As an entrepreneur looking to establish an online presence, you want to get your business up and running as quickly and affordably as possible. Building an ecommerce website from scratch requires significant time, money, and technical skills that you may lack, especially when just starting out. However, using a free ecommerce website template is the fastest way to start selling your products or services online. With a template, you can have a professional, functional storefront ready in a matter of hours rather than weeks or months. All you need to focus on is customizing the template with your brand and products. Then you'll be open for business and ready to take on your first customers.
If you're interested in learning more about how to customize your ecommerce website, you might want to check out Unicorn Platform's blog post on ecommerce website design services. They offer tips and advice on how to create a successful online store, as well as information about their own platform that can help simplify the process.
Why Use Free Ecommerce Website Templates?
Free ecommerce website templates offer several benefits for new online stores. First, they are ready-made, allowing you to get your store up and running quickly. You don’t have to spend time designing and developing an entire website from scratch. Instead, you can choose a template that suits your needs and customize it.
Second, free templates are budget-friendly. As a new business owner, your resources are limited, so free options can help you establish an online presence without a major upfront cost. Once your business starts generating revenue, you can then invest in a custom website if needed.
Third, ecommerce templates typically include features you need to start selling right away, such as a shopping cart, payment processing, and security. This allows you to focus on adding products, photos, descriptions, and other content to your site instead of building essential infrastructure from the ground up.
Finally, free ecommerce website templates are easy to use. They are built on user-friendly platforms, so you don’t need advanced technical skills to set up and manage your store. You can learn the basics and be up and running quickly. Then, as you get more comfortable, you can take advantage of more advanced features to continue optimizing your site.
In summary, free ecommerce website templates offer a fast, affordable, and easy way to launch your online store. While a custom website may be ideal down the road, templates provide an excellent starting point, allowing you to open your digital doors and start making sales as soon as possible. For new store owners, that is invaluable.
Top 5 Free Ecommerce Website Builders
To start selling products online, you need a professional ecommerce website. However, building one from scratch can be difficult and expensive. An easy solution is using a free ecommerce website template. These ready-made templates allow you to quickly set up an online store without technical skills.
Top 5 Free Ecommerce Website Builders
- Wix - Wix is a popular free website builder with stylish ecommerce templates. It has an easy drag-and-drop editor to help you create a professional online store. You get free hosting, SSL certificate, and a mobile-optimized site. However, transaction fees are slightly higher than competitors.
- Weebly - Another easy-to-use builder with free ecommerce features. It offers modern templates, an intuitive editor, free domain, and hosting. Transaction fees are affordable at 3% per sale. A great option for novice entrepreneurs on a budget.
- Squarespace - Squarespace is a beautiful all-in-one platform to build an online store. It provides elegant templates, 24/7 support, and a 14-day free trial. However, the cheapest plan starts at $30/month and 3% transaction fees. It suits designers wanting a stylish store.
- Shopify - Shopify is a popular ecommerce platform with a variety of free and paid themes. It's easy to set up but the cheapest plan is $29/month with additional 2% transaction fees. Shopify is ideal if you want a scalable store to grow your business.
- BigCommerce - BigCommerce is an enterprise-level ecommerce platform with free website templates. It offers advanced features like product reviews, coupons, and gift cards. Pricing starts at $29.95/month with no transaction fees. It's a great solution for large product catalogs and high sales volumes.
In summary, there are several great free ecommerce website builders to choose from. Consider your needs, budget, and technical skills to pick the right platform and template to build your online store. With the right choice, you can have a professional ecommerce site up and running in no time.
Shopify: All-in-One Ecommerce Solution
Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce solution that provides everything you need to start selling online. With user-friendly templates and a simple drag-and-drop website builder, it’s an easy way to quickly launch your online store.
Easy to Set Up
Setting up your online store with Shopify is simple. You can choose from professionally designed templates to build your site and add products in just a few clicks. Shopify handles secure payment processing, so you can start selling right away without any technical knowledge needed.
Sell Everywhere
Shopify lets you sell across multiple channels, including your online store, mobile, social media, online marketplaces, and in-person. You have access to powerful features like cart abandonment recovery, social selling on platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest, and the Shopify POS app for selling in physical retail locations.
All the Features You Need
Shopify provides all the features most ecommerce businesses need, such as:
- Secure payment processing with major gateways like PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Inventory and order management
- Customer profiles and accounts
- Product recommendations and reviews
- Staff accounts and permissions
- Reports and analytics to optimize your business
- Thousands of apps and integrations to enhance your store
- 24/7 support to help you succeed
Shopify handles the technical aspects of running an online store so you can focus on growing your business. For small to mid-size businesses, the user-friendly tools, affordable plans, and round-the-clock support make Shopify an ideal ecommerce platform to build your brand and reach customers online. With the significant time saved in development and maintenance, you'll be selling products in no time.
Unicorn Platform: Creative Freedom for Your Online Store
Unicorn Platform provides ecommerce website templates that give you creative freedom and control to build the online store you want. With an intuitive drag and drop builder, you can choose from professionally-designed templates and customize everything to suit your brand.
Unicorn Platform offers:
- A large selection of free, responsive ecommerce templates in a range of styles. Whether you want a minimalist storefront or bold creative design, there are options for any esthetic.
- Full customization with an easy to use page builder. Edit fonts, colors, layouts and add your own images with just a few clicks. You have complete control over the look and feel of your online shop.
- Mobile-optimized templates. All templates are fully responsive so your store will look great and function perfectly on any device. This is essential for ecommerce sites today as many customers shop on their phones.
- Built-in features for ecommerce. Product pages, shopping cart, checkout and payment options are ready to go. You just need to add your products and shipping details.
- Reliable hosting. Your online store will be hosted on Unicorn Platform's fast, secure servers with 99.9% uptime.
- Affordable and scalable. Plans start at $12/month with options to upgrade as your business grows. Unicorn Platform grows with you, handling millions of pageviews per month.
- 24/7 support. Friendly support staff are available around the clock to help you with any issues in building or running your ecommerce site.
With creative freedom, powerful features, and reliable technology, Unicorn Platform has everything you need to launch your online store and start selling as quickly as possible. The fastest way to start selling online is with a free ecommerce website template from Unicorn Platform. Build your dream store today!
Weebly: Easy to Use With Room to Grow
Weebly is an easy-to-use ecommerce website builder with room to scale your business. With Weebly, you can create an online store and start selling quickly without needing to know how to code.
Simplicity
Weebly’s drag and drop editor makes it simple to add products, customize your store’s design, and make changes on the fly. You can choose from a selection of modern ecommerce templates and tweak them to match your brand. Weebly also has built-in features like shopping carts, payment processing, shipping, and inventory management to handle the logistics of running an online shop.
Flexibility
While Weebly is easy to use, it also provides advanced customization options for more technical users. You have full control over your store’s HTML and CSS if you want to modify the code. Weebly integrates with popular business tools and apps so you can connect your store to an email service, CRM, accounting software, and more.
Scalability
Weebly powers stores for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and large companies alike. As your business grows, Weebly can scale with you. Features like abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, customer accounts, and email marketing help convert more sales. Weebly also offers affordable ecommerce plans for stores of any size, from free to enterprise-level. You’ll have access to features like unlimited products, staff accounts, and API access depending on your plan.
Support
If you get stuck while building or managing your Weebly store, help is available. Weebly provides helpful documentation, video tutorials, and 24/7 customer support to guide you through any issues. Weebly’s support staff are knowledgeable about both the technical and business aspects of running an ecommerce website.
In summary, Weebly combines simplicity and power, making it an ideal ecommerce website builder for business owners of all skill levels. With beautiful templates, useful features, and dedicated support, Weebly gives you everything you need to build a professional online store and scale as you grow.
WordPress + WooCommerce: Open Source and Customizable
WordPress combined with the WooCommerce plugin is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms. It is open source, meaning it is free to use and you have full control over the customization and functionality of your online store.
Open Source and Customizable
As an open source platform, WooCommerce allows you to freely modify the source code to suit your needs. You have access to thousands of plugins and themes to enhance your store’s functionality and design. You can tweak it to achieve your desired look and user experience.
WooCommerce also has a robust developer community that is continuously building new plugins and integrations. This means you’ll have access to many free and paid extensions to add advanced ecommerce features like subscriptions, memberships, product reviews and more.
Mobile-Friendly and SEO-Optimized
WooCommerce creates mobile-responsive websites out of the box. Your online store will display properly on all mobile devices, providing a good user experience for your customers on the go.
It is also designed to be SEO-friendly, helping you achieve high rankings in search engines like Google. Features like customizable URLs, sitemaps, and alt tags for images aid in improving your store's search engine optimization.
Secure and Reliable
WooCommerce leverages the strength of WordPress to provide a robust ecommerce solution. It offers essential security features like SSL encryption to protect your customers' sensitive data. WordPress and WooCommerce also frequently release updates to patch any vulnerabilities, helping keep your store secure.
With millions of active installs, WooCommerce is a proven and trusted ecommerce platform. It provides reliable performance and uptime so your customers can shop anytime. The platform is also backed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, providing you enterprise-level support.
In summary, WooCommerce should be at the top of your list when considering an ecommerce platform. It is free, open source, mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized and provides enterprise-level security and reliability—everything you need to build a successful online store.
BigCommerce: Enterprise-Level Features for Everyone
BigCommerce is an ecommerce platform that provides enterprise-level features for businesses of all sizes. They offer a robust set of tools to help you build a professional online store quickly and easily.
Flexible Templates
BigCommerce provides a variety of modern, responsive templates to choose from. You can select a template that suits your brand and then customize it as needed. Their drag and drop template editor makes it easy to add or rearrange elements on your page. You have complete control over your site’s design without needing to know how to code.
Powerful Features
BigCommerce includes all the features you need to run a successful ecommerce business. Some of the major features include:
- Secure hosting and SSL certificate
- Mobile optimized shopping cart
- Multiple payment options like PayPal, Stripe and Square
- Shipping integrations with major carriers
- Inventory and order management
- Customer accounts, profiles and groups
- Product options like sizes, colors and bundles
- Automated emails for abandoned carts, order updates, etc.
- Analytics and reports to gain insights into sales and traffic
Scalability
BigCommerce allows you to start with a simple store and scale up as your business grows. Their plans range from Standard to Enterprise, with prices starting at $29.95/month. As you move up to higher-tier plans, you gain access to more advanced features like customer segmentation, custom API integrations, and dedicated account management. BigCommerce can accommodate businesses with over $100M in annual sales, so you won’t outgrow their platform.
Overall, BigCommerce is an excellent choice if you want to launch an ecommerce store with minimal hassle. Their easy-to-use tools and enterprise-level features provide everything you need for a professional online shopping experience your customers will love.
The Best Free Ecommerce Website Templates on Unicorn Platform
Unicorn Platform offers some of the best free ecommerce website templates to help you start selling online fast. These customizable templates provide an easy way to create a professional storefront without any coding required.
The Commerce template is a popular choice for quickly launching an online store. It includes a customizable homepage slider, product pages, blog, and contact forms. You have the flexibility to change fonts, colors, and add your own logo to match your brand.The Commerce template works with many payment gateways to accept credit cards and other payment methods.
For a minimal design, the Venture template is an excellent option. Its clean layout focuses on showcasing your products with large images and call-to-action buttons. The one-page design is simple to set up and ideal if you have a smaller product catalog. Like the Commerce template, the Venture template is also compatible with major payment gateways to handle checkout.
If you're selling digital products like ebooks, online courses or software subscriptions, the SaaS template is tailored for that purpose. It highlights your offerings on the homepage with eye-catching icons and benefits. There are dedicated pages for features, pricing, and testimonials to promote your products. The SaaS template can also be connected to payment gateways to accept one-time and recurring payments.
For ecommerce startups, time is money and free website templates can help you get to market quickly. Unicorn Platform's selection of customizable ecommerce templates offer professionally-designed storefronts with the essential pages and features to start selling right away. With easy drag and drop editing, you can have your online store up and running to start making sales, collecting payments and growing your business.
Free Ecommerce Website Templates on Unicorn Platform
When building an ecommerce website, free templates can help you get started quickly without needing to code a design from scratch. Unicorn Platform offers several free ecommerce website templates that provide a solid foundation to build your online store.
Minimal Shop
A simple yet sleek template featuring a minimal design, crisp typography, and plenty of white space. Ideal for showcasing products in a straightforward way. Includes a blog page and contact form. Fully responsive.
Vintage Store
A stylish template with a retro feel, featuring decorative elements like badges, labels, and stamps. Suited for stores selling handcrafted, artisanal, or vintage goods. Contains a blog page, photo gallery, and contact page. Responsive on all devices.
Book Shop
A clean, elegant template optimized for selling books, ebooks, magazines, or other reading materials. Showcase curated collections and new releases on the homepage. Includes genre/category pages, shopping cart, checkout, and blog. Fully responsive.
Startup Shop
A modern, colorful template targeting startups and entrepreneurs selling innovative products or services. Dynamic homepage features bold fonts, vibrant accent colors, and geometric shapes. Contains all standard ecommerce pages, blog, and contact form. Responsive design.
Minimal Market
A pared-down template with spacious layouts, subtle details, and a neutral color palette. Suitable for a variety of product types. Features shopping cart, checkout, product category pages, blog, and contact page. Responsive on all screen sizes.
Using these templates, you can build a fully functioning ecommerce store and start selling your products online. The templates are mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized, and easy to customize by changing images, text, colors, and fonts using the Unicorn Platform website builder. You can upgrade to a paid plan for additional features like email marketing, abandoned cart recovery, and sales analytics.
Conclusion
As you have seen, starting an online store has never been easier thanks to free ecommerce website templates. With a simple drag and drop website builder like Unicorn Platform, you have access to professional templates optimized for selling products and services. You can customize the design, add your brand elements, pick a domain name, and go live within a day.
There is no need to hire a web designer or developer. You have full creative control and flexibility to make changes as needed to match your evolving brand. Ecommerce templates provide a fast, affordable way for solopreneurs and small businesses to establish an online presence and start generating revenue. The only thing left to do is choose a template, add your products, spread the word, and make your first sale. The opportunity to build a successful online store is at your fingertips.
