There are a lot of ecommerce platforms you can choose for your online store, but WooCommerce and Shopify are the two leading ecommerce platforms. There’s a lot reasons these two stand out from the crowd. In this post, I will compare Shopify with WooCommerce to help you make an informed choice. I’ve used both platforms for clients and I’ll add my insights on both of them based on my own experience. First, a short explanation for what ecommerce is.
E-commerce stands for electronic commerce. Any website that sells products or services on the web. That includes payment processing and other types of commerce, however, In this post we are going to focus on sites that sell products on the Internet.
Why set up an online store?
According to studies in the US, approximately 70% of the people shop on at least one online store. That equals about 260 million online shoppers. Almost 20% of all commerce is done online. The number of online stores that exist varies from study to study. It’s difficult to know how many online stores there are. Rough estimates are between 12 and 24 million worldwide and around 2.5 million in the US. It seems like a lot of competition, however, you should consider why there are so many of them.
Total e-commerce sales in the US for 2022 were estimated at $1,034.1 billion, an increase of 7.7 percent (±0.4%) from 2021. Total retail sales in 2022 increased 8.1 percent (±0.9%) from 2021. E-commerce sales in 2022 accounted for 14.6 percent of total sales. E-commerce sales in 2021 accounted for 14.6 percent of total sales. Source; US Dept. of Commerce.
In 2020, when many stores were closed because of the pandemic, 82% of Canadians shopped online, spending a total of $84.4 billion. This is a pretty significant increase since 2018, when 77%C of respondents shopped online and spent a total of $57.4 billion. Source; Statcan.gc.ca
Those numbers are only going to increase. So, no matter how many ecommerce websites are built, there is enough demand for most online stores to succeed. If you are on the fence about opening an ecommerce website, these numbers should encourage you to get started and SEO Services Montreal will help you build it.
What about Shopify?
Shopify claims to host more than 800,000 online shops. What percentage of those are active is a whole other ballgame. A lot of people open an online store on Shopify and abandon it soon after. The reason is marketing. They open a shop there on a whim because it seems like it’s going to be easy. To an experienced web developer like me, it is easy to set up, maintain and optimize. For the average user, not so much. One thing to watch out for is there are a lot of developers promising turnkey solutions, promising if you pay them to build a store, they don’t have to do anything but wait for the profits to roll in. This is not the movie; Field of Dreams, where the famous quote is; Build it and they will come. That’s never been true on the web.
That does not mean you can’t be successful with a Shopify store. Many people have done very well using Shopify. I just wanted you to be aware of the facts. Don’t let that discourage you from opening the store of your choice. Just know there is actually work involved in making a Shopify store successful and you will likely need professional web developers like SEO Services Montreal to help you.
Shopify is easier to use than WooCommerce. It has a drag and drop interface, let’s you easily choose a theme and it’s even easy to add products for sale. That makes it appealing to people who are not web-savvy. What they don’t tell you is that by choosing one of their themes, when you have no expertise, you will look exactly like thousands of other online stores that chose that same theme. How do you stand out from your competition when you look just like them and use the same exact products and selling methods?
Summary; You can definitely do okay using Shopify as your ecommerce platform. I’ve explained the drawbacks and the benefits. Easy-to-use, Less control over the look and feel and functionality. On price, the lowest price is $29/mo as I write this post. The premium package is $299/mo. That also makes it appealing. However, factor in the cost of some of the apps that Shopify offers in their marketplace. Some of them are free and others cost money, so you’ll need to add those to your monthly cost as well.
Why choose WooCommerce for your ecommerce website?
WooCommerce is built on WordPress and offers a range of benefits for online store owners. Here are some of the main reasons why you might want to use it for your online store instead of other platforms like Shopify…
It’s user-friendly: WooCommerce has a simple and intuitive interface just like Shopify that makes it easy to set up and manage. You don’t have to be a programmer or web developer to create your online store, however, a professional WordPress developer that is an expert with WooCommerce is still the best way to go. The promise of someone with no skills opening an online store, even with WordPress and WooCommerce, is a little misleading.
It’s customizable: It has a wide range of customizable themes and plugins that allow you to create a unique and professional-looking store without having to start from scratch. This means you can create a site that perfectly matches your brand and meets your specific needs. The plus with WooCommerce over Shopify, is the number of custom options you have with WooCommerce that you don’t have with Shopify.
It’s scalable: This is important. WooCommerce is built on the same robust and scalable framework as WordPress, which means your online store can grow and evolve as your business grows, without having to switch to a different platform. There is not a limit to the number of products you can have in your online store. In my experience, if you have more than 500 products, WooCommerce is the only choice.
It’s well-supported: WooCommerce has a large and active community of users and developers who provide support, share tips and tutorials, and create new themes and plugins. This means you can get help and advice when you need it, and access a wealth of resources to help you improve your site.
Overall, WooCommerce is a powerful and flexible platform for building online stores, and offers a range of benefits for users of all skill levels. Whether you’re a small business owner, a blogger, or a web developer, WooCommerce can help you create a professional-looking and effective online store.
WooCommerce vs Shopify Summary
- With either online store platform, to be successful, you are going to need the help of professionals.
- Shopify has a monthly fee, plus the cost of third-party apps you will need, the cost of a domain name and other needs.
- Just like WordPress, WooCommerce is completely free for anyone to download, use and modify. (you still need hosting and a domain name)
- Both platforms are easy to set up and use. The difference is you have more custom options with WooCommerce.
Important Note: With Shopify, your online store is governed by Their rules, privacy policy and terms of service. It’s not likely to happen, but let’s say tomorrow Shopify decides to raise their prices tenfold. You’ll either have to pay it or start all over, losing all of the money and time you put into it. I’ve never liked proprietary websites for this reason. With a self-hosted WordPress website and the WooCommerce plugin, you write your own terms of service and determine your own privacy policy and use any payment processor you want.
There are more comparisons I can offer for these two online shopping platforms, but I consider control of my online store to be the one factor that makes me recommend WooCommerce over Shopify. If you have questions, contact us using this form or just give us a call at 514-808-2288. We’d be happy to help you.