WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Which is Better for Your eCommerce Store?

 

If you're new to the world of e-commerce, you'll have to make a lot of important decisions during the process of setting up and running your store. These choices could have a significant impact on your store's success. One of the most vital decisions, in the beginning, would be to choose an e-commerce platform.

 

While most new online store owners prefer to hire an ecommerce development agency to build their store, these two simple eCommerce platforms virtually eliminate the need to write a single line of code. These platforms make all aspects of e-commerce easier to manage, from product listing to inventory management, shopping carts to payment collection.

 

WooCommerce and Shopify are two of the most widely used e-commerce platforms today. As a result, they're a popular choice for most new online stores. However, knowing that these platforms are trendy makes it easier to choose one over the other, especially if you are new to e-commerce.

 

We compared both of these platforms based on various factors such as features, design, ease of use, payment options, fees, and more. By the end of this write up, you'll have a good idea of what's best for your e-commerce store.

 

Let's take a quick look at what WooCommerce and Shopify are before we compare them.

What is WooCommerce?

 

To comprehend WooCommerce, you must first understand WordPress. It is one of the most popular Content Management System, with an estimated 29 percent of all websites on the internet using it. However, while WordPress makes creating a website extremely simple, it was never designed with e-commerce stores in mind.

 

Although you can use WordPress to create an online store, it is primarily a platform for creating websites and sharing content. WooCommerce enters the picture at this point. It's a WordPress plugin that adds e-commerce functionality to a WordPress site. WooCommerce allows you to add features like inventory management, product pages, shopping carts, payment, and shipping to your WordPress website.

 

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a one-stop-shop for creating online stores. It enables you to create an online store from the ground up, even if you have no prior coding experience. With Shopify, you can sell various products, including physical goods, digital downloads, drop-shipping, and even services.

 

Furthermore, through its POS devices, your Shopify store can be integrated with a physical store. Shopify is a great option if this is your first time creating an online store and you're looking for a simple all-in-one e-commerce platform. You can also hire a reputable Shopify web development company to build your online store exactly how you want it.

 

Let us now compare these platforms to help you decide-

 

Features

 

Due to its open-source design, WooCommerce is well-known for its flexibility. You can download a variety of custom plugins, themes, and other items created by developers from around the world. With Shopify, you don't get nearly as many options. It also comes with many valuable features, including built-in blogging, one-click refunds, and more.

 

However, due to its open-source nature, WooCommerce is slightly more technical than Shopify. To create a world-class store with WooCommerce, you'll need to invest a significant amount of time and money. On the other hand, Shopify comes with built-in features like unlimited products, cart abandonment recovery, 100+ payment options, discount codes, and more.

 

Several Shopify's free features are also available at a cost in the WooCommerce plugin store. While WooCommerce's customization and flexibility are admirable, Shopify has more built-in features and, more importantly, doesn't require any technical knowledge.

Themes and Design

 

You'd undoubtedly want your online store to be visually appealing. As previously stated, WooCommerce is an open-source platform for which thousands of free and paid themes are available. You can create a WooCommerce theme from scratch. You can purchase any child theme for $39 and add extension bundles starting at $69.

 

Shopify has its theme store, with over 60 paid and free themes to choose from. The themes are more polished and professional because it is a one-stop e-commerce platform. In Shopify, you can also create themes from scratch for your online store. Premium themes start at $140 and go up from there. While this may appear to be an expensive investment if you are on a tight budget, consider it a one-time investment that will help you generate more revenue in the long run. Shopify offers different pricing plans for your online store. You can choose the best according to your store needs.

 

So, compared to Shopify, WooCommerce offers far more options in themes and design, including DIY themes. Shopify, on the other hand, has more polished products that are fully compatible with its platform.

Ease of Use

 

WooCommerce and Shopify are both extremely user-friendly, which is one of the main reasons for their popularity. Everything is primarily simple and convenient, from setting up your account to managing your store's day-to-day operations. However, because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, you'll need to take a few extra steps before you can use it.

 

You must first purchase a domain name, sign up for hosting, and install WordPress before installing the WooCommerce plugin and using it. For getting things streamlines, people would have to rely on WooCommerce experts. Shopify, on the other hand, is much easier to use because it is a subscription-based platform. All you have to do is go to Shopify.com, create an account, and start using it.

Payment Options and Fees

 

You will, of course, need to provide a payment option for your customers for them to pay for their purchases. You can choose from over 100 payment options on both platforms. PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Credit Cards, and Debit Cards are some of the most popular options. The transaction fee will be determined by the gateway you choose.

 

With Shopify's basic plan, for example, there is a 2% fee on third-party gateways. By purchasing a more expensive plan, the transaction fee can be reduced. You can use Shopify's payment gateway, which doesn't charge any transaction fees. However, this is only available to merchants in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

 

WooCommerce has a significant advantage here because there are no transaction fees. While your payment provider and the bank will still charge you, WooCommerce does not charge a transaction fee. So, if you think your online store will sell many products, WooCommerce will be a less expensive option.

 

When it comes to the costs of using these platforms, Shopify offers fixed monthly fees starting at $29 per month. WooCommerce is a free wordpress plugin, but you will need to pay for a domain, hosting, and any additional features your store may require, such as an SSL certificate and extensions. Shopify provides all essential features, such as a free domain, hosting, and SSL certificate.

Customer Support

 

If you run an online business, you should have easy access to professionals who can assist you with your problems. Both WooCommerce and Shopify provide customer support in a variety of ways. To help you find answers to questions, the WooCommerce website has a variety of tutorials, guides, FAQs, documentation, and more.

 

There are also support forums available where you can get answers from other WooCommerce users and experts. However, please remember that support is limited to the WooCommerce plugin and does not cover issues with WordPress, hosting, or any custom theme or extension you may have purchased. On the other hand, Shopify provides support via phone, email, and live chat 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

They also have an extensive knowledge base, tutorials, forums, guides, and more on their website. Because Shopify hosts your online store and themes and extensions can only be purchased through their official website, they support anything and everything related to your store.

SEO

 

After you've created your online store, you'll need to work on SEO so that more customers can find it through search engines. Because WooCommerce is an open-source platform, you have more flexibility in changing meta descriptions, page titles, and other elements to improve search engine rankings. You also have access to a number of WordPress SEO plugins, such as Yoast.

 

Even Shopify's App Store has some excellent free and paid SEO tools. Shopify stores are also known to be faster because they use dedicated servers. The speed of your WooCommerce store is determined by the hosting service you choose. Google is known for rewarding websites that load faster with a higher ranking.

Conclusion

 

As you can see, WooCommerce and Shopify each have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. As a result, the comparison isn't really about which platform is the best. It's all about what works best for you and your online store. The best option is to try to use both platforms. Shopify offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, while WooCommerce provides a free trial.

 

So, try out the platforms for yourself to better understand what works best for you. Additionally, while you can create an online store using either platform, you will be in safer hands with Shopify Plus Development Company. This will ensure that you always have professional developers to rely on for your online store's success.