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The Best Ecommerce Website Builders... And The Worst

The future was always ecommerce— but no one anticipated how Covid-19 would accelerate that transition.

By Steve Benjamins

Steve Benjamins

Updated Jan 5 2024

The pandemic changed ecommerce. All of a sudden retailers had to figure out curbside pickup and restaurants had to figure out the world of food delivery. Things are moving fast and the best ecommerce website builders are adapting to this changing world.

This is my guide to the best website builders for an online store. Shopify and Squarespace are the best overall but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the right choice for 100% of stores. There are big differences between the top tools and it’s always best to match the tool to fit your requirements. Let’s dive into it!

Overview

Website Builders Rankings

Curbside Pickup

No one thought hard about curbside pickup until 2020— so it’s very much a new feature for many ecommerce website builders.

This table shows you which website builders support curbside pickup but I would encourage you to try the website builder before picking it based on this table— some may work better for you than others.

Company Curbside Pickup
Shopify Yes — You can assign products to be picked up at specific locations. No app necessary.
Squarespace Sort of — Squarespace recommends you set curbside pickup as a free shipping option. It doesn’t let you specific different locations.
WooCommerce Sort of — WooCommerce recommends you set curbside pickup as a free shipping option. It doesn’t let you specific different locations.
Webflow No
Square Yes — Square has outstanding support for curbside pickup. They offer curbside order management, different location options for customers and hours for pickup.
Volusion Yes — Volusion has support for curbside pickup.
Big Cartel No
Ecwid Yes — Ecwid also lets customers tell you their preferred time to come for pickup.
BigCommerce Yes — Customers can select curbside pickup as an option.
Wix Yes — It’s a little complicated (you have to set it per region) but Wix let’s customers choose curbside pickup.
GoDaddy No

Gift Cards

Which ecommerce website builders support gift cards?

Company Gift Cards
Shopify Yes — Gift cards are a specific type of product.
Squarespace Yes — Gift cards are a specific type of product.
WooCommerce Yes — Gift cards are available as a paid extension ($49 / year).
Webflow No
Square Yes — Square can sell both digital and physical gift cards.
Volusion Not Really — Technically Volusion has a support doc explaining how to do it… but it’s a 16 step process! Yikes!
Big Cartel No
Ecwid Yes — Gift cards are a specific type of product.
BigCommerce Yes — Gift cards are a specific type of product.
Wix No
GoDaddy No

Restaurant Ordering

With restaurants transitioning to delivery and curbside pickup— these are the ecommerce website builders that allow you to build your own order system without relying on delivery apps like Uber Eats.

Company Restaurant Ordering
Shopify Yes
Squarespace Sort Of — Squarespace has an integration with ChowNow, a 3rd party plugin.
WooCommerce Sort Of — There are extensions you can buy ($49) but they do not look very promising…
Webflow No
Square Yes
Volusion No
Big Cartel No
Ecwid Yes
BigCommerce No
Wix Yes
GoDaddy No

Point of Sale

A point of sale system is for accepting in-person payments— for example, a cafe may use a credit card reader and an iPad as their point of sale system.

Company Point of Sale
Shopify Yes — An official POS system with hardware by Shopify.
Squarespace Through 3rd Party — An integration with Square’s credit card reader.
WooCommerce Through 3rd Party — There is an additional extension that costs $199 / year.
Webflow No
Square Yes — Square has an official POS system.
Volusion No — Their POS system is just an in-browser form for adding orders manually. No hardware credit card reader.
Big Cartel Through 3rd Party — An integration with Square’s credit card reader.
Ecwid Through 3rd Party — Integrations with three different credit card readers: Square, Clover and Vend.
BigCommerce Through 3rd Party — Integrations with three different credit card readers: Hike, Clover and Vend.
Wix Through 3rd Party — An integration with Square’s credit card reader.
GoDaddy Through 3rd Party — An integration with Square’s credit card reader.

Subscription Products

Subscription products are growing in popularity— for example, subscription boxes that go out every month or razor blade refills that go out every 3 months.

Here’s which ecommerce website builders cover this:

Company Subscription Products
Shopify Sort Of — Several 3rd party apps allow you to sell subscription payments. These apps have additional costs.
Squarespace Yes — You can create subscription products.
WooCommerce Yes — There is an extension that costs $199 / year.
Webflow No
Square Sort Of — You can setup recurring invoices but you can’t sell recurring products.
Volusion Yes
Big Cartel Not Really — Your visitors can create recurring payments to you in the form a tip jar— but you can’t sell subscription products.
Ecwid No
BigCommerce Yes
Wix Yes — You can create subscription products.
GoDaddy No