Starting e-commerce business Shopify vs WooCommerce

Starting e-commerce business Shopify vs WooCommerce

  • Shopify

    Votes: 3 60.0%
  • WooCommerce

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Dino

New member
When you think about starting an e-commerce business, one of the questions you may have is; Which platform should I use? I think the best answer you can get is.... depends. There are actually specific things you need to compare before your final decision. Don't worry, nobody will get hurt and the "fight" is actually a comparison. First of all, let's take a look at some introductory things about both e-commerce solutions.
Shopify Vs Woocommerce.JPG - Shopify Vs Woocommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source solution built on top of WordPress, which supercharges the Content Management System and enables you to run an online store using the platform you know and love.

Shopify is an all-in-one solution which enables you to create an online store, manage your products, and handle payments using a single web-based service.

WooCommerce is no slouch when it comes to adoption. The e-commerce platform powered approximately 400,000 sites by early 2015.

If we take a look at the plugin homepage they say that WooCommerce powers 28% of all online stores right now with over 30 million downloads. Wow, that's huge!
Plenty of well-known names rely on WooCommerce for their online sales channels, such as Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and New Balance.

Shopify is the home of over 500,000 merchants selling everything from customized skateboards to baby-friendly jewelry. It powers both small operations and renowned names such as Lollapalooza and Party Rock’s clothing channel.

Let’s take a quick look at one Shopify user who has leveraged its features all the way to success.

SoYoung makes use of MailChimp through their Shopify integration to send out targeted marketing campaigns. They manage their accounting using the third-party Xero app, which also comes with a Shopify integration, making the most out of Shopify’s wide catalog of apps.

While Shopify comes with a free myshopify.com subdomain for all plans, Woo Commerce is completely free but you need to purchase your own domain name and hosting. Both platforms enable you to add unlimited products to your store. One of the most important aspects of a business is the profit so you need to know that Shopify charges you specific fees for all your payments while WooCommerce payment fees depend on which payment processors you decide to add. WooCommerce Comes with an extension system which provides additional functionalities to your store.Extensions come in both free and premium varieties.

The Shopify platform offers its own app shop, both free and paid which enables users to extend the functionality of their stores so the only difference here is the number of available apps. Because Shopify is only for those who are willing to pay, they are ready for you with a very good 24/7 support, while the developers behind WooCommerce offer support through a help desk for their users, as well as extensive documentation for the software. Dozens of themes are available to customize the look and feel of your site on Shopify but you need to pay premium prices for them.

WooCommerce is built for WordPress so you will be able to install and use any premium or free WordPress theme as well.

Shopify includes a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate alongside all its plans but WooCommerce relies exclusively on you to obtain an SSL certificate for your domain name. You can either get it from your hosting company or from a premium SSL provider.

WooCommerce can be integrated with Google Analytics with ease using a WordPress plugin while Shopify features its own analytics system, and can also be integrated with Google Analytics.

Shopify offers a simple pricing method including three basic plans and a custom enterprise option. Their three plans are priced at $29, $79, and $299 respectively, and the main difference between each lies on the fees it charges for accepting credit cards. These differences may seem minimal at first, but everyone who is familiar with retail operations can attest to the fact that credit card fees rack up fast.

Furthermore, each successive plan also reduces the transaction fees for using external payment options such as PayPal and Stripe, as seen above. Each Shopify plan changes the number of staff accounts available, as well as the ability to send out gift cards, and recover abandoned shopping carts.

WooCommerce, on the other hand, costs nothing upfront, but you need to set up hosting on your own. Hosting costs may vary depending on the scale of your store but generally speaking, a modest operation should run you less than Shopify’s basic plan.

WooCommerce extensions tend to cost more upfront than their Shopify counterparts, but they’re usually sold as one-time licenses rather than month to month subscriptions. We’ve made it to the end of the Shopify vs WooCommerce brawl, and now it’s time to determine which platform is best for you.

Shopify is the way to go for users who don’t want to deal with a complicated setup process and need premium support. The service guarantees a smooth ride at the expense of a monthly subscription. WooCommerce can go blow-for-blow with Shopify and come out on top due to its inherent flexibility.

However, its setup process is a bit more complicated and will require you to get your hands dirty. It’s perfect for those of you who have an affinity for open-source software and want to customize every aspect of your experience. It’s perfectly normal to feel intimidated by the choice of which e-commerce platform to pick.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Shopify vs WooCommerce Which one should one go with?

both has some pros and cons, if someone want a short answer I would suggest that if you are technical user and can handle all stuff on your own then go with WooCommerce other wise if you have budget and non technical person then go with Shopify.
 

PratikShah

New member
The biggest difference between Shopify and WordPress, in a nutshell, is that Shopify is an online tool/service, whereas WordPress is standalone software that you must instal yourself.

All you have to do to get started with Shopify is go to Shopify.com and sign up for an account. After that, all you have to do is complete a simple setup and your eCommerce store will be up and running.
The biggest difference between Shopify and WordPress, in a nutshell, is that Shopify is an online tool/service, whereas WordPress is standalone software that you must instal yourself.

All you have to do to get started with Shopify is go to Shopify.com and sign up for an account. After that, all you have to do is complete a simple setup and your eCommerce store will be up and running.
 
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