We are agnostic in the eCommerce platforms we support but in this article, we tried to represent 3 platforms able to cover the full spectrum of what most would need.
Each platform has pros and cons and is better or less suited depending on the goals. There is no solution that fits all. Your goals, the size of the organization, the savviness of the internal team, the long-term objectives, your systems architecture, the systems that need to be integrated, your existing workflows, how reactive you need to be to the market, the sophistication of your marketing, your budget and your timeline, will all influence the recommendation we would give you as to which platform to select.
SHOPIFY
Shopify is better suited for small to medium commerce organizations willing to build or replace their eStore. Shopify is a SAAS solution that comes with a very large number of functionalities.
Pros:
SAAS solution so there is no need for hosting, Shopify takes care of it all
No CPI compliance is required if using Shopify payments and for all gateways approved through Shopify
A very large number of functionalities
Quick to implement
Offers templates for the design which can fasten the implementation
ShopifyPay makes the implementation easier as it does not require a gateway integration
Apps to integrate with numerous outside systems such as Clover, Hubspot, Salesforce, Sage…
Customers can easily maintain their site and focus on their marketing. The CMS is easy and enables customers to be very reactive.
SEO is easily taken care of
The cheapest solution
Cons
Cannot scale after a certain size, even if the customer is on Shopify Plus
Sometimes has downtimes
Apps can slow down the site if not selected carefully
Each element is a separate price tag, so the invoice can raise quickly if you do not know what to do
A lot of apps so need to know how to make the best choice and what an eCommerce needs to be efficient
MAGENTO
Magento is better for medium to large organizations that have a business model that is not a cookie-cutter. If the organization is a mix of content and eCommerce, for services or where a lot of customization is required, Magento is certainly the best choice.
Pros:
Magento 2 now offers a hosted option
Highly configurable as it is open source
Allows the highest level of configuration so you can be very creative and different
Very versatile CMS so can adapt to your existing workflows
Huge community easy to leverage
Cons:
Need to take care of your own hosting solution, depending on the solution chosen
Requires development
Their CMS is not easy to use for non-savvy people. Still requires knowing HTML to make changes so the organization can be either dependent on a development team or less agile to react to the market
Requires more testing at the end of the implementation cycle so will take longer to clean up
Needs to build design and CSS from scratch
Requires CPI compliance
Requires making all the integrations and connect the APIs
Requires gateway integration
Needs to optimize for SEO
Can become expensive when everything is factored
SALESFORCE COMMERCE
This is the best SAAS solution for larger organizations.
Pros:
SAAS so faster and easier to implement
Connect with the Salesforce Suite so we can leverage Einstein, CRM, Productivity, workflows…
A lot of functionalities are coming out-of-the-box
Great analytics and data modules integrating even predictive intelligence. For data junkies, it is heaven.
Great site's speed that can handle a lot of load
A lot of marketing functionalities (basically all the promotions you can think of)
Possibility to split traffic and do A/B testing
Cons:
Need to have a Salesforce administrator on staff or outsourced
More expensive and convoluted pricing structure
Salesforce is a big organization so the support is not always reactive
You are confined in the Salesforce development roadmap
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