Starting an online business in India? You are at the right place and at the right time! India is currently a hotbed for starting an online business platform in india. According to IBEF, India’s E-commerce market is expected to hit US$350 billion by 2030, propelled by rising smartphone penetration and increasing consumer wealth.

At the same time, starting an E-commerce business is quite exhausting – You need to source inventory, build a brand, and, most importantly, create your E-commerce website.

Luckily, building a website is no longer the back-breaking exercise it used to be a few years ago, thanks to modern top ecommerce platforms in india. That’s one thing off your plate.

But with so many E-commerce platforms available, what should you pick? In this post, we’ll compare the top 10 E-commerce platforms in India and understand their key features, pros, and cons to help you make an informed decision.

What are the 4 Types of E-commerce?

E-commerce or Electronic Commerce is the process of selling goods and services through the internet. Some businesses sell products only online, while others use E-commerce as an additional channel along with physical stores to sell their products. Either way, E-commerce enables brands to scale their business and reach customers from any part of the world.

There are 4 basic types of E-commerce –

1. B2B (Business to Business):

 ‍In this type, one business sells products to another business. It could be a wholesaler using an E-commerce website to sell to different retailers, a manufacturer selling online to different wholesalers and distributors, or even a retailer selling online to different corporate buyers. B2B E-commerce typically involves larger purchase sizes or quantities. Udaan is a classic example of a B2B E-commerce website.

2. B2C (Business to Consumer):

 ‍In this type, an online business platform in india It could be a wholesaler using an E-commerce website to sell to different retailers, a manufacturer selling online to different wholesalers and distributors, or even a retailer selling online to different corporate buyers. B2B E-commerce typically involves larger purchase sizes or quantities. Udaan is a classic example of a B2B E-commerce website.

3. C2B (Consumer to Business):

‍In this type, a consumer sells products to a business through the Internet. They typically list a range of products online and set their own prices for the business to buy. Shutterstock is an example of a C2B E-commerce where photographers sell their photos to Shutterstock for a fee.

4. C2C (Consumer to Consumer):

‍In this type, a consumer sells products to another consumer. The E-commerce business acts as an intermediary, facilitating the purchasing process. Olx is the best example of a C2C E-commerce website in India.

What is E-commerce Platform and their Types

An E-commerce platform is a software application that helps in creating and managing an E-commerce website.

There are two different types of E-commerce platforms-

1. Hosted

A hosted E-commerce platform works in Software as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model. You do not have to set up your own server or database to store and manage information. The hosted E-commerce platform takes care of everything from setting up your store, hosting it on the internet, and even offering technical support. You will be able to add products and customize most aspects of the store, but everything else is handled by the hosted platform.

A hosted platform usually charges a fixed monthly or annual fee based on the size of your business or the features you require. Some platforms even take a small percentage of the revenue generated every month.

Kartify by ANS Commerce is a great example of a hosted E-commerce platform.

2. Self-Hosted

In a self-hosted E-commerce platform, you handle everything, right from hosting to designing of websites. The entire ecosystem of your E-commerce website is built from scratch by you. A  self-hosted E-commerce platform is more difficult to use, especially if you are not sure of what you are doing. You need developers and other experts who can use the platform to build a full-fledged E-commerce website.

On the upside, you have complete control over your online store. For instance, if you need additional features, you can either find plugins or extensions in the platform marketplace or even ask your tech team to create one.

Examples of self-hosted E-commerce platforms are WooCommerce and Magento.

Factors to Keep in Mind While Opting for an E-commerce Platform.

• Security
• SEO
• Responsive Web Design
• Supports multiple selling channels
• Integrations
• Technical Support
• Scalability
• Price

Best E-Commerce Platform In India For Store Creation

Let us now look at the 10 best E-commerce platforms in India

1. Kartify

The first on our list is Kartify, which is the best E-commerce platform in India. This robust solution from ANS Commerce, a Flipkart group company, can take care of all your needs while setting up and managing your online store. Be it website building, or payment processing, or even returns management, you do not have to look beyond Kartify.

Besides the capability to handle the entire lifecycle of your store operations, Kartify is also extremely scalable, as it has been tested to handle over 1 million concurrent users at any time. Kartify is the perfect solution for E-commerce businesses. This means Kartify is a great choice whether you are a growing business or want to handle sale events without any performance issues.

Key Features of Kartify

• Platform Level Native Integrations: Kartify can seamlessly integrate with 100+ relevant tools and platforms. Some of the popular Payment Gateways, Marketing Automation Platforms, SMS and Email Providers, and Order Management Systems (OMS) feature in this long list.
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• ‍Built-in Performance Marketing: Kartify comes loaded with performance marketing tools and automation features. The platform also offers a comprehensive view of all your sales, marketing, and traffic data so that you can make accurate data-driven decisions every time.

• Easy-to-Use Website Builder: Build a responsive E-commerce website quickly with Kartify Lite, which offers a variety of customizable templates suitable for every industry, including cosmetics, apparel, personal care, accessories, electronics, and more. With Kartify Lite, you can effortlessly tailor these templates to align with your brand guidelines and personalize every aspect, from layout to navigation.
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• Promotions Manager: Effortlessly manage your discount promotions, and  offers, and sale event strategies within Kartify. It takes just a few simple steps to set up offers like Buy One Get One (B1G1) deals, category discounts, and volume-based discounts, etc.
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• Hassle-free Returns: No need to find another solution to handle your returns and refunds as Kartify offers built-in returns workflows and an approval management system. Easily manage pickup updates and refunds through integrations with other platforms.

Must read: Strategies to streamline return management and reduce cost

Benefits of Kartify

• With Kartify you can conveniently manage your promotions, offers, and discount strategies within the platform. Instantly create multiple offers such as B1G1 offers, category discounts, and order discounts and share them with customers

• Kartify protects all your valuable information thanks to advanced security measures such as VA/PT, RBAC, SSL certifications, etc. It also conducts regular security audits and practices customer data masking.

• Kartify is tailor-made for the Indian market. It offers various functionalities loved by the Indian audience, such as OTP-based login, automatic conversion of pin codes into city and state information, GST invoicing, etc.

• Customization is achievable directly from the platform. This means you can create brand-specific workflows, get access to brand-specific features, and create brand-specific design guidelines. Every pixel on the front end can be tailored according to your brand’s requirements.

2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source E-commerce platform that lets you add various E-commerce capabilities to your WordPress website. This cloud-based platform leverages the content management and website-building capabilities of WordPress to ensure that your website is a complete package for those looking to sell online without compromising on the quality of content.

Key Features

• Collections: These are additional plugins that can be installed to extend the functionalities offered by the basic WooCommerce platform.

• WooCommerce Shipping: Besides letting you ship products to any destination in the world, the platform also lets you print shipping labels directly from your dashboard. This feature is free to use and saves a lot of cost for your online business platform in india.

• Multi-channel Support: Lets you sell across multiple channels, such as Amazon, Google, and TikTok, over and above your E-commerce website.

Pros & Cons

WooCommerce is free to use. However, you need to pay for plugins if they have been created by third parties.

3. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a SaaS-based E-commerce platform that gives you enterprise-level features and integrations required to run multiple storefronts. They have two solutions: Enterprise catering to large business platform in india and Essentials catering to SMBs and startups. The platform has several built-in wholesale functionalities, making it suitable for the B2B ecosystem.

Key Features

• Payment Solutions: You can choose from over 65 pre-integrated online payment solutions and 140 currencies for your online store.

• API Calls: You Use APIs to automatically synchronize data between BigCommerce and third-party systems like ERP.

• Price Lists: You can give custom pricing to different customer groups at the SKU level. This is ideal for B2B storefronts.

• Custom Product Filtering: You can set any field of your products as filters in a faceted search.

• Abandoned Cart Savers: It is an in-built conversion tool that sends a series of emails to convince them to complete the purchase.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• There are three main pricing plans in BigCommerce. The Standard Plan, which costs $29 per month, lets you build 3 storefronts and manage 4 inventory locations. This is suitable for small brands.
• The Plus Plan is priced at $79 per month and is suitable for medium enterprises. It lets you build 5 storefronts and manage 5 inventory locations.
• The Pro plan, costing $299 per month, is suitable only for multinational businesses as this plan lets you manage 8 storefronts and 8 inventory locations. 

4. Shopify

Shopify is a complete E-commerce solution that lets you create a website in minutes and start selling from multiple channels with minimal effort. This subscription-based platform offers services like inventory management, payment processing, logistics, supply chain, and shipping, all of which are essential ingredients to run a successful E-commerce business.

Key Features

• Shopify POS: This feature lets you take the omnichannel route for selling. This point-of-sale app lets you sell your products in person, anywhere. All the payments are linked to your Shopify inventory, which also maintains track of every sales transaction.  

• Shopify Markets: You can scale your business and sell internationally using this feature. With the help of a centralized dashboard, you can manage different components of international sales, such as shipping, duties, and compliance.

• Social Media Integrations: You can sync your Shopify products to social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This means you can easily create ads and shoppable posts without having to copy-paste content or upload media separately.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

There are three plans in Shopify.

• Basic plan is priced at ₹1994 per month when billed annually. It is suitable for individuals and startups who are just looking for basic functionalities like shipping and processing payments.

• Shopify plan is ideal for small businesses that are more established and looking for professional capabilities like analytics and reporting. It costs ₹7447 per month.

• Advanced plan is priced at ₹30,164 and is suitable for medium and large businesses. Besides everything in the Shopify plan, you get features like Custom Report Builder and low transaction fees.

5. Dukaan

Dukaan is an Indian E-commerce solution that helps small businesses and solopreneurs create and manage digital storefronts. You can list your products, manage orders, and process payments within the platform.

Key Features of Dukaan

• Dukaan Plugins: With their in-built plugins, you can connect your online store with other tools in a single click. Popular plugins include Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Shippo, Intercom, etc.

• Dukaan Delivery: This is the shipping service offered by Dukaan. Based on shipping cost, current turn-around time, and RTO rates, Dukaan’s advanced algorithm selects the most efficient courier partner for your order.

• Free Tools: Dukaan offers a variety of free tools that you can use to manage various aspects of your online store. This includes the Privacy Policy Generator, Slogan Maker, and Invoice Generator, to name a few.

Pros & Cons

Dukaan Pricing

Dukaan offers three pricing plans:

• Silver: Costing ₹500 per month, this plan is recommended for new businesses and influencers. This plan offers basic features like Discount Coupons and Dukaan Credits. It has a high transaction fee and might not be suitable if you expect too many transactions in a day.
• Gold: Costing ₹834 per month, this plan is suitable for agencies, D2C brands, and growing businesses. This plan has a lower transaction fee than Silver and offers a host of other features like Store Analytics, Custom Domain, and Web Partner App.
• Platinum: Costing ₹2500 per month, this plan is suitable for medium and large businesses. It has the lowest transaction fee among all the plans and supports 10 warehouses. The rest of the features are the same as the Gold plan. 

6. Instamojo

Instamojo is a home-grown D2C E-commerce platform that offers capabilities like landing page builder and payment management. Instamojo primarily focuses on SME brands looking to set up and run an E-commerce business successfully.

Key Features

• Mobile App: Get a dedicated mobile dashboard where you can manage orders, maintain customers, and handle marketing campaigns on the go.

• Advanced Analytics: Get access to E-commerce metrics like sales/orders over time, number of visitors, customer lifecycle, etc., to make data-driven decisions.

• Smart Links: Customize your payment links to suit your brand colors and messaging. Add logos and preferred images to the links to improve the conversion rate.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

There are three pricing plans viz. Lite, which is free forever, Starter, which costs ₹3999 per year, and Growth, which costs ₹9999 per year. While the free plan offers basic features like an Online Shopping Cart, Cash on Delivery, Shipping Integrations, and Order Management, it has Instamojo branding.

The Starter plan does not have Instamojo branding on the website and provides access to 19+ Premium themes. The Growth plan offers a lot more features like SEO, Advanced Analytics, and WhatsApp Integration, to name a few.

7. Wix

Wix is a cloud-based website-building platform with a focus on E-commerce. Both individuals and businesses can easily create and manage E-commerce websites in Wix, thanks to a wide range of templates and features. You do not require any kind of technical skills to manage an E-commerce store on Wix.

Key Features

• Templates: There is a huge collection of design templates catering to almost every known E-commerce sector and vertical. These templates can be customized completely to suit your brand needs.

• WYSIWYG Editor: It stands for “What You See Is What You Get”. Such types of editors ensure that you see the changes you make on the website in real time.

• Mobile Optimization: Every website you create on Wix is automatically optimized for mobiles and tablets. You do not have to build or optimize your website for all the devices separately.
  

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Under the E-commerce category, there are three plans. The most basic E-commerce plan, called Business Basic, is priced at ₹225 per month when billed annually. There are also Business Unlimited and Business VIP plans costing  ₹300 and ₹500 per month.

The main differences between these plans are the storage space you get, video hours, the number of reviews you can manage, and the number of products you can dropship.

8. Squarespace

Squarespace is a simplistic and robust website builder with a great focus on aesthetics. It is a popular choice among bloggers, photographers, and small businesses selling products that require creativity. However, in recent times, owing to the vast number of E-commerce features offered by this platform, it has become a preferred choice among businesses in other domains as well.

Key Features

• Email Marketing: Get access to hundreds of responsive email marketing templates that you can customize in minutes. You can also measure and analyze various metrics related to your email marketing campaign within Squarespace.

• Analytics: Learn everything about your store, right from who’s visiting to how they are interacting, with the help of in-depth analytics and reporting features.

• SEO: Every website you create is automatically optimized for search engines. For example, elements like sitemaps, automatic markup, SSL security, and clean URLs are all taken care of automatically.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

The most basic plan of Squarespace is called Personal, and it is priced at $16 per month when billed annually. This plan offers only templates and a free domain.

However, if you would like to have a fully integrated E-commerce store, you need to pick one among Business ($23 per month), Commerce Basic ($27 per month), and Commerce Advanced ($49 per month). Each plan offers a unique set of features over and above the previous one.

9. Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce is a full-fledged E-commerce platform offering you all the tools required to run a successful online store. It was previously known as Magento Commerce before the tech powerhouse Adobe acquired the platform. It is one of the few E-commerce platforms that lets you create both B2B and B2C storefronts with relative ease.

Key Features

• Live Search: It is an AI-powered search feature that offers more relevant search results at lightning-fast speeds. The AI and ML engine of Adobe Commerce can offer personalized results on every shopper query.

• PWA Studio: You can create and launch progressive web apps effortlessly with this module of Adobe Commerce. PWAs are those apps built using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

• Integrated B2B Functionality: Get access to a wide range of B2B functionalities, such as customized catalogs and pricing. You can even get self-service customer portals so that you can easily manage accounts and order books in Adobe Commerce.

Pros & Cons

10. Ecwid

Ecwid is an E-commerce plugin from Lightspeed. In a few clicks, you can add various E-commerce functionalities to your existing website using this tool. The goal of Ecwid is to eliminate the process of building a new website from scratch and to extend your existing website to start selling.

Key Features

• Lightspeed Payments: You get a fully integrated payment solution that not only accepts cards but also payment methods like Google Pay and Apple Pay. You can manage all your payments right within your control panel.

• ShopApp: You can easily turn your online store into a downloadable mobile app with the help of this feature. The products and content in ShopApp and your Ecwid store are always in sync, ensuring no miscommunication.

• Automated Tax: Ecwid automatically calculates tax rates at the checkout. This way, you can minimize the chances of tax calculation errors as you no longer have to manage and update individual tax rates.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

There is a forever-free plan with basic features. The most basic plan, called Venture, is priced at ₹889 per month when billed annually. In this plan, you can set up a store with only 100 products.

There is also a Business plan, costing ₹1649 per month, which lets you manage a store of 2500 products. In the Unlimited plan, costing ₹4990 per month, you can create a catalog of unlimited products.

Must Read : E-commerce Enablers

Benefits Of Using E-commerce Platform

Running an E-commerce store is not easy. A typical online store involves multiple processes, such as designing a website, accepting payments, managing stocks, fulfilling orders, etc. Managing each of these aspects individually is often overwhelming and exhausting for business owners. An E-commerce platform in India allows you to manage all these activities from a single platform, with the possibility of automation in many of these processes.

Here are Some Benefits of Using an E-commerce platform in India–

• The time and effort to design an E-commerce platform in India are considerably reduced when you use an E-commerce platform. This is because most E-commerce platforms come with built-in templates. All you need to do is enter content and the necessary media.

• You can track everything from inventory to sales within the same platform. Your E-commerce platform in India becomes the single source of truth for everything related to your business. This eliminates errors and miscommunication.

• Many E-commerce platforms in India are already integrated with marketing tools. This enables you to market your brand without the help of experts. Many of these platforms also come with SEO widgets and tools to get your website to rank higher on search engines.

How To Choose The Best E-commerce Platform?

Here are the different factors you must consider while picking an E-commerce platform –

1. Technology

This is a key factor wherein you focus on different technical aspects of the E-commerce platform, such as the type of platform (self-hosted or hosted), security, website performance, etc. For instance, in the security category, you should prioritize a platform that supports SSL certificates and provides frequent security updates.

Kartify is a hosted platform that offers security features like VA/PT, Role Based Access Control System, SSL Certificate, encryptions, and customer data masking.

2. Scalability

You must always remember that your E-commerce store is not going to remain the same as days pass by. The number of products will increase, and the number of users will multiply. The platform you choose must be able to handle any number of customers without putting too much financial pressure on you. The platform should also be able to handle traffic spikes during sales events without slowing down or crashing.

Kartify is built to scale and is ideal for growing businesses. It has been tested to handle over 1 million concurrent users at any time.

3. Cost

The idea is simple – the platform you choose must be aligned with your budget and offer you the returns within a few months. You must particularly focus on hidden costs like transaction fees and setup fees while picking a platform, as they can create a dent in your expenditure. Also, try to understand the maintenance costs involved in using the platform.

Kartify is one of the most affordable E-commerce platforms in India and has a tailored pricing plan for every business.

4. Customizability

It is important to pick a platform that lets you tailor your online store to suit your brand and customer needs. For instance, the platform you pick must offer a wide variety of customizable themes or templates. Also, it will be great if you get access to the source code of the website so that you can make any changes that are not possible in a visual editor.

Kartify lets you customize every aspect of your store, right from navigation components to checkout steps. You can build a fully personalized store that adheres to your brand guidelines.

5. Integrations

You need to pick a platform that offers integrations with other tools and platforms to streamline your E-commerce operations. For example, the E-commerce platform you select must be integrable with your preferred payment gateways or inventory management system. The ease of integrating with other essential solutions can considerably impact your efficiency.

Kartify offers integrations with 80+ Integrations, such as payment gateway solutions, loyalty program platforms, marketing tools, email and SMS Gateways, etc.

6. Analytics

Lastly, the E-commerce platform you choose must have strong analytics and reporting capabilities. It should either have built-in analytics tools or support third-party analytics solutions. You must also be able to create custom reports that display all the key metrics for better decision-making.

Kartify comes with a dedicated analytics dashboard that gives you access to key insights about your sales, traffic, and products.

7. Set Up Your Store On Kartify And Start Selling Online

As you can see, Kartify is the only solution that satisfies all the above criteria. It is scalable, affordable, and highly customizable, making it the best choice for all those entrepreneurs looking to set up an E-commerce store today. If you need further details about how Kartify can help set up and manage your store, contact us now.

FAQS

1. What do you Understand by the term E-commerce Platform?

The e-commerce platform is known to be a content management system, or more specifically, a helpful software application that overlooks the cataloged products or purchases that take place between the retailer and the user and also manages their relationship. It is accessed by almost every prson, directly or indirectly, to grow their business by either creating their website or managing their website. 

2. Name the Best E-commerce Platform that meets the User's Requirements.

If you are searching for the best e-commerce platform, let me make you aware that you are surfing at the right spot. Kartify is considered to be one of the best e-commerce platforms as it acts towards your requirements like business needs, budget, scalability, customization requirements, and technical expertise. 

3. What are Some Different types of E-commerce Platforms?

The different types of e-commerce platforms are:

• Hosted: This platform is a SAAS delivery model, so everything is taken care of by the hosted e-commerce platform. 
• Self-hosted: It is known to be a platform that is managed by itself. The user needs to take care of everything from hosting to designing the website.

4. Can Amazon be considered an E-commerce Platform?

Yes, Amazon is considered to be an e-commerce platform. It welcomes third-party sellers to grow their businesses directly for consumers.