It’s time for some Shopify alternatives. The service in question is definitely one of the best you’ll find, but it isn’t quite suitable for each and every store type. If you’re looking for better substitutes, your search is most likely over as the e-commerce platforms listed below are highly recommended and they each deliver rich experiences. Well, don’t take our word for it – Head on below for brief descriptions of each service and decide for yourself.
1. Volusion:
Volusion is an ideal solution for small businesses looking to make their products available to a wide market of customers. It provides all the tools you’ll need to get your own store up and running. There are various templates you can choose from, both free and paid and the company is offering enhanced features to make your products more appealing. It allows you to conduct daily deals, sell stuff on Amazon, eBay and Facebook as well as get spotted on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Volusion doesn’t charge any transaction fees and you get unlimited storage. However, each account has limited bandwidth starting from 1GB, up to 35GB. The basic subscription allows you to have a total of 100 products for £9 per month, exclusive of taxes. There’s a 14-day free trial available as well.
2. Pinnacle Cart:
Pinnacle Cart is a high flexibility shopping cart platform that’s a great choice for all types of stores, earning it the second spot on our compilation. The company has a base of over 35,000 sellers and you can set up shop without the need of any programming knowledge. You can customize the design of your cart by selecting different layouts, colors, buttons, headers and more. Also, there are various pre-defined templates and you can import one of your own too. This platform permits unlimited categories and product listings and there are no transaction fees involved.
Additionally, it supports different currencies and does search engine optimization for your content. There are various payment options available including PayPal, QuickBooks, Google Checkout, SecurePay, NetBilling and many more. Basic membership on Pinnacle Cart starts at $30 with 1GB of storage, 2GB of bandwidth, 2 email IDs and SSL security amongst others. You get a 14-day free trial here as well.
3. Big Commerce:
Big Commerce comes in with a base of over 50,000 stores and it operates in more than 65 countries. It provides you with a website builder that has everything needed to get your store up and running. There are loads of free and premium themes for you to choose from and you also get expert advice from the company’s Success Squad team. Like the aforementioned services, there are no transaction fees here and on the upside, you get unlimited bandwidth.
Your store comes with built-in marketing and SEO tools including a $100 offer code for Google AdWords. The company also offers integration with eBay and other popular e-commerce websites as well as Facebook where you can sell stuff directly from your page. Lastly, there’s a free mobile application available for you to manage your products from anywhere. Stores on Big Commerce start at $24.95 per month.
4. Highwire:
Highwire is being touted as a complete all-in-one solution. What makes it a viable candidate amongst the sites like Shopify is that it’s extremely easy to use and comes with loads of features. You can set a custom domain and design the store to look just how you want it to. For this, there are pre-designed templates from the themes store or you could design your own with the template editor. Highwire also does SEO to help your store rank in popular search engines and it allows you to provide customers with rich experiences by offering newsletter integration, custom discounts, gift certificates and more.
For payments, it supports PayPal, Amazon, eWay, ProPay, and Stripe, to name a few. You can also sell stuff on Google, eBay, and Facebook. The basic plan comes at $14.95 with a limit of 100 products, a custom domain, and eBay selling. For more features, you can choose the $29.95 all-inclusive plan with unlimited bandwidth and 10,000 item limit.
5. LightCMS:
If it’s freedom of customization you desire, the LightCMS is just what you need. It won’t take you long to start your own store on this platform and customizing the look and feel of your space is made simple through intuitive tools. Instead of a dashboard to manage content, everything is done directly on the page itself. You can also use this platform for other purposes like blogs and photo galleries in addition to an online store.
Additionally, your custom website automatically scales to different dimensions, making it accessible from mobile devices with small screens and laptops. The built-in store supports Authorize.net, Stripe and PayPal services. LightCMS subscriptions start at $19 per month for 100 products, 1GB storage and 100 pages.
6. 3Dcart:
Next on the sites like Shopify Alternatives roster is 3Dcart. This platform offers 50 templates to design a website and a store and it also allows you to get your hands dirty with HTML and CSS. Like all options on this list, there are no transaction fees involved when selling products on 3Dcard. To make sure your content is visible to others, there are over 25 SEO tools available and you’ll be able to integrate your store with Facebook to make your products available to followers directly from your page.
Additionally, you can create promotions and coupons as well as offer newsletters. 3Dcart comes with a 15-day trial and you can purchase a store for $19.99 which allows you to have 100 products and provides free search advertising of $175.
Conclusion:
These Shopify alternatives are all that you’re going to need to set up your shopping cart for a new or existing business. And if you’re into handmade and vintage items, do check out these options as well. Also, if you’ve got any recommendations for us, do shoot them our way.