Most-Used Ecommerce Platforms In 2024 By Market Share

Leveraging authoritative data from Statista, this post delves into the most popular e-commerce platforms of 2023. We’ll provide an insightful analysis of their usage trends, offering businesses crucial guidance for shaping effective online strategies.

E-commerce Platforms Market Share In 2023 Overview

In the ever-expanding landscape of e-commerce, the market dynamics are continually shaped by the dominance of various platforms. As of 2023, WooCommerce has emerged as the undisputed leader in the global e-commerce software realm, capturing an impressive market share of 39 percent. This underscores its widespread adoption and the trust it garners from businesses worldwide.

Securing the second and third positions are Squarespace Online Stores and Woo Themes, commanding market shares of 14.95 percent and 14.67 percent, respectively. This hierarchy reflects the diverse choices available to businesses seeking reliable e-commerce solutions. The competition among these leading platforms contributes to the dynamic nature of the e-commerce software market.

The market’s projected growth highlights the significance of this technology, which is estimated to reach a value of around 7.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2023, up from 5.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. This growth mirrors the rapid expansion of global retail e-commerce sales, which are predicted to reach a staggering 7.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2025.

Amidst this digital retail revolution, online shopping habits continue to evolve. Smartphones have emerged as the primary device for consumers engaging in online shopping, contributing to 71 percent of retail website traffic. Notably, China and South Korea lead in online shopping penetration rates, with 83 percent of consumers in both countries favoring online purchases. 

The Chinese consumer market’s colossal size is reflected in Alibaba’s stellar performance, securing the top spot among global e-retailers with a remarkable 24 percent market share in 2021. Following closely is Amazon, the American e-retail giant, with a substantial 13 percent market share.

Source: Statista 

Most-Used E-commerce Platforms By Region

The most-used e-commerce platforms can vary significantly by region, reflecting local market preferences, economic factors, and digital infrastructure. Here’s a general overview based on different regions:

US

As the second-largest e-commerce market globally, the United States is a powerhouse, with anticipated sales soaring to $1.6 trillion by 2027. Housing over 13 million websites, Shopify dominates the U.S. e-commerce scene, commanding an impressive market share of 28%. Notably, this share significantly outpaces its closest contender, Squarespace, which holds a 19% market share. The top platforms globally closely mirror the U.S. market, showcasing the universal appeal of these platforms.

In the U.S., the top 10 e-commerce platforms include Shopify (28%, 2.69 million sites), Squarespace (19%, 1.88 million sites), WooCommerce (18%, 1.66 million sites), Wix (16%, 1.46 million sites), and Ecwid (4%, 421,000 sites), among others.

UK

Ranking the third-largest online market globally, the United Kingdom anticipates e-commerce sales surpassing $166 billion in 2023. The competition between WooCommerce and Shopify in the UK is fierce, claiming a 22% market share. However, WooCommerce edges out with approximately 4,000 more stores. The largest UK-based platform is EKM, securing a 0.4% market share.

The top 10 e-commerce platforms in the UK consist of WooCommerce (22%, 190,000 sites), Shopify (22%, 186,000 sites), Squarespace (17%, 148,000 sites), Wix (15%, 136,000 sites), and Ecwid (10%, 85,000 sites), among others.

Australia

Australia, a robust e-commerce market, boasts approximately 638,000 active e-commerce websites. Shopify is the clear leader among the various platforms, capturing the largest market share. This dominance aligns with the global trend, showcasing Shopify’s universal appeal. With its user-friendly interface and diverse features, Shopify continues to empower Australian businesses to establish and manage their online presence effectively.

Germany

Germany, a thriving hub for e-commerce, hosts around 706,000 active e-commerce websites. Shopify is also the platform of choice, holding most of the market share. Its customizable features, reliable performance, and extensive support contribute to its popularity among German businesses. Shopify’s ability to cater to diverse business needs positions it as a key player in Germany’s flourishing e-commerce landscape.

Canada

Canada, home to approximately 463,000 e-commerce websites, sees Shopify as the predominant platform, securing the largest market share. Canadian businesses, both large and small, leverage Shopify’s versatile tools for seamless online store management. The platform’s scalability, integrated payment solutions, and robust support make it a go-to choice for entrepreneurs and enterprises in the Canadian e-commerce sphere.

Sources: Builtwith and E-commerce Gold 

A Closer Look At 5 Most-Used E-commerce Platforms WorldWide

Let’s explore what are the most popular online selling platforms.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce, consistently ranking among the top e-commerce platforms globally, is renowned for its increasing adoption rate. As a WordPress plugin, it offers simplicity, being both free to use and seamlessly scalable, making it a popular choice for diverse online businesses.

Highlight Features:

WooCommerce boasts an extensive library of 1,200+ themes, offering businesses visually stunning options for personalized online storefronts. These themes cater to various industries, enhancing brand representation and delivering an engaging customer experience.

WooCommerce’s robust product sorting allows businesses to organize products by criteria like price or popularity. This streamlines the shopping experience, making it easy for customers to find and purchase products quickly and increasing satisfaction and potential higher conversion rates.

Automating tax calculations based on user location and regulations, WooCommerce ensures accuracy and efficiency in financial operations. This feature saves businesses time and effort, reducing the risk of errors and aiding compliance with diverse tax regulations, particularly beneficial for those operating in multiple regions.

Its built-in payment processing offers a secure and seamless transaction experience, supporting various payment options. This enhances customer trust and streamlines the checkout process, contributing to higher conversion rates without needing third-party integrations.

WooCommerce’s inventory management provides real-time tracking, low-stock notifications, and easy updates. This feature ensures businesses maintain optimal control over product availability, preventing stockouts or overselling and delivering a reliable online shopping experience.

With over 800 extensions, WooCommerce offers unmatched flexibility. These extensions cover many features, allowing businesses to tailor their e-commerce solution to specific needs, ensuring adaptability and scalability for a highly customized platform.

Pricing: While the WooCommerce plugin is free, users incur costs for hosting and domain names to integrate it into the WordPress dashboard. Additional expenses may be associated with extensions or premium features.

Pros:

• Advanced features tailored for larger businesses.
• Unlimited customizable options enhance flexibility.
• Robust customer support for troubleshooting and guidance.
• Abundance of integrations streamlines store management.

Cons:

• Basic knowledge of WordPress is required for effective customization.
• Self-maintenance and updates are necessary for optimal performance.

Who Should Use:

• Businesses with varying sizes and industries seeking a scalable e-commerce solution.
• Users familiar with WordPress looking for a powerful and adaptable online storefront.
• Those requiring advanced features and robust customer support for their e-commerce operations.

Squarespace

Squarespace, a website builder established in 2004, has evolved into a leading platform known for its captivating designs and robust e-commerce features. With a focus on simplicity and sophistication, Squarespace caters to a diverse user base, providing an intuitive platform for creating professional and visually appealing websites, including robust e-commerce solutions.

Highlight Features:

Squarespace offers users over 100 high-quality templates tailored to various industries, providing a visually appealing foundation for a distinctive online presence. This feature ensures that users, including artists, photographers, and businesses, can create professional-looking websites effortlessly.

One of Squarespace’s standout features is the absence of transaction fees, allowing users to maximize profits from their online sales. This benefit is particularly advantageous for businesses, ensuring a straightforward and transparent pricing structure.

The clean and intuitive drag-and-drop interface of Squarespace ensures easy navigation, making website creation accessible for both beginners and experienced users. This user-friendly feature streamlines the website creation process, facilitating a seamless experience.

It provides comprehensive tools for online store management, including inventory tracking, order processing, and optimization features. This ensures businesses have the tools to establish and grow their online presence successfully.

Squarespace integrates with popular third-party apps and services, enhancing overall website functionality. This connectivity allows users to incorporate additional features and tools to meet their specific needs, adding flexibility to their online presence.

Pricing: Squarespace offers a range of pricing plans, with the Basic Commerce plan starting at $27 per month when paid annually. Users can enjoy a 14-day free trial, and annual subscriptions provide a 24% to 30% discount, adding further value to their pricing structure.

Pros:

• Professionally designed templates for a visually appealing online presence.
• No transaction fees, maximizing profits from online sales.
• User-friendly interface for easy navigation.
• Robust e-commerce solutions for comprehensive online store management.
• Seamless integrations with popular third-party apps and services.

Cons:

• Not primarily focused on e-commerce, potentially lacking specialized functionalities.
• Limited multichannel sales support.
• Challenges with overriding theme CSS and HTML for advanced customization.

Who Should Use Squarespace:

• Artists, photographers, designers, and creative professionals showcasing portfolios.
• Restaurants and cafes seeking an online presence.
• Personal and business bloggers.
• Local businesses like fitness studios, beauty salons, and boutique stores.

Shopify

In the competitive landscape of e-commerce platforms, Shopify stands as the third-largest in 2023, ascending to the second spot in 2018 and maintaining its dominance since. Widely favored for its user-friendly interface and bolstered by the integration of Amazon services, Shopify is a leading choice for individuals and businesses aiming to establish and manage online stores swiftly. 

Highlight Features:

Shopify offers a comprehensive e-commerce solution, encompassing everything from website building to payment processing and inventory management. This all-in-one approach streamlines the entire online selling process, providing users with a cohesive and efficient platform.

With a highly intuitive drag-and-drop interface, Shopify ensures that users without extensive technical skills can effortlessly create and customize their websites. This user-friendly design empowers businesses to establish a professional online presence without complex coding.

Shopify provides access to a diverse array of over 150 ready-made themes for web design. These professionally crafted themes cater to various industries and aesthetics, allowing businesses to choose a visually appealing and tailored design that aligns with their brand identity.

Shopify eliminates restrictions on business scalability by offering unlimited bandwidth, product listings, and storage space. This feature particularly benefits growing businesses, ensuring they can expand their product offerings and handle increased website traffic seamlessly.

Shopify simplifies payment processing with built-in gateways, providing a secure and seamless transaction experience. Additionally, it supports integration with over 100 third-party providers, offering users flexibility in choosing payment options that best suit their customers.

Including Shopify POS (Point of Sale) for every plan extends the platform’s functionality to in-person sales, bridging the gap between physical and online stores. This integration enhances the overall omnichannel experience for businesses.

Shopify incorporates a cart abandonment recovery feature to recover potentially lost sales. Automated reminders are sent to customers who leave items in their carts, encouraging them to complete their purchases and boosting conversion rates.

Shopify enhances marketing capabilities by providing 10,000 free email marketing sends per month. This empowers businesses to create targeted campaigns and promotions, fostering customer engagement and loyalty.

With built-in SEO tools, Shopify aids in driving organic traffic and improving search engine visibility. Including blog pages further enhances content marketing strategies, allowing businesses to connect with their audience through informative and engaging content.

Pricing: Shopify’s pricing structure offers monthly subscription plans ranging from $39 to $2000+. Opting for an annual subscription provides users with a 25% saving on upfront fees. A three-day free trial is available, followed by a remarkable deal of $1 per month for the first three months, allowing users to explore features at a minimal cost during the initial period.

Pros:

• All-in-one e-commerce solution.
• User-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
• Over 150 ready-made themes.
• Unlimited bandwidth, products, and storage space.
• Built-in payment gateways and third-party providers.
• Shopify POS for every plan.
• Cart abandonment recovery.
• Free 10,000 email marketing sends/month.
• SEO optimization and blog pages.
• 24/7 phone support, live chat, and email support.

Cons:

• No free plan is available.
• Transaction fees for external payment gateways (excluding Shopify Payments).
• Additional cost for premium themes.

Who Should Use:

• Retail Stores.
• Online Boutiques.
• Handmade and Craft Businesses.
• Dropshipping Businesses.
• Beauty and Cosmetics Stores.
• Electronics and Gadgets Stores.
• Food and Beverage Businesses.

Wix

Claiming the next position among the premier website builders for small businesses, Wix stands out as a user-friendly e-commerce platform offering a versatile solution for businesses across various sectors. 

Highlight Features:

Simplicity is vital with Wix’s drag-and-drop interface, empowering users to effortlessly add, rearrange, and customize elements on their web pages without coding skills. This intuitive tool streamlines the website-building process, ensuring a user-friendly experience.

Customization takes center stage with Wix, offering users easy-to-use tools to align their website’s appearance with their unique brand identity. From selecting color schemes to incorporating logos and choosing fonts, Wix provides complete creative control, fostering a distinct and personalized online presence.

Facilitating quick starts, Wix boasts a vast collection of over 900 professionally designed templates. Covering a spectrum of industries and styles, these templates expedite the website creation process, allowing users to personalize and tailor them to their needs.

Wix’s ecommerce platform supports custom domains, enhancing businesses’ credibility with professional web addresses. It accommodates up to 50,000 products, provides advanced shipping capabilities, and supports multiple payment gateways and currencies for a seamless global customer experience.

Boosting conversion rates, Wix incorporates an abandoned cart recovery feature. This functionality automatically sends reminder emails to customers who left items in their carts during checkout, re-engaging potential buyers and encouraging them to complete their purchases.

Wix supports dropshipping, a key feature for businesses aiming to expand their product offerings without managing inventory. Wix facilitates a streamlined, cost-effective approach to scaling operations by integrating with third-party suppliers.

Pricing: Wix caters to diverse needs and budgets through various pricing options. With plans starting at $16 per month and extending to custom pricing, users can select plans tailored to their specific requirements.

Pros:

• Affordable plans.
• User-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
• Over 900 templates for web design.
• Unlimited bandwidth.
• Support for over 70 payment gateways.
• Flexibility in automatic tracking of stock levels.
• Manual inventory status setting for specific products.
• Free 200 emails per month.
• Abandoned cart recovery.
• SEO optimization and blog pages.
• Multichannel support: phone, live chat, and email.

Cons:

• Storage limitations for some plans.
• Unoptimized responsive design.
• Limited payment acceptance for POS in the US and Canada.
• Limited dropship product support.
• Need to edit the site from scratch when switching templates.
• Advanced features are available only in higher-priced plans.

Who Should Use: 

• Service-based businesses (photographers, consultants, personal trainers, freelancers).
• Restaurants and Cafes.
• Creative Professionals.
• Local businesses.

Magento

Formerly known as Magento, Adobe Commerce has emerged as a robust e-commerce software seamlessly integrated into the Adobe Experience Cloud. Tailored for advanced users with technical skills, this open-source platform has gained prominence, serving over 250,000 enterprise-scale online stores globally. 

Highlight Features:

Adobe Commerce features a robust content management system (CMS) that empowers users to manage and organize their e-commerce website’s content efficiently. This facilitates seamless content updates and customization, enhancing user experience and dynamic online presence.

With advanced analytics and reporting tools, Adobe Commerce provides businesses valuable insights into their e-commerce performance. This feature enables users to make data-driven decisions, optimize strategies, and enhance overall business efficiency by leveraging actionable insights derived from the platform.

It excels in catalog management, offering features for effective product organization and showcasing. Businesses can easily categorize products, provide detailed descriptions, and efficiently manage inventory. Integrated SEO optimization tools empower businesses to enhance their online visibility through optimized product pages, meta tags, and critical elements for search engine rankings.

The platform boasts a robust inventory management system that allows businesses to monitor and control product stock efficiently. Real-time updates and notifications contribute to a streamlined inventory management process. Businesses can implement multi-tier pricing strategies, providing customized pricing based on factors such as customer segments, bulk purchases, or loyalty programs.

Adobe Commerce ensures a mobile-optimized storefront catering to the growing mobile commerce trend. This feature enhances the user experience for customers accessing the online store via mobile devices. The platform also supports accepting international currencies, facilitating global transactions, and providing an inclusive shopping experience for businesses targeting an international customer base.

Pros:

• Exceptional loading speed.
• Free to download and use.
• Highly customizable.
• Supports diverse payment options.

Cons:

• Requires advanced technical skills.
• Slow customer service response times.

Pricing:

Magento Open Source has a custom pricing, offering a cost-effective solution for businesses. Adobe Commerce’s pricing is available upon request, allowing for tailored solutions based on specific business requirements.

Who Should Use:

• Businesses with advanced technical skills.
• Enterprises seeking extensive customization.
• E-commerce platforms with a focus on scalability.
• Users requiring a mobile-optimized storefront.
• Those prioritizing SEO optimization for online visibility.

How Do You Choose The Right Platform To Start Your Business?

Choosing the right e-commerce platform for your business is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your online success. Here are vital factors to consider when making this choice:

Business Size and Type

Evaluate the size and type of your business. Smaller businesses with limited products may benefit from user-friendly platforms with lower costs, while larger enterprises might require more advanced features, scalability, and customization options.

Ease of Use

Consider the platform’s user-friendliness, especially if you need to be tech-savvy. An intuitive interface and easy setup process can save time and resources. Look for platforms that offer drag-and-drop functionality and straightforward navigation.

Costs and Pricing Structure

Assess the costs associated with each platform. Consider not only the initial setup fees but also ongoing costs such as transaction fees, subscription fees, and costs for additional features or plugins. Ensure that the pricing structure aligns with your budget and growth plans.

Scalability

Choose a platform that can grow with your business. Scalability is crucial for accommodating an expanding product catalog, increasing traffic, and incorporating new features. Ensure the platform can handle your future needs without significant disruptions.

Payment Options and Security

Check the payment options supported by the platform. A variety of payment gateways allows you to cater to diverse customer preferences. Additionally, prioritize platforms that prioritize security, with features like SSL encryption and secure payment processing, to instill trust in your customers.

Customization and Flexibility

Evaluate the customization capabilities of each platform. Your online store should reflect your brand identity, and the platform should offer design, layout, and functionality flexibility. Look for a platform that allows easy customization without requiring extensive coding knowledge.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, understanding the dynamics of the most used e-commerce platforms in 2023 is crucial for businesses aiming to thrive in the digital realm, as market share insights pave the way for informed decision-making and strategic growth in the competitive online landscape. Stay ahead by aligning your business strategies with the prevailing trends among the most used e-commerce platforms.

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