Business

Best ecommerce platforms for Australian businesses

Karthik Rajakumar

17.06.26

Read time 8 minutes

If you’re looking to create a store or website and sell to customers online, you’ll need an ecommerce platform. There are quite a few options for Australian businesses, including all-in-one website builders that combine features to make it easier to manage everything in one place.

This guide will compare five of the best e-commerce platforms in Australia, covering key features and pricing, and an overview of what each provider is best suited for. There’s also an intro to Wise Business – a multi-currency account you can use to manage all your global ecommerce payments.

Table of Contents
What is an e-commerce platform? Key features 5 best E-commerce platforms in Australia Wise Business: Manage global ecommerce payments FAQs

What is an e-commerce platform?

An ecommerce platform is software that allows businesses to build and run an online store to sell goods and services, with tools to optimise checkouts and take payments, as well as manage other retail tasks like sorting inventory and shipping. Most ecommerce platforms bring together all these features, so businesses can handle most of their operations through a single platform.

They generally help Australian businesses to:

Reach new customers beyond physical stores through convenient, online sales
Accept secure online payments using popular payment methods like PayPal and Zip
Sell across multiple channels, including social media and marketplaces
Create better customer experiences with faster, simpler checkouts
Scale operations easily as sales volumes and product ranges grow
Access analytics and reporting to improve decision-making

Key features to look for in an ecommerce platform

As we’ve noted, most modern e-commerce platforms now function as full business management systems, rather than merely digital storefronts. They have tools covering pretty much everything from website building to marketing and customer engagement.

When comparing e-commerce platforms, you’ll typically want to shortlist those with:

Website creation and hosting - Tools to build and host your online store without needing advanced technical skills
Secure checkouts - Fast checkouts with ‘layers’ of tech like encryption and tokenisation to protect sensitive details and improve customer trust.
Payment processing - Support for a wide range of popular and alternative methods to meet customer expectations.
Inventory management - Automation features that update stock levels and help you organise products
Mobile optimisation - Mobile-friendly storefronts and checkouts designed to work best on smartphones
SEO tools - Built-in search engine optimisation features to increase the visibility of products and pages in Google
Shipping and fulfillment tools - Shipping labels, tracking, delivery management, and integrations with fulfillment providers
Marketing and customer engagement tools - Email marketing, discounts, loyalty programs, and social media integrations to boost sales.
Analytics and reporting - Insights into sales, customer behavior, and other metrics that can be used to optimise and improve your store
App integrations - Access to a large catalogue of third-party apps and plugins that flesh out the store’s functionality
Scalability - The ability to handle more products, customers, staff, international sales (and more) as your business grows
Customer support - Access to help centres, live chat, forums, onboarding resources, and technical support to get up and running

Five best E-commerce platforms in Australia

There’s no shortage of feature-rich ecommerce platforms in Australia. These five platforms cater to most small business needs, from launching a first online store to leveling up to something bigger and more capable as you grow.

Here’s an overview of the platforms by price for the recommended plan and potential target market.

Platform	Pricing (AUD)	Best for
Shopify²	From $149 per month	Growing businesses that sell online
WooCommerce¹⁰	Free platform; hosting at $25–$350/mo, and any extensions at $29–$299/yr each.	WordPress users
Wix²¹	From $55 per month	Beginners and small stores
Squarespace²⁵	From $28 per month	Creatives and service businesses
BigCommerce²⁸	From $79 per month	Scaling online retailers

Now, we’ll compare each one in more detail, starting with Shopify.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the biggest global ecommerce platforms – it says its merchants have collectively made $1.1 trillion in sales². As an all-in-one hosted platform, it’s got pretty much everything an Australian business needs to start selling and then scale afterward, thanks to its huge number of commerce app integrations (21,000+) and international selling features¹.

Shopify groups its services into five core categories: Build Your Website, Run Your Business, Sell Anywhere, Get Paid, and Marketing & Analytics. Within each of these are key features, including:

A drag-and-drop website builder (no coding required) with AI personalisation tools³
Custom one-click checkouts that Shopify claims converts 15% better than the industry average⁴
A POS system with integrated hardware to sell in one or multiple stores⁵
Multi-channel selling across social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok) and popular marketplaces, including eBay and Amazon⁶
Order management and delivery tools to get shipping labels, sort fulfilment, and manage inventory⁷
International selling with Shopify Markets - sell to customers overseas from a single store⁸

Shopify pricing

Shopify has four subscription plans: Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus, starting at a promotional $56 AUD per month (or $42 AUD when billed annually), and going up to $3,700 AUD per month for the top tier. You’ll also have to pay a per-transaction fee to accept most payments, including cards (standard rate of 1.75% + $0.30).

👆Checkout our review on Shopify Australia to learn more

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source plugin built for WordPress websites. It powers around a third of the top ecommerce sites globally, and is known for its flexibility – businesses have more control over their website and costs compared to ‘fully hosted’ platforms. The slight caveat is that it requires a bit more hands-on management and technical expertise to set up and manage.

WooCommerce has four main categories on its website: Sell, Extensions, Resources, and Enterprise ecommerce. Because it’s open source, there are lots of tools and guides aimed at developers to help them build powerful, fully customised stores.

With this platform, you can:

Create ‘no code’ stores using themes to change the look of menus, product pages (and more)¹¹
Accept payments online and in-store in 135+ currencies across “fast, convenient, and secure” methods¹²
Use drag and drop blocks to build customisable checkouts¹³
Integrate your site with global fulfilment partners and automate shipping workflows¹⁴
Access a huge catalogue of extensions and themes through WooCommerce Marketplace¹⁵

WooCommerce pricing

WooCommerce uses a ‘flexible and transparent’ pricing model¹⁰. You don’t have to pay for the plugin itself, but there are card payment processing fees of 2.50–2.90% + $0.30 AUD per transaction. You’ll also typically pay separately for hosting, themes, and plugins that you use with WordPress and WooCommerce.

Wix

Wix is a beginner-friendly website builder designed to help businesses create online stores quickly without technical experience. It combines ecommerce, bookings, marketing, and customer management tools into a single platform – ideal for small businesses and service- based brands that want an easy ‘all-in-one’ solution¹⁶.

Wix also offers a strong set of booking tools, including purpose-built features for restaurants to manage menus and reservations, as well as tools for appointments and events. This makes it stand out from competitors that focus more narrowly on product-based selling.

With Wix, you can:

Build an ecommerce website with AI tools and 100s of free and customisable templates, and start selling “immediately”¹⁷
Accept payments online across major and alternative methods with optimised checkouts¹⁸ (Wix POS for in-store payments isn’t currently available in Australia)
Grow your business with SEO tools and email marketing campaigns¹⁷
Build your own CRM and integrate it with your Wix site to manage customer relationships¹⁹
Use a booking system and scheduling tools to manage appointments, reservations, and take payments²⁰
Buy domain names and get secure multi-cloud hosting with 99.99 uptime¹⁶

Wix pricing

Wix has five main plans: Free, Light, Core, Business, and Business Elite²¹. The Business plan is ‘recommended’ by Wix as the starter with its fleshed-out feature set, with a full suite of payment and marketing tools, plus higher allowances. This costs 55 AUD per month. Business Elite is priced at 199 AUD per month.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a website builder that prioritises aesthetics, offering clean, minimalist designs that can be refined using AI tools. While it’s often closely associated with portfolios and websites for creative professionals, its feature set is quite broad, extending to invoicing, scheduling, SEO, and domain transfers, making it ideal for most businesses selling products or services online²².

Squarespace groups its products into four main categories: Website, Business, Marketing, and Business Tools. There’s also a Resources sub-menu with a Help Centre, Forum, and a series of Webinars to help you along the way²².

With Squarespace, you can²³:

Create a website using ‘best-in-class’ templates and personalise it for your brand and audience with a Blueprint AI builder
Use built-in ecommerce and checkout tools to showcase and sell your products online
Create professional, branded invoices with multiple payment options, including recurring billing
Run email marketing campaigns and use ‘advanced’ SEO tools to drive more traffic to your site
Access analytics tools to keep track of traffic sources, trends, and visitor logs to help improve your site over time

Squarespace pricing

Like most other platforms, Squarespace has four subscription plans, starting with Basic for $17 AUD per month and topping out with Advanced at 109 AUD per month (when paid annually)²⁴. The ‘Core’ package (28 AUD per month) might be the best to start with, as it has all the core website-building features, plus useful business tools like advanced analytics.

To accept credit cards, you’ll also have to pay a per-transaction fee, from 1.35% + $0.30 AUD, depending on the plan.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce, as the name suggests, is a platform aimed at growing online retailers and stores with larger product catalogues. It states that it’s “built for momentum” with tools that make it easier to scale across channels and different regions – all from a single platform²⁵. One other notable benefit is the absence of additional transaction fees across all sites and plans.

The main features are grouped by platform and service, covering everything from small business tools to bigger B2B industry capabilities.

With BigCommerce, you can²⁷:

Create user-friendly sites with an intuitive Page Builder visual editor and no or low code options²⁵
Deliver simple, fast checkouts with multiple payment methods, including PayPal and Apple Play that convert at a rate of 61.9%²⁶
Sell across marketplaces, social media, search, and advertising channels from one platform
Use a new ‘Catalyst’ service to build higher-performance storefronts with advanced customisation and visual editing tools
Expand into new markets overseas with localised storefronts and checkouts

BigCommerce pricing

BigCommerce has four main plans: Core, Growth, Scale, and Performance. The entry-level Core plan targeted for new businesses is priced at 29 AUD per month when billed annually, while Growth for “established businesses scaling toward 100k annual sales” rises to 79 AUD per month. The processing fee for debit and credit cards begins at 2.89% + $0.29 per transaction for all plans²⁸.

Wise Business: Manage global ecommerce payments

For Australian businesses selling internationally, ecommerce platforms can help you accept sales from local customers overseas, but managing those cross-border payments afterward can quickly become complex and expensive due to currency conversion fees and markups.

Expanding a business globally opens up exciting opportunities, but also new challenges like receiving payments across borders. Hidden foreign transaction fees and hefty currency conversions involved with international payments can eat into your profits and time.

Wise Business serves as a cost-effective solution where you can receive money from around the world at the speed and price of local payments.

Transform the way you receive payments with Wise Business:

One-time fee of 65 AUD for local account details in 8+ currencies, including AUD, NZD, USD, and more—no recurring fees
One account to hold, send, and convert money with no hidden fees or exchange rate markups
Create and send professional invoices directly to your customers through Wise Business
Create payment links to request money in specific currencies
Seamlessly receive payments from customers, online sales, or PSPs like Stripe and Amazon.
Wise is safe and secure - Trusted by 13 million people and counting

This general advice does not take into account your objectives, financial circumstances or needs and you should consider if it is appropriate for you.

FAQs on ecommerce platforms

1. How much does it cost to set up an ecommerce store in Australia?
Costs can vary quite a bit depending on the platform you choose and how you plan to market your store. As a rough guide, most new businesses spend somewhere between 30 to 100 AUD a month on ecommerce software, with extra costs for things like a domain name, plugins, and the transaction fees that come with taking online payments.

2. Can I sell on multiple ecommerce platforms at the same time?
Yes – most modern platforms make multi-channel selling pretty straightforward. You can usually list products on your own store, social media, and marketplaces like eBay or Amazon at the same time, which helps you reach more customers without the burden of managing each one individually.

Sources:

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