While drop shipping sounds easy because of all the content available all over the internet in its favor, it is not as simple as many tell you. There are many technical hurdles attached with the drop shipping business and if you do not get them right first, your chances of succeeding on this path are slim.
This may sound like that I am discouraging you from embarking on this path, but, honestly, I am just apprising of what comes ahead, i.e., what hurdles you will have to face and how to prepare for them. The first hurdle is choosing the best ecommerce platform for your drop shipping business.
Both ecommerce and dropshippers use the same types of ecommerce platforms because the businesses are synonymous in nature. But there are slight differences that dropshippers need to know before they start their business such as the ease of access, prices, and most importantly the support these stores offer. Hire RJ DIGITAL WEB TECH ecommerce developer for your dropshipping website business.
Criteria for Selecting Best Ecommerce Platform for Dropshipping
It would not be justice if I do not set a criteria for comparing these top ecommerce platforms. That is why; here is a set of simple rules to compare the platforms against one another.
- The platform should be easy to use and almost free
- It should support all dropshipping plugins
- It should have efficient and 24/7 support
- It should make management seamless and help grow your business
List of the Best Dropshipping Platforms (2022)
Let us get into details to search the best ecommerce platform for start-ups who want to start a dropshipping business. The below comparison focuses each platform’s ease of use, user support, and price.
1. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most widely used ecommerce platform around the globe. It has a market share of almost 29% percent in overall ecommerce stores and the major credit for this goes to being a free and easy to install plugin. WooCommerce users can install it with just a single click, which makes it an ideal platform even for non-technical users.
- User Friendliness: WooCommerce comes with a simple GUI interface that any newbie can understand. It is built on WordPress, a favourite platform among bloggers, that allows users to add multiple add-ons free. Users can easily install WooCommerce on WordPress and launch their business with just a few clicks.
- Support: WooCommerce has a widespread community of designers and developers, who are actively working to promote this platform. Users can easily find a ton of material on installation and support of this platform on the internet.
- Price: WooCommerce is completely free to use. It is a plugin of WordPress and users who have WordPress installed can easily install it as a plugin without paying anything.
- Websites Hosted on It: As it hosts millions of stores online, you can easily find many famous ecommerce websites using it as an ecommerce platform. Some of them are Singer, Weber Grills, Ripley’s unbelievably, and All Black.
2. Magento
Magento is the second most used ecommerce platform in the world. It is powerful but complex and may not be suitable for beginners. RJ digital web technologies Magento is a developer-friendly ecommerce platform and requires at least basic programming knowledge. Either most dropshippers using Magento as an ecommerce platform know about Magento store development or have hired developers for that purpose.
Surprisingly, Magento’s market share has dipped from 2018’s 13% to 8%, primarily because it requires a user to know a bit of code.
- User Friendliness: Magento is an advanced ecommerce platform with a user-friendly design. Anyone who wants to start his drop shipping business can use it to create an ecommerce store, but they will require help in solving errors or updating Magento. Therefore, I will not recommend it for complete beginners.
- Support: Magento is a widely used platform. It has an official forum where Magento officials, developers, and designers are available to help newcomers. Also, it has multiple off-site channels such as Youtube channels, blogs, and forums where users can get help if they get into hurdles while developing their dropshipping stores. Magento also offers multiple plugins for dropshippers.
- Price: Magento is a completely free ecommerce platform and anyone can launch it with little help.
- Websites Hosted on It: Magento hosts thousands of top ecommerce websites. Retailers and manufacturers like Selco BW, Dufry, and JCB use it to run their businesses.
3. Shopify
One of the most powerful ecommerce platforms for dropshipping is undoubtedly Shopify. It claims to host around 500,000 ecommerce stores and dropshipping websites. In 2016, Shopify officially acquired Oberlo, a dropshipping plugin that makes product import and order fulfillment a painless process. It is one of the most used ecommerce platforms by users who are technically unsavvy.
Shopify is the second most popular platform, with 20% of the market share. It is a hosted platform, however. If you want a self-hosted platform, consider these Shopify alternatives.
- User Friendliness: Shopify is extremely user-friendly. Users can sign up for the platform and start adding products to it. The platform also provides pre-filled pages like About Us, Privacy Policy, Return Policy, Shipping Information, and Shipping Calculator, to easily set up the store.
- Support: Shopify offers 24/7 email, phone, and chat support. It also has its own official forum where users can ask for help. However, as Shopify is proprietary, you will not find much help on community forums related to custom development.
- Price: Shopify is a paid ecommerce platform. It has three plans ranging from $29 to $299. Enterprises, interested in getting premium services, can opt for Advanced Shopify.
- Websites Hosted on It: Shopify hosts most of the top dropshipping stores. It hosts websites such as Negative Underwear, UgMonk, Flat Spot, and Pipcorn.
4. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce platform. It has a fair share of the ecommerce platform market and claims to host more than 150,000 websites, both big and small. It is known for its simple user interface and quick ecommerce setup process. As a hosted ecommerce platform, compared with Shopify, BigCommerce is more affordable because it does not charge any transaction fee, and offers unlimited staff accounts, apart from other prominent features.
- User Friendliness: BigCommerce is simple to use. You can set up your trial account and get started with it easily. Most of the BigCommerce themes are free and you can easily customize the layout as per your requirement.
- Support: BigCommerce offers the same support as Shopify including email, chat, phone, and forum.
- Price: BigCommerce offers three basic packages ranging from $29 to $250. It also offers an enterprise version, the price of it is undisclosed and you will have to call the BigCommerce team to get it.
- Websites Hosted on It: BigCommerce hosts ecommerce stores of multiple top-notch companies including Toyota, Marucci Sports, and Nine Line Apparel.
5. OpenCart
OpenCart is a free ecommerce platform that’s easy to set up. Anyone, who is a little tech savvy, can easily set up his OpenCart store. The platform offers multiple free and paid plugins and themes for dropshipping as well.
- User Friendliness: As OpenCart is made for ecommerce, it offers analytics, payments, and order volume on the administrator dashboard. The point and click interface makes it a welcoming platform for non-technical users as well.
- Support: OpenCart offers ticket and email support to its users. It also hosts a forum where Opencart users can get answers to problems they are facing while setting up their stores.
- Price: OpenCart is completely free to use. You will have to only pay for hosting it.
- Websites Hosted on It: Many prominent ecommerce stores are using OpenCart as their ecommerce platform. These include British Red Cross, For Fans by Fans, and 6 Dollar Shirts.
Q1. What is an ecommerce platform?
An ecommerce platform lets you build your own ecommerce store with just a few clicks. Without an ecommerce platform, you will have to start from scratch, building everything by writing tons of lines of codes. Think how much time will be wasted in development and testing? Ecommerce platforms make that simple by providing you a management system where you upload products to set up your store easily.
Q2. Which ecommerce platform to use for drop shipping?
Choosing any ecommerce platform for your online store depends on multiple factors including platform’s usability, price, compatibility, and support. Please see the table to find the best ecommerce platform for your business.
Q3. What are the best ecommerce platforms in 2022?
According to our research, WooCommerce and Magento are two best ecommerce platforms in 2022 that are available free. If you are looking for paid ecommerce platforms then Shopify and BigCommerce are a decent choice.
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