The Best Ecommerce Platforms for Dropshipping Businesses in 2024

Many people consider dropshipping as an easy way to do business. But, just like any other venture, starting a dropshipping business is as complicated as running a physical store and requires the same level of planning and strategic thinking to get your business running smoothly. 

With the rise of online business, there’s never been a better time to dip your toe in the dropshipping industry. If you’ve decided to start a dropshipping business, the first step of building a dropshipping store is choosing the right platform. Picking the right ecommerce solution for your dropshipping business is similar to establishing a good foundation for a house. It’s not just a tool to perform online business but an entire system that provides much-needed support and gives you better control of your business.

While choosing a platform for your dropshipping business may seem like an easy job because of all the content available over the internet, it isn’t as simple as you think. With so many platforms in the market, it becomes challenging to determine which one to select for your business. Both dropshipping and ecommerce stores use the same platforms for selling products as they’re synonymous in nature. But there can be slight differences in ease of access, support, pricing, and other factors that dropshippers should consider before selecting a platform for their dropshipping business.

Keen to start dropshipping? In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at some of the best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping. But before we determine which platform is best for dropshipping, and surface the best dropshipping platform overall, let’s dig a little deeper into other things you need to know to make the best selection.  

How to choose the best platform for dropshipping?

Understanding which platform would be the right choice for your dropshipping company is tricky as each platform is built differently and has unique features. Some platforms are designed for small online businesses, whereas others are ideal for established ones. Some may be more suitable to integrate with brick-and-mortar stores, while others may be ideal for dropshippers.

As there are several ecommerce platforms that you can use, you should carry out your due diligence to find the one that best suits your business needs. 

Expert tip: Look for an ecommerce platform that invests in its back-end technology to provide you with better solutions. Sometimes, businesses will jazz up their brand at the expense of building their back-end business engine.

In this section, we’ll learn how to choose the best ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business.

Understand your ecommerce needs

One of the crucial steps in choosing the right platform for your dropshipping business is understanding your ecommerce needs. The needs may differ depending on the kind of online store you want to build. Some may need the most flexible and customisable platform that’s easy to set up, while others may prefer the best overall platform that’s specially built for a dropshipping business. 

For those seeking strong SEO performance, they should be looking at the WooCommerce platform. It’s an open-source software that runs on WordPress. The users have complete ownership of the store, which allows them to change any SEO-related specifics for the ecommerce store and optimise it for better performance. If you choose to build your dropshipping store with WooCommerce, you can take advantage of several plugins, such as Yoast SEO, Schema Pro, and AIOSEO, that can help you to improve WooCommerce product SEO. 

Each ecommerce platform has its own reasons why it could be the best. Mapping your business requirements and expectations and knowing what you want in your online store can help you identify the best ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business. 

Research to find the perfect fit for your business

Once you’ve chalked out your ecommerce needs, the next thing you need to do is start looking into the best ecommerce platforms. There’s never a ‘one size fits all' solution. You need to analyse and evaluate what different ecommerce platforms offer to find the perfect fit for your business. 

The best way to begin your search is by outlining what features and experiences you want the ecommerce platform to offer. Put them on paper and start looking at different ecommerce platforms and their offerings. Following this process will help you to have a clear mind about what exactly you should look for to build a well-functioning ecommerce store.

Determine your costs

Starting a dropshipping business is a cost-effective option. You won’t have to cover rent, warehousing costs, or other business fees, which will save you money that you can use to grow your business in other ways. However, there are still some expenses that you’ll have to bear when starting and running your online business. 

According to the Forbes Finance Council members, there are some hidden costs that come with starting an online business that entrepreneurs should consider. These hidden costs include operating costs, marketing costs, technology expenses, ecommerce website costs, insurance and taxes, cost of sales, and legal costs. 

You may start for as little as $100, but it’s more likely that you will have to put in more capital to get your business running. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance to determine your costs beforehand so that you can plan things and know what to expect in the long run. To understand how to calculate costs associated with starting an online business, you can read through the guide created by Queensland Government.    

Consider your future business plans

Next, you should think about your future business plans. Are you planning to expand your ecommerce store? Or do you intend to introduce new product categories? The ecommerce platform you choose for your dropshipping store should support your business as it scales. 

When your business grows, you may get traffic in the thousands and millions. In this case, it can be really frustrating if your platform of choice doesn’t cooperate. So, you should check if the platform that you're planning to choose can handle your traffic and data. If the platform fails to scale with your business, you may have to switch to a different ecommerce platform, enduring website downtime, and put sales at risk during a pivotal point in your growth.

Look for an ecommerce solution with a reliable payment gateway 

When choosing an ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business, you should consider if the ecommerce platform provides safe and reliable payment gateways. It's a critical part of managing an online business. Integrating a reliable payment gateway can help ecommerce businesses increase conversion rates as the customers may feel more comfortable providing payment information, which ultimately generates more revenue. 

The platform you choose for your dropshipping business should support multiple payment methods to make a transaction, enabling you to accommodate the needs of various customers. A convenient and hassle-free checkout and payment process matters for the success of your business. It makes for a painless online shopping experience. The Australian Government has created a handy guide to help you choose the payment methods that best suit your business.  

Major factors to consider when choosing a platform for dropshipping 

The platform you choose can greatly influence your business growth. Imagine that you’re getting multiple visitors to your ecommerce storefront only to find it’s not functioning the way it should. Or, think about your checkout system collapsing and ultimately resulting in a loss of revenue that was more than you bargained for. Such problems can arise no matter the stage of business. 

For this reason, you should select an ecommerce platform after carefully weighing its pros and cons and understanding how it could affect your business. Remember, no platform is perfect or offers everything for all different types of customers. But, you could still find an ecommerce platform that closely fits your needs with in-depth research and comparing all aspects of an ecommerce platform. An ecommerce platform that offers timely technical support when any sudden business crises happen could help you deal with such problems efficiently.  

Key features of an ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business

The first and the most crucial step to running a successful dropshipping business is to decide which platform to use to build your dropship store. When evaluating ecommerce platforms for your business, the following are some key features that you should consider. 

Ease of use 

When choosing your dropshipping platform, the first key feature you should look for is the ease of use. The platform you choose for your business should be user-friendly, making it easy for you to set up an online store with effortless navigation for a better customer experience. 

As a dropshipping store owner, you’ll need to manage your website’s front-end and back-end, handle payments, and manage multiple dropshipping suppliers to work efficiently. In this case, you’ll need an easy-to-use dropshipping platform. Many platforms provide detailed guides on how to do the most common tasks. They also have FAQs to help you deal with unexpected issues you may encounter. But, if you’re still having difficulty using the platform, it’s not worth sticking with over the long term.  

The Baymard Institute conducted extensive research on how users scan, evaluate, filter, and sort products within an online store. A group of users aged 21-56 were selected for this research to test 19 leading ecommerce sites across eight different verticals. According to the research findings, users encountered more than 700 website usability issues related to product lists, filtering, and sorting. 

If you want more customers to buy from your dropshipping store, you should choose a dropshipping platform providing better site navigation for your customers. After all, if your customers can't easily browse your products or find what they’re looking for, you’ll lose sales and your valuable customers. For all these reasons, you should choose a platform that helps you to design a user-friendly homepage, neatly categorise your products, draft an easy-to-understand and clearly visible shipping and refund policy, and have hassle-free and easy-to-use payment gateways.             

Dropshipping apps, integrations and plugins

Your dropshipping platform should allow you to connect with reliable dropshipping suppliers to offer a good fulfilment service and provide high-quality products at your ecommerce store. Dropshipping integrations or plugins are handy, allowing you to add functionality to your platform, connect with your dropshipping suppliers, import products, and manage inventory. They may even automate the order process so that when your customers place an order for a product, your dropship supplier may get automatically notified to initiate and process orders quickly.   

For instance, if you choose Dropshipzone for dropshipping services, we offer an app specially designed for Shopify users, to provide retailers with the best and most efficient dropshipping experience. Our app is free to install and allows you to import products from Dropshipzone, an Australian-based wholesale and dropship B2B marketplace that offers over 10,000 products across the most popular categories. 

Our Shopify dropshipping app works in five steps: Choose and import products to your store, sell products on your Shopify store, place an order with Dropshipzone once your customer places an order, then Dropshipzone ships products to customers, and finally, you get your profit share by selling products at your price. By using our dropshipping app, you get unrestricted access to new products launched weekly, and benefit from the convenience of searching for products with keywords. It also features instant product and inventory sync, an automatic shipping fee calculator, and instant order sync to make your dropshipping experience less stressful. Furthermore, the app comes speed tested, meaning you can rest assured that it won’t impact your online store’s performance. 

Expert tip: Ensure you review the dropshipping integrations before selecting your ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business.

Customisation

Storefront customisation is a major deciding factor when choosing a dropshipping platform. Different platforms offer varying levels of customisation. Some ecommerce platforms may offer limited customisations, while others may provide extensive themes and storefront customisations to design an online store to reflect your brand personality. 

When choosing a platform for your dropshipping store, you have an option to choose from open source and software-as-a-service (SaaS). Open source ecommerce platforms, such as WooCommerce, give the user complete control to customise everything from product pages to themes to check out experiences. However, open source platforms are only suitable for those possessing extensive coding experience or who have a budget to account for programming costs. 

On the other hand, SaaS ecommerce platforms, such as Shopify and BigCommerce, offer limited customisations since the service provider controls the source code. But, these platforms can be an incredible option for those who lack technical expertise, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of SaaS with some flexibility and functionality of open source ecommerce platforms. 

Pricing

Dropshipping isn’t a get-rich-quick business. Profit margins can be lower than traditional ecommerce. Some platforms may be free, while others may charge high fees. You don’t want the cost of your ecommerce platform to overshadow your profits. So, it’s of utmost importance to consider the price factor and estimate your return on investment (ROI) when choosing a dropshipping platform for your business. Some ecommerce platforms offer membership plans that include various features. You can select the package depending on your business needs.   

Each platform has its pros and cons that justify the pricing. For instance, WooCommerce allows you to set up a dropshipping store for free. You have complete control over your online store and can design it as you want. But, it’s not suitable for beginners lacking technical expertise. On the other hand, Shopify charges USD$29/month for its basic plan in Australia in 2022, which goes up to USD$299/month for its advanced package. But, if you want a hassle-free set-up with infinite scalability, Shopify might be the best choice for your business. It also offers some customisation features for your storefront. 

IT support

It’s not always sunshine and roses when running a dropshipping business. No platform is built to be 100 per cent perfect. Inevitably, there will be times when servers crash and software outages, which can affect your brand reputation and impact your revenue. In such events, you need strong backing from the IT support team to deal with unexpected issues.

Your service provider should be easy to contact by phone, email, or online chat, at a minimum during business hours, so you can quickly discuss the problems you’ve encountered with the experienced and professional team at any time. Simply having easy-to-contact methods in place isn’t enough. A reliable and good service provider will provide solutions to your problems or requests in short order to ensure the smooth functioning of your business. 

Scalability as a dropshipping solution

As your business grows, you’ll attract a significant amount of traffic and might need more products, along with reliable order processing capability and additional functionalities that can help you keep up. If your ecommerce platform fails to keep up with these changes, it might result in slow loading time and data corruption. These changes may catch you off-guard and happen without warning. It can also negatively impact your customers' experiences and affect your sales. To avoid such unpleasant situations, you should choose a platform that will scale with your dropshipping business. 

Your business may grow slowly or rapidly because no two businesses experience the same level of business growth in a given amount of time. So, choosing an advanced level platform right in the initial period might not be the right choice. A platform that offers various packages, such as a basic plan to an advanced one, with additional functionalities and features to support varying degrees of business growth might be the best choice. 

Built-in marketing tools 

Another essential feature that you should consider when choosing a dropshipping platform for your business is marketing tools. Building a dropshipping store is one part of the business, while marketing your store to your target audience is what should be your next step. Promoting your brand can help you build a strong foundation for your business to succeed. It will help you get ranked on search engines and discovered by your target audiences. 

Many platforms have built-in marketing tools and SEO features. Some also provide various plugins and integrations that you can use. It can be more convenient to choose a platform with inbuilt marketing and SEO tools. So, what tools should you look for in a dropshipping platform? 

• Social media marketing tools to conveniently share special promos and other marketing-related activities on various social media platforms, advertise products and organise new product launch events. 

• Email marketing to keep your audiences updated about the upcoming offers, discounts, and sales and generate automated welcome and abandoned cart alert emails. 

• SEO tools to help you boost your performance on search engines.  

If your selected platform doesn’t provide the essential tools you need, you might have to spend more money on additional apps and software. 

List of the best dropshipping platforms in 2022 

We’ve taken a closer look at things to consider when choosing a platform for your dropshipping store. Now let's get into the details to find the best ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business. 

From the experts at Dropshipzone, here’s a list of the best vetted ecommerce platforms for dropshipping in 2022.

Shopify

Undoubtedly, Shopify is among the most powerful ecommerce platforms on the market today. In 2017, Shopify acquired Oberlo, a dropshipping plugin that allows users to import products easily and enables efficient order fulfilment. It's a hosted platform, which makes it perfect for beginners without technical knowledge and skills. You don’t have to worry about purchasing hosting, SSL or installing software.

Shopify offers multiple built-in features, functionalities, and apps that make it easy and convenient to run a dropshipping store. Creating a Shopify account is simple, and it even comes complete with pages you need for your website. These include:

• About Us

• Privacy Policy

• Shipping information

• Shipping fee calculator 

• Return Policy 

Setting up your dropshipping store with Shopify is easy and hassle-free. It has an easy-to-use interface, and in terms of customer support, you get 24/7 assistance via multiple channels, such as live chat, phone, and email. Shopify also has a knowledgebase and community forum where you can find answers to common questions. For most dropshippers, Shopify is a reliable ecommerce platform.

Key features of Shopify

Some of the key features of Shopify are listed below.

• Hosted platform

• Abandoned cart recovery

• Integrated dropshipping plugins and apps

• Fraud analysis

• Get financial reports

• Create an account before buying

• Automatic shipping fee calculator

• Multiple online sales channels

• Excellent customer support

• No limit on sales

• Unlimited products

• Third party support 

Shopify pricing

Shopify offers 14 days free trial without asking for credit card details. It has three pricing plans with different features from which you can choose depending on your business needs. 

• The basic plan is best for beginners with occasional in-person sales. You can get it for USD$29/month. 

• The Shopify plan is ideal for growing businesses selling products online or in-store. You can get this plan for USD$79/month. 

• The advanced plan is perfect for scaling businesses that require high-level reporting. This plan is priced at USD$299/month.

Pros 

• Quick and hassle-free store set-up

• Customisable themes

• Easy-to-use interface

• 24/7 customer support and online community forum

• Access to over 6,000 apps via the Shopify App Store

• SEO friendly

• Fast loading times

• Built-in marketing tools

• Multiple dropshipping integrations

• Mobile-friendly designs

Cons

• Limited customisations

• Not a free platform

• Shopify Payments limited to some countries

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms used around the globe. It’s an open-source ecommerce platform, which gives you more control and freedom over your dropshipping store. Just like building a WordPress website, WooCommerce is completely free to download, use, and modify. But you’ll have to pay for your web hosting account. Its prices could vary depending on the hosting and the package you choose. 

For dropshippers, WooCommerce provides a premium ‘WooCommerce Dropshipping’ module, which is priced at USD$79 as a monthly fee in 2022, but comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. It helps you to effectively manage your entire dropshipping operation within WooCommerce and comes with AliExpress integration and Amazon Affiliate support.    

WooCommerce Dropshipping is designed to make dropshipping easy and hassle-free. So sell more and worry less. Though it's a free ecommerce platform, it offers a premium feel to its users. It comes with a GUI interface that’s similar to a road map, which guides users on how to do something. To get the best out of this platform, the users should possess at least some technical knowledge and skills.

WooCommerce is one of the most popular plugins for the WordPress platform, and users who already have a WordPress website and want to add an online store can launch their business with just a few clicks without paying anything. Furthermore, it has a massive community of users, developers, and contributors and several forums where you can seek answers to your questions.   

Key features of WooCommerce

Some of the key features of WooCommerce are listed below.

• Open-source ecommerce platform

• Highly customisable 

• Easy to use and modify

• Simple GUI interface

• Widespread community of designers and developers

• Robust SEO features

• Automate order notifications to your suppliers

• Enables to work with multiple suppliers

• Import unlimited products

• Supports major dropshipping plugins

• Multiple built-in marketing features

WooCommerce pricing

WooCommerce is free to download and install. But you’ll have to pay for hosting and some premium features, which can quickly add up the costs. For dropshippers, in 2022, WooCommerce provides a premium ‘WooCommerce Dropshipping’ module that’s priced at USD$79 as a monthly fee and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

Pros 

• Free to download

• Comes with a WooCommerce Dropshipping module

• More freedom and control over your website

• User-friendly platform

• Multiple extensions

Cons

• Not suitable for non-technical users

• Hosting and maintenance costs

Wix

Wix is a hosted ecommerce platform that allows you to sell products online. It started as a content management system but added several ecommerce features over the years. One of the main advantages of using Wix is easy to use functionality and interface. It has a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder, which enables you to get your dropshipping store up and running quickly. It offers customisable templates, web hosting, and domain name registration. 

You can build a basic website for free with Wix, but you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan to use its ecommerce features. Wix lets you track orders, accept online payments, sell products on multiple channels, and create abandoned cart campaigns. Though Wix offers many features to run an online store, it may not be the best ecommerce platform because it lacks some essential features, such as EDI support, required for running a dropshipping store. 

Wix is ideal for small and medium dropshipping businesses. It’s perfect for those who want a simple solution without requiring technical knowledge. You can customise your dropshipping store without knowing how to code. It’s a mobile-friendly platform, and you can sell products online from your phone by downloading its mobile app. 

Key features of Wix

Some of the key features of Wix are listed below.

• Hosted ecommerce platform

• 500+ professional templates

• Mobile-optimised storefront

• Multichannel sales

• Customisable online store

• Extensive media library

• Limitless customisation with APIs

• Built-in marketing features

• Suits global ecommerce business

• Built-in SEO tools

• Smart business automations

• Efficient catalogue and inventory management

• Exclusive dropshipping features

• Hassle-free fulfilment

• Abandoned cart recovery

Wix pricing

Wix offers hundreds of website templates, unlimited pages, and top-grade hosting for free. It offers three different plans, enabling you to choose what best suits your business needs. The Wix premium plans are categorised into three types: 

• Website plans: Great for showcasing a professional site

• Business and ecommerce plans: Essential for accepting online payments

• Enterprise plans: Custom solutions tailored to your brand  

These plans are priced differently and offer various features to suit your business needs. 

Pros 

• Drag and drop tools

• Excellent features for building a dropshipping store

• Impressive features and tools to grow and scale

• Customisable templates

• SEO tools and hundreds of apps

• Beginner-friendly

• 24/7 support

Cons

• Difficult to switch your template

• Tracking and analytics require paid plan

• Weak integration with Amazon

• Limited customisation options

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a hosted platform that has complete server hosting. It could be the right ecommerce platform if you're a larger or fast-growing business with more resources based on the opportunity for customisation. Users with minimal design skills can use this platform effectively, but it doesn’t offer the same amount of customisation options. However, those with advanced technical expertise can customise the platform to meet their business needs. 

You can convert any BigCommerce store to a dropshipping store using apps from the App store. There are multiple integrations that can make it easy to add new products to your product catalogue. On this single ecommerce platform you can host an unlimited number of products, with no limits on file storage or bandwidth. 

BigCommerce offers various pricing plans for businesses at different stages, but each plan comes with sales limits. What makes BigCommerce stand out is excellent customer support. It provides 24/7 service with phone calls, ticketing, and live chat. There’s an extensive knowledge base, an active online forum, and multiple video tutorials helping you provide your customers with the best online experience. 

Key features of BigCommerce

Some of the key features of BigCommerce are listed below.

• Hosted platform

• Perfect for small and large businesses

• Extensive built-in tools

• Platform-wide APIs

• Drag-and-drop PageBuilder

• No additional transaction fees

• Robust SEO services

• Social media marketing and email marketing services

• Advanced reporting

• Inventory management tools

• Personalised site audits

• Robot.txt and customisable URLs

• Featured channel integrations

• Plugin POS integrations

BigCommerce pricing

BigCommerce offers enterprise-level plans in 2022 designed to take your business to the next level. There’s no set dollar amount, as they provide pricing tailored to each business’ needs at different growth stages. Furthermore, it doesn’t charge additional transaction fees and offers 15 days free trial. Additionally, BigCommerce offers other essential plans for businesses of all sizes. 

• The standard plan is priced at USD$29.95 as a monthly fee. It lets you sell online by helping you design a beautiful online store. 

• The plus plan enables you to grow your business with marketing tools proven to increase conversion. You can get this plan for USD$79.95/month.   

• The pro plan lets you scale your growing business with comprehensive features. You can get this plan for USD$299.95/month. 

BigCommerce provides you with the option to pay annually and save up to 10 per cent on your total price. However, this offer is available for plus and pro plans only.  

Pros 

• Easier to use

• Better support

• Fast performance

• Continuous updates

• Complete control

• 24/7 customer support

Cons

• Limited dropshipping platform integrations

• High cost

• Limits on annual sales

Magento

Magento, now Adobe Commerce, offers two versions: Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce. It’s a great ecommerce platform designed for developers who want a powerful and flexible system that allows them to customise.

Magento is not as 'beginner-friendly' as other ecommerce platforms. You will find orders, product categories, and marketing features displayed on the dashboard. But as you go through different sections, you will find numerous options that may make you feel more overwhelmed than if you were using other platforms. If you have some technical knowledge or you're employing technical experts to handle your dropshipping store, Magento should however be an excellent platform. 

Dropshipping business may grow exponentially. Therefore, you need a platform that can scale with your growing business. Magento has been considered one of the best platforms for dropshipping, thanks to its excellent scalability. It offers several benefits for businesses that want a tailored platform. But it can result in higher costs and complexity. 

Magento has a well-deserved reputation for its powerful built-in features and incredible customisation options. It supports major dropshipping plugins and has endless SEO possibilities that can enable you to grow and scale your dropshipping business. Additionally, Magento’s marketing integrates with Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Google Tag Manager, Google Content Experiments, and Google Privacy Setting. It also allows you to generate unique coupon codes for promotion and export the list for emails and newsletters.   

Key features of Magento

• Non-hosted, developer-friendly platform

• Accurate inventory management

• Advanced order fulfilment

• Third-party integrations

• Extensive reports

• Real-time sync orders, customers, and inventory data

• Strong SEO performance

• Catalogue management

• Advanced analytics and reporting tools

• Marketing and promotional tools

• Mobile-responsive themes

• Multiple site management features

• Order management and access to customer accounts

Magento pricing

Magento Open Source is a 'free plan' ecommerce platform to download and install. However, you will need to cover the cost of hosting, domain, extensions, and development fees. Adobe Commerce is a paid premium version that suits enterprise-level businesses and offers impressive dropshipping features and solutions. Unfortunately, pricing for this version isn’t listed on their website as it can vary from one user to another. You must sign up for a demo with the sales team to get the pricing information for your business. Its pricing is based on your dropshipping store’s Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) and Average Order Value (AOV). 

Pros 

• Easy to scale up

• Self-hosted data

• Intuitive back-end interface

• Supports several dropshipping apps and plugins

• No hidden or extra charges

• Fast payment processing and shipping

• High flexibility and customisation

• GDPR compliant

Cons

• Complicated pricing structure

• Higher running and operation costs

• Requires developer skills

• Expensive themes

• Can affect loading times

Which one should you choose: Hosted vs Open-source platforms 

We’ve covered a lot of ground so far and discussed some of the best dropshipping platforms for Australian businesses in 2022 and what they offer. Now, it's time to dive into other important considerations before selecting an ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business. 

When it comes to ecommerce platforms, there are two options that you can choose from - hosted and open-source platforms. Each has its pros and cons. So, which one should you choose for your dropshipping business? And which platform could be the best fit? The answer is simple: choose a platform that best suits your needs. Remember, there’s always a tradeoff between the two. It’s essential to understand the difference between the two and how each works to make the right choice for your business. 

In this section, we’ll deep dive into hosted and open-source platforms to gain a better understanding of these platforms. 

Hosted platforms

Do you want to build a dropshipping store quickly and in the most hassle-free way? Hosted ecommerce platforms are a good choice. They’re a type of software as a service (SaaS) that hosts online stores. You don’t need to look into the technical side of building an online store as hosted platforms include hosting and software, which enables you to set up the store easily without worrying about coding, web hosting, or version updates.

Hosted ecommerce platforms make a practical solution for non-techies. Setting up a website from scratch can be overwhelming, especially for those with limited technical expertise. A hosted ecommerce platform is already hosted by the service providers on their servers, which makes it easier to get the site running efficiently.

The platform comes with reliable online payment integration, efficient inventory management, powerful server technology resources, and expertise in compliance and security pertaining to web-based transactions and data management. You can also use their web templates, themes, and designs to customise your dropshipping store. Furthermore, you get dedicated and timely support from the excellent customer service team 24/7 via email, chat, and call if you need help. 

However, the only downside of hosted ecommerce platforms is that you have limited control over the site and its features. Some ecommerce platforms come with pre-installed plugins or can be installed on purchase. If you need additional advanced features, you have to choose from one of their plans and pay extra for the plugins or site features you need. 

The below table lists the pros and cons of hosted ecommerce platforms. 

Examples of hosted ecommerce platforms 

• Shopify

• Wix

• Squarespace

• BigCommerce

• 3dcart

Open-source platforms

If you want complete control of your dropshipping store and prioritise customisation over anything else, then open-source platforms are the ideal choice. Open-source platforms, also known as self-hosted platforms, allow users to view and modify the original source code. This means you have complete control and infinite flexibility to customise your dropshipping store. 

When you choose an open-source platform, you’ll have to use your own server space to host your ecommerce platform or pay monthly fees to rent space from a third-party hosting provider. It requires you to manage your hosting account, manually set up plugins and other integrations, and deal with installations and updates. You should also possess strong technical and coding skills for ongoing website management, such as updates, bug fixes, and website maintenance.  

If you lack technical expertise, all of these might turn you off, and you might have to outsource or rely on internal resources to get the job done. This can quickly add up the costs and may leave you hanging in times of emergency without professional backing from the customer support team. You can still get some technical support from online forums and threads where fellow dropshippers share knowledge and experience to help each other and stay afloat. Without knowledge or prior experience, it can become challenging to use open-source platforms in the long run due to their complex nature. It may also result in higher expenses and lower revenues.

The below table lists the pros and cons of open-source ecommerce platforms. 

Examples of open-source platforms 

• Magento

• WooCommerce

• OpenCart

Have a quick glance at the below table that summarises the main differences between the hosted and open-source ecommerce platforms. 

Our recommendation

According to the latest Statista 2022 research on leading ecommerce platforms worldwide, WooCommerce is the leading ecommerce platform in 2022, with a market share of 36.68 per cent. Squarespace and Shopify have a market share of 14.49 and 10 per cent, while Wix stores have a total market share of 6.4 per cent, and the others contribute 32.4 per cent. 

After reviewing multiple ecommerce platforms, the team at Dropshipzone recommends Shopify as the best all-around platform for dropshipping due to its extensive range of ecommerce features. It's backed by many dropshippers and new and established entrepreneurs for its consistently high and unhindered performance over the long term. 

Build your dropshipping store with Shopify

Shopify comes equipped with all the tools to create a beautiful customer experience that will encourage visitors to make purchases without hesitation. According to the Forbes Business Council, the checkout process is a hurdle in converting customers into buyers. The research conducted by the Baymard Institute states that the average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.8 per cent, and 49 per cent of customers cite extra costs at checkout, such as taxes, shipping, and convenience fees being too high for cart abandonment. Shopify has a straightforward, reliable, and hassle-free checkout process, which reduces cart abandonment rates. 

Furthermore, Shopify has an easy-to-use and beautiful interface, enabling you to set up your ecommerce site and get it running without any technical expertise. . It offers 24/7 customer support to all its users. Most importantly, Shopify has a suite of tools to help you manage every aspect of your dropshipping business. It also has an App store with over 4,000 apps that enable you to customise the ecommerce experience for your customers and yourself. Its straightforward, easy-to-navigate interface makes it a popular platform choice for those wanting to start dropshipping.

Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. What works for other dropshipping businesses may not necessarily work for your business because each dropshipping business is unique and needs different features and functionalities to run efficiently. So before choosing a platform for your dropshipping business, you should do your due diligence to check how well it will work with your designed workflow and if it meets your business needs. Once you’ve got a good grasp of the ecommerce platform, you’re good to make a selection.    

Start or scale your ecommerce business with Dropshipzone

Dropshipping is a smart way to start an online business. It can be a profitable business with careful planning, determination, hard work, and strong and professional backing from the experts. If you’re looking for a reliable and trustworthy dropshipping suppliers in Australia, consider partnering with Dropshipzone without hesitation. We're an Australian-based wholesale and dropship platform that can help you build a dropshipping business from scratch, and we’ll be with you as your business grows.    

Dropshipzone carries a broad range of products from dropship suppliers, including furniture and kitchen appliances, through to home fitness equipment and pet products. We enable you to carve out your own dropshipping niche by curating your product offering.

After uploading products to your ecommerce site, once your customer places an order, your wholesale supplier or dropshipping supplier takes care of order fulfilment. We’ve got a dedicated quality control team that ensures product quality, safety, and compliance from quality suppliers to assure your peace of mind. And our efficient customer service team will always have your back in times of unexpected crises. We’ve also partnered with reliable shipping companies, so rest assured products will reach your customers within a short period.  

Our suppliers source products directly from manufacturers, meaning you get products at competitive prices that enable you to make good profits as you make sales. Whether in terms of pricing, product range, customer service, order processing times, or integration possibilities, Dropshipzone has got you covered. We are determined to make your dropshipping experience easy and hassle-free.   

Get in touch with our Dropshipzone team and start building your own ecommerce store today.