eCommerce is among the thriving sectors in today’s market. It has helped various businesses of diverse sizes reach global audiences and is the driving force behind any online store. Developing an online store is a daunting job; however, choosing the right set of tools can be profitable and rewarding.

This is where choosing the right website builder software comes into play. The best eCommerce website builder can simplify digital transactions, allowing you to launch a stunning online store in no time. You can impress your target audience, gain their trust, and achieve better sales. 

Here, we’ll look at the top eCommerce website builders and their templates for different business needs. We’ll also break down the process of building your site from start to launch. Let’s get started and help you find the right eCommerce website builder and walk you through it.

Key Features of the Best eCommerce Website Builders Software

A good eCommerce website builder offers you different features and tools primarily designed to support online shopping options. These features can help users design a professional-looking website for their products or services, process online orders, and offer a robust shopping experience for customers. The following are some of the key features of the best eCommerce website builder software: 

• Customizable Templates: These website builder templates help users develop and customize the look of their online store according to their requirements, showcasing their brand’s identity.
• Product and Inventory Management: Users have different tools for adding product/service details, monitoring inventory, and managing stock. This feature helps users ensure smooth business operations.
• Payment Gateways: This feature allows users to integrate with secure payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and credit card processors. It helps smooth and secure transactions.‍
• Shipping Options: Several builders provide tools to calculate shipping rates, track shipments, and even manage delivery logistics.‍
• SEO and Marketing Tools: This feature includes built-in SEO, social media, and email marketing integration that helps businesses attract and retain customers.‍
• Analytics and Reporting: This feature helps you track sales, customer behavior, and website performance, enabling businesses to make informed decisions.

7 Best eCommerce Website Builder

Let’s look at the best eCommerce website builder that can help you launch your store with increasing operational costs: 

1. Neo - Best Website Builder For Online Store

Neo is our top pick for the best eCommerce website builders, with countless mobile-friendly templates designed for eCommerce. It’s an ideal choice for businesses that want to integrate eCommerce into an existing digital setup. With user-friendly templates, built-in SEO tools, and email marketing options, Neo is particularly suitable for small to mid-sized businesses looking for a versatile online store solution.

Why Choose Neo?

It supports extensive template options for quick and easy store setup. You can list products/services, showcase your portfolio, add contact forms, social links, testimonials, etc. You can link your website with platforms like Instagram and Facebook to gain more traffic. The website builder comes with AI capabilities, further simplifying the website creation and deployment.

Pricing and Plans

Neo offers a range of pricing plans to suit various needs and budgets. Plans start at around $1.86/mailbox/month and offer a free one-page website builder and other tools.

Pros and Cons 

• It offers an SEO-friendly interface, and several AI-powered tools make website creation simple, even for beginners.
• It offers a good range of customization options to personalize your eCommerce website.
• With AI-powered features, it can significantly reduce website development time.
• Neo offers a one-page website builder, which is ideal for small businesses and solopreneurs with limited requirements. 

2. Shopify

Shopify is second on our list of best website builders for online stores and one of the most popular eCommerce website builders. It is known for its affordable plans, stunning designs, and robust selling tools. It is among the most reliable and user-friendly website builders, allowing your business to go online.   

Why Choose Shopify?

It offers a seamless shopping experience with mobile-friendly designs, allowing customers to shop on their mobile devices. You can tailor your store, allowing you to take complete control of it with complete HTML and CSS customization.

The platform Helps you boost your visibility, allowing your target audience to reach you. It also simplifies inventory and orders management and helps you manage your products and orders with ease. You can get support whenever you need it via email, live chat, or phone.

Plans and Pricing

You can start your free trial today, and you do not need a credit card to pay the amount. You are billed annually, and the plan starts at just $29/month.

Pros and Cons

• Shopify is a versatile eCommerce platform, suitable for all business types and eCommerce needs. 
• The user-friendly interface makes it easy for anyone to start building the website; however, the comprehensive steps might make the process difficult and time-consuming. 
• Shopify has over 200 themes and templates suitable for various industries, such as fashion, electronics, beauty and health, and consulting services. 
• However, the pricing plans are expensive and it is difficult to create content and manage it. 

3. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is the next most popular and best eCommerce website builder. It is ideal for businesses seeking an efficient and fast way to establish an online presence. It is known for being user-friendly, having a wide range of essential tools, and having mobile-responsive themes. Store owners find it a practical solution for developing their online store.

Why Choose Shift4Shop?

• Simplified Setup: It helps users quickly and efficiently create quality online stores without any technical expertise.
• Multiple Payment Options: It helps you accept payments from a wide range of sources.
• Pre-designed Templates: You can choose from a wide range of templates (more than 90) to get a customized look and feel for your online store.
• Built-in SEO: It helps in improving your website's search engine visibility.
• Recover Lost Sales: You can utilize several cart notifications to win back potential customers.

Plans and Pricing 

The paid plans for this website builder start at $29 per month, which is charged annually.

Pros and Cons 

• While Shift4Shop offers a straightforward approach, it supports various payment methods.
• It has a quick and easy setup process. 
• It comes with less customization flexibility when compared to platforms like Shopify.

4. Square Online

Next on our list of best website builders for online stores is Square Online (earlier known as Weebly). It offers a beginner-friendly platform for developing an eCommerce website. It also allows users to start for free. However, those keen on using a custom domain or removing ads need a paid plan.

Why Choose Square Online?

Square Online’s free plan is ideal for anyone seeking a no-cost entry into eCommerce. It offers essential features like real-time shipping updates and the ability to create coupon codes. 

For advanced functionalities, upgrading to a paid plan unlocks even more tools. Additionally, Square Online integrates with Square POS, enabling seamless in-store and online payment processing for unified business operations.

It provides bulk inventory management for easy product import and editing. The platform supports mobile-optimized websites for a seamless customer experience. 

Plans and Pricing

• Free option available
• Paid plans begin at $29 per month when billed annually

Pros and Cons

• Good features in the free version, mobile-first design focus
• Limited customization options compared to platforms like Shopify

5. Squarespace

Squarespace is known for its sleek and modern designs and is the best website builder for eCommerce. Users enjoy its intuitive drag-and-drop builder feature, which empowers them to create stunning online stores without coding knowledge. It is ideal for designers and creative professionals, small businesses, and people willing to sell unique products. 

Why Choose Squarespace?

It offers a wide range of visually appealing templates, allowing you to choose what suits your brand. You can customize your store's look and feel with the drag-and-drop feature without any hassle. Users can enjoy a seamless shopping experience on any platform, including mobile devices.

It allows you to sell physical and digital products/services, subscriptions, and gift cards. With this, you can accept payments through all the popular options like PayPal, Stripe, Afterpay, and Apple Pay. You can improve your store's visibility in various search engine results. You can use several built-in marketing tools that attract and engage customers.

If you have a Squarespace-based website, you can easily add any eCommerce functionality using the Shopify Buy Button. With this integration, you get access to powerful payment and shipping features.

Pricing

With Squarespace, you can even get a free trial to explore its features. However, the paid 

plans start at $28 per month, which is billed annually for basic eCommerce functionality.

Pros and Cons 

• Squarespace offers you a good user-friendly experience and aesthetically stunning designs.
• It does not serve well for businesses with complex inventory management requirements, such as those with a high degree of customization. 

6. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is one of the best website builders for eCommerce. It is tailored for large-scale businesses and offers several advanced tools and features, such as web hosting and extensive site customization options. With these robust features, it has emerged as a popular choice for businesses looking to scale globally.

Why Choose BigCommerce?

It has a drag-and-drop visual editor, allowing simple customization. It offers flexible themes which can be customized with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can also get the customization through API and SDK. It offers good support for digital wallets, including Amazon Pay and Apple Pay. You can enjoy multi-currency and multilingual support, thus getting global reach for your business.

Pricing and Plans

It offers a 15-day free trial, and the paid plans start at $29 per month when billed annually.

Pros and Cons

• It enables global sales using multiple channels as it is designed for large-scale businesses.
• It offers plans having annual sales volume limits.

7. Wix

The next best eCommerce builder is Wix. It offers a user-friendly feature with several templates, making it simple for anyone keen to create a custom online store. With its easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder, you can easily develop and design your online stores or websites for free. However, you have to upgrade to a paid plan to start selling online. It has several essential eCommerce tools for multichannel selling, order tracking, and online payment processing. 

Why Choose Wix?

It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop builder feature for user-friendly store creation. It comes with a wide range of customizable templates. You get integrations for social selling on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and eBay. You can avail free SSL certificate for secure transactions. It gives you strong SEO-optimized product pages. You get bulk product import through CSV files.

Pricing and Plans

The business Basic plan is available at $29 per month, which is billed annually. 

Pros and Cons

• Simple to use with flexible design options
• Limited inventory management features when compared to Shopify

Comparison Table

To come up with the comparison table for the top 7 eCommerce website builders, we conducted extensive research on each service's features, pricing, and performance. Here’s a comparison table for each website builder tool for eCommerce, including ratings and brief reviews:

Note: The website builders have been rated on the basis of their features, like variety of templates, pricing plans, customization options, third-party application integration, complexity, and user interface. 

General Steps to Build an eCommerce Website

Once you have chosen your best eCommerce builder platform (like Neo, Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace), it's time to build your online store. All you need is to follow the steps discussed below and bring out your online store for your products or services:

1. Set Up Your Store

• Choose a Plan: Choose the right plan that aligns with your budget and business requirements.
• Customize Your Store: Once you have the plan in place, you can select a visually appealing template and customize it to showcase your brand’s identity.

2. Add Your Products

• Product Details: Start adding clear and precise product descriptions with high-quality images and costing.
• Organize Your Inventory: If you have a wide range of products, you need to categorize them only to make them simpler to find.
• Set Up Shipping and Taxes: Now, configure the shipping costs and tax settings as per your location and target market.

3. Configure Payment Gateways

• Integrate Payment Options: Set up your chosen payment gateways, such as PayPal, Amazon Pay, Stripe, or others, to accept payments from customers.
• Ensure Security: Execute SSL certificates to add the security level only to secure all the sensitive customer information.

4. Optimize Your Store for Search Engines

• Keyword Research: Find out the relevant keywords as per your target audience for better visibility.
• On-Page SEO: Optimize the content with proper product titles, descriptions, and meta tags.
• Off-Page SEO: Strategize the SEO part by building proper backlinks and engaging them through social media marketing only to improve your store's reachability.

5. Test Thoroughly

• Product Pages: Once you finish the above steps, you need to ensure that all the products display correctly and have the correct information.
• Checkout Process: You need to test the entire checkout process, like payment and shipping.
• Mobile Optimization: Validate the details only to check that your online store looks and functions on mobile devices.

6. Launch and Promote

• Publish Your Store: Once you build your online store, it's time to go live and make it accessible to the public.
• Marketing Strategies: Effectively use social media, paid advertising, and email marketing to attract your target audience.
• Customer Support: Lastly, provide good customer service only to build credibility and loyalty.

Templates for eCommerce Website

Here are some templates that you can use or refer to build your website: 

1. The North Pole - Wix

2. Crosby - Squarespace

3. Wonder - Shopify

4. Re.vert - Wix

5. Lexington - Squarespace

Wrapping up

Building an online store or an eCommerce website can be an exciting venture, which starts with choosing the right template, tools, and strategy. With an eCommerce website builder like Neo, you have several options to develop a custom-made website. By choosing the best-suited template and following the steps to develop an online store, as discussed above, you can create a competitive eCommerce website. 

Neo is the best platform for building an online store. With several tools, it helps you create a visually appealing and attractive eCommerce website, giving you a good reach before your target audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

1 What is an eCommerce website builder, and how does it work?

An eCommerce website builder is a user-friendly platform that helps you create and manage your online store without extensive coding knowledge or skills. These platforms offer a drag-and-drop interface, several pre-designed templates, and many essential tools. These help you set up your online store, add your products/services, process payments, and manage orders.

2 What are the advantages of an eCommerce website builder?

eCommerce website builders offer several benefits:

• No coding knowledge is required.
• Many builders offer affordable plans, including free options to start.
• You can quickly set up and launch your online store.
• It helps you customize your store's design, layout, and branding as per your requirements.
• It helps you ensure your online store looks great and functions seamlessly on all devices.
• It improves your online store's visibility with good search engine results.
• You get 24/7 support, as many platforms offer quality customer support only to assist you with issues or questions.

3. Can I sell digital products with an eCommerce website builder?

Yes, you can sell different products online, as most of the eCommerce website builders allow you to sell ebooks, music, software, and online courses. They often provide many useful features to manage digital downloads and even protect your intellectual property.