Thinking about venturing into the world of e-commerce or making the switch between Shopify and WooCommerce? We break down some key differences between the two.
Online business, or e-commerce, has turned the world into a global community. Connecting with people from all over the world has become easier than ever, and that same connectivity is true for online stores.
There are a number of platforms for e-commerce, each with its own pros and cons. Your decision on which to use needs to be based on a variety of factors including security and management, ease of use, and SEO, to name just a few.
Let’s compare two of the biggest platforms: Shopify and WordPress plugin WooCommerce.
Shopify
Shopify assists users in creating their own storefront without the need for any coding or design skills. This platform offers the user a place to sell anything from physical goods to digital products and services and is often used for “drop shipping.”
Shopify offers a range of features like offline use, a unique Shopify URL, responsive design, customizable preferences, blogging capabilities, expandable limitless bandwidth, and unlimited product listings. In addition, Shopify supports over 700 modes of payment globally; it supports global taxation, allows for shipping options and hosts a 24-hour support service.
Themes
Shopify offers users a wide variety of themes among free, purchased, or third-party options. The majority of these themes offer responsive design, pull-down lists, a newsletter service integrated into the theme, allow products to be sorted into sub-categories, and a zoom function that ideally suits the images. Themes are each created carefully to fit specific industries, such as photography, sports, recreation, gaming, jewelry, health or electronics. Popular themes include Storefront Pro, Vintage, and San Francisco.
Extensions
Shopify offers an array of apps on their specialized Shopify app store. These allow you to customize both the form and function of your store at varying levels of cost.
Advantages
- Easy to get started
- Simple to use
- Shopify is responsible for updates and security
- Shopify membership and toolset is expandable
Disadvantages
- It can become costly over time
- The user lacks direct ownership of the site
- It is operated by a single host
- It is not as customizable for unique products
- It does not integrate well with blogs and other content strategies
- People can spy on top Shopify stores (including yours)
WooCommerce
Rather than a stand-alone platform, WooCommerce is an open source plugin for WordPress that allows a site to function similarly to an e-commerce service. Use this plugin to handle payments, inventory, and shipping without affecting your site’s normal functioning. Features of this plugin include working well with all themes available on WordPress, allowing unlimited amounts of products in the store, supporting numerous payments and shipping methods, making coupons and taxes easy, and a robust reporting service.
Themes
The themes available for WooCommerce can be bought or are available for free use, and work very well with this plugin. Notable themes include Storefront, Estore, Styleshop, and Divi.
Extensions
Anyone can expand the functionality of WooCommerce with extensions. There are 320 extensions available in a variety of categories depending on the industry and sections of the store. For a quick rundown of some of the best extensions available, check out “6 WooCommerce Extensions That Make Your Life Easier.”
Advantages
- Highly customizable preferences
- Expandable for many different functions with extensions
- Entirely free plugin
- Supports various channels of payment
- Owner of the store has actual ownership rights for the entire site
- Uses WordPress, the most powerful and ubiquitous website creation tool available
Disadvantages
- Requires WordPress development skills and persistence to customize properly
- Not as easy to create a functional store compared to Shopify
- No guarantee for maintenance and security
Comparison between Shopify and WooCommerce
Looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each is a good starting point for choosing the right tool. The most basic difference is that Shopify is a standalone e-commerce tool and WooCommerce is a plugin. In terms of hosting, Shopify is a hosted platform while WooCommerce is self-hosted. This means that with WooCommerce the user will need to seek out their own hosting service.
Shopify is easy to operate, with software updates, maintenance and security being handled by the Shopify service itself.
Difference between the inception and usage of the two platforms
With Shopify, you can sign up at Shopify.com and follow the setup procedures and nothing else is required. With WooCommerce, you need to go through a longer and more difficult process before the store is ready. First, you need to purchase web-hosting and a domain, followed by integrating social media, SEO, and a theme. Then you can integrate WooCommerce into your site, followed by setting up the payment methods, details of the store and adding products.
In terms of support and security, Shopify provides these while WooCommerce does not. In terms of hosting, WooCommerce is self-hosted, allowing more flexibility as compared to the limitations experienced with Shopify. Self-ownership is another positive aspect of WooCommerce that is not possible with Shopify. In terms of expandability, both options allow for expansion through extensions with WooCommerce and apps for Shopify.
Conclusion
After comparing Shopify and WooCommerce, the user must choose which will be better suited to the business type, client base, and purpose of the store. Both options are good for an e-commerce site, and the choice of which to use will depend on the characteristics of the business model and personal preference.
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