Call us Today: 0330 058 5621

Email Us

Shopify vs WooCommerce – Which Is Better For Your New Business?

02/01/2021 | Share:

If you’re considering starting a new ecommerce business or even redoing your ecommerce website, you’ll likely need to pick an ecommerce platform. An ecommerce platform acts as the framework on top of which your store is built. They allow the implementation of a number of features that an ecommerce business needs to succeed. These include orders and inventory management, order processing and payments, pricing and promotions, analytics/reporting and more.

So that you can make a more informed decision, we’re taking a look at the two most popular ecommerce platforms out there today – Shopify and WooCommerce. This article will explain the differences between these to help you decide which is right for you at this point in time.

We’re going to be looking at cost, ease of use and customisability.

The main differences between Shopify and WooCommerce

The first thing you’ll notice about the two is that Shopify is an all in one dedicated e-commerce interface, whereas WooCommerce isn’t.

Shopify hosts the website for you and gives you all the tools you need to set up and make changes to your store. You log in to Shopify for everything related to the website and pay a monthly fee to them.

WooCommerce on the other hand is a WordPress plugin that you install onto your existing website. You can access WooCommerce tools relevant to your website by logging in to the WordPress backend of your website. You’ll be paying separately for WooCommerce, website hosting, payment gateways, SSL certificates etc.

Cost

For the basic Shopify package, you can expect to pay $29 per month. This includes hosting an online store with a blog, unlimited products, 2 accounts, 24/7 support and allows for up to 4 store locations. The most advanced package offers the most benefits for $299 per month. Full pricing and features can be found here. Regardless of what package you choose, you know how much you’ll be charged and in one go.

The basic WooCommerce package is simply a free plugin for WordPress. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But, you’re forgetting that although WordPress and WooCommerce are free, hosting, domains and payment gateways are not. The cost of having a WooCommerce website will therefore depend on what WordPress hosting you choose, the domain and the payment gateways you choose to install. It could actually be more expensive than Shopify, once all the individual costs are added up.

WooCommerce makes their money through plugin extensions, which will also be a factor to take into account, depending on your business. Examples of extensions include booking appointments, a waitlist for out-of-stock products or a reviews section.

Ease of Use

Shopify is deliberately intended to be easy to use. It’s perfectly feasible for someone with little website development experience to build their own store using the themes available. Everything is editable in a WYSIWYG editor. WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get which means you can simply rock up to the Shopify website, sign up and start adding bits to your website as they’ll appear for your customers.

Shopify’s ease of use does have its drawbacks though. By using the free themes, it means there’s a good chance there are other stores out there that look similar to yours.

WooCommerce, however, can be a little more difficult to get to grips with if you’ve got no development experience. It requires knowledge of WordPress and requires you to already have a domain registered and hosted. You’ll have to do all of this separately and also have a website ready to go. If you’ve got an existing website already, it will be much easier and quicker to get ecommerce up and running. Without a developer, you’ll likely need to dedicate some time to tutorials.

The upside to this more complex approach is that you have much more control and flexibility over your website and you’re not limited to the 3-tiered packages at Shopify.

Customisability

Shopify offers some customisation options within its WYSIWYG editor and allows you to purchase themes made by other developers. It also allows you to create your own discounts and edit them dynamically to automatically apply buying incentives as well as customise the checkout. Shopify does its best to offer a range of customisation, but this is all within the limits of its platform and doesn’t give you a 100% bespoke approach.

Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, it is only one part of the WordPress website. Whilst you can customise the website with WooCommerce plugins, your website can also be fully customised via the WordPress content management system or through coding. With this approach, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination and your knowledge of coding.

Summary

Overall, Shopify is ideal if you want a single and simple upfront cost, set up in minutes. You can customise your store pretty easily and everything including security and hosting is handled for you.

Just be aware that you have limited control over your site and that better customisation options can be found elsewhere.

WooCommerce is likely the best option if you’ve got a developer working for you or if you’re prepared to invest time and money in learning WordPress. It’s great for creating a website that is uniquely yours that you want full control over.

Make sure you understand how to manage the security, hosting and maintenance of your website. WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems in the world, so there’s plenty of support and resources out there if you need it.

More from Blog

  • How Brands Use Augmented Reality to Increase Sales

    01/07/2021

    How Brands Use Augmented Reality to Increase Sales

    Augmented reality (AR) is becoming more and more common in the ecommerce space. It’s particularly useful for products that ideally need to be seen in person and are normally purchased in stores. If you’re active on social media channels you’ll no doubt have come across elements of augmented reality that allow users to add filters and edit their faces with smart technology. Whilst this is all very …

    Read post
  • How to Become Your Own YouTube Brand Ambassador for Your Ecommerce Business

    02/04/2018

    How to Become Your Own YouTube Brand Ambassador for Your Ecommerce Business

    In the competitive world of ecommerce businesses, having a brand ambassador can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and credibility. While securing high-profile brand representatives might be out of reach for many, you can achieve remarkable results by becoming your own YouTube brand ambassador. This strategy not only saves money but also allows you to authentically represent your brand and connect directly with your target audience. The Power …

    Read post
  • 7 Ways You Can Promote Your E-commerce Business

    02/03/2020

    7 Ways You Can Promote Your E-commerce Business

    Are you in the early stages of developing an online store? Or perhaps looking for new ways to promote your e-commerce business? Here are 7 ways you can get started with promoting your store: Google Ads Almost every internet user will have come across a Google Ad at some point in their life. We all recognise them as the sponsored results at the top of a search …

    Read post
  • Are your Staff Well Trained? – 8 Reasons They Should Be

    01/12/2022

    Are your Staff Well Trained? – 8 Reasons They Should Be

    When looking for new employees, businesses often look for previous experience in a similar field and this can certainly help get a head start with new employees. But there’s no better way to equip new employees than with well-crafted training programs. Investing in employee training could be the key to success for your business, as it has many advantages that can instantly take your business performance and …

    Read post

Categories

We value your privacy

We use cookies and similar technologies to personalise content and ads, provide social media features, and analyse traffic. You can choose to accept all cookies, reject non-essential ones, or manage your preferences by category.

To learn how Google uses your data, see Google’s Privacy & Terms. For more details, see our Cookie Policy.

Essential

Essential cookies are small data files stored on your device by websites to ensure their proper functionality. They are crucial for core activities like page navigation, secure access, and saving preferences. Without these cookies, the website would not perform as expected, compromising your user experience. Essential cookies do not store personal information or track browsing activities beyond the website.

Wordpress

wordpress_test_cookie

Cookie set by WordPress to check if the cookies are enabled on the browser to provide appropriate user experience to the users

devicePixelRatio

Used to make the site responsive to the visitor’s screen size.

tk_qs

JetPack sets this cookie to store a randomly-generated anonymous ID which is used only within the admin area and for general analytics tracking.

tk_lr

Jetpack - Stores the unique identifier for the publisher to enable Jetpack to collect data.

tk_or

Jetpack - Stores the unique identifier for the publisher to enable Jetpack to collect data.

tk_r3d

JetPack installs this cookie to collect internal metrics for user activity and in turn improve user experience.

tk_tc

JetPack sets this cookie to record details on how user's use the website.

wp-settings-

Used to persist a user’s wp-admin configuration.

wporg_logged_in

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

wporg_sec

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

wporg_locale

Used to persist a user’s locale configuration.

welcome-

Used to record if you’ve chosen to hide the “Welcome” message at the top of the corresponding blog.

showComments

Used to determine if you prefer comments to be shown or hidden when reading the site.

trac_form_token

Used as a security token for cross-site request forgery protection.

trac_session

Used to keep anonymous session information.

codexToken

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user. Only set if you select “Keep me logged in” when logging in.

codexUserId

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

codexUserName

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

camptix_client_stats

Used to track unique visitors to tickets page on a WordCamp site

wp-saving-post

Used to track if there is saved post exists for a post currently being edited. If exists then let user restore the data

comment_author_

Used to tracked comment author name, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” is checked

comment_author_url_

Used to track comment author url, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” checkbox is checked

wp-postpass_

Used to maintain session if a post is password protected

wp-settings-time-

Time at which wp-settings-{user} was set

tix_view_token

Used for session managing private CampTix content

jetpackState

Used for maintaining Jetpack State

jpp_math_pass

Verifies that a user answered the math problem correctly while logging in.

stnojs

Remember if user do not want JavaScript executed

wordpress_logged_in_

Remember User session

Marketing

Used to determine a user’s inclusion in an experiment and the expiry of experiments a user has been included in.

ad_storage

ad_user_data

ad_personalization

analytics_storage

Social

Social cookies enable social media features on websites, such as sharing content and social media logins. They can track your activity across different sites for targeted advertising. These cookies enhance your online experience by facilitating content sharing and engagement on social platforms.