When I first started building ecommerce stores, I thought design would be the hardest part.
Turns out, the real challenge is function.
If people can’t find what they want, trust your store, or complete checkout easily — nothing else matters. You can have beautiful branding and great products, but if the experience is clunky, sales will suffer.
If you’re building a content-first site with full design control and you’re working in a Jamstack environment, Snipcart gives you the flexibility. But it comes with dev overhead.
Shopify, on the other hand, is ideal if you want to launch quickly, manage everything in one place, and don’t want to mess with code. It’s the platform I recommend to most clients who want to grow fast without hiring a developer.
I’ve built stores with both.
Quick answer: Prestashop is a solid open-source ecommerce platform if you’re a developer, agency, or someone who loves full control over your store setup.
But if you’re a non-techy founder or want simplicity, it’s going to slow you down.
After using Prestashop on multiple client stores, I’d say it’s powerful—but only in the right hands.
Quick Answer: PinnacleCart is fast, SEO-focused, and great for customisation — but it’s not beginner-friendly. It’s ideal for developers or experienced store owners who want full control, not for first-timers looking for a simple drag-and-drop setup.
Quick answer: Yes—Creative Fabrica is 100% worth it if you’re running an ecommerce business that relies on design, branding, or product visuals. For $9 a month, it’s hands-down the best value library of fonts, graphics, and ready-to-sell POD assets I’ve ever used.
But it’s not perfect. Here’s everything you need to know before you sign up.
When I first got into ecommerce design, I focused way too much on visuals. I’d obsess over the right font, try out trendy colours, and waste hours pushing pixels.
What I didn’t realise is that customer experience design (CXD) isn’t just how something looks. It’s how a customer feels moving through your store.
Once I started thinking about how people actually use ecommerce sites, everything changed. Bounce rates dropped, conversions went up, and returning customer rates climbed.
SamCart is one of the top-rated checkout platforms for creators, consultants, and digital sellers, offering a sleek, conversion-optimised system designed to help you sell more — without building a full ecommerce store.
After 10+ years working across ecommerce businesses and testing dozens of platforms, I’ve found SamCart to be a standout option for selling single products, online courses, and high-ticket offers.
In this review, I’ll walk through SamCart’s key features, pricing, pros and cons, and how it compares to competitors like ClickFunnels, ThriveCart, and Kajabi.
Running an online store is hard enough. Then you get hit with jargon like “CLTV”, “3PL”, or “conversion rate”, and suddenly it feels like you need a marketing degree just to read your Shopify dashboard.
This glossary is here to cut through the noise.
No fluff. No jargon. Just straight-up definitions of the ecommerce terms you actually need to understand if you want to grow your store, make more money, and stop guessing what your ads guy is talking about.
Whether you’re just starting out or scaling past 7-figures, this is the cheat sheet you’ll keep coming back to.
Let’s get into it.
Quick answer: If you want to build a Shopify store that looks clean, loads fast, and shows up in search results — focus on a lightweight theme, smart structure, SEO basics like meta titles, and content that solves real problems.
Skip the bloated apps and design for mobile first.
BigCommerce and WooCommerce are two of the biggest ecommerce platforms out there—but which one actually supports real growth?
We’ve spent over 200 hours researching, testing, and comparing both tools in depth. On top of that, we’ve analysed hundreds of real ecommerce stores powered by each platform using our design gallery, ecomm.design, to see how they perform in the wild.
As a result of that research, BigCommerce comes out on top for growing online stores. It’s got the built-in features, speed, and scalability to support serious ecommerce growth—without the technical overhead.
Quick answer:
If your primary goal is to present a visually striking portfolio with occasional sales—particularly as a photographer, artist, or designer—Format offers a streamlined, aesthetically focused experience tailored to that need.
On the other hand, if you’re building a content-rich site with ecommerce at its core, and you require more flexibility, scalability, and control over the user journey and site architecture, Squarespace is the more comprehensive and strategic choice.
Many people still believe Shopify is only designed for selling physical products.
That is not true anymore.
Shopify now makes it easy for service-based businesses to set up shop, promote their expertise, and sell services just like digital products.
The key is knowing exactly how to set it up properly so your customers have a smooth experience and you maximise conversions.
Let’s walk through how you can do this step-by-step.
