The question of choosing an e-commerce platform varies depending on whether you are selling physical products, digital files, or subscriptions. Flazto meets certain needs, but its limitations quickly become apparent as soon as you push for customization or anticipate recent European regulatory obligations. We review the technical criteria that really matter for deciding between the available solutions.
European regulatory compliance: the criterion that comparisons ignore
Since June 19, 2026, the EU mandates an electronic withdrawal function for certain distance contracts concluded via an online interface. The implementation varies by member state, but the principle is clear: your platform must natively integrate this mechanism or allow you to develop it.
The “e-Evidence” package, fully applicable since August 18, 2026, adds an additional layer. Authorities can require the production or preservation of data from online platforms within shortened deadlines. For a seller of electronics, software, or connected products, data localization and retention become a selection criterion on par with transaction fees.
The regulatory wave of 2026-2027 brings a series of obligations: PPWR, EmpCo, CCD II, DPP, CRA. Platforms that integrate compliance directly into their architecture (management of the digital product passport, battery traceability, cyber compliance declarations) gain a structural advantage. A solution like WooCommerce, combined with specialized extensions, offers this flexibility. Hosted platforms like Shopify or Sellfy are progressing more slowly on these issues, although their ecosystem of third-party applications sometimes bridges the gap.
We recommend checking, before any commitment, whether the platform allows you to add a compliant electronic withdrawal form and whether it documents the location of its data servers.
E-commerce platform pricing models: commissions, subscriptions, and hidden costs
When we analyze other solutions than Flazto, the first instinct is to compare the displayed prices. This instinct can be misleading.
The actual costs of an e-commerce platform break down into three layers. The monthly subscription is the visible part. Transaction fees per sale (often a percentage plus a fixed amount) weigh more heavily as volume increases. The third layer, rarely documented, concerns the paid extensions necessary to achieve a comparable functional level between platforms.
- Hosted solutions (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace) charge a monthly subscription and impose variable transaction fees depending on the chosen plan, with additional costs if you do not use their native payment gateway
- Open-source solutions (WooCommerce, PrestaShop) have no platform subscription, but hosting, technical maintenance, and security plugin costs accumulate quickly
- Platforms focused on digital products (Gumroad, Payhip, Sellfy) often operate on a pure commission model or low subscription, but significantly limit the customization of the sales funnel
- Marketplace solutions (Etsy, Creative Market) charge significant commissions and retain the customer relationship, which reduces your ability to build loyalty
The total cost of ownership over 12 months varies from one to three times between a premium hosted solution and a well-configured open-source solution, with equivalent features. We observe that sellers consistently underestimate the setup and maintenance time of self-hosted solutions.
Technical architecture and data ownership: self-hosted or SaaS
The choice between a SaaS platform and a self-hosted solution is not just a budget question. It is a trade-off on control.
With WooCommerce or PrestaShop, you own your customer database, product listings, and order history. In case of migration, everything is exportable. With a hosted platform, data portability remains partial: you retrieve orders and contacts, but rarely the sales funnel configurations or marketing automations.
This point takes on new importance with the e-Evidence package. If your data is hosted on servers whose location you do not control, you are entirely dependent on your provider’s responsiveness to a data production request.
BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) position themselves in an intermediate segment: managed hosting with more granular access to data and APIs. This positioning suits catalogs with several hundred references or B2B sellers who need differentiated pricing grids.
Case of digital products
For selling files (ebooks, courses, templates), specialized platforms like Payhip or Gumroad simplify automatic delivery and license management. Easy Digital Downloads, a dedicated WordPress extension, remains the reference for sellers who want to maintain total control over their digital product store while benefiting from a mature ecosystem of extensions.
Integrated marketing features: what really drives sales
An e-commerce platform without integrated marketing tools forces you to stack third-party services. We evaluate three features that directly influence the conversion rate.
Native management of promotional codes and flash sales may seem basic, but their implementation varies. Some platforms limit the number of active codes simultaneously or do not allow conditioning a discount on a minimum cart amount.
Integrated loyalty and referral programs avoid the need for third-party applications that charge monthly fees. Shopify has a rich ecosystem in this regard, while Sellfy remains limited.
Integrated user behavior analysis within the platform (abandoned carts, browsing paths, segmentation) is the most underutilized lever. Solutions that offer this data natively, without going through an external analytics tool, allow for quicker action on friction points in the purchase funnel.
Choosing an online sales platform commits you for several years. Rather than seeking the cheapest or most popular solution, we recommend starting from three questions: what type of product are you selling, what is your tolerance for technical maintenance, and what level of regulatory compliance do you need to achieve in the short term. The answers naturally eliminate the majority of options and leave two or three candidates to test concretely.