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Despite the global economic uncertainty, eCommerce sales continue to grow at a confident pace, now accounting for 14.3% of all retail sales worldwide. More interestingly, eMarketer forecasts the e-commerce share of total global retail sales will hit 23% by 2023. This screams an opportunity for stores looking to create or expand their online presence!
Of course, a thriving industry attracts its fair share of risk-takers, so the competition grows fiercer by the day. Yet, if you’re thinking of joining the ranks of eCommerce entrepreneurs, the best way to start is by researching the eCommerce CMS landscape.
Let’s take a deep dive into the world of eCommerce content management systems. We’ll look at what they do, whether or not you even need one for your online store and the best CMS for e-commerce.
What is an Ecommerce CMS?
A content management system (CMS) is software that enables eCommerce shop owners to create, edit and publish digital website content without writing any code. It also allows users to modify the look and feel of the online store, such as changing product page layout, adding promotional banners, or quickly adding new website sections to better promote products.
An eCommerce platform is an online shopping cart solution that enables you to handle product management and sell products directly through your website. Some eCommerce platforms also serve as CMS. In other words, it’s a user-friendly infrastructure that handles all the backend store management functions of an online shop.
When trying to narrow down the options, eCommerce CMS software falls into two major categories — SaaS and open source.
1. SaaS CMS.
A hosted SaaS CMS is a cloud-based solution for eCommerce shops that doesn’t require a separate server. You pay a subscription fee, and in exchange, you don’t need to download anything, manage updates or set up data storage — it’s all taken care of by the software vendor. The provider also usually offers customer support. Examples of hosted CMS include BigCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, and others. These examples serve as both eCommerce platforms and content management systems.
2. Open-source CMS.
With open-source eCommerce platforms, users have full control over the website's functionality. Open-source software can be free to download and are then often self-hosted. This means store admins are responsible for figuring out the hosting for their eCommerce website as well as maintaining the server and installing software updates when needed. Some open-source platforms have a cloud-hosted option, but they are different from SaaS in that maintenance still falls on the store owner. Some of the best-known examples of open-source eCommerce solutions include WooCommerce and Magento.
Best Ecommerce CMS Platforms
Now, brace yourself. The abundance of CMS platforms for eCommerce makes choosing just one very difficult. This list is only the tip of the iceberg, but can be a great place to start your search and discover the most popular options out there.
1. BigCommerce.
2. WordPress.
3. Drupal.
4. Joomla.
5. Magento
6. Shopify
These days, when we “go shopping,” we ask Siri to recommend a brand for us or spend time on Pinterest and Instagram looking at what fashion influencers are wearing. The world of eCommerce is shapeshifting regularly. That’s why choosing a great eCommerce CMS is so hard — we must consider everything from marketing to design to technical capabilities and potential future needs, too!
Want to learn more, contact WebClues Infotech now!
