Is Wix a Good Option for Building an eCommerce Store?
When you’re on the lookout for a way to build your new online store, you can’t fail to bump into at least a few mentions of Wix on your research journey. Backed by a solid multi-media advertising campaign and with high praise from both industry experts and everyday users alike, the Tel Aviv based platform currently boasts a reputation as one of the biggest online website builders in the world.
Yet throughout most of your research so far, you’ve found far more examples of Wix’s existing customers’ using the platform to create portfolios, brochure sites and even community news portals. Admittedly, these are all really well done, and you’ve had a hard time distinguishing between a site created on Wix, and one that employed the services of some expensive, top level web developer.
Sure, it’s good, but could you really use a jack-of-all-trades website builder to create your eCommerce site? After all, there’s a number of dedicated eCommerce solutions out there like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Volusion, all of which do away with everything else to focus solely on helping you get you build your online store.
Of course, we’re not counting those options out. Each one is incredibly good at what it does, and provides enough tools, templates and reliable back-end support to make a good choice for online stores of all shapes and sizes. Yet by the same token, that’s not to discredit Wix either. Indeed, though it may not be everybody’s first choice of eCommerce site builder, it certainly holds its own.
If you’re asking us if Wix is a good option for building us an online store then, our answer is ‘yes of course, and here’s just a few reasons why:’
Low cost site builders
If you’ve been swayed to take a look at Wix in the past after seeing any of their multiple marketing campaigns, we’re going to hedge our bets that you did so on the lure of being able to build your whole site for free.
Whilst that’s certainly true in most cases -even for online stores- you will need to upgrade to their eCommerce plan to really make the most of your site. Fortunately, this runs at a low cost of just $10/£10 per month, making it one of the more attractively priced plans on the market.
Beautiful site designs
Didn’t we say earlier that it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between a Wix template and a custom-made professional website? That’s one of the things that really appeals to us about Wix. Their online store website templates are both beautifully made and highly practical, and in many cases certainly give those offered by even the best eCommerce-focused platforms a run for their money.
The great news here of course, is that even the most unique and stylish themes are free to use, whereas with platforms like Shopify, you’re going to have to shell out some big bucks to get the best templates.
Ease of use
Here’s perhaps a critical one for those of you who are new to the world of building websites. Though it may seem like a daunting task, Wix takes out most of the hard work by using a simple drag-and-drop interface, with clearly-marked customization options and an abundance of features that allow you to really make your website your own with no more skill or technical know-how than it takes to operate a computer mouse.
Again, we’re not saying the big name eCommerce platforms like BigCommerce and their ilk are difficult. For the most part, we found them pretty straight forward, and they do make a good option for building an online store but then, as you’ve probably gathered by now, so too does jack-of-all-trades site builder, Wix.