Top eCommerce Platforms by Usage in 2018 [with Infographic]

Ecommerce is growing worldwide and becoming the preferred way for purchasing products and services. The statistics being thrown up by global ecommerce is full of unbelievable numbers that can make any entrepreneur perk up and immediately look into incorporating it into their business.

While these numbers are pretty big right now, they're expected to only increase in the coming years. It had been quite an amazing year for ecommerce in 2017, and 2018 is expected to top it in many ways.

So we’ve created this data visualization that highlights the top ecommerce platforms based on the number of businesses using them around the globe (we’ve gathered the data using Builtwith’s database):

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Retail Ecommerce Sales Worldwide in 2017

Last year, ecommerce achieved a total of $2.304 trillion in sales, and it's expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021. According to cumulative data from Statista, that's a 246.15% increase from $1.3 trillion in 2014. In such a short time, ecommerce has become a force to be reckoned with in the business world.

Another statistic worth noting here is B2B (business-to-business) ecommerce being 234.18% greater than B2C (business-to-consumer) ecommerce. While the latter reached ecommerce sales of $2.304 trillion, B2B ecommerce reached $7.7 trillion, which now makes ecommerce indispensable for B2B companies.

In particular, mobile ecommerce (mcommerce) is becoming more and more of the preferred way customers order products online. Global mcommerce sales rose by 40.3% to $1.357 trillion in 2017, with China making up 67.1% of that total.

The 10 Largest Ecommerce Markets in the World

The worldwide growth of ecommerce has made international sales more or less mandatory. If you're looking to make it big with ecommerce, you should be able to sell to the global market and ship your products internationally, especially to these countries:

China: $672 billion
United States: $340 billion
United Kingdom: $99 billion
Japan: $79 billion
Germany: $73 billion
France: $43 billion
South Korea: $37 billion
Canada: $30 billion
Russia: $20 billion
Brazil: $19 billion

* Statistics sourced from Business.com

While the US and the western world once held the ecommerce crown, Asia has caught up with the giant markets of China, Japan, and South Korea. The US' hold on ecommerce is expected to slide from 22.2% in 2015 to 16.9% in 2020.

Most of these countries are known for having good broadband infrastructure, which is necessary for ecommerce to propagate. Of course, ecommerce is more conducive for certain categories of products and services, like fashion, media, consumer electronics, and so on.

While most of ecommerce see purchase and delivery of durable (non-perishable) products, there has been a growth in demand for online purchase and delivery of perishable goods like groceries, beauty products, medicine, and so on.

Among the top 10 countries, it's South Korea that sees the majority of ecommerce in consumable products.

The Top Ecommerce Platforms in the World by Usage

WooCommerce

Total sites: 2,287,356

One of the most popular ecommerce platforms worldwide, WooCommerce is a free-to-use plugin for the WordPress blogging platform.

That makes WooCommerce widely accessible to a tremendous number of users worldwide with a user-friendly installation process in WordPress and the availability of WordPress + WooCommerce bundles out there.

WooCommerce goes toe-to-toe with Shopify for the throne of world's top ecommerce platform. If you happen to already have a website powered by WordPress, then WooCommerce is a no-brainer.

Pros:

Advanced features for larger online stores
Customer accounts that support store credit
Site-wide SSL encryption
Well-integrated with WordPress
Good product presentation
Allows to add product variants easily
Works in WordPress backend

Cons:

No multilingual support
Limited range of free templates
Hidden costs

Shopify

Total sites: 1,275,905

Popular for being an all-in-one platform used all over the world, Shopify is part of a group of turn-key ecommerce solution that provides everything an online entrepreneur needs from setting it up to selling products.

The company was founded in 2004 and the platform was launched in 2006.

Shopify is well-received by tech pundits, who described the platform as "clean, simple, and easy-to-use." The publicity it garnered from various business and tech outlets spread its name far and wide, which contributed to its popularity. Because so many business owners use it, there has become an increase of Shopify development companies.

Pros:

Worldwide user base contributing reviews and community support
Built-in speed and security for hosting
Has all the bells and whistles
Great customer support
Online marketing features
Responsive design with tons of custom themes
Wide selection of add-ons

Cons:

Can be pricey
Obtuse initial setup process
Customization opens vulnerabilities to hackers
Not the best built-in blogging platform
Lots of Shopify jargon
Moving to another platform made difficult

Squarespace Commerce

Total sites: 1,075,124

As one of the best known online brands in the world due to its marketing efforts, Squarespace is mostly known for its easy-to-use website building and hosting solutions. They have since added ecommerce functionality into it, which is Squarespace Commerce.

With Squarespace Commerce, you can build an online store and make it operational in virtually no time flat. You do need to pay more for all the extra bells and whistles, but you do end up with a very good-looking online store with Squarespace Commerce.

Pros:

Squarespace's template design
Elegant backend design
All-in-one platform
Good speed and security
Simple data import/export feature
24/7 customer support and improved onboarding

Cons:

Very pricey
Advanced marketing tools are lacking
No regulated ecosystem for apps and extensions
Functionality of backend is also lacking
Not designed as an ecommerce platform from the start

Wix Stores

Total sites: 978,742

The free website hosting service has now added its own ecommerce platform (known as Wix Store), similar to Squarespace Commerce.

You can build a website and put up your online storefront all in one platform, making it easier for users with little technical proficiency to get into ecommerce and run an online business in the comfort of their own home.

It does have less customizability compared to more dedicated platforms, but it has all the basic parts needed for entrepreneurs to get into ecommerce.

Pros:

Affordable short-term pricing
Easy-to-follow site configuration and onboarding
Diverse design template library
Good speed and security
Reliable customer support and knowledgebase
Business customization

Cons:

Questionable long-term pricing
Editing and design customization can be frustrating
Limited range of apps and extensions
Limited marketing features
Offers little technical customizability
No way to export your data

OpenCart

Total sites: 794,234

One of the earliest ecommerce systems out there, OpenCart was originally developed back in 1998 and saw its first public release the following year. It had a rocky start as it was eventually abandoned before being revived in early 2005.

OpenCart now has around 317,000 live OpenCart sites. Its long history and open-source architecture is conducive for its community of users and developers.

Pros:

Not resource-intensive
Beginner-friendly and easy to set up
Community of developers due to PHP base
Lots of customization options
Wide selection of extensions and modules

Cons:

Does not come with proper event system
No efficient hook method
Some themes and extensions may not perform well or be secure

Zen Cart

Total sites: 780,139

Based on PHP and using MySQL for its database, Zen Cart is a platform that branched from osCommerce back in 2003. It differs in architecture and some of its core features. It now boasts over 100,000 users with developers from around the world supporting its growing community.

Pros:

Secure software
Scalable platform
Easy to update
HTML-style email supported
Easy customer management

Cons:

Average templates
Not a lot of additional modules
Complex upgradation
No formal support

PrestaShop

Total sites: 547,581

Introduced in 2007, Prestashop has been gaining popularity over the past decade with its Prestashop Ecommerce development solutions.

It focuses mostly on reliable online shopping solutions and an amazing user experience for online entrepreneurs with a low budget for establishing an online store.

Prestashop is a good solution for those who need to put up an online store right now without much budget. If you're looking for a fully-fledged store with more advanced features, Prestashop is not the best for that.

Pros:

Easy to install
Open source platform
Easy to use and maintain
User-friendly interface
Good for customization
Demographic assistance
Minimal system requirements
Secure payment system
Economic choice

Cons:

Limited scalability
Unprofessional design
Paid functionality
No official support team

osCommerce

Total sites: 314,148

With hundreds of thousands of users in its online community, osCommerce is a truly open source and free-to-use ecommerce platform under GNU General Public License. There are over 260,000 different stores running on osCommerce, with 12,800 registered sites under its belt.

This platform is best for those who are just looking to put up an online store without fiddling too much with it. Whether you're simply dipping your toes into ecommerce or running a small to medium online store, osCommerce is a pretty good solution.

Pros:

Fairly easy to use
Large user community
Easy to customize and modify
Additional plugins and add-ons

Cons

Can be error prone
Requires more manual intervention
Doesn't always scale well

BigCommerce

Total sites: 120,032

Built upon the concept of being all-inclusive, BigCommerce seeks to provide everything an online entrepreneur needs to get started with ecommerce in one package. This is opposed to other platforms that may offer bits and pieces of an online store separately.

BigCommerce is a hosted platform with all-inclusive options that competes directly with Shopify and Volusion, as well as non-turn-key options like WooCommerce (along with WordPress), Magento, and others.

Pros:

Integrated education
No-hassle speed and security
Intuitive built-in features
Built-in marketing features
Helpful customer support
Easy design

Cons:

Tough pricing
Limited availability of add-ons
Lock-in
Obtuse product and inventory management
Too much choice all at once

Pixpa

Whether you want to build an eCommerce store, start a blog, or create a portfolio as an artist, Pixpa is a great way to get started quickly. It requires no coding knowledge with its easy-to-use drag and drop features and customizable themes. Creatives such as photographers, artists, and designers can easily create and manage their portfolio online, business owners can use its eCommerce features, and bloggers can publish articles.

Pros:

Beautiful templates focused for creatives
Great for online portfolios
Client centric features
No commission taken for any client transactions
Stripe, PayPal payment gateway support
You can connect Shopify to Pixpa
Tons of app integrations
15 day free trial
30-day money back guarantee on all new subscriptions.

Cons:

Nothing can be published when you’re in trial period
Cannot use the same photos unless you reload them

Conclusion

The online retail economy is certainly far from its peak, which also means that starting an ecommerce business (now) could prove to become a very lucrative endeavor in the future.

Choosing the perfect platform to use for a store might be a difficult task for some, but the good news is that there are so many available resources on the web (like the data we’ve presented above) that should help making the decision easier - because it should be.

Where to go next?

Ready to start your own ecommerce store? Check out these other helpful resources from the SaleHoo blog to get you started:

You can also follow SaleHoo on Facebook and Twitter to get more updates.

Top eCommerce Platforms by Usage in 2018 [with Infographic]

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Retail Ecommerce Sales Worldwide in 2017

The 10 Largest Ecommerce Markets in the World