6 tips for choosing an e-commerce platform

Most store owners choose e-commerce platforms based on price and popularity. Shopify is big, so they pick Shopify. WooCommerce is free, so they choose WooCommerce. Six months later they realize their platform can’t track the metrics they need, integrate with their tools, or scale to their growth plans.

Platform selection affects everything—analytics capabilities, integration options, costs, and how easily you can optimize based on data. Here are six factors that matter more than price or brand name when choosing an e-commerce platform.

Six critical factors for platform selection

1. Built-in analytics depth

What to evaluate: Which metrics does the platform track natively? Can you see revenue trends, conversion rates by traffic source, product performance, and customer behavior without installing additional analytics tools?

Why it matters: If your platform provides basic analytics, you’ll add Google Analytics, heatmapping tools, conversion tracking apps, and dashboard software to fill gaps. That’s $50-200 monthly in additional costs plus complexity managing multiple tools. Platforms with comprehensive built-in analytics eliminate this overhead.

Questions to ask: Can I track conversion rate by device? Does it show customer lifetime value? Can I segment revenue by traffic source? Does it connect orders to marketing campaigns automatically? Can I export data for analysis?

Platform comparison: Shopify provides robust native analytics in higher-tier plans. WooCommerce requires plugins for detailed analytics. BigCommerce includes strong analytics in base plans. Custom platforms vary widely depending on development.

2. Integration ecosystem

What to evaluate: Which tools does the platform integrate with natively—email platforms, advertising channels, accounting software, inventory management, shipping providers?

Why it matters: Every tool you use needs to connect to your store. If your platform integrates natively with your email provider (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Omnisend), data flows automatically. If it doesn’t, you’ll manually export customer lists, revenue data, and product catalogs weekly—consuming hours that should go toward optimization.

Make a list before choosing: Which tools do you currently use or plan to use? Email marketing platform, ad platforms (Google, Facebook), analytics tools, accounting software, inventory systems. Verify your platform choice integrates with all of them. Missing even one integration creates ongoing manual work.

Integration red flags: "We can integrate with anything via API" sounds great but requires developer time for custom integration work. Native integrations work immediately without technical expertise. Prioritize platforms with built-in connections to your essential tools.

3. Scalability beyond current size

What to evaluate: Can the platform handle 10× your current traffic and order volume without performance degradation or forced plan upgrades?

Why it matters: Migrating platforms mid-growth costs $5,000-50,000 and risks losing historical data, SEO value, and customer experience continuity. Choose a platform that scales beyond your current needs. If you process 50 orders monthly now, verify it handles 500 orders monthly without issues.

Questions to ask vendors: What’s the maximum product catalog size? How many concurrent visitors can it handle? Are there order volume limits per tier? At what point do performance issues emerge? What does migration to higher tiers cost?

Don’t overpay for scale you don’t need yet: Balance future scalability with current budget. A $300/month enterprise plan makes no sense if you’re doing $5,000 monthly revenue. But a $30/month plan with hard limits at 100 orders monthly creates problems if you hit that ceiling faster than expected.

4. Real total cost of ownership

What to evaluate: Base platform fee plus required apps, transaction fees, payment processing costs, and developer time for customization.

Why it matters: WooCommerce is "free" but requires hosting ($20-100/month), security ($10-30/month), performance optimization ($30-100/month), and plugins for features Shopify includes ($50-150/month). Real cost: $110-380 monthly. Shopify costs $29-299 monthly but includes hosting, security, and core features. Total cost of ownership matters more than base price.

Calculate your actual costs: Base platform subscription. Required apps (analytics, email marketing, reviews, upsells). Transaction fees if using platform payments. Payment gateway fees (2-3% of revenue). Developer time for customization. Hosting if self-hosted. Security and backups.

Compare apples to apples: List everything you need. Price it out for each platform option. Often the "expensive" platform is cheaper than the "free" platform once you add necessary features.

5. Mobile optimization and performance

What to evaluate: How do stores on this platform perform on mobile devices? Load times, checkout flow, navigation ease.

Why it matters: 60-70% of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile. Platforms with slow mobile performance or clunky mobile checkout lose 30-50% of potential mobile sales. Test the platform on actual mobile devices before committing.

How to test: Find stores using the platform (vendors usually showcase customer examples). Visit on your phone. Add products to cart. Try checking out. Is it fast? Easy to navigate? Do you need to zoom to read text or tap buttons? Load time under 3 seconds? If you find the experience frustrating as a tester, your customers will too.

Questions for vendors: What’s average mobile load time for stores on your platform? What percentage of transactions happen on mobile? Do you provide mobile-optimized checkout? Can customers use digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)?

6. Analytics data ownership and exportability

What to evaluate: Who owns your data? Can you export complete order history, customer information, and analytics data? What happens if you migrate to a different platform?

Why it matters: Some platforms lock your data in proprietary formats or limit export capabilities. If you can’t export five years of customer purchase history and analytics when migrating, you lose institutional knowledge and can’t analyze long-term trends. Verify you can export everything in standard formats (CSV, JSON) before committing.

Questions to ask: Can I export all order data with one click? Customer data? Product analytics? Historical traffic and conversion data? Are exports in standard formats or proprietary? Are there export limits or restrictions? What happens to my data if I cancel?

Red flag: Platforms that charge extra for data exports or limit export frequency want vendor lock-in. Avoid unless other benefits outweigh this restriction.

How to decide between platforms

List your non-negotiables. Must-have integrations, budget ceiling, required analytics capabilities, scalability targets. Eliminate options that fail any non-negotiable.

Test remaining options. Most platforms offer free trials or demos. Set up test stores. Add products. Create test orders. Check analytics. Try integrating one tool. Five hours testing prevents five months of regret.

Calculate total cost over two years, not just monthly fees. Include apps, transaction fees, development costs, and time investment. Sometimes "expensive" platforms cost less over time than "cheap" platforms requiring constant workarounds.

Talk to current users, not just sales teams. Find stores similar to yours using each platform. Ask about pain points, hidden costs, support quality, and whether they’d choose the same platform again.

Quick questions

Should beginners choose different platforms than established stores?

Yes and no. Beginners benefit from platforms with simple setup and strong support (Shopify, BigCommerce). But if you plan to grow significantly, don’t choose a platform you’ll outgrow in 12 months. Better to invest time learning a scalable platform initially than migrating later.

Is it better to start with a simple platform and migrate when ready?

Only if you’re testing product-market fit before committing to e-commerce long-term. If you’re serious about building a sustainable business, choose a platform that scales from day one. Migration costs more than the premium you’d pay for a better initial platform choice.

What if I can’t afford platforms with strong analytics?

Add Google Analytics (free) to any platform for traffic and conversion tracking. Supplement with spreadsheet tracking of key metrics pulled from basic platform reports. Not ideal, but workable. As revenue grows, upgrade to platforms or tools with better native analytics. Focus budget on customer acquisition initially, analytics infrastructure later.

Peasy emails your essential metrics every morning—your team gets instant visibility without logging in. Starting at $49/month. Try free for 14 days.