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Ask HN: Best platform for ecommerce website?

8 points by Immortalin ↗ HN
Hi, I am looking for a platform to build a ecommerce website for software. I am no web developer - the only websites I have built were in ASP.Net webforms. I am looking for a platform with MINIMUM coding and a large number of plugin available. I need strong integration with services such as paypal, stripe, google checkout etc. So far the only ones I have found is Wordpress and Drupal. Is there other options?

7 comments

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myadav
Try magento, shopify and Mozu
day_
I highly recommend Woocommerce, a Wordpress plugin. Wordpress gives you the ability to make any modifications you want, or you can just use prebuilt themes and there is no need to code. Shopify is also great, but it's not as flexible.
sdnguyen90
I run/develop ecommerce sites and I have bounced around between many carts. Nowadays I run everything on Shopify.

Shopify is pretty flexible as long as you have someone who knows the ins and outs of the API. If you are paying a developer, I think Shopify would be the cheapest to get quality work since the API is pretty well documented. For a while I avoided Shopify because their checkout page was under their domain but I took the risk and it didn't really affect the conversions.

The only case I've seen where Shopify wasn't customizable enough was for a site that needed major user customization(custom designs printed on goods). There are plugins for it but it didn't meet the business needs of the product being sold.

I would avoid Magento at all costs. It's a major headache to develop anything custom on there. The documentation is terrible. IMO Magento has their own way of doing things so it has a bit of a learning curve development wise.

I wouldn't go WooCommerce also.. You might as well just use Shopify and not have to worry about anything server side(hosting, ssl cert, mail server, etc).

If I had to pick a open source cart for customization reasons, I would go with Spree Commerce which is written in Ruby. It has pretty good documentation.

waitingkuo
Try shopify, bigcommerce Without any coding!
anonyfox
There are a myriad of eCommerce solutions available, just see shopify or magento... . If you just want to get a 08/15 store, look at shopify and be done with it.

But if you want to build something that is unique or has special ideas/requirements or stands out against the thousands of standard online shops out there, have a look at meteor.com, a framework that needs roughly a day to learn (even for beginners), and let you develop websites/apps in a few hours. especially eCommerce stuff is among the most trivial things you can build as a developer nowadays. Oh, and you'll get iOS/android apps for free.

virens
I have used Nop commerce (ASP.Net).

I am not sure if it is integrated with stripe/Google checkout, but I haven't written single line of code and integrated with Paypal. Also lot of plugins are available.