Choosing an appropriate platform for your e-commerce development is the first step on your way to success. It’s vital to select one that will offer you a plethora of features necessary to run a successful eCommerce website. This decision is difficult and should be made carefully. When we talk about e-commerce platform, two options come to our mind: Custom or Open Source eCommerce web development platform.
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So, which is best? The simple answer to this question is that neither choice is best for everyone. The choice of right eCommerce website development platform will depend on your needs, product numbers, and the capabilities you want to integrate into a new website. Before selecting an eCommerce development platform, you should first find answers to following questions:
1. Do you want to work with a professional web development company or have a budget to do so?
2. Do you want to get your products online promptly?
3. Are you looking to have a flexible personalized solution?
4. Is SEO performance a top priority for you?
5. Will you be running multiple stores?
6. How important is support for you?
7. What is your budget?
8. Do you want to integrate your website with a WordPress blog?
Once you find the answer to above questions, the following descriptions of both content management systems will help to guide your choice:
Table of Contents
Custom Built eCommerce
Custom eCommerce website development is all about maximum functionality, security, and unique layout. Have a look at some other features:
Generally, custom eCommerce websites are more costly and take more time to get built but its benefits outweigh the consequences. With a custom eCommerce website development, the flow and functionality of the website are not dictated by the pre-built framework. You have total access to decide how your website visitors find your products, check-out, add items to their cart, etc. In addition, there is greater control of the website appearance, which is an important factor in convincing your visitors to stay on site.
In custom eCommerce solutions, you can make any changes you wish. It means your eCommerce store can easily be personalized for your market sector that help you to make more sales. Further, you can also add specific features to keep your customers coming back. Your product pages can also be optimised to rank high in search engines result pages. You can configure the website and data feeds the way you wish. A custom eCommerce website can handle bulk products as well as many visitors at same time. A custom website can also be easily integrated with other solutions such as gateways and CRMs. Following are some pros and cons of custom-built eCommerce platform.
Read More: Woocommerce Vs Magento Vs OpenCart
Pros:
1. Web site is able to handle bulk visitors and big transactions
2. Maintains a uniform appearance throughout the whole website
3. Multiple functionalities and it is more likely that a single platform can achieve and handle other business goals
4. Easy integrations with other systems
Cons:
1. The built framework may be restricted to a certain system or brand
2. Source code is locked; therefore, there is a lack of individuality
3. Customization may be restricted
4. There is no third party input you can use
5. Strong possibility of what you see is what you get
Open Source eCommerce
With open source eCommerce website development platform, you have many options like Magento, osCommerce, and ZenCart. You will get a simple, bare-bones eCommerce website which runs quickly and is quite affordable. The main advantage of open source platform is that developer will have access to a pre-built baseline framework and many third party plug-ins, integrations, and extensions, which are generally free of charge. The plugins and extensions give the advantage of developing a customized online store that would carry a personal touch of the developer.
Open source eCommerce website development platforms are not as flexible or secure to customize as a custom eCommerce development platforms but they offer an entry-level approach to the e-commerce world. Despite some challenges, open source online store can be a good investment for smaller e-commerce development companies and people who only want to build an entry-level shopping website. Here are some pros and cons of open source eCommerce platform:
Pros:
1. Easy to configure the platform
2. For experienced developers, it can be easy and ready to use
3. Wide array of plugins and extensions and the open source development network is readily accessible
4. Good support for multi-language
5. Easy to integration with payment gateway
6. Good for small and medium eCommerce needs
Cons:
1. Fewer features of content management
2. Templates, advertising, and content management are not easily handled
3. In-depth understanding of framework is required to make customization
4. Functionalities are restricted in open source e-commerce. Marketing, branding, and outreach efforts must be attained through outside programs
5. Lack of multiple functionalities
6. Other system’s integration can be a challenge
7. Not suitable for bigger enterprises due to a large number of visitors and higher data transactions
Conclusion
There is never a right or a wrong choice in selecting eCommerce website development platform. It is simply finding the best solution for your company’s requirements and goals. Above mentioned descriptions and pros & cons will definitely help you in finding an appropriate eCommerce platform according to your business’ needs.
Do you still find difficulty in choosing the right platform for your e-commerce website? If yes, then contact PixelCrayons- one of the leading e-commerce web developers in India. With rich domain expertise and a team of skilled web developers, PixelCrayons is providing best-in-domain e-commerce website development services to the customers.
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