If you’re a business owner or professional in Australia, needing to create your own website, you could be conflicted about which website builder to use. You could choose the convenience of one-stop online store builders like Squarespace, Olitt, or Wix, or the unrestricted freedom of WordPress all of which are available in Australia among many others.
Platforms that are “all-in-one” contain hosting, a website builder, necessary website features, and occasionally an integrated payment system. You frequently need to link the online shop with an outside payment method.
Revenue from online enterprises is expected to reach over $32 billion by 2024 in Australia, the 11th-largest eCommerce industry in the world.
Let’s say you run one of those businesses now or are thinking about trying out eCommerce. In either case, you’ll understand how important having a strong online presence is. Your website is after all the public face of your company and a key platform for client engagement and revenue generation.
Let’s take a look at a few of the best online store builders in Australia. I’ll give a general outline of who they are, how much they cost, and their advantages and disadvantages. The emphasis on the following site builders should provide you with the knowledge you need to choose the best option for your online store in Australia.
Best online store builders in Australia
#1. Wix
Wix is a powerful all-arounder with a wide range of creative options. It perfectly balances the number of features with attractive designs, which perhaps explains why it is by far the most expensive.
It is the most flexible website builder available because of its array of social media, marketing, and customer care options. However, most of these depend on apps, which can drastically increase the expense of your build. The nice aspect of such integrations is that no coding knowledge is required.
Wix gives you the freedom to arrange creative elements any way you see fit without being constrained by boxed templates. The negative with Wix is that you cannot change templates after publishing your website, which is a little constricting.
If all of that seems like too much work, Wix ADI (artificial design intelligence) can quickly create a new website for you. You simply need to provide information about the requirements for your website. You can have your own builder within a builder, as Wix allows you to work with a qualified web designer directly from the platform!
Wix offers countless choices for creating innovative websites that serve your needs.
How Wix works
After registering with Wix using your email address, Google, or Facebook, you may select a template. Wix is by far one of the most liberal theme directories out of all the website builders we’ve listed. You can choose from more than 800 templates. After choosing the ideal design, you can rapidly build your website using Wix’s very simple drag-and-drop interface.
Without having any prior knowledge of web construction, you may edit templates to add fonts, text, photos, and other elements as well as change their sizes, colors, and rotations. You also have access to a unique web name, and all designs are responsive to mobile devices.
Wix is for who?
For busy small business owners, Wix is the best online store builder. More than just a website builder, it includes a set of effective business tools to assist you in managing your online store.
Wix Payments
The most expensive plan, which provides complete website-building options, priority customer service, limitless video hosting, and 50 GB of website storage, costs $58 AUD per month.
The number of eCommerce features is the same across all subscriptions, and there is also the ability to add extra tools and integrations from a wide selection of third-party as well as Wix’s own apps. The fact that many of the add-ons require separate memberships, though, could drive up the monthly cost.
The monthly fee for a Wix eCommerce subscription increases with the frequency of payments. For the lowest monthly price, you can pay up to two years in advance; however, payments are not refundable.
Although Wix Payments is not currently accessible in Australia, a wide range of online payment processors, interact with Wix. Wix won’t tack on any additional costs to the transaction fees associated with them.
Wix Pricing
There’s a free option, but if you want an ad-free site without Wix’s subdomain, you’ll need to opt for one of Wix’s paid plans. The most basic business plan is priced at $17 a month, rising to the Business VIP plan costing £35 a month, with prices billed annually.
Wix Pros
There is a free option.
All pricing plans include web hosting.
Every pricing plan includes a free SSL certificate.
On all plans, you receive a free personalized domain for a year.
Wix prioritizes usability.
There are countless themes available.
Wix Cons
The less expensive subscriptions do not have analytics.
After a year, you must pay for website analytics on even the more premium plans, but pricing isn’t disclosed.
If you change templates, all of your material is lost, and you must start over.
#2. Shopify
Online start-ups in Australia, both new and old, are familiar with Shopify. It is the ideal option for businesses looking for an all-in-one eCommerce solution with hosting, a website builder, payment processing, and a ton of customizability capabilities. It actually offers the biggest selection of add-on integrations for online businesses, but they are not free.
Customers of Shopify benefit from a self-hosted platform and a user-friendly web page builder that make adding a variety of pages simple.
How Shopify works
For anyone wanting to edit the template files, basic HTML expertise is required. Shopify does, however, provide a website design service for those that are either too busy or feel ill-equipped to create their own website. Additionally, on Shopify’s website, there is a list of developers who work with them. There will be an additional charge for these services, of course.
Using the convenient content management system offered by Shopify, you can easily manage every piece of content on your website. Of course, there are a ton of connectors available for download and usage if you want to expand Shopify’s basic features.
Shopify is for who?
For new small businesses in Australia who wish to sell online, Shopify is a great platform for creating a complete online store compared to other builders.
On the other hand, it has a fantastic eCommerce platform that provides established businesses with substantially more than any of its rivals.
Shopify Payments
The three major Shopify online store plans are Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. The number of features depends on the plan selected, although there is a significant price difference between the subscriptions. In comparison to payments made annually, every two years, or every four years, a monthly subscription has a higher monthly cost.
A percentage and fixed fee per transaction is charged for accepting credit cards using the Shopify Payments system; the more expensive the membership, the lower the fee. You also have the option to interface with a variety of different payment processors. However, each transaction made through a processor other than Shopify will result in an additional fee of 0.5% to 2%.
There are several feature restrictions with Shopify’s free plan, such as less sophisticated sales reports. Although there are more than 6,000 extra apps and functions available, many of them come with additional costs. The majority of Shopify’s website themes cost between US$140 and US$350, however, others are free.
Taking all of these factors into account, the fees can quickly add up, especially if you’re not utilizing Shopify Payments. However, Shopify is a fantastic option that can expand with you if you’re in it for the long haul and have reliable sales.
Shopify Pricing
At first sight, Shopify appears to be reasonably priced, with monthly fees starting at $24 and going up to $299 for the most expensive plan. You can create an online store and start selling with each package.
Shopify Pros
There is a 14-day free trial available.
You have availability to themes that are appealing and functional.
The integrated payment processor provided by Shopify is called Shopify Payments.
A limitless number of products may be listed and purchased.
A sizable app shop is made available to you.
Shopify Cons
Advanced reporting and analytics are not available in the basic plan.
Costs can soon increase if you don’t use Shopify’s free templates.
If you don’t use Shopify’s integrated payment processor, there are additional transaction fees.
#3. Olitt
Anyone can build a cool website with Olitt, a free online store builder in Australia, without having to write a single line of code. The development of a website takes Olitt 5 minutes on average.
For your new store, Olitt offers hundreds of prebuilt website templates that you may use as building blocks. Additionally, Olitt offers a number of dragged-in abstract blocks and images.
At Olitt, you’ll find some of the most impressive landing pages ever. Any use case can have a landing page from Olitt.
An SSL certificate is pre-installed on each Website and landing page at Olitt and is free of charge. Lets Encrypt, which powers the free SSL certificate, ensures that it is compatible with the widest range of browsers on both desktop and mobile devices.
The CDN service provider that powers Olitt Websites has more than 42 PoPs spread throughout the five continents. Anyone seeking quick page loading should take note of this.
It allows free Domain connect. As a result, there will be no extra charge when you launch a custom domain. No other online store builders in Australia enable users to connect a domain as part of the free plan.
How Wix works
Once you’ve created an account, fill out all the information, including your name, email address, and password. You can also use your Apple or Google accounts.
It’s time to select the appropriate category after logging in. Every OLITT template is categorized appropriately. Thus, if you’re looking for templates for an online store, you’ll find them under the category of online stores.
Select the appropriate template for your shop by clicking on the appropriate category. Some templates are only available to premium users.
The greatest templates for your eCommerce website can still be found even if you aren’t yet ready to buy. To get started, simply click Create Shop.
Olitt is for who?
Olitt is a platform for startups, business owners, software as a service (SaaS) providers, and app developers that want to quickly launch their ideas online without writing a single line of code.
It is a single platform that offers all the tools required to quickly construct a landing page or a simple, beautiful website.
Olitt Payments
With the integration of Paypal, Card Checkout, and Mobile Money Services, Olitt’s landing pages and websites can now accept payments and be used to offer goods and services.
On Olitt Shop, credit cards, mobile payments, bank deposits and EFT, checks, and store credits are all accepted forms of payment.
EFT and bank deposits can be set up in one of two ways, first, the offline payment method has customers receiving bank account information to pay later and then emailing proof of payment. Second, automated payment, whereby integrating Flutterwave with your checkout, your customers will be redirected to their bank, where they can make a payment right away.
When customers pay in full for an initial order, store credits are earned since the extra money is kept in the customer’s Olitt store E-wallet.
Olitt Pricing
Olitt has a free version and offers a free trial. It also comes with a paid plan. If you want to get more features, you need to part with $29.99 per year.
Olitt Pros
Simple to use because it eliminates the difficulties associated with website development
Extremely affordable and offers a free plan
Integration of social media
A lot of editable templates
Fast startup
Olitt Cons
No API
It needs additional applications that incorporate more payment gateways.
#4. Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular brand in the online store builders and eCommerce industries in Australia. It is appropriate for companies based in Australia because it lets you register a .com.au domain name.
The all-inclusive platform Squarespace comes with hosting, a website builder for online stores, and designs.
You must sign up for the Business or one of the Commerce plans in order to create and manage an online store.
There isn’t much in the way of third-party integrations for Squarespace. In addition, you can link with some of the most important apps. Beyond this, the platform’s built-in features are your only options.
Squarespace is a good option for online shops with a limited selection of products, but it is not the greatest platform if you’re seeking a wide range of eCommerce features. The themes are primarily minimalistic with a focus on spectacular graphics, which is advantageous for chic retailers with high-quality product photos.
How Squarespace works
After you’ve registered and selected your domain name, Squarespace offers a wide range of professional-designed templates to assist you in creating a visually appealing website. Categories are used to group templates. However, a blank template can be used if you’d rather start from scratch while creating your website.
You can add features to your websites in both situations. There is an online Help Center where you may find a ton of helpful self-help instructions if you need assistance creating your website. Additionally, you may design a logo for your company using the free logo builder on Squarespace.
Website analytics are also included so you can better analyze the traffic to and the sources of that traffic.
Squarespace is for who?
Due to its simplicity of use and attractive themes, Squarespace is used by many bloggers and businesses, but there are certain restrictions as well.
Squarespace Payments
Both monthly and annual payments are accepted for subscriptions, with the annual payment being the least expensive on a per-month basis. However, annual payments are non-refundable.
You pay Squarespace 3% of each online transaction made under the Business plan, in addition to the separate Stripe or PayPal costs. You need to sign up for Basic Commerce or Advanced Commerce to avoid paying this additional cost.
Squarespace Pricing
There is a 14-day free trial available. Also, there are four plans available, with the first one costing $16 per month if you pay annually. This is 25% less expensive than if you don’t. The Commerce Plan’s prices increase to $52 per month after that.
Squarespace Pros
You get access to lovely, prize-winning templates.
Access to a free SSL certificate is provided.
On all options, you receive unlimited storage.
Along with real things, you can also sell digital downloads.
You receive a domain name for free if you pay annually.
Squarespace Cons
No free plan.
Website analytics are not accessible using the Personal Plan.
Not Adsense-friendly, according to some users.
Conclusion
Selecting a website builder is never an easy endeavor because you’re making a commitment that you must be satisfied with, including the costs.
There is much to think about when choosing the best online store builder for your business in Australia. Not least of all, be certain that the templates, whether free or paid, meet your present and future requirements, that you can modify or amend them easily, and that you can add new functionality as your company expands.