Reviewed by Mayer Hyman, Payments Specialist | Reviewed for accuracy July 2026
Key Takeaways
- E-commerce made up 16.9% of total US retail sales in Q1 2026, a share that has climbed steadily for years (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026).
- Instant-approval payment service providers (PSPs) like PayPal, Square, or Stripe can deactivate a merchant account with little warning and limited support to appeal.
- Choosing the right ecommerce platform means evaluating pricing, scalability, payments and integrations, and the shopping and backend experience together, not in isolation.
- High chargebacks and fraud, not platform choice alone, are usually what push a business between processors.
Consumer Shopping Habits Keep Shifting
Consumer shopping habits are fluid and keep shifting, depending on various economic and generational factors. Financial pressure has pushed some brick-and-mortar storefronts to close in favor of ecommerce models with lower overhead. At the same time, people still want interaction with physical products, which is why online retailers keep opening pop-up shops and physical stores keep investing in digital tools to reach the same customer.
Retailers look for ways to diversify and sync both channels for a better customer experience, expanding digital shopping while keeping the “see and touch” experience of in-person retail alive. As buying trends pivot back and forth, the shift to online retail continues: e-commerce made up 16.9% of total US retail sales in the first quarter of 2026 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026), and that share has grown steadily for years.
Stop Forfeiting Online Sales to Account Terminations
Instant-approval payment service providers like PayPal, Square, or Stripe can deactivate a merchant account with little warning and limited support to appeal, cutting off sales at the worst possible time. It’s a familiar scenario: a business is growing, sales are booming, and the onboarding with a PSP felt attractive and easy — until an email arrives citing a breach of terms of service, and the merchant account is closed with no one to reach out to.
These payment service providers help smaller businesses accept payments quickly, but that speed comes with a tradeoff: instant approvals paired with limited individualized attention. They can approve an account immediately, then deactivate it without much warning or anyone advocating on your behalf. That interruption costs you forfeited sales and sends you scrambling for a new ecommerce and payments setup, sometimes at the mercy of providers looking to take advantage of the situation.
eCommerce Solutions That Don’t Leave You Without Options
With millions of ecommerce sites globally, there’s a large and growing number of ecommerce platforms competing for market share. With so many terms floating around, payment gateways, payment processors, merchant providers, it can be difficult to understand what an ecommerce platform actually is. An ecommerce platform, sometimes called shopping cart software, is a software solution to set up, build, customize, manage, and run your online store’s website.
A good ecommerce platform offers robust features, including plugins and integrations into many payment gateways and your existing CRM, ERP, or financial accounting software. The website builder, marketing and social channels, inventory management, shipping and fulfillment, back-office operations, sales, fraud protection, and payment services should all work together seamlessly.
Beyond the Shopping Cart
The online shopping cart is the foundation of any ecommerce site and integral to completing a purchase, but converting a shopper from browsing to buying requires all-in-one ecommerce technology. From startups to enterprises, there are several standalone, open-source, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform options, ranging from a well-branded store for those with limited technical know-how to a fully hosted solution with every feature to differentiate your store.
Questions to Ask When Choosing an eCommerce Platform
Pricing
How established is your business? What are the initial implementation and ongoing costs? How easy is migration if you outgrow the platform?
Scalability
What kind of product and order management is offered, including bulk product upload? Does the platform support customization and themes? Are there features to grow with your business, like SEO, marketing, and multi-site support? Does the platform integrate with third-party systems? Is there support for multiple payment gateways? What ecommerce security is available?
Shopping Experience and Backend Interface
What kind of reporting and analytics are available? What tools reduce cart abandonment? Does it offer a streamlined customer shopping interface?
These answers are the drivers that help set up your online business for success.
Popular eCommerce Platforms Worth Considering
During your evaluation, you’ll likely see the same handful of contenders come up repeatedly, based on usage, target business volume, and ease of use.
WooCommerce – for WordPress Users
Adding ecommerce functionality to an existing WordPress site is straightforward with the WooCommerce open-source plugin. Geared toward small and midsize businesses that already have hosting, a domain, and a website and are ready to start selling online, it’s easy to see why WooCommerce has gained popularity among ecommerce businesses.
Magento (Adobe Commerce) – for Developers and Professional Sites
Backed by the Adobe brand, Magento offers an open-source online ecosystem widely used by larger businesses, but gaining traction with smaller ones that know they can scale through its customizability. To take full advantage of the platform, you’ll typically need a Magento development partner.
BigCommerce – for Enterprise and Full Control
One of the fastest-growing ecommerce solutions for businesses that think big, BigCommerce has built a name for itself with high-profile, high-volume companies. It’s geared toward enterprise-level companies with established storefronts, but its out-of-the-box features make it popular with businesses of all sizes.
Shopify – for Launching Quickly
With different plans, Shopify aims to be a jack of all trades. At its basic level, it’s common for startups, smaller businesses, and entrepreneurs testing a business concept. At the other end, Shopify Plus offers a solution for enterprise ecommerce. Shopify has a loyal user base, though it comes with tradeoffs like hosting lock-in and processing fees that can add up as a business grows.
Wix – for the Self-Creator
Known primarily as a website builder, Wix also offers an ecommerce solution for entrepreneurs and small businesses starting out. Its free version and drag-and-drop builder require no coding skills, which appeals to freelancers who need an easy-to-learn ecommerce tool, though it comes with limitations as a business scales.
Ecwid – for Existing Websites
Combining forces with Lightspeed, Ecwid works well for businesses looking to start with a free service and grow online and through social media. It offers the option of a one-page website with a built-in store, but works especially well as an add-on to an existing WordPress or Wix website that wants to enable ecommerce capabilities.
Choosing the Right Payments Partner Alongside Your Platform
Even with an ecommerce platform that’s right for your business, ecommerce sales are notoriously tied to online fraud and chargebacks. High chargeback rates can leave a business bouncing between processors. Many ecommerce platforms integrate with various payment processors and gateways, letting online businesses keep their existing software infrastructure while moving their payment processing to a merchant service provider like Cartis Payments, which supports merchants with a full set of fraud tools that work alongside your existing ecommerce software.
Above all, for businesses that want to give shoppers a seamless checkout experience both online and in-store, it’s worth asking how a single omnichannel payments setup can support all of it.
FAQ
Why does a payment service provider sometimes close a merchant account with little warning?
Instant-approval PSPs like PayPal, Square, or Stripe are built for fast onboarding, which means underwriting happens after the account is already live. If a business’s chargeback rate, transaction pattern, or risk profile trips an internal threshold, the PSP can deactivate the account quickly, often with limited individual support to appeal the decision.
What should I look for when choosing an ecommerce platform?
Evaluate pricing and migration costs, scalability features like product management and multi-site support, payment gateway and third-party integrations, and the overall shopping and backend experience, including reporting and cart abandonment tools. No single factor should be evaluated alone.
How much of total retail sales happen online today?
E-commerce accounted for 16.9% of total US retail sales in the first quarter of 2026, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, continuing a steady multi-year increase.
