image via Magento Go
Magento Go is shutting down, and everyone on it has until February 1st, 2015 to choose a new eCommerce platform. In order to ease this transition, listed below are nChannel’s top four Magento Go alternatives. While you may be looking for the “best” eCommerce platform, each platform has it’s strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately, the best eCommerce solution is determined by your needs.
What are the best Magento Go Alternatives?
This blog post will compare a few different platforms to give you the best chances of finding the right solution for you. Currently, the best Magento Go alternatives in the market are:
- Shopify
- Amazon Webstore
- Bigcommerce
- Magento
How do you know what Magento Go Alternative to chose?
Each eCommerce platform always supplies a long list of what it can do for you, but it can be difficult to decipher, “What on that list is important?” When looking at each eCommerce platform, the most important attributes to compare are price, support, transaction fee, storage, ease of entry, and features. By looking at each of these attributes, it’s possible to get a good overview of each eCommerce platform.
- Price: The lowest price offered which includes unlimited products
- Support: Whether or not there is 24/7 support
- Transaction Fee: The fee each platform charges per transaction
- Storage: How much storage space you have for your website’s images / videos / etc.
- Ease of entry: How difficult the transition from Magento Go to the platform will be
- Feature: The breadth of features available through the platform
As with all comparisons, there’s always more information than can be put into just a single table. These are the attributes most pertinent to the average webstore, however your store may be unique. Use this blog post as a guide to choosing your next eCommerce platform, but also a stimulus for further research. You’re already having to change eCommerce platforms once, it would be a shame to do it again.
A Comparison of the Best Magento Go Alternatives
| eCommerce Platform | Price | Support | Transaction Fee | Storage | Ease of Entry | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | $79 | 24/7 | 0%* | 5 GB | A | B |
| Bigcommerce | $79.95 | 24/7 | 0% | Unlimited | B | A- |
| AmazonWebstore | $79 | 24/7 | 2%** | Unlimited | B | B |
| Magento | $1,250 | 24/7 | 0% | N/A*** | C | A+ |
| *If not using Shopify Payments there is a 1% transaction fee **There is also a Payment Processing and Fraud Protection fee which varies based on sales ***Magento is not a hosted eCommerce solution |
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image via Shopify
Shopify
Website: http://www.shopify.com
Pricing: http://www.shopify.com/pricing
Shopify is probably the easiest to use eCommerce platform; it’s spectacularly quick and simple to set up. The platform is very attractive and makes for a great user experience. While not suited for more enterprise sized businesses (Although Shopify Plus might be) any business coming off of Magento Go could easily transition to Shopify. Shopify has a 0% transaction fee, however that’s only if using Shopify Payments, if not the fee is 1%. Also, there is a 2.5% + 30¢ fee on all credit cards; after a while these fees can add up and should be monitored. Overall however, Shopify provides an easy fluid transition from Magento Go.
image via Amazon
Amazon Webstore
Website: http://webstore.amazon.com/
Pricing: http://webstore.amazon.com/amazon-webstore-pricing/
Amazon Webstore can be the perfect solution for a retailer who wants to connect to Amazon but isn’t quite ready to commit to a multichannel integration provider. Amazon Webstore allows you to sell on your own site as well on Amazon easily and inexpensively. However, they make up this revenue by charging fairly expensive transaction fees. While the initial transaction fee is only 2%, if you are selling items that cost more than $10 and making less than $3000 a month, you will also be charged an additional 2.9% + 30¢. The fee goes down as you make more per month; the details of this can be found on Amazons pricing page under transaction fees. Bottom line, if you are thinking about selling on Amazon but haven’t made the jump yet, this can be an easy way to do so.
image via Bigcommerce
Bigcommerce
Website: http://www.bigcommerce.com
Pricing: http://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/
Bigcommerce may not be as attractive or easy to use as Shopify, but what it lacks in allure, it makes up for in features. Bigcommerce is one of the most robust, feature-heavy, hosted ecommerce platforms out there. You may not get the same functionality as a stand-alone product information manager (PIM), but Bigcommerce does have a very capable inventory management system. Bigcommerce also gives you some additional control over your SEO, although as with all SEO, it’s up to you to keep it up-to-date. If you’re looking for something with more features than Shopify, and are willing to give up some of the beauty, Bigcommerce is an excellent Magento Go alternative.
image via magento
Magento Enterprise
Website: http://enterprise.magento.com/
Pricing: http://enterprise.magento.com/explore/plans
This is Magento’s eCommerce solution for enterprise sized businesses, as suggested by both the name and the $15,000 a year price tag. However, as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for”. Magento Enterprise is the most feature-rich, flexible eCommerce system out there. While you will obviously be paying more, you will be getting a much larger and better platform. Most people coming off of Magento Go won’t need this level of quality for their online stores; however, if you are one of those many retailers who’re shooting up in size, Magento Enterprise is probably your best bet.
What now? Transitioning from Magento Go
Now that you’ve chosen your favorite eCommerce provider you’ve taken your first step in transitioning to them, but there are still many issues you need to deal with. Do you want to redesign your website? How do you want to migrate your data?
Read our next blog post about what to do now that Magento Go is shutting down.
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