What Is An Online Store Builder?

An online store builder is a software solution that offers a complete solution to build and launch ecommerce websites or online marketplaces for B2B or D2C brands. Modern online store builder not only helps in launching an ecommerce portal but also offers comprehensive ecommerce solutions for product management, order management, marketing and fulfilment of orders. 

What Are The Different Types Of Online Store Builders? 

Online website builders come in mainly two types based on their hosting:

Fully Hosted And Managed Online Store Builder

This type of ecommerce platform takes care of servers, hosting and upgrades if needed. The business owner usually pays a fixed subscription amount and gets a turkey ecommerce website builder for his/her brand.

Self-Hosted Ecommerce Website Builder

Self-hosted ecommerce solutions to create online store requires the ecommerce brand to take care of the hosting, servers etc. The ecommerce builder services do not include server set-up or periodic upgrades of the server.

An online store builder can be paid or also come free. However, paid ecommerce website builders have a host of features needed for building ecommerce portals and running the business while online store builders for free just offer a basic shopping cart and for carrying any kind of business activities paid plugins are needed.

What Are The Benefits Of Using An Online Store Builder?

An online store builder gives the flexibility to brands to focus on business development and go live in record time. When brands create an online store using a turnkey website builder they get the following benefits: 

• Fast development with battle-tested solutions for a variety of use cases
• Cost-efficient as no need to set up IT team and hire designers for theme design
• Hassle-free maintenance and upgrades offered by the online store builder service provider
• 360-degree solution for building, running and growing the business
• No need to know coding to make changes to the look and feel of your website built with an online store builder
• Host of inbuilt features, apps, plugins etc. for various stages of a growing business
• Secure and reliable ecommerce website builder ensures customer trust and loyalty
• Keeps you ahead of market trends as ecommerce website builders keep adding and updating new features as per market changes
• Easy to pivot to new business models with tested solutions for different types of businesses like B2B, D2C, online marketplace etc.
• Frees time for strategic business planning and growth by taking care of different aspects of running and growing an online business

What Are The Must-Have Features Of An Online Store Builder?

Global retail e-commerce sales touched the $ 4.28 trillion mark in 2020 and are expected to grow to $ 5.4 trillion in 2022 (source: Statista). To gain an edge in this era of cut-throat competition, ecommerce stores compete on prices, value-added services and enhanced user experience.

However, to stay ahead of their competitors, businesses need to have a stable and advanced online store builder that offers the following benefits: 

• Built on advanced technology that makes your business future-ready 
• Easy to use ecommerce website builder that makes it easy to run everyday business functions
• Mobile-ready solutions to leverage m-commerce that brings up to 80% of orders for ecommerce brands
• Engaging and conversion-oriented user experience through fast loading pages, beautiful site design and quick search 
• 360-degree ecommerce solutions to run and grow the online business
• Inherent scalability to help create online store and also accommodate growth as the business flourishes
• Designed with the flexibility to change according to unique business needs
• A cost-efficient online store builder that does not involve hidden costs and too many paid plugins/apps

How To Identify The Best Online Store Builder?

The best ecommerce website builder is one that makes the online journey of an entrepreneur or enterprise business easier by offering a host of features and tools. Some of the features that make the best online store builder are:

• Offers fully hosted and managed ecommerce solutions for a variety of traditional and trending business models like B2B, D2C, online marketplace, hyperlocal marketplace etc.
• Goes beyond offering ecommerce solutions and offers marketing, payment and logistics solutions
• Makes it easy to add multiple customer touchpoints without having to overhaul the backend logic
• Easily and extensively customizable at the frontend as well as the backend
• The best online store builder should offer seamless integrations with the best-in-breed software and services
• Ability to support disruptive hybrid business models that combine two or more popular business models like an online marketplace, hyperlocal ecommerce, location-based storefronts etc.
• Offers a host of advanced features ( like create online store in multiple languages, accept multi-currency payments, multi-currency invoicing etc.) to grow the business in international markets

Is An Online Store Builder Good To Launch Enterprise Ecommerce Brands?

A next-gen online store builder like StoreHippo with its dual benefits of a turnkey solution and the flexibility of a custom-built ecommerce solution is the best fit for powering enterprise ecommerce brands. Designed on MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-Native, Headless Commerce) architecture StoreHippo gives enterprise brands the creative control and freedom needed for building agile and future-ready solutions for B2B or D2C brands. 

Taking your business online with the help of StoreHippo online store builder is a tried and tested way to boost your reach and grow your business.