Despite small businesses making up 99.9% of all U.S. firms, finding the best ecommerce platform for small business success remains a critical challenge for many entrepreneurs. With online sales expected to reach 22% of global retail sales by 2023—compared to just 14.1% in 2019—establishing a strong digital presence has never been more important.
However, the stakes are incredibly high. In fact, 90% of ecommerce startups fail within the first 120 days, largely due to weak search engine optimization and poor platform selection. Importantly, choosing the right foundation can make all the difference, which is why we’ve surveyed small business owners to identify the best ecommerce platform options for 2025. From Wix, which saw its stores grow by 37% in early 2023, to Shopify’s scalability advantages for ambitious businesses, our comprehensive analysis covers platforms ranging from free options to premium solutions starting at $39.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled insights from successful entrepreneurs who’ve navigated these choices themselves. Whether you’re looking for BigCommerce’s robust features, Shopify’s intuitive interface, or Square’s seamless POS integration, our rankings will help you make an informed decision that aligns with your specific business needs.
Small Business Owners Reveal Top Ecommerce Platforms
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Our comprehensive survey reveals that 60% of small business owners currently use some form of ecommerce platform. Among these entrepreneurs, nearly one-third (32%) sell through an ecommerce store on their website, while 24% utilize large third-party platforms like Amazon and eBay. Additionally, another 24% leverage community marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace.
How the survey was conducted
To create this definitive ranking, researchers monitored leading ecommerce vendors through multiple channels. The methodology included conducting surveys, interviews, panel discussions, and analyzing proprietary databases. Furthermore, the research incorporated customer inquiries, industry reports, vendor briefings, and user forums to ensure comprehensive results.
This approach yielded rich insights from actual small business owners rather than theoretical evaluations. The independent study was produced without vendor influence, spanning over 11 pages of in-depth context on the top 10 ecommerce platforms for 2025.
For the platforms not currently using ecommerce, the survey discovered interesting barriers to adoption. Nearly one-fourth (24%) don’t know where to start, while 19% lack resources to devote to ecommerce. Others (39%) believe ecommerce isn’t relevant to their business model.
What criteria were used to rank platforms
The evaluation employed a weighted scoring system across several key categories:
- Core functionality (25% of total score): Mobile-responsive design, secure payment processing, inventory management, order/shipping management, and multichannel selling capabilities
- Standout features (25%): SEO tools, marketing integrations, customizable themes, abandoned cart recovery, and advanced reporting
- Consumer sentiment (34%): Long-term user experiences that reveal both outstanding performance and potential challenges
- Value (13%): The intersection of costs and features, identifying which platforms deliver the most benefit per dollar
Initially, researchers analyzed almost two dozen industry-recognized platforms before narrowing down to the top contenders. The process involved testing each platform hands-on to verify where it meets expectations and where it falls short.
Notable considerations included payment processing options, accounting integrations, and service support quality. These factors proved especially important given that affordability remains a significant challenge—41% of business owners cite platform advertising costs as problematic, while 36% struggle with third-party fees.
Why 2025 is a pivotal year for ecommerce
According to industry projections, global retail ecommerce sales will surpass USD 6 billion for the first time in 2024. Even more significantly, this figure is expected to reach over USD 8 billion by 2025, making platform selection particularly crucial now.
The importance of ecommerce has been underscored by recent growth trends. For 50% of surveyed businesses, sales increased by at least 25% on ecommerce platforms following the pandemic, with 23% seeing increases exceeding 51% of their pre-pandemic levels.
What makes 2025 especially pivotal are the emerging technologies reshaping the landscape. AI-powered personalization, social commerce expansion, mobile-first design, and flexible payment options are now essential rather than optional. Additionally, subscription models and faster, localized fulfillment have become competitive necessities.
For small businesses seeking to thrive in this environment, selecting the right platform isn’t merely about current capabilities but about choosing a partner poised to evolve alongside rapidly changing consumer expectations. This explains why platforms with strong AI tools, omnichannel selling capabilities, and robust support systems ranked particularly well in our survey.
Wix Tops the List for Built-in Marketing Tools
Image Source: Wix Support
Wix emerged as the top choice among small business owners in our survey, primarily for its comprehensive built-in marketing capabilities. Small merchants reported that Wix’s all-in-one marketing suite delivered 24% increase in monthly revenue when utilizing its integrated SEO tools, making it a standout option for businesses seeking growth without technical expertise.
Why Wix appeals to first-time sellers
First-time ecommerce entrepreneurs gravitate toward Wix for several compelling reasons. The platform offers complete solutions starting at just USD 27.00 per month, making it accessible for businesses with limited initial capital. Moreover, Wix’s AI-powered assistance simplifies critical tasks that often intimidate newcomers—from generating product descriptions to creating on-brand design elements.
New sellers particularly appreciate the streamlined setup process. Through a chatbot-style website creation system, merchants can establish their online presence without prior design experience. This approach extends to marketing as well, where Wix’s AI meta tag creator automatically generates SEO-friendly title tags and descriptions to improve search visibility—a crucial factor considering that poor SEO contributes to 90% of ecommerce startup failures mentioned in our introduction.
Strengths in design and ease of use
Wix provides exceptional design flexibility through its drag-and-drop editor, which small business owners consistently rated as “incredibly beginner-friendly”. The platform offers hundreds of specialized online store templates that are free to use, unlike competitors that charge additional fees for premium designs.
These templates aren’t merely attractive—they’re built with conversion in mind, featuring mobile responsiveness, SEO readiness, and intuitive navigation. For businesses seeking to stand out, Wix introduced an AI theme assistant in 2025 that provides design suggestions tailored to specific industries.
Consequently, the design process remains accessible regardless of technical skill level. As one merchant noted, “Even if the idea of designing a website yourself seems daunting, don’t worry”—a sentiment echoed by many first-time sellers in our survey who successfully launched professional-looking stores without hiring designers.
Limitations in inventory and shipping
Despite its strengths, Wix does present certain constraints for growing businesses. The platform caps product catalogs at 50,000 items, with additional limitations on variants and options. Each product can have up to 6 product options (like size or color) and 1,000 variants per product—sufficient for most small businesses but potentially restrictive for those with extensive inventories.
Shipping presents another challenge, particularly for businesses serving specific geographic areas. The platform’s shipping rules can only be configured down to the state level, creating difficulties for local businesses like bakeries that need more granular control over delivery zones. As one merchant explained, “Check out delivery restrictions only gets as granular as State (NOT GOOD for Texas, or anyone living on state lines)”.
For businesses requiring advanced shipping logistics, Wix necessitates integration with third-party providers like ShipBob, Shippo, or ShipStation. This contrasts with other platforms that offer more robust native shipping capabilities, making Wix less ideal for high-volume sellers with complex fulfillment needs.
Nonetheless, the platform’s 45% higher revenues for stores using its automated email marketing features and 30% more revenue for those leveraging its paid advertising tools demonstrate why small business owners continue to rank Wix at the top of their list, despite these limitations.
Shopify Ranks High for Scalability and Omnichannel Selling
Image Source: Shopify
Shopify secured a strong second position in our survey, distinguishing itself as the best ecommerce platform for businesses with ambitious growth goals. Small business owners consistently praised its ability to scale alongside their operations, with many reporting seamless transitions from home-based startups to multi-channel retail operations.
Best for growing businesses
Shopify’s scalability makes it an ideal platform for businesses looking beyond their current size. The platform effectively handles everything from modest product catalogs to massive inventories exceeding 2 million products. This scalability extends to traffic management as well, as Shopify can process millions of transactions per minute without performance issues during high-demand events like flash sales or holiday rushes.
What sets Shopify apart is its unified infrastructure that supports both B2B and B2C operations simultaneously on a single platform. This versatility proves invaluable for businesses expanding into wholesale markets alongside consumer sales. Furthermore, Shopify’s extensible architecture enables custom storefronts and seamless integration with essential business systems like ERPs, PIMs, and WMSs.
POS and marketplace integrations
In essence, Shopify excels at connecting various sales channels through its unified commerce approach. Businesses implementing this strategy experience an average 8.9% increase in sales alongside a 5% boost in operational efficiency. Notably, retailers using Shopify POS benefit from a 22% lower total cost of ownership compared to similar vendors.
The platform’s Marketplace Connect feature simplifies selling across major marketplaces including Amazon, Target Plus, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy. All inventory, customer data, and orders synchronize in real-time across channels, preventing the common problem of overselling. This integration enables popular consumer options like buy online/pickup in-store or browse in-store/buy online.
AI tools and automation features
Shopify’s integrated AI capabilities, primarily through Shopify Magic and Sidekick, emerged as major advantages in our survey. These tools help merchants generate product descriptions, edit images, and adjust site content to align with brand voice. Sidekick functions as a 24/7 AI assistant, providing real-time support for store management tasks from setup to inventory tracking.
For marketing automation, Shopify’s AI optimizes email campaigns with personalized subject lines and send times. Additionally, its Shop Pay checkout option increases conversion rates by up to 50%, addressing a critical pain point for growing businesses.
Overall, small business owners in our survey identified Shopify as the optimal choice for those anticipating substantial growth, requiring omnichannel capabilities, or seeking to minimize technical complexity while scaling operations. Though slightly more expensive than some alternatives, respondents consistently cited the platform’s scalability advantages as justifying the investment.
BigCommerce Wins for Advanced Inventory and B2B Features
Image Source: BigCommerce
BigCommerce stands out specifically for advanced inventory management and B2B capabilities in our 2025 rankings. For businesses handling large product catalogs and complex sales operations, BigCommerce offers features that address sophisticated needs while maintaining user-friendly operations.
Ideal for high-volume sellers
BigCommerce provides flexible product management with up to 600 SKUs per product and 250 options, allowing businesses to efficiently manage complex variations. The platform excels at centralized inventory control, featuring real-time two-way syncing that prevents overselling by updating stock levels automatically whenever sales occur. This synchronization works across all sales channels, including in-person transactions via Square and marketplace sales on Amazon and eBay.
Multi-location inventory tracking enables merchants to monitor stock across different warehouses or physical locations, essential for businesses with distributed fulfillment operations. The modern CSV import/export tool simplifies bulk inventory updates across multiple locations, streamlining management for high-volume sellers.
No transaction fees and flexible payment options
Unlike many competitors, BigCommerce charges no transaction fees across all plans, making it economically advantageous for high-volume sellers. The platform integrates seamlessly with numerous payment solutions, including Adyen, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Barclaycard, Chase, Checkout.com, Cybersource, PayPal and Stripe.
Pricing tiers automatically adjust based on annual sales volume, with the Standard plan accommodating up to USD 50,000 annually, Plus plan up to USD 180,000, and Pro plan supporting businesses selling up to USD 400,000 yearly.
Multi-storefront and headless commerce capabilities
BigCommerce’s multi-storefront feature enables merchants to manage multiple online stores under a single account. This allows businesses to establish separate storefronts for different markets, including distinct B2B and B2C experiences with specialized pricing and product catalogs.
For advanced customization, BigCommerce offers robust headless commerce capabilities. The global headless commerce market reached USD 1.70 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at 22.5% annually to USD 13.20 billion by 2035. The platform’s API-first architecture facilitates headless implementations, with Standard and Plus plans allowing 20,000 API calls hourly and Pro plans supporting 60,000 API calls.
Essentially, BigCommerce provides enterprise-level performance without the typical complexity, combining SaaS reliability with open architecture flexibility.
Squarespace and Square Online Offer Niche Advantages
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While larger platforms dominate the market, Squarespace and Square Online carved out important niches in our 2025 rankings. Each platform excels for specific business types that require specialized features rather than all-purpose solutions.
Squarespace: Best for design-focused brands
Squarespace has established itself as the premier choice for esthetically-minded businesses. The platform offers over 140 professionally designed templates that showcase products with minimal clutter. In particular, creative entrepreneurs value Squarespace’s extensive design customization options that allow manipulation of fonts, colors, page configurations, and even website margins.
Beyond visual appeal, Squarespace excels at selling digital products—downloadable files, online classes, and premium content. The platform supports subscription models and service-based businesses through built-in features, whereas competitors often require third-party integrations for these capabilities.
Square Online: Best for hospitality and local sellers
Square Online stands out for food service and local retail businesses through its seamless POS integration. Restaurants and cafes benefit from commission-free online ordering built directly into the POS system, allowing synchronization between in-person and online operations. The platform also supports QR code ordering for table service, enabling customers to place orders directly from mobile devices.
Hospitality businesses using Square Online saw an average 48% increase in revenue after implementing online ordering. For food vendors concerned about third-party delivery commissions, Square offers solutions that save up to 30% on marketplace fees.
Limitations in international selling and customization
Both platforms face challenges for businesses with global ambitions. Squarespace lacks automated tax calculations outside the US and cannot support multiple currencies, creating obstacles for international expansion. Similarly, Square Online’s inventory management lacks the sophistication needed by high-volume international sellers.
Customization constraints exist for both services—Square Online uses pre-built site element blocks with limited positioning options, while Squarespace restricts certain ecommerce features to higher-priced plans. For instance, removing Squarespace’s transaction fees requires upgrading to the Commerce Basic plan at USD 36.00 per month, considerably higher than entry-level offerings from competitors.
Conclusion
Finding Your Perfect Ecommerce Match
After examining the top ecommerce platforms through the eyes of successful small business owners, one thing stands clear: no single platform serves as the perfect solution for every business. Each option offers distinct advantages depending on your specific needs.
Wix emerged as the overall favorite for its comprehensive marketing tools, helping first-time sellers increase monthly revenue by 24% through integrated SEO solutions. Shopify, though slightly pricier, proved unmatched for scalability, allowing businesses to grow from modest startups to multi-channel operations handling millions of transactions. BigCommerce distinguished itself through advanced inventory management and B2B capabilities without transaction fees. Meanwhile, Squarespace and Square Online carved out specialized niches for design-focused brands and hospitality businesses respectively.
The right choice ultimately depends on your business priorities. Accordingly, merchants must assess their specific requirements regarding inventory complexity, design flexibility, marketing needs, and growth projections before committing to a platform. This decision carries significant weight considering that 90% of ecommerce startups fail within their first 120 days, often due to poor platform selection.
Looking ahead, 2025 represents a pivotal moment for online retail as global ecommerce sales approach $8 billion. Certainly, businesses that select platforms aligned with emerging technologies like AI-powered personalization and omnichannel integration position themselves for long-term success. Those utilizing unified commerce strategies already experience 8.9% higher sales alongside 5% improved operational efficiency.
Therefore, we recommend evaluating platforms based on their ability to support your specific business model rather than simply following industry trends. Though the landscape continues evolving rapidly, the fundamentals remain unchanged – the best platform empowers you to reach customers efficiently while minimizing technical complexity. Success follows when your ecommerce foundation aligns perfectly with your business vision.
FAQs
Q1. What are the top ecommerce platforms for small businesses in 2025? According to recent surveys, the top ecommerce platforms for small businesses in 2025 include Wix, Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, and Square Online. Each platform offers unique advantages depending on specific business needs, such as marketing tools, scalability, inventory management, or design flexibility.
Q2. Is ecommerce still a viable option for small businesses in 2025? Yes, ecommerce remains a strong option for small businesses in 2025. With global retail ecommerce sales expected to surpass $8 billion, there are significant opportunities for growth. However, choosing the right platform and implementing effective strategies are crucial for success in the competitive online marketplace.
Q3. What features should small business owners look for in an ecommerce platform? Small business owners should consider features such as user-friendly design tools, built-in marketing capabilities, scalability for growth, inventory management, multi-channel selling options, and integration with other business systems. The ideal platform will depend on the specific needs and goals of each business.
Q4. How important is mobile optimization for ecommerce success? Mobile optimization is critical for ecommerce success in 2025. With the continued growth of mobile commerce, businesses need to ensure their online stores provide seamless experiences across all devices. Platforms that offer mobile-responsive designs and mobile-first features can help increase conversions and customer satisfaction.
Q5. What role does artificial intelligence play in ecommerce platforms? Artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in ecommerce platforms. AI-powered tools can assist with tasks such as personalized product recommendations, automated marketing campaigns, inventory forecasting, and customer service chatbots. These features can help small businesses improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience.