Choosing the right Ecommerce platform can often leave businesses with quite a headache. It’s natural for companies to sit there and compare the big players in the industry and wonder if they’re doing the right thing when opting to choose one of them. Some businesses will choose on brand name and status alone - which is a very ineffective way of getting the platform you require.
When considering which Ecommerce platform you need, thorough research needs to be carried out. If you rush into choosing the wrong solution for your business, you’ll end up paying for your mistakes at a later date. Misperformance, added costs and lower resulting profitability (along with a potentially costly re-platform) will be apparent should you choose the wrong platform for your needs.
So, which platform is right for your business? To help you with your decision, this blog will take a look at three of the hottest platforms currently on the market - Magento vs Shopify vs Aero Commerce. We’ll compare the platforms, how they differentiate and advise which one is most suitable for certain business types. Let’s get into it!
We’ll cover:
- What is Magento?
- Who is Magento suitable for?
- What is Shopify?
- Who is Shopify suitable for?
- What is Aero Commerce?
- Who is Aero Commerce suitable for?
- Magento vs Shopify vs Aero Commerce: The verdict
What is Magento?
Magento is a popular choice for many businesses around the world. Due to it’s open-sourced nature, which allows for full customisation of design, feel and experience, it has, for some time, been the preferred choice of larger retailers with more advanced demands. However, it’s used by a plethora of businesses that span a variety of industries - from small to medium-sized businesses to global enterprise ones.
Magento is the perfect platform for businesses who are expecting exponential growth. Sure, it allows companies to list a small number of items and build up to a vast range of products and different site features. But does that mean it’s for everyone? Sadly not. There are various things you must consider when looking to implement a Magento platform.
Image Credit: Magento
Firstly, it’s infrastructure-heavy, which means that hosting costs are a premium. If you’re a small business and are looking to get your Ecommerce site up and running as quickly and as cost-efficiently as possible, other options may well be better suited. Plus, it’s a complex system that will require agency help to develop and build, therefore, you can expect costs to soar even further.
It’s one of the most powerful products available on the market - there’s a reason why it’s popular with many businesses of all different sizes. However, it’s all about working out whether it’s the right solution for you.
Who is Magento suitable for?
While we’ve touched on the fiscal problems that Magento may pose to your business, let’s not forget that many businesses are advocates of the platform and use it well to their advantage. After all, there’s a reason that a lot of businesses around the world succeed when using the platform - so, it can’t be a poor choice, can it?
You should take the above statement lightly - just because a lot of businesses use the platform well, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a soaring hit for your business . After all, Ecommerce requirements differ from business to business, so it’d be foolish thinking that there’s a one-size-fits-all approach that works for all companies.
If you’re a business that’s predicting exponential growth, Magento could be the perfect platform for you. There’s no danger of you ever outgrowing the platform, therefore, it’s always available to accommodate complex requirements and unique needs. Bear in mind, if you don’t have the buying power and budgetary necessities that larger businesses have, it could turn out to be an expensive choice for your business.
If you can’t afford to set Magento up properly, you could be on the wrong side of poor site performance and conversion. As an Ecommerce site, that throws up huge problems for your store. Poor conversion means reduced profitability, which isn’t a sustainable way to carry out your operations - and it’s likely that you won’t last long either, to be brutally honest.
What is Shopify?
One of the most popular Ecommerce platforms on the market is Shopify. Founded in 2004, the owner set out to create an Ecommerce store that was easy to use and easy to sell on. After struggling to set up a store selling snowboards without a user-friendly platform, he decided to take matters into his own hands and create one - and that was the birth of Shopify!
Image Credit: Wikimedia
Shopify is utilised in over 170 countries and can facilitate Ecommerce requirements from businesses within all industries. Whether you’re an online clothing brand or a musician wanting to sell your original products, Shopify can help you get up and running quickly. You can sell whatever you like - and it’s not just limited to physical products either. Other items you can sell on Shopify include:
- Digital products
- Services and consultations
- Tickets
- Memberships
- Rentals
- Classes and lessons
Shopify prides itself on its ease of use. That means that you don’t have to be the most technically gifted to create a working Ecommerce store. However, if you find yourself getting a little stuck, there’s a basic level of support that’s offered - rather than a hands-on, advanced approach that other platforms can offer.
Who is Shopify suitable for?
As we’ve mentioned, it doesn’t matter what industry or sector your business operates in - there’s no limit to what you can easily sell on Shopify. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Shopify is suitable for all businesses though. Firstly, it’s basic out of the box, so if you’re looking for more complex requirements, you’ll have to pay for the added plug-ins.
While there’s an extra cost for these features, there’s a lot of scepticism over the quality of them. If you’re a small business and don’t have an endless budget and buying power like the larger businesses, you can’t afford to throw money at features and gamble whether they’ll work or not. Plus, added plug-ins significantly increase your monthly costs.
Shopify payments are also expensive and charge higher than market transaction fees. And it doesn’t matter what payment gateway or merchant you use, Shopify requires you to pay a transaction cost in addition to the third-party merchant fees regardless. This means more costs for your business, so, if transaction costs are of concern and you are looking for a platform that is capable of dealing with more complex requirements, Shopify probably wouldn’t be the best choice for you.
If you’re looking to get your store up and running quickly, Shopify is a clean and easy to use interface that allows you to build stores quickly. Therefore, if time is of the essence with a low budget and you want to get your product or services to market as soon as possible, it may be a good choice for your business to explore.
What is Aero Commerce?
Aero Commerce is a performance-based platform that is designed with retailers at the forefront of their minds. The platform understands that requirements and needs are constantly evolving, so reflects this in the service that’s offered. It’s lightning-fast, intuitive to use and offers very lean running costs - three main factors that you should be looking for in your platform of choice.
Image Credit: Aero Commerce
Finding the right Ecommerce platform shouldn’t cause you a headache of compromising functionality for performance - and vice versa. Aero Commerce has worked tirelessly to produce a platform that allows you to have the best of both worlds. It’s feature-rich, super-fast and allows you to extend functionalities and capabilities as you need them. It’s fully scalable, which makes it attractive to a wide range of businesses.
Aero Commerce allows you to personalise your Ecommerce store to fit your exact needs and requirements. As we’ve mentioned earlier, there’s not a blueprint for a standard Ecommerce store that’s guaranteed to work for every business. If there was, it’d be a lot easier - but there isn’t. That’s why there’s such a huge importance on bespoke systems that are designed to work for you and you only.
Who is Aero Commerce suitable for?
When it comes to Ecommerce, if there’s one thing that all businesses will agree on, it’s that they want the customer to have the best experience possible on their online store, right? Increased customer experience makes for a better user journey and with that results improved conversion. The experience that the customer has on your store directly affects their buying decision.
With that in mind, Aero Commerce is suitable for businesses of all sizes - spanning a wide range of industries. Your platform should never stand in the way of creativity, which is what happens with other platforms. Added plug-ins and poor features can stand in the way of true personalisation on other major platforms, whereas, with Aero Commerce, you can be comfortable in the knowledge that you’re best positioned for creativity and success.
Aero’s superior speed also allows for a better shopping experience and therefore the chance to significantly improve conversion rates. Speed is also an increasingly important factor in SEO with Google already signalling an intention to start taking speed factors far more seriously when it comes to determining search rankings.
Further stamping home its suitability for businesses of all sizes is the fact that the platform is easily scalable with an intuitive and easy to navigate admin. So, if you’re starting out and have huge pipe dreams of taking over the global market, you can be confident that Aero Commerce will be right there alongside you throughout your journey.
Magento vs Shopify vs Aero Commerce: The verdict
Magento vs Shopify vs Aero Commerce - who comes out on top? All three of these platforms have advantages and disadvantages, but there can only be one winner. Without any bias, we believe that Aero Commerce is the best platform for you to invest in. And here’s why…
Magento is a powerful platform, but it appeals most to businesses who have bigger budgets. Plus, it’s complex and requires a degree of agency work to get the site built and running which can take time and cost premium. Although it can be used by businesses of all sizes, it’s not the smartest choice for businesses who don’t have the time or money to spare.
Shopify is an easy to use, user-friendly platform that makes selling your products and services easy. However, again there are various hidden costs further down the line. While you may think that you’re getting a great deal, plug-ins, added features and hefty transaction fees can prove to be expensive. This means that profitability won’t be at a maximum - and there’s no getting away from the fees either!
Aero Commerce is our winner. It’s lightning-fast, feature-rich and completely bespoke. This puts you in the best position for your Ecommerce store to succeed. It’s easy to use and can integrate with many apps to make functionality and navigation as simple as possible. It’s ultra-powerful too and is designed with the evolving retailers’ needs in mind at all times. In our opinion, it’s the only platform that you need to consider.
Find the perfect Ecommerce solution with Aero Commerce and Red-Fern
So, as you’ve just seen, in the battle of Shopify vs Magento vs Aero Commerce - it was Aero Commerce who came out on top. But don’t just take our word for it! For more information on how the intuitive platform can help meet your business requirements and needs, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
Our expert team are always on hand to help you with everything - from how we work, who we’ve worked with and the approach we take when working with new partners - it’s all in there for you to see. So, waste no time and take the first step towards creating a more efficient Ecommerce store for your business.