The platform question comes up in almost every first call. There is no best platform, only the one that fits how your business sells and who will be keeping the site up to date.
Squarespace: for service businesses
Squarespace suits businesses that sell a service and need a polished site they can edit themselves. Templates are strong, hosting and security are handled for you, and the editor is friendly. It is weaker for large product catalogs and complex integrations.
Shopify: for selling products
If most of your revenue comes from products, Shopify is hard to beat. Inventory, payments, shipping and marketplace connections are built in, and there is an app for nearly everything. The trade-off is monthly app costs that add up, and a theme system that needs a developer for deeper changes.
Custom: for unusual needs
A custom-coded site makes sense when you need something the platforms cannot do, or when you want very low hosting costs and have someone to maintain it. It is the most flexible option and the most dependent on your developer.
Questions that settle it
Ask who will update the site each week, how many products you sell, what other tools it must connect to, and what you can spend each month. The answers usually point to one option clearly.
- Who edits the site day to day?
- More than 20 products?
- Must it connect to booking, CRM or a marketplace?
- Monthly budget for plan and apps?
Moving later is possible but costs time, so it is worth choosing with the next three years in mind rather than the next three weeks.