Introduction
Are you in the process of developing an online store and don’t know which e-commerce platform is right for you? Well, look no further. In this article, we will discuss the 2 most popular platforms, WooCommerce and Shopify, and outline their features, advantages, and drawbacks.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an e-commerce plug-in available for WordPress websites. It is used by major brands across the world. Here is a link to where you can see case studies of brands who use the WooCommerce platform. WooCommerce allows you to create a fully customisable online store with no restrictions.
Advantages of WooCommerce
WooCommerce does not have any recurring costs. Once you install WooCommerce there are no hidden costs, monthly fees, or a fixed percentage taken from your gross sales that you may experience with other e-commerce platforms. In the long run, this will help your bottom line as recurring costs will begin to add up.
Having your site built with WordPress gives you more potential to improve your website’s SEO. This will help you maximize the potential of your online store. The WooCommerce plug-in itself is built with code to help improve SEO. WoCommerce also has 50,000 plug-ins to choose from making it one of the world’s most flexible and customisable platforms.
Disadvantages of WooCommerce
WooCommerce is complicated to install and implement on a website. It requires a knowledge of coding to properly integrate with the site. If you are seeking the help of website developers you will not have to worry about this. However, if you are developing a website on your own, Shopify will be much easier to implement yourself.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a great platform business looking to quickly and easily set up an e-commerce website with few initial costs. Shopify gives you a range of templates to choose from to make your website development process as simple and easy as possible. Shopify allows you to build a functional e-commerce website with little to no knowledge of website development.
Advantages of Shopify
If you are a small retailer who is looking to dip their toes in online retail, then Shopify is the platform for you. Shopify will give you all the tools and help you need to get up and running as an online retailer. Shopify is very cost-effective to start up and even includes a 14-day free trial.
Shopify offers multi-channel retailing. This allows you to easily trade through Amazon, Facebook, and Pinterest free of charge. While performing multi-channel retailing on WooCommerce comes with a once-off fee.
Disadvantages of Shopify
Shopify is limited in what it can do compared to WooCommerce. With Shopify, you must work within a template. This is ok for small retailers who are only getting accustomed to online selling. If you are a larger retailer or hoping to be a larger retailer then you will want the ability to customize.
Shopify has on-going costs associated with its service. There is a monthly charge as well as a 2% service charge on each transaction. If you are hoping to trade online long term, these on-going costs will begin to add up.
In Conclusion
Your choice of e-commerce platform really depends on your intentions of selling online. If you are just looking to get up and running as quickly, easily, and cheaply as possible, then Shopify is the platform for you. However, if you are an established business or hoping to be an established business looking to invest in your future of online selling, then WooCommerce is a clear choice.
If you are looking to have an e-commerce website of your own why not drop us a message below to arrange a call.
Here at BeQuick Media, we build high-quality e-commerce websites using WooCommerce.
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