Global ecommerce is on track to hit $7 trillion in total sales by 2026, making up over 20% of all retail sales worldwide. The platform you use determines how easily customers find products, how fast you process orders, and whether your site keeps pace with business growth.
From Shopify to Adobe Commerce and more flexible custom WooCommerce sites, this article explores some of the top ecommerce solutions – and how to choose the right one for you.
Basic Necessities for Ecommerce
Most ecommerce platforms will include the basics:
- Payment processing for the methods your customers use
- Shipping integrations that connect with your carriers and calculate rates
- Inventory management that prevents overselling and tracks stock
- Mobile-responsive design that works on smartphones and tablets
After that, you have a few decisions to make. Running a simple apparel store isn’t the same as managing a catalog of 100,000 industrial parts with hundreds of variations. And selling to consumers is different from selling to businesses. There’s plenty to ponder.
That’s why no single platform works for everyone. Shopify and WooCommerce alone command nearly 40% of the top million sites, but that concentration doesn’t mean they fit your business.
Understanding Your Ecommerce Options
Who handles the hosting and infrastructure? How much flexibility do you need? And how much technical work are you prepared to take care of yourself? Those answers can usually help point you toward one of three ecommerce website setups.
Hosted Platforms: Shopify and Templated Options
Shopify dominates the hosted platform space. They power nearly 3 million stores as of 2025, and have handled over $1.1T in sales since 2006. Hosted platforms like this handle servers, security, and updates for you. You pay monthly fees and they manage the technical tasks.
The tradeoff is flexibility. Shopify themes limit how much you can customize beyond their built-in options, and the platform charges transaction fees on each sale. Many features require purchasing apps from their marketplace, which can add up fast. If your catalog is under a few hundred products or you sell physical products with simple variations, like clothing in different sizes or colors, these limitations usually don’t cause problems.
Squarespace has lower monthly fees and eliminates transaction fees on Commerce plans. But it’s designed as a website builder first and ecommerce platform second, so you get fewer inventory management tools and selling features compared to Shopify.
Open-Source Ecommerce Platforms
WooCommerce, built as a WordPress plugin, powers 35% of online stores and 9.2% of the entire internet. If WordPress is the foundation, WooCommerce is the specialized ecommerce engine you install on top to sell things. Magento Open Source, which Adobe continues to maintain as a free platform, provides another powerful open-source option.
Open-source platforms give you access to underlying code. If you have some coding chops or have a web development team, you can shape the site around how your business works instead of adapting workflows to platform constraints. You also avoid many of the transaction fees.
You manage your own hosting and maintenance. But for custom functionality, complex pricing, or specialized integrations, open-source provides what hosted platforms can’t. With the right development team setting things up, running your store can be just as easy as Shopify.
Enterprise Ecommerce Solutions
Shopify Plus is just as easy to use but adds priority support, dedicated account managers, and lower transaction fees. You’ll likely still need apps for advanced B2B ecommerce features. BigCommerce includes native B2B tools (customer groups, custom pricing, quote systems) and multi-storefront dashboards built into the platform, which Shopify makes you pay extra for.
Adobe Commerce (the paid enterprise version of Magento) serves global corporations like Shell, Unilever, HP, or anyone running multi-brand, multi-national operations. Licensing starts around $22,000 annually and can reach $125,000+ based on revenue scale. The platform assumes you have ongoing development resources to customize, optimize, and maintain it.
Shopify Plus and BigCommerce can work if you’re doing $1-10 million annually with plans to add more and more products. Adobe Commerce targets anyone doing $10+ million with multiple brands and international operations. Before committing to $50,000-150,000+ in annual costs, consider if an open-source option can provide what you need without the higher enterprise overhead.
Adobe acquired Magento in 2018 and renamed the enterprise version Adobe Commerce. Magento Open Source still exists as a free, self-hosted option. Adobe Commerce is the paid enterprise tier with both cloud-hosted and self-hosted options.
When to Consider a Custom Ecommerce Site
Sometimes hosted platforms don’t offer the flexibility you want, but enterprise platforms cost more than they’re worth and you end up paying for all the bells and whistles you don’t really need. All Around Industry Supply faced this issue. Shopify couldn’t maintain performance with 100,000+ products and they wanted to customize their site-wide search feature. Enterprise options could handle the scale but would charge huge amounts for features they’d never use.
Our fully customized WooCommerce build delivered exactly what they needed. We optimized the database to keep searches fast despite catalog size, built custom specification fields for technical details, created filtering by equipment type and specs, and streamlined checkout. It handles their complex catalog and stays fast without all the heavy enterprise licensing fees.
They now have an online store they can manage daily (no development required), reasonable annual costs to keep things running smoothly, and a solid foundation they can build on if they need any adjustments or additional features. This type of custom website development lets you build exactly what your business needs.
Making Your Ecommerce Decision
Once you know what your catalog looks like, how your systems need to connect, and where your business is headed, you can narrow down your best option:
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Hosted Platforms
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Open-Source Platforms
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Enterprise Platforms
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Examples
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Shopify, Squarespace
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WooCommerce + WordPress, Magento Open Source
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Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce
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Best For
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Standard product catalogs, simple checkout, quick launch
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Custom functionality, specific integrations, full control, B2B operations
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Large catalogs, complex pricing, multi-store operations, international scale
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Investment
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$5K-25K one-time setup + $360-3,600/year platform fees + app fees + ongoing maintenance
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$15K-150K one-time development + $240-2,400/year hosting + ongoing maintenance
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$50K-250K one-time development + $24K-100K+/year licensing (includes hosting) + ongoing maintenance
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Requirements
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Minimal technical work
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Development support
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Specialized expertise and ongoing investment
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Key Consideration
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Limited customization, transaction fees on sales, apps cost extra
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Full customization control, you own your data, can grow with you
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Expensive – check if open-source meets your needs first
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For many businesses, an open-source ecommerce platform paired with the right setup offers the right balance of control and cost.
Why We Build on WooCommerce
All Around is a great example of what happens when you match the right ecommerce platform to specific business requirements. Custom WooCommerce gives you the control and flexibility to handle large catalogs, any variation of specifications, and specialized workflows. And all without paying enterprise licensing fees or dealing with the rigidity of hosted platforms.
If you’re launching a new online store, outgrowing your current site, or hitting limitations, custom WooCommerce can deliver exactly what you need without breaking the bank.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I switch ecommerce platforms without losing SEO rankings?
Yes, with proper SEO planning from the start. Implement 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones, maintain your URL structure where possible, and submit an updated sitemap to Google. Most SEO value transfers if you handle the technical migration correctly. Plan for 2-3 months to see rankings stabilize.
What's the real cost difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?
Shopify costs $29-299/month for the platform subscription. Shopify charges a 0.5-2% fee for transactions if you use third-party payment processing (i.e. Stripe, Paypal). They waive their transaction fee if you use Shopify Payments. You’ll also be doing the setup work yourself unless you hire someone to help you ($50-200/hour).
The basic version of the WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is free but there are also hosting costs ($20-200/month), premium add-ons/plugins depending on your needs ($0-500), and development help ($50-200/hour) to keep in mind.
With any online store setup, you’ll pay a processing fee for the payments themselves, which varies by processor. For simple stores, Shopify often costs less. For larger product catalogs or any custom design or functionality, WooCommerce typically wins on total cost.
Do I need a developer to run a WooCommerce store?
Not for basic setup and daily operations. You need development help for custom features, complex integrations, performance optimization, and troubleshooting technical issues. Many businesses start with basic WooCommerce and add development resources as they grow.
Which platform is better for dropshipping?
Shopify dominates dropshipping with apps like Oberlo and DSers that automate product imports and order fulfillment. WooCommerce works well for dropshipping but requires a more involved setup and plugin configuration process.
Can BigCommerce handle as many products as WooCommerce?
BigCommerce handles large catalogs well (up to 600+ product variants) but WooCommerce with proper optimization handles larger catalogs more flexibly. For 10,000+ products with complex variations, WooCommerce with custom development typically performs better.
How long does it take to build a custom ecommerce site?
Basic implementations take 1-2 months. Complex builds with custom features, integrations, and large product catalogs require 3-6 months. Enterprise platforms can take 6-12 months including planning, development, testing, and migration.
What is headless commerce and do I need it?
Headless commerce separates your content management (backend) from customer-facing frontend. You need it when serving content across multiple channels (web, mobile app, kiosks), requiring complete design control, or building highly customized user experiences. Most businesses don’t need headless architecture.
Which enterprise ecommerce platform is best for international selling?
Enterprise ecommerce platforms like Shopify Plus handle multi-currency, international shipping, and duties/taxes automatically. WooCommerce requires plugins like WooCommerce Multilingual and manual configuration but offers more control over international pricing and shipping rules.
Can I sell on Amazon and have my own ecommerce site?
Yes. Many businesses use marketplace platforms like Amazon for volume and standalone stores for brand building. Most platforms integrate with Amazon, eBay, and other marketplaces. Marketplace platforms connect you to established audiences quickly. Standalone stores give you full control over branding and direct customer relationships. This approach maximizes exposure while maintaining direct customer relationships.
Do I need different platforms for B2B and B2C?
Not necessarily. BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce handle both natively. WooCommerce can serve both with B2B plugins. Shopify Plus offers B2B capabilities. Most businesses benefit from one platform serving both audiences with different user experiences based on customer type.
