Opening an online store has never been easier. There are some feature-rich e-commerce platforms, and each platform has its own advantages. However, the two most popular solutions are Shopify and WooCommerce. Your decision to a large extent depends upon your business and its scale and size.
According to your requirements, both platforms provide attractive designs, product options, different shipping rates, payment gateways, search engine optimization, and marketing functions; and various extensions and plugins to further expand and improve your online store. In this article, we will take a look at WooCommerce and Shopify, compare their features, and help you determine which e-commerce platform is best for your online store.
Even for absolute beginners, using Shopify and WooCommerce is very easy. Both platforms have an intuitive user interface for simple tasks such as creating a homepage (contact, privacy policy, etc.), listing products, reviewing/fulfilling orders, etc. These setup procedures are relatively simple. Both platforms have a large amount of documentation and a large user base, so it is relatively easy to find answers to potential problems that may arise in either platform.
Easy of Use-
Shopify: Shopify is a self-hosted eCommerce platform. It is easy to set up and requires almost zero technical skills to set up. It covers your brand, from domain name and hosting to any SSL or security certificate. It has hundreds of pre-built templates that one can use to create their online store. But if you are looking for heavy customization, you need to hire a Shopify development company.
Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce is not a self-hosted platform, so you need to install it, keep backups, manage updates, and keep your site safe. It has many plug-ins that can automate most tasks for you. In terms of customization, it is very flexible and lets you fully control the entire platform.
Cost-
The cost of starting an eCommerce store is quite subjective. Still, it’s a big determining factor as to what eCommerce platform to choose for your brand.
WooCommerce: WooCommerce is free, but comes with some extra costs, like hosting, domain name, and security like SSL, backups, etc. There is no reoccurring cost with WooCommerce apart from these costs but ultimately they add up more than what Shopify costs.
Shopify: Has fixed pricing, which ranges from $29 to $299 a month. More advanced features are unlocked when you upgrade, which include professional reports. The monthly cost covers your hosting, SSL, and other security features. For any business with a limited budget, Shopify is an ideal choice.
Security-
Your e-commerce website needs a high degree of security, why? Without proper security, you will put your brand and customers at risk.
WooCommerce: WooCommerce is supported by WordPress, so it is independent. For SSL you are dependent upon your hosting provider or a third party. WooCommerce does not automatically support PCIDSS. The free plugins for security are limited by features and usually, one has to buy them. To make your WooCommerce store more secure, you will have to avail services of a professional WordPress development company
Shopify: Shopify has built-in SSL, which you can identify by the small padlock icon next to the URL. Industry standards for data security mean that your site is configured to accept credit card payments as required by law. Shopify is again fully PCIDSS compliant.
SEO-
WooCommerce: WooCommerce is built using the built-in SEO optimization code in WordPress and various SEO plugins. Yoast, the SEO plugin for WordPress, is very easy to use.
Shopify: It provides SEO integrations and apps that can promote your brand. It has many SEO plug-ins on the Shopify App store and provides free SEO extension modules that can search your store and identify issues that may affect the performance of your website.
The main difference: WooCommerce gives you access to many great SEO plugins with useful SEO. On the other hand, Shopify doesn't come with such features.
CONCLUSION-
WooCommerce and Shopify are very similar eCommerce platforms. Both of these options can quickly and efficiently set up your online store. In addition to easy-to-use and rich features, both platforms offer many choices in terms of pre-built themes for quick setup. No matter which platform you choose, WooCommerce or Shopify, you can integrate third-party applications into your online store and customize it as per your requirements.
