Woocommerce Vs Shopify Features and Shortcomings
Are you thinking of launching an e-commerce store? If so, we’re sure WooCommerce and Shopify are already at the top of your mind. As two reputable platforms, they back thousands of company websites. Yet, if they’re both great choices, what’s really the difference? Keep reading to compare WooCommerce vs Shopify, including:
- Key Differences
- Design and Development
- Payment Methods
- Scalability
- Support Options
1. Key Differences
What is Shopify? Think of Shopify as an all-in-one e-commerce platform. It can run an online store, accept payments, and manage inventory. It also takes care of a website’s more technical aspects, such as web hosting, security, and caching.
What is WooCommerce? WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin specifically for WordPress. The plugin will transform any WordPress site into a functioning online store. Since WooCommerce is open-source, and used in conjunction with WordPress, every aspect of your store and website is entirely customizable.
Your business’ needs and skills should determine which platform to use. While Shopify will offer easy-to-use tools, WooCommerce provides total control over design, development, hosting, security, and more.
2. Design and Development
A business owner surely wears many hats, but a web designer and developer may not be one of them. Shopify has dozens of themes to choose from that offer an easy drag-and-drop tool for customization. However, you are limited to Shopify tools or verified add-ons.
As we know, WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress, so you’re really designing and developing a WordPress website. While there are available themes, you’ll also be able to build from scratch. Either way, you can utilize more than 55,000+ WordPress plugins, all compatible with WooCommerce.
Creating a Shopify or WooCommerce store yourself is certainly an option, you can also work with an e-commerce developer. Even better, a digital marketing agency specializing in e-commerce design and development will be able to take care of this tedious process. An agency will build wireframes, templates, and previews; the only thing you’d have to do is approve!
3. Payment Methods
When running an online store, payment is a crucial step in development. Customers must be able to pay for items while you receive them—all in a convenient and secure process.
Shopify uses ShopifyPayments (powered by Stripe) that takes flat credit card fees, depending on which plan you have. They also offer the integration of third-party gateways, such as PayPal, but charge an extra 2% fee on each transaction.
WooCommerce uses Stripe and PayPal by default, but additional payment gateways can be used through add-ons. Since WooCommerce is a self-hosted platform, there will never be a transaction fee (unless the payment gateway or your bank has one).
4. Scalability
While you may be hyper-focused on getting your business launched, don’t forget about growth!
Shopify makes it easy to up performance, security, and scalability by upgrading to a higher plan. However, expect an increase in expenses with a better plan and services.
Being self-hosted, you’ll have to take care of maintenance, updates, backups, and security with WooCommerce. With these additional responsibilities comes better control over resources, meaning you’re not paying for anything you don’t need.
5. Support Options
From time to time, you’ll run into a problem that requires some professional help. Shopify offers 24/7 support via live chat, phone, email, and Twitter. Both Shopify and WooCommerce provide how-to guides, video tutorials, and forums.
Being two incredibly popular platforms, there is always a developer for hire that can help. However, if you chose to work with a digital marketing agency for design and development, it will be worthwhile to sign up for a web hosting or maintenance plan. That way, you’ll be able to get 24/7 service and always speak to a real person when it comes to questions or concerns.
Kraus Marketing is an award-winning agency experienced in designing and developing successful e-commerce stores. We’ll get your online business up and running and support it at every step of the way. From monthly maintenance requests to routine surveillance, the Kraus web team is available to support your e-commerce business. Contact us today to learn more.