6 tips for choosing an e-commerce platform

Choosing an e-commerce platform is one of the most consequential decisions you'll make for your online business. The wrong choice creates ongoing frustration—perhaps paying for features you never use, struggling with technical limitations preventing growth, or discovering hidden costs destroying profitability. Switching platforms later means migrating products, customer data, order history, and SEO rankings—an expensive, time-consuming process that disrupts operations and risks losing sales during transition. Getting the platform decision right from the start saves thousands of dollars and countless headaches.

Yet with dozens of options ranging from Shopify and WooCommerce to BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, and specialized platforms, how do you choose? Marketing materials promise each platform is perfect for everyone, making objective comparison difficult. The truth is no single platform is universally best—the right choice depends on your specific situation including technical skills, budget, product type, growth plans, and customization needs. This guide provides six practical tips for evaluating platforms systematically, ensuring you select one that actually fits your business rather than forcing your business to fit platform limitations.

💻 Assess your technical comfort level honestly

Technical skill level dramatically impacts which platforms work well for you. A technically-savvy developer thrives with WooCommerce's flexibility and customization while a non-technical store owner struggles with constant WordPress updates, plugin conflicts, and hosting issues. Conversely, developers find Shopify's simplicity limiting while non-technical users appreciate its reliability and ease.

Evaluate your realistic technical abilities—not aspirational skills you hope to develop someday. Can you comfortably edit HTML and CSS? Do you understand FTP, databases, and web hosting? Have you managed WordPress sites previously? If answers are mostly no, hosted platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, or Squarespace make sense. If you're comfortable with technical work or have developer support, self-hosted options like WooCommerce or Magento provide maximum flexibility.

Platform technical requirements include:

• Shopify: No technical skills required—fully hosted, automatic updates, 24/7 support

• WooCommerce: Requires hosting management, plugin updates, basic troubleshooting

• BigCommerce: Minimal technical needs, hosted solution with more built-in features

• Magento: Significant technical expertise or development team required

Consider ongoing maintenance requirements beyond initial setup. Perhaps WooCommerce setup seems manageable—you follow tutorials launching successfully. But ongoing tasks accumulate: WordPress core updates every few weeks, plugin updates constantly, security monitoring, backup management, hosting optimization, troubleshooting conflicts. Are you prepared for 3-5 hours monthly maintenance? Or would you prefer Shopify's zero-maintenance approach where Shopify handles all technical operations?

Factor in hiring costs if you lack technical skills. Perhaps WooCommerce saves $29 monthly versus Shopify but requires hiring developer for $500-800 each time you need customizations or encounter problems. Annual developer costs of $2,000-4,000 easily exceed Shopify's annual fees. Total cost of ownership includes both platform fees and technical support costs.

Test platforms before committing if uncertain about technical fit. Most offer free trials—spend a week actually using each platform performing realistic tasks: adding products, configuring shipping, customizing design, setting up payment processing. Hands-on experience reveals whether platform complexity matches or exceeds your comfort level better than reading comparison articles.

💰 Calculate true total cost of ownership

Platform pricing appears straightforward until you discover hidden costs. Perhaps Shopify advertises $29 monthly, but apps for email marketing, reviews, abandoned cart recovery, and inventory management add $60-80 monthly. Or WooCommerce is "free" until you factor in $25 monthly hosting, $60 premium theme, $80 essential plugins, and developer time. True cost comparison requires calculating total monthly expenses.

Build comprehensive cost spreadsheets for each platform option. Include platform subscription fees, transaction fees (many charge 0.5-2% unless using their payment processor), payment processing fees (typically 2.9% + $0.30), required apps or plugins, hosting costs for self-hosted options, theme or design expenses, and estimated technical support needs. Perhaps Shopify totals $95 monthly all-in while WooCommerce totals $75 monthly plus 4 hours maintenance worth $100—$175 total including your time.

Key cost components to compare:

• Monthly subscription or hosting fees

• Transaction fees on sales

• Payment processing fees (often unavoidable)

• Required app or plugin subscriptions

• Theme or design costs (one-time or ongoing)

• Technical support or development needs

• Bandwidth or performance upgrades

Project costs at different revenue levels since many fees are percentage-based. Perhaps at $5,000 monthly revenue, Platform A costs $120 total monthly while Platform B costs $95. But at $50,000 monthly revenue, Platform A's transaction fees balloon to $380 monthly while Platform B stays $165. Scaling costs matter—platforms appearing cheaper initially may become more expensive at higher volumes.

Beware platforms advertising "free" or extremely low base prices then charging heavily for essential features. Perhaps base plan is $15 monthly but abandoned cart recovery, advanced reporting, and gift cards each cost $30 monthly extra—suddenly $15 plan is really $105. Or "free" platform has such limited functionality you immediately need paid upgrades. Evaluate cost of platform plus essential features, not base price alone.

📦 Match features to your specific product type

Different products have different platform requirements. Selling t-shirts with size and color variants needs different capabilities than selling custom-engraved jewelry requiring customer text input. Subscription boxes need recurring billing functionality. Digital products need secure download delivery. Physical products need robust shipping calculations. Platform features must match your product characteristics.

Identify essential features for your specific products. Perhaps you sell customizable products requiring customers to upload images or enter personalization text—ensure platform supports product customization. Or you offer subscriptions—verify platform has native subscription billing or reliable third-party apps. Or you sell wholesale alongside retail—confirm platform supports customer-specific pricing and bulk ordering.

Common product-specific requirements include product variants (sizes, colors, materials), inventory management for multiple locations or warehouses, digital product delivery with security, subscription and recurring billing, product customization and personalization, bulk or wholesale pricing tiers, pre-orders and backorders, product bundles and kits, age verification for restricted products, and complex shipping calculations.

Test critical features during trial periods confirming they work as needed. Perhaps platform claims to support product customization—actually create products with your required customization options verifying customer experience is smooth. Or test subscription setup ensuring billing, renewal emails, and customer portal function properly. Don't assume features work well just because they exist.

Consider future product expansion beyond current inventory. Perhaps you currently sell only physical products but plan adding digital downloads or subscription boxes within 12 months. Choose platform supporting anticipated future needs avoiding another migration later. However, balance future flexibility with current requirements—don't overpay for features you might never use.

🚀 Evaluate scalability and growth support

Platforms that work beautifully at 50 orders monthly may struggle or become prohibitively expensive at 500+ orders monthly. Scalability encompasses performance (site speed under load), feature availability (enterprise features when needed), cost structure (whether fees become unreasonable at scale), and flexibility (ability to customize as needs become more sophisticated).

Research platform performance at your target scale. If you aim for 1,000+ monthly orders within 2-3 years, verify platform handles that volume without performance degradation. Perhaps read case studies or talk to store owners at similar scale asking about their experiences. Or test platform documentation and support resources understanding what happens as you scale.

Understand upgrade paths and plan tiers. Perhaps platform offers Basic ($29), Professional ($79), and Advanced ($299) plans. What triggers need to upgrade? At what point do you outgrow capabilities? What do higher tiers offer? Maybe you start Basic but clearly see path to Professional as you grow—good scalability. Or maybe jump from $29 to $299 with nothing between—awkward scaling.

Consider platform ecosystem maturity and longevity. Established platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce have thousands of apps, developers, and resources available. Newer platforms might be innovative but have limited ecosystem—harder to find solutions for complex problems. Perhaps emerging platform has exciting features but tiny app marketplace creating challenges when you need specialized functionality.

Evaluate API access and headless capabilities if you have sophisticated needs. Perhaps you'll eventually want custom mobile app, integration with complex ERP systems, or headless commerce architecture. Platforms offering robust APIs and headless options provide flexibility for advanced implementations. Those with limited API access constrain future growth requiring painful migrations later.

🔌 Check integration and app ecosystem depth

E-commerce platforms don't operate in isolation—they integrate with email marketing tools, accounting software, inventory systems, shipping carriers, analytics platforms, and hundreds of other business tools. Platform ecosystem depth determines how easily you can connect everything you need creating seamless workflows.

List essential integrations you need immediately or soon. Perhaps you use Mailchimp for email marketing, QuickBooks for accounting, ShipStation for shipping, and Google Analytics for tracking. Verify each platform offers native integrations or quality third-party apps for your required tools. Perhaps Platform A has direct Mailchimp integration while Platform B requires clunky workarounds—clear winner if Mailchimp is essential.

Critical integration categories include:

• Email marketing platforms (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Omnisend)

• Accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks)

• Shipping solutions (ShipStation, Easyship, Shippo)

• Inventory management (TradeGecko, Cin7, Ordoro)

• Analytics and reporting (Google Analytics, specialized e-commerce analytics)

• Customer service (Zendesk, Gorgias, Help Scout)

Evaluate app marketplace quality not just quantity. Shopify has 8,000+ apps—impressive until you realize many are low-quality or abandoned. Better question: does platform have high-quality apps for your specific needs? Perhaps you need advanced inventory management—do 3-5 excellent options exist or just one mediocre app? Quality ecosystem depth matters more than total app count.

Consider app costs in total platform expense calculation. Perhaps needed apps cost $40-80 monthly per platform—significant ongoing expense beyond base platform fees. Sometimes platforms with higher base prices include features others charge separately for, making total cost lower despite higher advertised price.

Test critical integrations during evaluation ensuring they work smoothly. Perhaps set up trial accounts connecting your email marketing, accounting, and analytics tools verifying data flows properly. Integration problems are frustrating—catching them during evaluation prevents choosing platform that requires constant manual workarounds.

🎨 Balance customization needs with simplicity

Platform customization exists on a spectrum. Highly customizable platforms like WooCommerce or Magento enable building exactly what you envision but require technical expertise and ongoing maintenance. Simple platforms like Shopify or Squarespace offer limited customization but require minimal technical skills. Right balance depends on whether you need unique functionality or standard store is sufficient.

Honestly assess whether you truly need extensive customization. Many store owners overestimate customization needs—perhaps you imagine requiring unique checkout flow when standard checkout works fine for 90% of stores. Or you want custom product page layout when proven templates convert better than amateur custom designs. Customization for its own sake wastes time and money—focus on whether customizations actually improve business results.

Identify must-have customizations versus nice-to-haves. Perhaps you absolutely need multi-vendor marketplace functionality—eliminates platforms not supporting this. Or you require complex bundle builder with specific logic—narrows platform options to those with necessary flexibility. Or you just want different color scheme and fonts—any platform handles this easily. Prioritizing true requirements prevents choosing overly complex platforms for simple needs.

Test theme and design flexibility within your skill level. Perhaps browse platform theme marketplaces seeing whether existing themes match your vision. Install demo theme testing how easily you can adjust colors, fonts, layouts without coding. If achieving desired look requires custom development, factor development costs into platform decision. Sometimes paying more for platform with perfect existing themes costs less than cheap platform plus $2,000 custom design.

Consider long-term maintenance of customizations. Heavily customized platforms require ongoing updates as platform core evolves. Perhaps custom code breaks when platform updates, requiring developer fixes each time. This ongoing maintenance burden might outweigh customization benefits—sometimes accepting platform limitations is smarter than constant customization maintenance.

📊 Research platform analytics and reporting capabilities

Data-driven decision-making requires good analytics. Platform reporting capabilities vary dramatically—some provide comprehensive dashboards with essential KPIs while others offer minimal reporting requiring external tools. Strong native analytics save money on third-party reporting tools while providing insights needed for optimization.

Evaluate built-in reporting features each platform provides. Perhaps Shopify Analytics shows sales, orders, customer data, traffic sources, and conversion rates in comprehensive dashboards. WooCommerce provides basic sales reports requiring Google Analytics for traffic and behavior data. BigCommerce offers advanced reporting including abandoned cart value and search term analysis. Understanding included analytics helps compare total value.

Identify critical KPIs you need tracking. Perhaps you must monitor conversion rate, average order value, customer lifetime value, cart abandonment rate, and traffic sources. Verify each platform either calculates these natively or integrates easily with tools that do. Missing essential metrics means either manual calculation or paying for additional analytics solutions.

Test report accessibility and usability during trials. Perhaps platform technically offers analytics but interface is confusing or reports are buried in menus. Or maybe data updates slowly—showing yesterday's stats when you need today's. Or exports are difficult when you need spreadsheet analysis. Usable reporting you actually reference matters more than extensive features you never use.

Consider integration with external analytics tools like Google Analytics or specialized e-commerce analytics platforms. All major platforms should support GA4 installation, but implementation ease varies. Perhaps some require manual code insertion while others offer simple plugin installation. Strong analytics integration enables comprehensive tracking beyond platform limitations.

Choosing the right e-commerce platform requires honest assessment of technical abilities, comprehensive cost calculation including all fees and hidden expenses, matching features to product requirements, evaluating scalability for growth, checking integration ecosystem depth, balancing customization needs with simplicity, and ensuring adequate analytics capabilities. By systematically evaluating platforms across these six dimensions rather than choosing based on popularity or marketing promises, you select a platform that actually fits your business needs today and supports growth tomorrow. The right platform becomes invisible foundation enabling focus on products, customers, and growth rather than constant technical struggles. Ready to track your store's performance with powerful analytics regardless of platform? Try Peasy for free at peasy.nu and get comprehensive e-commerce reporting that works seamlessly with Shopify, WooCommerce, and other major platforms.