Planning to start your e-Commerce store?
It is an incredible idea since around 95% of all purchases would be done online by 2040. But, the idea of an online store also brings certain confusion and real struggles, with the most crucial confusion being selecting an e-commerce platform to launch your online business.
Shopify and WooCommerce are great, rather the best platforms available to develop an online shop. WooCommerce is a fast-growing e-Commerce platform, while Shopify is presently the top-rated e-commerce platform.
Since it is difficult to choose the right e-Commerce platform for an online business pursuer, in this article, we will take you through the features of both these platforms to help you make a better choice for your respective business model.
What’s the basic difference between WooCommerce and Shopify?
Before we get into the main topic, let us first understand what exactly are WooCommerce and Shopify.
What’s WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is basically a free plugin for WordPress that allows you to transform a standard site into a completely functional e-Commerce shop. It is open-source, which means that you could customize each aspect of the online store as well as add a few custom extensions.
Developing a WooCommerce online store does not need advanced coding talent, but you will have to look for an e-Commerce host as well as get WordPress installed on it.
You will also have to know how to download plugins if you have never worked with WordPress before. Simply put, WooCommerce comes with just a little learning curve and has a good user interface.
What’s Shopify?
Shopify is an all-rounder when it comes to offering the best e-Commerce solutions. It allows you to develop a functional e-Commerce store without needing the guidance of a developer.
It is a hosted solution, and so, is less trouble-some for you. You do not have to stress about looking for a host or downloading any software. Shopify looks after all these things.
All you need to do is create an account on Shopify, sync an existing domain name or purchase a new one, and apply any theme of your choice to kickstart your store.
And whether you are a complete newbie in the business world or moving an existing business online, you get to choose from an array of tools on Shopify that makes it a lot easier to build an e-Commerce brand, which includes a video maker, a logo maker among others.
Now that you have a basic idea about the two platforms, let’s head onto knowing the difference between them based on categories such as pricing, usability, etc.
WooCommerce vs. Shopify
Pricing:
One of the most common confusing factors: How much should one invest while launching an e-Commerce store?
WooCommerce comes with a flexible cost model, while Shopify comes with a fixed cost model.
Shopify comes with premium themes which begin at $19/month under Lite plan. Next is the Basic Shopify plan that costs $29/month. That is followed by a plan known as Shopify, which goes for $79/month, and lastly, the most expensive plan is Advanced Shopify that costs $299/month. A few of these costs might seem steep, but the users are almost certain that they would gradually earn them back in revenue as they are paying for superior features to have their website look stunning.
Despite WooCommerce being a free platform, you will have to pay for a few features like hosting, security, domain, and other extension and management fees. You may find WooCommerce a less expensive option; however, with the drawback of setting up and managing the store, which also requires money. So ideally, WooCommerce will cost more or less the same as Shopify over time.
Shopify’s fixed cost model makes it much more convenient to monitor spending in contrast to the dynamic pricing model of WooCommerce. However, what you choose is entirely your choice, depending on the needs of your store.
Ease of use:
For using Shopify, you simply need to visit www.shopify.com and sign up for one of their plans as per your needs. One setup wizard will assist you in the entire process to make it easier for you. Then, you would have to answer an array of questions, which includes the niche of your business as well as the design you prefer. Next, you’ll be taken to Shopify’s dashboard, where you can start developing your store.
Meanwhile, though it’s easy to create your store through WooCommerce, it’s basically just one WordPress plugin. WooCommerce, unlike Shopify, requires a bit of backend knowledge. It might seem not easy to first find one hosting service and then get a domain name for your store when you work with WooCommerce through WordPress, but in the long run, things will get easier. You just need to practice.
Security:
WooCommerce comes with built-in security measures. That being said, you will still have to ensure that your data is safe. That includes opting for a reliable hosting platform, which offers attack prevention, support access, and an SSL certificate. The other safety measures include 2-factor authentication and extensions and apps that provide extra security.
Like WooCommerce, Shopify also provides 2-factor authentication for an extra layer of security; however, it offers more safety features than WooCommerce. Shopify offers protection from phishing and malware and use of TLS that secures the communications done through the internet.
Features:
Besides a completely customizable e-Commerce website, the other features of Shopify include sales channels, product inventory, 3rd party shipping apps with unlimited bandwidth, automated fulfillment, and support for every payment gateway.
WooCommerce offers slightly different features in contrast to those available on Shopify. Their features often are provided through plugins and extensions that you can add to the account. WooCommerce, as it works on WordPress, is an incredible platform for Search Engine Optimization. There are more than 400 extensions one can use on WooCommerce.
The Final Verdict
WooCommerce seems to be a good option with its variety of pretty and useful themes as well as plugins, allowing you to be creative. When you put in ample time, you can expect an incredibly designed website that’s better in functionality and aesthetics.
Similarly, the visual design of Shopify is also superior. With ten free templates, you can create a pretty website within no time. If you are fine with paid themes, you will find more than 40 themes to select from, with each of them coming with distinct features. The themes on Shopify are professional and can offer seamless experience to modern shoppers due to their clean and sleek designs.
Meanwhile, when other things are considered like customer features, ease of use, and security, Shopify gets more stars over WooCommerce, especially for business owners who neither have enough time to learn the basic setup skills nor enough experience to determine what’s going on exactly.
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