD of this total, equalling 58.9% of these digital sales, an increase of 18.7% from 2015. As consumers are relying more heavily on the digital world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect these figures to continue increasing each year. The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content to guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.

• Quick commerce, which saw significant traction in 2023, contributed approximately 8 per cent to overall e-commerce growth, up from 5 per cent last year.
• The ability to accept payments online is obviously essential for any e-commerce business.
• These too can be added, removed, reordered, and edited without code (again, if the theme allows for it).
• Ecwid is a top-choice e-commerce platform because it has no transaction fees (aside from standard credit card processing fees), and it offers a free plan.
• “With more consumers using online shopping, and others gradually joining the trend, the eCommerce market pie will continue to expand,” Vung added.

Mobile optimization is important to ensure your store looks good and functions properly on mobile devices. If you’re selling, there’s only one plan you can use, and that’s $3.90 USD ($5.32 CAD) per month (70% off during its current promotion). You’ll get free email for your first three months, as well as a free domain name for the first year. Big Cartel is a great option for small businesses that are looking to easily and affordably sell physical items online without a big investment of time or money. All plans have 2.9% plus $0.30 CAD credit card transaction fees, except for the Premium plan, which has fees of 2.6% plus $0.30 CAD.

The localisation of these platforms gives Chinese companies a competitive edge, forcing Vietnamese businesses to contend with fierce international rivals. In 2017, Shopify acquired Oberlo, which is one of the most popular dropshipping apps. Together, they work seamlessly to import products to your store for customers to purchase.

Make sure the platform you choose offers detailed analytics so you can track things such as conversion rate, average order value, customer lifetime value and more. Square is widely used by many different industries, whether a restaurant or a brick-and-mortar boutique, thanks to its chip reader and point-of-sale (POS) solutions. It’s another one of our top picks because it offers a free plan, as well as multichannel selling included with each plan option. This means you can sell across your e-commerce site, Facebook and Instagram.

Providing videos, reviews and interactive content about a product can make it more marketable in the online world. A study performed by First Insight found consumers of all ages are expecting companies to uphold more sustainable practices. Transitioning your company to a greener business model and aligning the values of the company with today’s consumers will increase sales potential and help you form a loyal customer base. One way to show you’re holding your company accountable is to apply for B-Corp status and pursue other certifications relevant to your industry such as organic certification, free trade certification and more. Running your e-commerce store shouldn’t cost you more than what you make, so we excluded platforms with exorbitant fees or prohibitive monthly pricing.