E-Commerce Forums: Food for the Hungry Mind

Since our childhood days, we have all seen that the best way of learning is actually learning from our peers, either from their successes or failures.

Just tapping that need, forums have been at the central point of the internet, since its inception. It’s possible to find particular forums addressing particular needs or gathering a specific group of people from all around the world and creating an engaging ground for discussion.

In this blog post, we’ll be covering the major e-commerce forums where e-commerce minds exchange their stories, – again success or failure – their best practices, tricks and all.

Spending a bit of regular weekly or monthly time in these e-commerce forums can immensely help you in particular challenges you face within your business, so get ready to take your notes on where to start from.

Seller Central – Amazon

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 10

If you sell on Amazon, then Amazon’s own forum is a great place to start to gain invaluable knowledge on how to make the best use of the platform as well as get a better understanding of ways you can improve the ways you sell.

The good thing about Amazon’s seller’s platform is the level of engagement on each post. They have thirteen different categories to file your question under. Categories range from general ‘selling on Amazon’ support to providing a platform for giving Amazon direct feedback on the site to discuss the site, its organization, how it works, and how it can be improved.

Reddit

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 18

Although Reddit itself isn’t solely a forum for eCommerce vendors, they do have a very active subreddit for all things eCommerce. There are over 28000 subscribers on the site and as well as that, there will be a number of people who consume the content but aren’t directly subscribed.

People use the Reddit forum in a number of ways. Some use the platform to share their content about eCommerce. These sorts of posts might come from companies like Prisync, or other companies who blog about all things eCommerce related.

You also have eCommerce vendors on the forum who might post questions for support, or perhaps even to ask for feedback about their site and how they manage it.

Shopify E-Commerce Forum

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 531

Very well aligned with its content mastery, Shopify has one of the most engaged ecommerce forums available on the internet. As part of its E-commerce University theme, Shopify’s Discussion Forums cover a wide range of topics like E-commerce Marketing, Shipping, Accounting or in short, all things e-commerce. It also has a nice special thread where Shopify merchants exchange generous feedbacks for their own webshops.

Oberlo Forum

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 3366

Oberlo is a dropshipping platform that helps people easily import products from sites like Aliexpress or Alibaba right into their eCommerce store. They only work with Shopify vendors and so the topics on this site tend to be either dropshipping or Shopify related.

With that said, the forum also contains general questions around eCommerce and how to improve the number of sales you make on a daily, weekly or yearly basis.

If you dropship, or sell exclusively on Shopify, making use of this free forum could be lucrative for your business.

Bigcommerce Forum

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 4918

BigCommerce has over 37000 members on their support forum. They’ve split their forum into various different groups. Some of these groups are:

• Critique My Site
• Ask A Design Partner
• Marketing & SEO Advice
• BigCommerce Developers
• Apps & Integrations Advice

Topics tend to be around the Bigcommerce platform itself. People might ask technical questions like how to migrate their site over or discuss specific product updates.

However, that’s not all. On the BigCommerce forum, people also like to discuss general eCommerce strategy like how to improve a site’s SEO or what products are currently trending. If you use the Bigcommerce platform and are looking for a hub where you can share knowledge and gather new ideas, this forum is for you!

Prestashop Forum

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 9587

Prestashop is an eCommerce forum from the guys at PrestaShop. Prestashop is a platform that enables people to build and launch their own eCommerce store.

They have a range of different topics, from learning how to use the Prestashop platform to the best of your ability, to understanding how taxes work in eCommerce.

They also have a section for meetups where you can meet like-minded eCommerce vendors in person in your closest city.

This can be invaluable if you’d prefer to learn from people by actually spending time in person with them.

They have a number of different forums based on your spoken language. Most people use international forums, however, if you’re looking for region-specific support, then you can make use of the different regional forum sections.

Warrior Forum

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 11334

Warrior Forum isn’t specifically for e-commerce, but they do have an e-commerce section. Generally, the level of expertise on this forum is higher than say, Reddit.

This forum usually attracts people who have had some prior experience with eCommerce and are looking for ways to improve what they’re already doing.

People also use the forum to share their most recent published articles. Because of the voting system, articles with the most value rise to the top, so you can always be certain (before you read) that the article will be worthwhile and provide you with some sort of value.

Ecwid Forum

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 13063

Another major e-commerce platform boosting its brand power by delivering a discussion ground to its users or to all e-commerce people from all around the world it Ecwid. In its forum, one can find more technical resources than elsewhere so we can say that this forum is one of the most developer friendly forum when it comes to e-commerce development. Already doing a great job with their Blog, Ecwid team is pushing their forum to a better point in parallel with the rising interest in platform-based e-commerce development.

Digital Print E-Commerce Forum

Country: INAlexa Global Rank: 31132

Digital print has a specific forum for eCommerce. One thing to note is that although your posts on there might generate a lot of views, the actual level of engagement is a lot lower than other forums.

However, this doesn’t mean the site should be disregarded. Not at all. The site is primarily for people just starting out with eCommerce. The questions tend to be aimed at people who are looking for simple advice on how they can get the best start to eCommerce.

If you’re thinking about starting an eCommerce store, this forum might be the best for you due to the low barrier to entry when it comes to the types of topics discussed.

Growth Hackers

Country: US Alexa Global Rank: 58226

Growth Hackers also has a section for any discussions or articles tagged with #e-commerce. The posts on Growth hackers are definitely aimed at people who are already succeeding with eCommerce but looking to do even better.

The post trends seem to be based on case studies. People will write in-depth articles with the format of “how I did X and got Y result.

These articles are great if you’re looking to 10x your revenue as you can see the exact tactics other people in your position have used and the results they’ve achieved.

Although anyone can read the content on growth hackers, the level of knowledge and understanding is geared towards people who already have their site in working order but now want to double down on strategies to generate the most sales.

UK Business E-Commerce Forum

Country: GB Alexa Global Rank: 74874

The UK business forum is a forum based in the UK. Because of that, topics and questions around tax will be specific to the UK.

With that said, it doesn’t mean you can’t make use of the content on this forum if you’re not based there. They have two sub-categories within the forum where people can discuss tactics and strategies about Opencart or Magento if you’re a user of these platforms.

There are also general questions topics around all things e-commerce like SEO, how to migrate stores and how to write the best product descriptions. In terms of engagement, the forum is quite active, but it really does depend on what type of question is being asked.

There tends to be a lot of repeat questions, so if you do plan to use the forum, do a quick search to see if your question has already been answered.

Ecommercebytes

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 94379

EcommerceBytes itself is already a go-to resource for fresh e-commerce news and tips from the market. Also, it hosts a quite old school looking yet an engaged e-commerce forum. Although it’s less categorized than Shopify’s Forum, one can find very interesting and actually niche threads there and can learn things that would be impossible to learn otherwise. Where on the internet, can you find such a vibrant community discussing on e-commerce of Porcelain and Pottery?

Web Retailer

Country: US Alexa Global Rank: 102061

Webretailer mainly addresses the marketplace sellers and the theme within the forum is mostly the challenges that such retailers face. Along with its user-generated forum boards, where any seller or e-commerce enthusiast can post a thread, a question or an idea, Webretailer also has listing pages for several types of e-commerce enablement technology tools, to help retailers to find the right solution for their common problems. (For ex. see Prisnyc’s listing on Webretailer.)

Amino Forum

Country: DK Alexa Global Rank: 117466

Amino e-commerce forum is a Danish forum. There is a decent amount of engagement for each post for a region-specific forum.

This free forum covers all sorts of topics from Shopify tips to email marketing tips for your eCommerce store.

As you can imagine, there are also specific posts that discuss what it’s like to run an eCommerce store in Denmark.

Therefore, although you can translate this site to your own language, some of the advice should be taken with a pinch of salt given that it might relate specifically to people from Denmark.

Ecommerce Fuel Forum

Country: US Alexa Global Rank: 119964

eCommerceFuel’s Community is a little more for more advanced retailers with annual revenues of $250K or more. They define the 3 core values of their community as, meaningful online experience (again here, eCommerceFuel requires its members to have hands-on, real e-commerce experience), fierce independence and a strong sense of community. The community currently has 650 members across 6 continents. There’s also an application process for vendors that would like to participate in eCommerceFuel’s e-commerce forum, but the path the selection seems like a tricky one as the team is quite selective.

Tamebay

Country: GB Alexa Global Rank: 156638

Tamebay takes a different approach to the idea of the Forum. They publish regular posts and people then use the comments section to discuss the topic in further detail.

The good thing about this method is you don’t have to scroll through loads of questions that might not have any value.

Instead, you consume the article first and then move on to read the comments and engage if you feel as though you have something valuable to add.

There is a range of topics from how-to articles to articles about dealing with suppliers. In terms of engagement, the forum is very active and each post gets a large number of comments.

V7N

Country: INAlexa Global Rank: 157815

The V7N isn’t an eCommerce forum but has a specific section for small businesses. Because of this, many of the questions will be related to business and entrepreneurship in general.

There are, however, a number of topics about eCommerce, however, these tend to be geared towards people new to the game.

Topics include things like which are the best e-commerce business ideas? Or Which Promotions Perform Best for Your e-commerce Business?

As you can see, if you already have an e-commerce store that is generating some sales, this site is probably too basic for you

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t also use the site to impart your own knowledge. You’ll know as well as any that everyone starts as a beginner so if you want to give back to the community, this forum could be for you.

Seller Forum

Country: DEAlexa Global Rank: 251196

Seller forum is a German forum for people to discuss their eCommerce store. It’s a very active forum with a lot of content to be consumed.

You could easily spend a good number of hours on the forum just consuming all the value before you even begin to think about your own post topic.

One of the good things about this forum is they talk about the law. They discuss the legalities around selling certain products, how to handle tax and copyright etc. This can be invaluable if you can’t afford to talk to a lawyer everytime you have a question or concern.

However, do keep in mind, the online legal advice is just that “advice”, if you really do have an issue, please do seek out professional legal help but perhaps use the forum first as a guiding, starting point.

Webmastersun

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 212349

Webmaster sun is an online forum that discusses a range of different topics. You have a wide range of people on the forum with different skills and abilities.

You might find someone is asking about the best platform to use to sell their products. You also might find there are people further down the line who want to know some of the tactics they can use to retain their customers.

The level and quality of the questions (and the replies) on this forum are much lower than some of the other sites we’ve discussed.

If you’re looking to generate lots of sales and have detailed discussions with likeminded eCommerce vendors, you’re better off looking at some of the other forums we’ve mentioned, like Growthackers, or Reddit’s E-commerce subreddit.

Virtuemart

Country: DEAlexa Global Rank: 2115627

VirtueMart is a German eCommerce forum that helps people grow their eCommerce stores.

They have three main sections, ‘e-commerce general’ ‘ecommerce marketing’ and ‘ecommerce SEO’. As it’s a German-run forum, you can imagine many of the posts are not only in German but specific to people selling their products in Germany.

For this reason, many of the posts may not be entirely relevant to each person.

With that said, there are a decent number of posts in each section. One of the most engaged sections is where people share their own eCommerce store, either to get feedback from their peers or to provide people with inspiration for the types of products they could sell.

Aicel

Country: IT Alexa Global Rank: 2105985

Aicel is an Italian forum for people to discuss eCommerce in general and their stores in more detail. There is little to no engagement in the eCommerce thread of this forum.

However the site isn’t eCommerce specific, so although the eCommerce site isn’t the most popular, you might find useful content within the other business sections.

Moneymaker Discussion

Country: USAlexa Global Rank: 1111762

Moneymaker discussion has a specific forum for those in the eCommerce game. The forum itself is split up into various different sections:

• Shopify
• General e-commerce
• Wholesaling
• Dropshipping
• Ebay marketing
• Tool reviews

The tool review section is especially helpful if you’re looking for honest reviews of specific tools you can use to improve the way your e-commerce store runs.

Web France

Country: FRAlexa Global Rank: 4084678

Small Business Forum

Country: INAlexa Global Rank: 362826

Small business brief forum has a specific section for eCommerce founders. The site itself is geared towards beginners. So if you’re already making money from your eCommerce store it’s probably best to look at some of the other forums geared towards people who have already gained some traction.

Higher Level Forum

Country: NLAlexa Global Rank: 344364

Higher Level is a Dutch forum for eCommerce owners. Although there is a lot of content on this forum, it’s really aimed at those who sell to others in the Dutch communities.

For this reason, you might find yourself out of place if you don’t sell to anyone in the Netherlands, or live there yourself.

However, if you are from this region, this forum can be a great place to share and gain knowledge.

Ehandel Forum

Country: Alexa Global Rank: 301593

Ehandel is a Swedish forum for eCommerce owners. The forum is very popular amongst fellow Swedes, and if you speak Swedish, you should definitely check this forum out.

They have a range of different categories within their forum to help you find the best place to ask your question or request feedback.

Opencart Brasil

Country: BRAlexa Global Rank: 300223

Opencart Brasil is a Brazilian forum for people who sell their products online. In Brazil, the forum is very popular, however, note that if you don’t speak the language you’ll struggle to participate in this forum as it’s very region specific.

With that said, if you do speak the language, then you can make use of the wealth of content already on the site and if you need to ask any other questions, sign up for a free account.

Forum E-commerce

Country: FRAlexa Global Rank: 11805065

Webwinkel Forum

Country: NL Alexa Global Rank: –

Webwinkel forum covers a range of topics to support eCommerce owners. They have specific sections to support in the design and UX of your store, as well as sections for how to market the store.

The forum is German, so best suited for German-speaking eCommerce vendors.

Takeaways

The internet is surely an endless universe, and e-commerce is a wide deep ocean. So, we totally know that there’s a much bigger online community at other places from these above-mentioned websites.

We just wanted to get you started with the feeling of sharing and caring for all things e-commerce with your peers by pointing you the most welcoming e-commerce forums that we currently know.

The rest relies on you! Good luck with finding new oceans, new peers, and hopefully many new interesting e-commerce stories.

Note: this article has been updated at 11/10/2018*