Beginner-friendly platforms like Shopify and Etsy do a fine job, but many businesses outgrow them once sales take off. Take a look at your own business: as it expands, you might want functionality, flexibility, and design options beyond a one-size fits all service can offer. Open platforms tend to be easier to scale up or down as business demands it. One year, you might find that you need a robust inventory management system. A few years later, you might decide to scale down and specialize and find you’re stuck paying for more tools and services that you need. Open source platforms can grow as a business does, as long as the developers building out the system understand the importance of having the correct hosting setup.