Are you planning on getting your real world business into the virtual world? With eCommerce revenues exploding around the world, it’s almost become a necessity these days for businesses to have a virtual presence. However, building a good eCommerce website is a difficult these days as customers expect a lot from one. An eCommerce website must be mobile friendly, be search engine optimized and have customer support to have any chance of success – and these are just the basic features.

Here is a list of the top eCommerce platforms to watch out for in 2017 that can help you pick one that’s best for your business:

Magento

Magento has been around for a very long time and is a tried and tested eCommerce solution. The platform is very secure, has in-depth customization options and offers unique features not present in many other platforms such as multiple storefronts and multiple languages. However, building a Magento based store can be tricky and certainly isn’t for everyone, especially those new to programming.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms on the market. It is fully hosted, is search engine friendly and has hundreds of pre-built templates you can use to build a website quickly. Shopify has great customer care support too. Don’t get Shopify if you are picky about customization or are planning to switch over to a self-hosted option in the future.

Prestashop

First introduced in 2007, Prestashop is already making waves within a short timeframe thanks to its great interface and professional grade shopping cart. Pretashop was designed with an aim to provide economical open source solutions to businesses across the globe. If you aren’t really keen on spending a lot of money yet would like an eStore that’s efficient, Prestashop ought to be your pick.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a lot like Shopify, except with more features and customization options. You don’t need any programming skills to use BigCommerce, and it offers unlimited bandwidth and storage, so it’s suitable if you have a large inventory to sell.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a shopping extension for WordPress based websites. If you have a WordPress website, you can turn it into a store with the WooCommerce plug-in. WooCommerce has an intuitive admin interface and is very easy to manage.

If you’re still confused on which platform to opt for, we recommend browsing through websites that use each platform to get a feel for what the platforms can do. You can also have an eCommerce expert to help you pick the right eCommerce platform for your business as well as to build you a website from the ground up.