Have you ever heard of WooCommerce and/or Shopify? Many businesses are finding it imperative (or advantageous) these days to have an online shop so that potential customers can easily find your products and services with a simple Google search. When you want to start an online store, there are a lot of different tools and platforms on the Internet to help you get started.
In your research you may have come across two popular eCommerce platforms that are easily credited as being the top two on the market. These two platforms are WooCommerce and Shopify. They each have their pros and cons and differences that may matter to you. When picking one, it’s important to know what your needs are so you can pick the best platform for your business.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a giant in the plugin business for WordPress and can turn your site into a powerful asset (i.e. revenue generating channel) for your company. It is free to install, but to gain access to more options/functionality you will have to pay for a subscription. WooCommerce is credited with being incredibly flexible and customizable by you, the owner, but it is not as beginner friendly. There are dozens of WooCommerce tutorials and guides online to mitigate that fact, but it may put off many users. WooCommerce has many free community extensions and plugins you can add on and mold to your individual preferences.
Pros:
- Customizable
- Free base plan
- Limitless themes
- 1,000s of extensions
- Open Source, you have full control over your website
Cons:
- Learning curve
- Invest time to get your store live
- Some of the best tools are not built in and come with a fee
- Does not have built-in security
- You are responsible for maintaining updates and backups
What is Shopify?
Shopfiy is an incredibly well-known eCommerce platform and has around 1,000,000 businesses across the world using it for their online store. It’s hard to ignore its dominant share in the online store market, and there are reasons why it is so coveted despite having a cost to use. With great customer support and many features included, you would be paying for a fully fleshed out service that requires little work or input from you to get what you need.
Pros:
- Hosted software where you do not need to know how to code
- Customer support
- Easily sell and advertise on other channels such as Facebook, Amazon, and eBay at no additional cost
- Ease of Use
- Get started Quickly
Cons:
- Monthly Fees
- Basic: $29 per month
- Standard: $79 per month
- Advanced: $299 per month
- Transaction fees
- Do not have full control over everything
- Higher Costs
- Harder to customize solutions
Which E-Commerce System Should You Select?
You may be overwhelmed by the information and differences and not know exactly what may be best for you. However, you know your business and standing best and what you should have. The battle between the two ecommerce giants ultimately comes down to experience, time and money.
Shopify is best for businesses that either don’t have enough experience with coding or simply don’t have the time to dedicate to it. Shopify has customer support for those instances when things don’t go exactly according to plan and the built-in security features means you know your site will be secure without the hassle of securing it yourself.
If you are willing to put in the time and effort into your website’s shop, we recommend WooCommerce as the money saving option. WooCommerce is perfect for anyone looking to customize their shop to their likings and needs and, because it is an open-source platform, the base plan is free of cost. If you have experience with coding, this is a great way for you to get the same features a paid platform would give you as long as you know how to add them on yourself. In addition, if your website will require special search functions or features related to checkout, WooCommerce is generally easier to customize with special features than Shopify.
How Websults Can Help
With over 15 years of experience in the website development and search engine optimization field, Websults is well positioned to grow your website traffic and online store revenue. Our team can come alongside your company to design a plan and establish processes so that your brochure website (or poorly performing e-commerce website) can transform into a sales generating powerhouse.
We are here to help you assess your business situation and analyze your data to come up with a comprehensive plan to help you reach your goals. Moreover, we will perform ongoing work to add new content to your website and to update your site as Google rolls out ranking algorithm updates itself. If you are interested in our website consulting services and want to hear more, or even just have a question, then feel free to contact us at (727) 597-7300.
