The 4 Best E-Commerce Platforms for Luxury Brands

Your customers expect a certain level of user experience (UX) when shopping with your luxury brand. Finding the best e-commerce platform to meet your needs for inventory control and ensuring the UX is stellar can be challenging. Yet, meeting the challenge has significant bottom-line impacts. One study showed that poor checkout process design causes 37% of shoppers to leave their carts without completing a purchase.

According to Statista revenue, the luxury goods market revenue is around $474 billion in 2024. With an annual growth rate of more than 4%, high-end e-commerce is growing fast. A website that stands out from the crowd can give you an edge. 

Even though you might sell a deluxe product, your profit margins could be slightly lower than other niches. You want a platform that provides a flawless user experience while meeting your budgetary requirements. Explore four top platforms offering the flexibility and features that luxury brands need.

1. Shopify Plus

If you want a high level of customization, Shopify Plus may be the right choice. This e-commerce shopping system provider states that companies making between $1 million and $500 million are growing 126% per year on the platform. Upgrading to their Plus program gives you some distinct advantages, including: 

• Unlimited sandbox and development environments for testing. 
• Video and 3D on product pages. 
• Possibility to add augmented reality.
• Ability to sell through over 100 social media channels. 
• Ability to sell B2b products wholesale directly to customers.

You’ll gain access to more advanced customer care options to help you learn how to customize your storefront and market successfully. Well-known brands such as Wood Offerman Shop, Robert August and Kylie Cosmetics use the platform. 

2. Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Unless your customers are especially high-net-worth individuals, many of the customers buying your luxury items will be unable to pay for it in full upfront. Between spending a monthly $2,000 on housing essentials, $600 on food and around $150 on gas , consumers already have a significant amount of expenses to pay for that take a large chunk of their paychecks — particularly as inflation raises the cost of many everyday necessities. Setting up shop on a platform where you can offer payment installments may benefit your company’s growth among these more middle-class consumers and increase your revenue. 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud gives you the flexibility to take payments as you’d like. You’ll find luxury brands such as Saks, Gucci, Lamborghini and L’hotel Group on this platform. Salesforce excels at creating a solid omnichannel customer experience. By tapping into insights provided through artificial intelligence (AI) features, brands can personalize customer experiences through predictive analytics. This allows brands to:

• Use order management to simplify distribution. 
• Customize payment options. 
• Integrate with customer relationship management tools. 
• Scale easily through cloud solutions. 

Salesforce comes with built-in bells and whistles, allowing you to avoid a bunch of add-ons and additional charges.

3. BigCommerce

By combining an open software as a service (SaaS) model with application programming interface (API) capabilities, BigCommerce offers maximum flexibility. If you plan to scale your business rapidly, this platform will work with you to keep your e-commerce site fast and agile. The site boasts 99.99% uptime , so you don’t lose out on sales while the servers are down. Features include:

• Multiple storefronts.
• Omnichannel compatibility.
• Offline to online sales.
• Wholesale components.
• Friendly to international sales.
• Frictionless checkout.

BigCommerce offers enterprise-level solutions to help small and medium luxury businesses grow. Some of the brands utilizing BigCommerce include UPLIFT Desk, Harvey Nichols, Badgley Mischka and Diamonds Direct.

4. WooCommerce

If you need more flexibility than the other platforms provide, WooCommerce is a plugin that integrates with your WordPress site. The free version comes packed full of features, but you can also upgrade to add additional functionality. 

Some of the brands utilizing WooCommerce include Daelmans Stroopwafels, Amundsen Sports and UPPAbaby. Key features include:

• Huge plugin library to add premium options. 
• Customizable design that integrates with a luxury theme. 
• Categorization that makes searches a breeze.
• Set language and currency based on location for international sales. 
• Unlimited use of images and products. 

If you want to set up a beautiful online boutique, WooCommerce offers the customization and options you need for everything from a basic product listing to more advanced features. 

Choosing the Right E-Commerce Platform

For businesses competing with other luxury brands, finding the perfect platform may take testing and time. You’ll want a provider that expands alongside your business. Customization lets your website stand apart from competitors while giving you a solid architecture that creates reliability for site visitors. Finding the right mix of affordability, features and third-party integrations can save you time and help your brand grow.