21 Best Ecommerce Tools You Should Be Using in 2021 (Updated March)

Did you know that ecommerce sales are expected to hit $547 billion in 2019 in the US alone? This makes it a very lucrative method of doing business.

However, running an ecommerce business isn’t without challenges. You are put into direct competition with over 2-3 million such businesses. This means that you need to use some of the best ecommerce tools to unleash your maximum potential.

Ecommerce tools can help you automate and simplify a wide range of tasks pertaining to your business. This can help you utilize your time effectively and increase your efficiency. From website designing to managing your inventory, these tools can help you complete all your ecommerce store-related tasks.

Disclosure: This content has a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).

What Are the Best Ecommerce Tools for Your Business?

Wondering which tools to use for your ecommerce business?

Let’s take a closer look at the best ecommerce tools for your business.

1. Shopify

Shopify is perhaps the best ecommerce tool out there.

Want to know the reason for its popularity?

Read on to find out…

Key features

• A fully-hosted package that takes care of everything from backups to updates
• Drag-and-drop website builder
• Built-in marketing tools to run campaigns on Facebook and Google
• A single dashboard to manage everything from orders to shipping and payments

Cost

• Basic Shopify: $29/month
• Shopify: $79/month
• Advanced Shopify: $299/month
• Shopify Lite: $9/month
• Shopify Plus: Pricing available on request

Pros

• Easy integration with loads of third-party payment gateways
• Sell everywhere from your ecommerce store to online marketplaces and social media
• Excellent site performance

Cons

• Advanced features at high prices

Image via Shopify

Tool level

Independent business owners, high-volume merchants, large enterprises

Usability

Ecommerce, inventory management, marketing

Case study

A lot of brands such as Cee Cee’s Closet NYC have built flourishing businesses with Shopify.

Are you still confused about how to start your online business?

Here’s a pro tip for you.

Pro Tip: You can also hire a Shopify Expert to help you with everything from store setup to SEO.

2. BigCommerce

If we’re talking about the best ecommerce tools, the list wouldn’t be complete without BigCommerce. It is a powerful platform that offers endless opportunities to build, innovate, and grow your online store.

Want to learn about its key features?

Let’s take a look at them.

Key features

• Drag-and-drop design elements
• Flexibility to innovate with an open SaaS platform
• Easy integration with third-party apps
• Powerful analytics for valuable customer insights
• Best-in-class uptime and server response with Google Cloud Platform
• Storefront conversion features such as coupons, digital wallets, etc.

Cost

• BigCommerce Enterprise pricing available on request

Pros

• Easy to use
• Flexible, reliable, and secure platform

Cons

• You may find it expensive.

Image via BigCommerce

Tool level

From small businesses to enterprises

Usability

Ecommerce store

Case study

Brands like WOOLRICH, Skullcandy, and Burrow trust this ecommerce software solution.

Pro Tip: If you are looking for an all-in-one ecommerce solution with tons of built-in features, BigCommerce is the right fit for you.

3. JungleScout

What differentiates Jungle Scout from the other platforms on this list? Jungle Scout is one of the best ecommerce tool for those who want to start selling on Amazon. From product research to product launch, it can help you build and grow your Amazon business from scratch.

Key features

• Product research to identify high-demand products
• Keyword research to optimize product listings
• Analytics tool to track daily sales, revenue, and other key business metrics
• Targeted email campaigns to boost product sales

Cost

• Jungle Scout: $49/month
• Jungle Scout & Extension: $69/month
• Extension: $39/month

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Extensive product data
• 100% free educational resources to get you started

Cons

• Some bugs in their web app integration and Chrome extension

Image via JungleScout

Tool level

First-time sellers, existing Amazon sellers, brands and agencies

Usability

Selling on Amazon, email marketing, inventory management

Case study

Jungle Scout boasts 250,000 successful Amazon sellers.

Pro Tip: You should use Jungle Scout’s Beginners’ Guide to make the best use of this ecommerce solution.

4. 3dcart

3dcart is one of the best ecommerce tools that can help you build a high-converting online store.

Wondering how?

Check out its key features.

Key features

• 100+ supported payment processors
• 200+ built-in features
• 50 free themes
• Cart abandonment recovery tools
• Full access to the HTML and CSS of your store for customization

Cost

• Startup Store: $19/month
• Basic Store: $29/month
• Plus Store: $79/month
• Power Store: $129/month
• Pro Store: $229/month

Pros

• A complete, all-in-one hosted ecommerce solution
• SEO-friendly website builder
• VISA PCI certified security

Cons

• For advanced customizations, you need to have knowledge of HTML and CSS.

Image via 3dcart

Tool level

From home-based startups to medium-sized businesses to large enterprise ecommerce sites

Usability

Ecommerce store, email marketing

Case study

Brands such as Eddyline and LogoUp trust 3dcart.

Pro Tip: To unleash the full potential of 3dcart, learn from its extensive knowledge base,  video tutorials, and support forum.

5. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the best ecommerce tools that’s available for free. It’s specifically built for those who want to add ecommerce functionality to their WordPress websites. What makes WooCommerce very attractive is the fact that it’s easy to use and implement on your WordPress website.

Image via WooCommerce

While they do require that you buy certain features if you want to upgrade the store experience, the free version works well enough too. The only drawback about WooCommerce is the fact that it’s not as easy to set up as other ecommerce stores, which offer drag-and-drop set up.

Pricing

Want to know what makes WooCommerce one of the best ecommerce tools in the market?

It’s absolutely free and open-source.

6. ProProfs Help Desk

It is common for ecommerce businesses to receive tons of emails asking about product features, delivery dates, product availability, and more. This is where the ProProfs Help Desk comes into the picture and helps you respond to every customer email quickly.  (This makes it one of the top best ecommerce tool out there.)

Want to learn more about its features?

Let’s take a look together.

• Track the progress of every customer request/issue
• Shared inbox for easy collaboration
• Built-in Knowledge Base and Live Chat
• Insightful reports to measure individual and team performance
• Capture customer feedback on ProProfs Help Desk with NPS, CSAT surveys
• Can work on desktops, mobile devices, and tablets

Cost

• Forever Free Plan: $0 with limited functions
• Essentials Plan: $10/user/month
• Premium Plan: $15/user/month

Pros

• Easy to set up
• Does not require expert training
• User-friendly interface
• Hosted in the Cloud
• Internal integrations like Knowledge Base, Live Chat, and Survey

Cons

• Lack of external integrations

Image via ProProfs Help Desk

Tool Level

Intermediate — Can be used by small businesses as well as multinational companies

Usability

Customer service, customer support

Case Study

Brands like Acer, Lazy Cloud, OpenCart, etc. trust ProProfs Help Desk to offer delightful customer support experiences.

Pro Tip: Use internal notes and labels to keep tabs on issues and to route your tickets to the concerned departments easily.

7. UltraCart

This is one of the best ecommerce tool which lets you create your online storefront and start selling. It supports businesses regardless of the number of products and experience they have.

Want to learn how it can help you grow your business?

Let’s take a look at its key features.

Key features

• Fully customizable themes to build a responsive website without any additional design skills
• Valuable insights from UltraCart's analytics dashboard to make informed marketing, sales, and design decisions
• Useful integrations with payment and fulfillment providers without expensive add-ons

Cost

• Small: $49.95/month
• Medium: $79.95/month
• Large: $229.95/month
• Enterprise: $499.95/month

Pros

• Responsive design and checkout themes for all mobile platforms
• Multiple storefronts
• Multi-language support

Cons

• Development skills required

Image via UltraCart

Tool level

For growing businesses, enterprises, and developers

Usability

Ecommerce, mobile commerce, website design

Case study

Ecommerce businesses like Solmate Socks and CenterForLit vouch for this ecommerce solution.

Pro Tip: It is best for those who want to add a store to their existing site. If you want to build a website from scratch, this may not be the best platform for you.

8. Oberlo

Oberlo offers a smooth and user-friendly interface that makes it one of the best ecommerce tools out there. It makes the entire process of adding, customizing, and tracking your products extremely simple. In addition, it offers advanced features such as tracking sales, finding alternate suppliers, etc.

Image via Oberlo

Pricing

Oberlo is free to use for stores with up to 500 products and 50 orders per month. Their most advanced plan costs $79.90 per month.

9. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is yet another free ecommerce tool that allows you to build your ecommerce website with ease. What makes it one of the best ecommerce tools is the fact that it can compete with Shopify and WooCommerce in terms of the features offered. The only drawback of this tool is that it can be quite challenging to scale your store through it.

Image via PrestaShop

Pricing

PrestaShop is completely free to use.

10. Big Cartel

Big Cartel makes it simple for you to build your own store and run your business online. It’s built especially for artists and creative individuals who want to sell their creations through their ecommerce stores. It’s this personalized approach of designing the tool that makes it one of the best ecommerce tools for you.

Image via Big Cartel

Pricing

The pricing for Big Cartel starts from $9.99 per month and goes all the way up to $29.99 per month.

11. OpenCart

If you’re looking for a free ecommerce tool, OpenCart is the answer. This is one of the best ecommerce tools that lets you operate your store without any charges. It also comes with many free downloads and updates. If you want to upgrade your store’s functionality, you can download many paid extensions as well.

Image via OpenCart

Pricing 

OpenCart is free and open source. This makes it a great option for budding ecommerce businesses.

12. Magento

Magento helps you create unique ecommerce experiences for your customers through their next-generation technology. Not only does it allow you to build your store, but it also lets you manage it and track your orders. You even get access to detailed analytics so that you can accordingly optimize your store as well. (This makes it one of the best ecommerce tool out there.)

Image via Magento

Pricing

Want to try it first before investing in it?

The Magento community edition is free and open-source. However, it has several paid options that go into thousands of dollars. For instance, its Enterprise edition costs about $15,550 per year.

13. Volusion

From creating your store to selling products and growing your revenue, Volusion can help you achieve it all. What makes Volusion one of the best ecommerce tools is the fact that over 180k entrepreneurs trust it. All you need to do is choose your themes and customize them to start selling.

Image via Volusion

Pricing

Volusion is a paid tool, and it starts at $29 per month and goes all the way up to $299 per month. It also offers a Prime package with which you can customize all features according to your requirements.

14. Ecwid

Ecwid is a freemium ecommerce tool that lets you create and manage a full-fledged ecommerce store with ease. Their affordable fees make it one of the best ecommerce tools. It offers unlimited storage and bandwidth. At the same time, you’re not charged any transaction fees.

Image via Ecwid

Pricing

Ecwid offers a free plan for those who want to sell up to 10 products. Beyond that, their Venture plan costs $15 per month. The Business plan costs $35 per month. And their most advanced plan, the Unlimited plan, costs $99 per month.

15. osCommerce

osCommerce is a great tool that lets you sell online with your self-hosted store and website for free. With over 344k developers, store owners, and service providers, this is one of the best ecommerce tools.

To upgrade your store, they offer thousands of free add-ons as well. They have maintained a strong presence for the past 19 years, which only enhances their credibility.

Image via osCommerce

Pricing

osCommerce is open source and completely free to use.

16. Zen Cart

This is a best ecommerce tool which was developed with the sole purpose of making the whole process of running an ecommerce store easy. It’s extremely simple to install the tool, and you can set up your store quickly with limited computer and coding skills.

Want to know the best part?

What makes it one of the best ecommerce tools is the fact that it can work with nearly every hosting company too.

Image via Zen-Cart

Pricing

Zen Cart is an open-source tool that is completely free to use.

17. CoreCommerce

CoreCommerce offers a fully-hosted, secure, and customizable ecommerce solution for all businesses. What makes it one of the best ecommerce tools out there is that you can choose functions according to your requirements. Be it a new store or an existing website that you want to turn into a store, this tool can do it all.

Image via CoreCommerce

Pricing

CoreCommerce has a plethora of plans on offer for various businesses that have varying requirements. Their packages start from $19 per month and go all the way up to $540 per month.

18. X-Cart

X-Cart lets you build your dream ecommerce store right from scratch. It’s one of the best ecommerce tools for those businesses that have loads of stock-keeping units (SKUs).

What’s more, you ask?

They also offer a wide variety of themes that can make your website designing process smoother. This open-source tool lets you add extra features to it whenever you wish to do so as well.

Image via X-Cart

Pricing

For entry-level businesses, X-Cart is a great ecommerce tool that works for free. However, if you’ve got greater needs, you can choose to go for its paid plans. These range from $495 to $5,995 for lifetime licenses.

19. CS-Cart

This is a best ecommerce tool which powers over 35,000 stores and has been doing so for the past 14 years. It offers a multi-vendor marketplace, which allows you to get significant attention from your customers too. Additionally, it boasts of over 500 features, some of which are built-in while the rest are add-ons.

Designing is also made simple with their easy-to-use layout manager that allows you to build responsive designs in seconds.

Image via CS-Cart

Pricing 

CS-Cart has two main packages. The basic one costs $385, and it comes with a host of features to make your life easy. On the other hand, if you want to have an advanced store, it offers a higher-end package that costs $865.

20. VirtueMart

VirtueMart offers one of the best ecommerce tools for setting up an ecommerce store. It includes over 500 unique features and brings in a strong network of worldwide online stores with it too.

Be it hosting or payment partners, they’ve got a huge list of them to ensure that your ecommerce store set up happens smoothly.

Image via VirtueMart

Pricing

VirtueMart is yet another open-source tool that is completely free to use.

21. Ecomdash

Ecomdash is multi-channel inventory management software that helps you sell your products with ease. It comes with a host of features such as inventory sync, order management, etc. that can make your job of handling the store simpler. (This makes it one of the best ecommerce tool out there.)

You can also automate dropshipping and avoid the hassle of sending out sales orders manually along with fulfillment details.

Image via Ecomdash

What makes this one of the best ecommerce tools is its numerous integrations. You can integrate it with some of the most popular stores such as Amazon and eBay. However, it also allows integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, BigCommerce, and more too.

Pricing

Ecomdash isn’t one of the cheaper options in the industry. However, it excels at what it offers, and that makes its price point worth it. For a basic package, the tool costs $60 per month. However, if you process more than 6,000 orders per month, the tool would cost you $350 per month.

Bonus Tool #1: Omnisend

Omnisend is a best ecommerce tool which built specifically for ecommerce businesses. It empowers online sellers to communicate via multiple channels and leverage precise targeting.

Key Features

• Pre-built automation workflows
• SMS and push notifications
• Easy integration with over 30 ecommerce apps

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Standard Plan: $16/month
• Pro Plan: $99/month
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing

You can get a 14-day free trial for their Standard and Pro plans. You don’t even need a credit card to get registered!

Pros

• Complete integration with ecommerce platforms
• Convenient segmentation features
• Actionable reports
• Great customer service

Cons

• Importing email templates requires basic knowledge of HTML and CSS

Image via Omnisend

Tool Level 

• From small to medium-sized businesses

Bonus Tool #2: Ecommerce Templates

This is one of the best ecommerce tool which provides shopping cart software solution that helps you host your online store with ease. All you need to do is choose your preferred layout and develop your ecommerce website.

Alternatively, you can add the ecommerce functionality to your existing website and add your products to it.

Image via Ecommerce Templates

From store management and product features to shipping features and SEO-friendly features, this tool has got it all. All designs are responsive, and you can integrate it with WordPress as well.

Pricing

There are loads of options to choose from when it comes to this ecommerce tool. The ECT Hosted Store costs $24.95 per month. On the other hand, the WordPress shopping cart costs only $130. If you want to explore its full potential, you can opt for a Developer License that costs $219 as a one time fee.

FAQ

Q1. What are tools of ecommerce?

A. Ecommerce tools help you manage your online store more efficiently. They automate and streamline the processes related to online commerce, such as website design and inventory management.

Q2. What are web-based tools for ecommerce?

A. Some robust web-based ecommerce tools are:

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• JungleScout
• UltraCart
• 3dcart
• WooCommerce
• Oberlo
• PrestaShop

Q3. What is the best ecommerce platform?

A. Shopify is one of the most popular and powerful ecommerce platforms out there. It handles everything from website creation to campaign management on Facebook and Google. This marketer-friendly tool is easy to use and pocket friendly.

Q4. What are the basic tools needed to build a basic ecommerce price comparison website?

A. To build a basic ecommerce price comparison website, you need these tools:

• Website design tools
• Affiliate management software
• Rewards/loyalty program builder
• Barcode/QR code scanner

Q5. What tools are available for building ecommerce & m-commerce applications?

A. The following tools can be used for building ecommerce and m-commerce applications:

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• JungleScout
• UltraCart
• 3dcart
• WooCommerce
• Oberlo
• PrestaShop

Q6. What are the biggest ecommerce companies?

A. The biggest ecommerce companies in the world are:

• Amazon
• Jingdong
• Alibaba
• eBay
• Rakuten
• B2W Companhia Digital

Q7. Is Amazon a B2B or B2C?

A. Amazon is one of the largest B2C (business-to-consumer) ecommerce companies today.

Q8. Is Google a B2B or B2C?

A. Google is both a B2B and B2C

Ready to Grow Your Ecommerce Business?

The cut-throat competition in the ecommerce space has forced businesses to look beyond traditional methods of running their stores.

By designing attractive stores and managing them efficiently, you can catch the attention of your visitors and convert them into customers. With the use of some of the best ecommerce tools, you can execute all of your store operations without any technical know-how as well.

What are some of the best ecommerce tools that you’ve come across? Let me know in the comments.

Disclosure: This content has a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).