Buying products and services online is now the norm, with even an expectation from customers that all businesses allow them to buy and pay for goods on a website. To deliver this functionality, your small business needs and e-commerce website; just a couple of years ago, this was a complex and costly project but now it’s relatively straightforward to setup and run an effective e-commerce site.
Web users go online and visit websites for entertainment and social, but also to shop and order goods and services. There are unlimited products that people buy and sell online, including digital products and physical products. If you are a buyer, you must have used the internet to search for the product you want to buy, as studies have shown that 43% of people use the internet for product research before shopping.
However, if you are looking forward to building an e-commerce website but don’t know how to do it, let us help you to find the best free e-commerce platforms and website builders and guide you through the process.
Best Free E-commerce Platforms
There are plenty of e-commerce website builders, but they cost you money to build an online store through their platform. However, they provide you with the best features, security, and domain so you can start selling online without hassle.
They also offer you a free trial period to take a tour of their platform, how it works, and the features you can enjoy by building the online store from their platform. The vast majority of e-commerce site builders are paid options.
Popular website builders include Wix e-commerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, etc. Their free plans allow you access to limited features to build an online store. However, you should buy their paid plans to enjoy all the sales features and security.
With that said, the following are the best free e-commerce platforms that can help you build your online store.
- Sellfy
- Mozello
- Weebly
- SquareUp by Square Online
- Strikingly
- Ecwid
- Freewebstore
- Webstarts
- MyOnlineStore
- WooCommerce (you need WordPress as well)
When looking for free e-commerce software, you should remember that all features are not completely free. We provided only those free e-commerce platforms with more features in their free plans. They might provide you with free domain name with their domains instead of a custom domain.
Therefore, to enjoy all the features of free online stores, you must buy their premium packages of the best free e-commerce software.
Here are detailed features of the top six free e-commerce platforms.
1. Sellfy
Find out more at: Sellfy.com
Sellfy is the best free e-commerce platform that allows you to sell all types of products, including physical and digital. Moreover, they have involved plenty of features in their free plan, which is the best website builder for SEO.
Pros
- Accept payments through Stripe and Paypal
- They don’t ask for transaction fees from any of their plans
- Sellfy does not limit the number of sales per day/month/year
- Allows the feature of print-on-demand products
- Discount codes plug-in
- SEO options are available for the meta-description of the product
Cons
- Ten product limitations in the free plan
- No custom domain
- No digital products in the free plan
- Ask for credit card details
2. Mozello
Find out more at: Mozello.com
Mozello is a multilingual e-commerce website builder, and it is a unique feature that most e-commerce builders lack.
Pros
- 500MB storage
- Product variant plug-ins such as size, material, etc
- Inventory tracking
- Multilingual
- SSL
Cons
- No digital products in the free plan
- No credit card payments
- Up to five products limitation
3. Weebly
Find out more at: Weebly.com
Weebly is one of the best free e-commerce platforms that allows you to build a free online store with multiple extraordinary features that are not available on other website builders. In addition, they provide a powerful inventory management system and coupon code plug-in.
Pros
- Unlimited products
- SSL available for safe payments
- Blog option
- Easy-to-use platform
- Weebly will accommodate your online store along with your business growth
- Payment through square online
Cons
- Free plans are not available outside the US.
- No offline payments
4. SquareUp By Square Online
Find out more at: SquareUp.com
SquareUp is also one of the best free e-commerce platforms provided by Square online. They have given the portable option for mobile phones, tablets, and PCs. Moreover, you can create your online store and receive payments wherever you want with the availability of the internet.
Furthermore, Square online is a payment platform, but they have provided a free e-commerce builder with multiple features. You can build a free e-commerce website without any existing site and start selling by making a free account.
Pros
- Inventory tracking system
- P.O.S plugins
- Provide you with selling online tickets option through square online
- No monthly fees
- Only 3% of every transaction
Cons
- No digital products
- No SEO options
- Limited payment options
- Do not accept payments through Paypal
5. Strikingly
Find out more at: Strikingly.com
It is an e-commerce platform that helps you build your brand through online stores. Strikingly is a good option if you are looking for a website builder with features that can help you develop your small store.
Pros
- Various online payment processors, including Paypal and Stripe
- Offline payments are available
- Good designs
- Single-page layout good for small stores
Cons
- One product limitation
- No SEO
- Fewer templates for e-commerce websites
6. Ecwid
Find out more at: Ecwid.com
Ecwid is also a free e-commerce platform that allows you to create an e-commerce site in 50 languages. Moreover, their premium prices are reasonable. In addition, it has powerful features to manage taxes, manage products, add coupons, etc.
Pros
- Multiple payment processors
- SSL integration
- Various options to display ware
- Easy to use
- automated sales tax accounting
Cons
- Add product IDs to URLs that make SEO unclear
- No free custom domain
Why Free E-commerce Platforms?
Before committing to one, you should consider the advantages and disadvantages of using a free service, and keep in mind that not all e-commerce website builders are free.
They let the users enjoy their generous free plan features, and when you want the best ones, such as security and .net domain, they would ask you to pay. So now store owners have to buy the paid plans instead of shifting their whole existing site to any other e-commerce platform.
However, you should carefully review all the e-commerce plans and their included features before making any sales channels through the free e-commerce platforms. The paid e-commerce website builders demand monthly fees to pay and enjoy premium features.
How to Build an E-commerce Website From Scratch
The first and foremost step of a successful online store is to find the best e-commerce website, builder. The second step involves the target audience and the type of products you want to sell online. It is helpful if you have the same products on your online store as your physical stores, so you don’t have to worry about product management.
Thirdly, design your e-commerce website and connect it with any payment gateway which is more convenient for you. Business structure is also important, so you should choose it and launch your online store.
Finally, add the products, description, and price, and start selling online. Moreover, you can check the inventory management to keep a record of your products. However, you don’t need inventory management to make an online store for dropshipping or selling digital products.
How to Build a Free E-commerce Platform?
Pick any of the above free e-commerce plans with the e-commerce features that are helpful according to your online store. Add the products and their features to the e-commerce store and launch your store.
However, keep in mind that free web stores are only good options for small brands or online stores. To access all features, you should buy any paid plan from the best e-commerce platform. Moreover, you cannot sell digital products through the free program.
Things You Should Know Before Building an E-commerce Website
● Domain name
A domain name identifies your brand online and allows a visitor to find your website by typing the domain name into their web browser or searching Google. A domain name and is made up of two parts: the name and the extension. You can choose a custom name according to your business. However, choose it carefully as it is an address that will help your customers to reach you.
The extension is the part after the ‘dot’. For example, our name is GoSmallBusiness and our extension is .co.uk – which identifies us as a UK-based website. You’ll need to register your domain name using a registrar – and first search to see if your name and extension are available. If you find your domain is already taken with one extension, try another extension such as according to country (.uk), or city (.london), an alternative for .com (.co), for non-profit brands (.org), etc. Other domains are .store, .trade, .net, etc.
You can buy and register a domain from a registrar or web hosting company, for example Namecheap, GoDaddy, Bluehost, Shopify, Domain.com, etc. However, for an e-commerce website, you should go for the e-commerce website builder.
There are some free e-commerce platforms but with limited features. They provide you with free domain names but with their own extension.
● Payment Gateways
While starting an online business requires knowing the payment gateways to receive your income and profits through e-commerce platforms. Three payment gateways are Redirect, On-site, and off-site payments.
Furthermore, Redirect means a separate site for payment processors such as Paypal. On-site payments are directly controlled by your online store, and it is usually for larger corporations that process a huge number of payments daily. Moreover, offsite payments need gateways like Stripe to collect details and process payments.
● SSL
SSL is an abbreviation of Secure Sockets Layer, and it is responsible for keeping your online store safe and secure on the internet. Moreover, many free e-commerce platforms provide SSL certificates without cost. It means that your information is secure on the internet.
Conclusion
E-commerce business is an idea that has changed the financial lives of thousands of people and is still in the market. Therefore, plenty of niche website builders provide free e-commerce features so you can start online selling without any hassle.
You can choose any of the best e-commerce website builders and make your web store. Every e-commerce platform provides different features than other e-commerce platforms. Therefore, you should select a great e-commerce website builder according to your online store and start selling.
