Which platform/provider should I choose for my new ecommerce store?

• I just completed your SEO for ecommerce training course and it was really excellent!

  I am starting an ecommerce store from scratch to market and sell an artist’s prints and note cards. I'm partnering with the artist to manage all aspects of the business while she creates the artwork.

  My background and education are in Business Management and Marketing with an emphasis on digital technology. I completed an Advanced Web Design Certification course from Sessions College for Professional Design over the last two-and-a-half years and have designed and launched three small websites since.

  I need to know which platform/provider I should choose to use for our new ecommerce store.

  The research I've done points to Shopify and Magento. I'm leaning toward Magento because I like the idea of complete flexibility and modular structure. This would allow me to create a store that can grow with the business indefinitely.

  My concern is that I have no specific experience with Magento and I've read it can be quite complicated. We also won't have the immediate resources to hire outside help. The only web design/coding resource is me.

  I am fairly technical and don’t mind doing some hand coding but am by no means a developer. My web design/coding experience has been with Adobe Dreamweaver using the bootstrap framework but I mostly work in code view.

  Generally speaking, when I start a project, I like building things from scratch from the ground up rather than prepackaged options. Usually I find it pays off in the long-run because I am better able to maintain and build on something that I have a thorough understanding of.

  All that being said, I'd like to avoid biting off more than I can or should chew. I'm willing to do some extra work but I'd love some professional advice from within the industry before launching into building the site.

Answer:

Magento is a very powerful, but complex platform. It's also very expensive, relatively speaking.

It's very likely, even with your technical background, that it'll take you some time just getting up to speed with it—not to mention integrating it with other platforms such as WordPress. We've already said it isn't cheap ...