21 Best Ecommerce Platforms In Canada For 2023

Ecwid allows businesses to embed an ecommerce store directly into existing websites, social media pages, or blogs. This is an ideal option for those looking to add ecommerce capabilities to their current online presence without the need to create a separate website.

Why I picked Ecwid: The name Ecwid might sound a bit unusual for an ecommerce platform, but it stands for ecommerce widget. The name is fitting because Ecwid is meant for existing websites, such as a company page, WordPress blog, or social media profile. If you have a good grasp of HTML, you can embed Ecwid’s code on your website and implement a fully functional ecommerce storefront to show your products without creating an entirely new site.

Ecwid Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider security, the highest international payment info exchange security for online stores, and protecting everyone involved in the online selling process. Ecwid also offers an automated tax calculation tool that helps you accurately charge tax rates wherever you sell products online.

Integrations include over 170 native integrations with popular business tools such as Formstack, Google Analytics, LiveChat, Mailchimp, Printful, QuickBooks Online, ShipFusion, Shippo, Tookan, Xero, and other software options. If you need custom connections between Ecwid and your current systems, you can use a paid Zapier account or the platform’s API.

Shopify allows online brands to quickly sell products on their online store and various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, allowing users to manage multiple sales channels from a single dashboard.

Why I picked Shopify: The platform works best for online ecommerce businesses that sell products across various sales channels. Shopify empowers your brand to showcase its best products on your website and across several channels and marketplaces. Shopify enables you to connect products with platforms such as Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Etsy, eBay, and Pinterest.

Shopify Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include all the capabilities ecommerce businesses need to effectively manage their online store, such as an inventory system that simplifies adding, organizing, and editing products - even if you have an extensive product catalog. The backend of your Shopify store will offer many essential capabilities, such as custom order confirmation emails, privacy policy updating, and abandoned cart recovery tools.

Integrations include connections with over 2,600 systems and third-party applications, such as Drip, EasyShip, Gorgias, Klaviyo, Look, Mailchimp, Privy, QuickBooks Online, ShipBob, ShipStation, and other software solutions. You can also create custom integrations between Shopify and your tool stack using Shopify’s API or a paid Zapier account.

PrestaShop specializes in providing multilingual and multicurrency support for ecommerce brands. It’s an excellent option for Canadian ecommerce businesses looking to sell internationally and cater to a more diverse audience.

Why I picked PrestaShop: I added PrestaShop to this article because it can help you sell products internationally and widen your customer base. With PrestaShop’s multilingual capabilities, you can easily create a multilingual online store that translates your content into more than 65 languages. The platform’s multicurrency solution empowers your business to allow your customers to shop using their local currency.

PrestaShop Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include tools that give you ownership of your entire store, allowing you to get the data you need when needed. PrestaShop also offers thousands of themes and modules that will help you convert visitors into customers.

Integrations include connections with various third-party applications to add more functionality to your business, such as Hubspot, Icecat Catalog Management, Looker Studio, Odoo, PipeDrive, QuickBooks, Salesforce, SimplBooks, Xero, Zoho CRM, and other software options. You can also use the PrestaShop API or a paid Zapier account if you need to make custom integrations with your tools.

OpenCart is well-known among ecommerce brands for its lightweight and fast site load times. It’s an excellent option for businesses needing a fast, responsive online store without the bulk found in more extensive platforms.

Why I picked OpenCart: The platform is a lightweight and fast open-sourced ecommerce platform that makes it easy for brands to build an online storefront. To use OpenCart, you’ll need some quality web hosting before building your store, which should allow you to get good performance suitable for an ecommerce business. Hosting can play a significant role in your site’s speed and performance when using OpenCart, but because the solution is very lightweight, you can efficiently run the software on a shared hosting environment and get the performance you expect.

OpenCart Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include simple order management tools that allow you to print packing slips or invoices from the order dashboard. When using OpenCart, you can also add an unlimited number of categories, subcategories, and products.

Integrations include connections with over 13,000 extensions to increase performance, such as Flagship Shipping, Freshchat, Hubspot, Infusionsoft, IntercomChat, Mailchimp, QuickBooks Online, XeroCart, Zendesk, Zoho, and other software options. If you need custom integrations, you can use a paid Zapier account or use the platform’s API.

BigCommerce provides businesses with a headless ecommerce solution to separate their front end from their back end. This flexibility helps users create custom, unique online stores while using the platform's extensive ecommerce backend.

Why I picked BigCommerce: Many large enterprise-size ecommerce organizations utilize BigCommerce’s headless capabilities to connect the platforms with multiple frontends, such as a website or mobile site. BigCommerce allows you to use API endpoints to create custom functionality based on your store requirements, including product management, billing, payments, search, and content tools. For example, you can use BigCommerce for administrative and customer data, Drupal to manage content, and Fluent Commerce for order management, all connected through APIs.

BigCommerce Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include multi-store management tools that empower you to manage all online stores from a single, convenient space. BigCommerce also offers search engine optimization tools that help you get more traffic to your online store.

Integrations include connections with various third-party tools, such as ActiveCampaign, AfterShip Tracking, Brightpearl, Feedonomics, Gorgias, LiveChat, Mailchimp, QuickBooks Online, ShipStation, Twilio Segment, and other software options. You can also create custom integrations with BigCommerce’s API or a paid Zapier account.

X-Cart specializes in helping businesses create multi-vendor ecommerce marketplaces, allowing users to add multiple sellers to list their products on a single platform.

Why I picked X-Cart: If your ecommerce goal is to create a marketplace like Amazon or eBay, using X-Cart will be beneficial. With X-Cart, you can launch a comprehensive marketplace and fine-tune your site to meet your needs, no matter how many vendors, products, or visitors you have. The platform allows you to customize your marketplace however you want by implementing extensions or custom coding.

X-Cart Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include many built-in capabilities, such as multicurrency support and tax calculations based on location. You can also take advantage of the platform’s customer group management tool to help you create various prices for different groups.

Integrations include connections with various third-party tools to help you reach more buyers and efficiently manage operations, such as Feedonomics, Heap, Hubspot, Kissmetrics, Klaviyo, LiveChat, Mailchimp, Moosend, Oracle Eloqua, Salesforce, and other software options. You can also create custom integrations by using X-Cart’s API or a paid Zapier account.

Volusion provides ecommerce businesses with a built-in CRM system, which helps manage and track customer interactions so they can provide more personalized experiences and support.

Why I picked Volusion: I added Volusion for consideration because it offers a customer relationship management system to help you communicate with customers, get an overview of order histories, and track support inquiries. With Volusion, using their CRM allows you to manage customer interactions, track buying histories, and collect customer behavior data. The built-in CRM will help you get comprehensive insights into customers, create targeted marketing campaigns, improve support, and tailor future product offerings.

Volusion Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include customizable website layouts that enable you to create an online store that allows customers to shop on your store from their desktop or mobile devices. Volusion also provides cross-selling functionality that helps you sell products across other channels and manage all orders from a single dashboard.

Integrations include connections with over 80 business systems, such as AccessiBe, Answerbase, DataFeedWatch, LiveChat, Mailchimp, POWR Comments, Privy, QuickBooks Online, Rejoiner, Shipwire, and other software options. You can also use Volusion’s API or a paid Zapier account if you need custom integrations with your tool stack.

Magento is well-known for ecommerce business scalability and customization and can handle complex and high-traffic websites with complete control over design and functionality.

Why I picked Magento: I added Magento to this list because it can help Canadian ecommerce brands quickly scale and customize their online store. If you or someone on your team has extensive programming experience, you can customize almost every aspect of your online store. Magento is also able to scale with your business, allowing you to handle extensive inventories and higher traffic volumes as your business grows.

Magento Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include artificial intelligence capabilities that help you deliver personalized product recommendations, site search, and browsing. Magento also allows you to deploy many storefronts at scale fast.

Integrations include connections with tools such as Adobe Analytics, GUMU, Kleene, MyCommerce, Octocom, Phrase, Pimberly, ShipMonk, SocialBug CRM, Webeyez, and other software options. You can also create custom connections between Magento and your current systems through the platform’s API and a paid Zapier account.

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that allows users to turn a WordPress website into a functional ecommerce store. It leverages WordPress’s content management functionality while providing extensive ecommerce capabilities.

Why I picked WooCommerce: If you’re already using WordPress to manage your content and create a website, you can use the WooCommerce plugin to transform your site into an online store. WooCommerce offers extensive product management capabilities, enabling you to sell anything from physical items to digital downloads and subscriptions, all on your WordPress site. The plugin is open-sourced, which means it’s a good fit for businesses of any size.

WooCommerce Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include the ability to add essential ecommerce components such as tax and inventory management, secure payments, and shipping information. WooCommerce also offers a highly customizable checkout process that will help you increase conversions.

Integrations include connections with over 6,000 third-party applications to help you create an ecommerce store that fits your needs, such as ClickSend, Fishbowl, Google Analytics, Help Scout, Klaviyo, LiveChat, Mailchimp, monday.com, QuickBooks, ShipBob, and other software options.

Square Online is an ecommerce platform that connects with Square’s payment processing, making it a good option for businesses that need a unified system for managing online and in-store sales.

Why I picked Square Online: If you’re already operating an in-person storefront and utilize Square, you can easily integrate your ecommerce site into the point-of-sale system, creating a unified payment processing system. Square Online uses Square’s powerful payment processing infrastructure and vast payment processing experience to enable your business to sell online and offline. With Square Online, you can quickly and securely accept payments through a secure checkout process and protect your store from payment fraud.

Square Online Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include the ability to allow customers to buy products through QR codes you can send through email, SMS, and social media. The platform also offers a built-in CRM solution you can use to collect and analyze sales and customer data and monitor multichannel selling strategies.

Integrations include connections with third-party tools such as Arka, Flonomics, Gigasheet, My Lead Fox, Next-Cart, Paloma, Shippo, Shopventory, SimpleTix, Store Leads, and other software options. You can also create custom integrations with Square Online through its API or a paid Zapier account.