Shopify vs WooCommerce – Which Platform is the best for your Online Store

The E-commerce world has been having a huge growth lately. All business owners who have understood the meaning of having their services/products available online for their customers. However, the question remains: Which E-commerce platform is right for your business?

The two most popular platforms out there are Shopify and WooCommerce. These are also the most recommended solutions available for E-commerce businesses. Before we find out which is the best we should understand what these both are and their differences.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a Canadian company that provides an e-commerce platform for small business owners.

Shopify is a cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform that includes features such as e-commerce hosting, payment processing, and shipping services. The company also provides mobile apps so customers can purchase products from their smartphones while shopping in physical stores. Shopify currently hosts approximately 600,000 online stores and has over 500 employees worldwide.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a free and open-source eCommerce software, which allows people to create online stores on their own WordPress website.

WooCommerce was first released on September 27, 2011, by WooThemes. It is now the most popular eCommerce platform on the web with over 3 million active installations. It’s a WordPress plugin that can be installed on any WordPress site. It can be used to sell physical or digital products or both. The plugin features an easy-to-use interface with many features like product catalogs, shopping carts, wish lists, and more.

Shopify vs WooCommerce

As with anything else, both platforms are well-known around the world but they each have their own pros and cons that should be considered before you decide which is best for your online store.

Ease of Use

Shopify is a platform that makes having an online store easy even for newcomers. It offers an easy-to-use set of tools that can help you set up your shop without technicality. You can set up a Shopify store in a matter of minutes. However, with ease comes limitations. This means you’ll have less control over your site.

Whereas, WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that grants you more customizable options. You can tap in and add your own codes to your store to make specific changes or access options you need. WooCommerce can give you more room to work with your store because it’s open-source software.

In short, if you are looking for a platform that offers you an easy and quick interface to set up and manage your store, then Shopify is a good option. And, if you’re looking for a platform that offers you more freedom in your store to make your own changes and accessibility, WooCommerce would be the ideal choice. Although you need to keep in mind that you need good knowledge of the technical aspects to keep your website up and running safely.

Cost

Running a store online is going to cost you, and you’ll want to consider this since you have to evaluate the costs of getting started while also taking into account the variable costs for add-on services and software.

With Shopify, you can start from a basic plan of 29$ (around 2200 INR) per month to 299$ (around 22400 INR). You can upgrade your plan and its features according to your business and its growth. All the plans provided offer you an SSL certificate and web hosting services, although for a custom domain name you will have to pay separately.

WooCommerce is a free e-commerce platform that provides a range of features. It enables you to create your own online store. The pricing for WooCommerce varies depending on the features you need.

For example, the Basic package is free and it includes all the basic features such as product management, order management, and customer management. The Premium package costs $79 per year and it adds some additional features such as inventory management, tax calculation, etc.

However, before downloading the plugin WooCommerce you need to have a WordPress hosting account, SSL certificate, and a domain which you will need to purchase separately depending on your choice. Thankfully, you can find many web hosting services that offer specific WooCommerce plans and packages for cheap and affordable rates.

If you’d look at which will cost you less out of both the platform then WooCommerce will be the best option, but if you’re looking for a quick and easy to use platform then Shopify would be the one.

Payment Options

Nowadays, there are plenty of options to accept payments online. Nevertheless, not all methods are going to be available to your customers. That is why you should check if the platform you select features multiple payment options.

Shopify offers its own default payment method called ‘Shopify Payments’ which is powered by Stripe, along with that you also can accept payments through almost all third-party payment gateways.

The problem with Shopify is that it charges a 2% fee on each transaction made through a third-party app on top of the transaction fee by the payment gateway chosen. It can be reduced to .5 % if you go for the advanced plan of 299$.

WooCommerce on the other hand doesn’t take any transaction fees the payment is made through any third part methods ( except WooCommerce Payments). The only charges are the fee taken by third-party providers like Paypal.

SEO

SEO is an important part of any business, and this is especially true for e-commerce platforms. SEO can help online retailers increase their sales and boost their brand awareness. It’s no secret that the more visitors you have coming to your site, the more potential customers you have.

The code used by WooCommerce is optimized for search engines, and the comprehensive range of SEO plugins that WordPress provides means you can add detailed meta titles and descriptions to your pages, so Google knows what they are about.

Having the necessary knowledge to work on your website allows you to make modifications based on your taste and easily see the result, which is extremely advantageous for an online store.

Shopify on the other hand doesn’t have many SEO plugins in its store. It instead offers you a free SEO booster, which scans your Online store and offers suggestions and solutions to those problems.

Shopify also makes adding basic SEO information like meta titles and descriptions easy. It’s also known for having the cleanest code and natural linking structure, which provides a smooth and easy experience, which can help in enhancing your visibility on search engines.

Design

When creating an online store, it is important to keep your design attractive and crisp as it will influence your customers’ buying experience.

For your website, Shopify offers more than 70 themes, 10 of which are free and include various variations. So you get plenty of options to choose from. The premium themes provided by Shopify start from 140$, but the value you get for the money is pretty impressive.

The themes provided by Shopify are really attractive and sleek. Moreover, since they are designed by professionals, you can rest assured that they will stand out from the crowd.

WooCommerce as we’ve discussed is an open-source plugin for WordPress. Countless developers constantly keep coming up with new designs and themes for WooCommerce websites regularly, so you have more options to choose from. As well as, the option to create your own design customizations if you have the time to dedicate to it.

Conclusion

Stating which one of these platforms is the best is difficult as it matters according to your business. Both of them like we have discussed have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Shopify offers plenty of built-in sales tools, a responsive and easy interface, and a quick set-up procedure. If you want a platform that can give you attractive designs, 24/7 support, and also take care of the security for you, then Shopify can be a good option for you.

On the other hand, WooCommerce can be ideal for business owners who need a platform that gives more control over different aspects of your website, and for stores that are looking to expand into a large-scale online store serving in numerous regions. The more technical you want to be with your website, the better WooCommerce is for you.

However, we at BrandScienze suggest the platform according to different business and their situations. Our approach to client support is to gain a deep understanding of their business and then use the platform that is most suitable for them.

For more questions and queries on Which E-Commerce platform to choose for your business, contact BrandScienze and get the insights and help needed to make your store up and running with ease.

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