Shopify vs. WooCommerce – Which One Is Best for Creating Online Store?

It is quite difficult to conduct Shopify vs. WooCommerce comparison because they are quite popular platforms used for developing virtual retail shopping stores. In fact, one should compare the technical environments based on different parameters. Let’s find how they fare in the face off with each other.

Design:

Shopify provides wonderful visual quality theme to the users. One of the most important aspects of the design is that it looks amazingly out of box. There are more than 50 stored templates that can be used according to the requirements and the specifications of the clients. In addition, the themes are equipped with unique variations; therefore people can get 100 separate designs. Templates while being used in the website make it more responsive, clean and aesthetic to capture the attention of the people.  Shopify assigns the designing tasks to the designers who are competent enough to meet the requirements of the clients. Although the price is on the higher side, the quality is worth the effort.

WooCommerce is the doyen of the design themes and provides range of options to the users. The plug-in created by the company relates to selling and purchasing of the products however it doesn’t have their own design traits. In fact, the design aspect is related to the word press themes that work extremely well with the WooCommerce platform. In addition, you can also build customized themes specific to the relevant business domain.  Some of the options are available right with the store front however open source alternatives impart far more diversity to the website.

As far as the verdict is concerned, WooCommerce scores over Shopify because the latter offers limited number of design templates as compared to the former.

Cost:

Shopify is quite clear and transparent in determining the design price. Woo Commerce is open source plug-in however creating word press themes installation and hosting might cost money. Moreover the usage of SSL certificate also escalates the overall expenses.

In stark contrast Shopify offers single and innovative solution to the users with a flat price package. Once the client sign up, they are instantly delivered a fully capable ecommerce store to kick start the business.

Woo Commerce may become more expensive if you take into account the SEO services on offer. Therefore on price front Shopify is far better than the Woo Commerce.

Features:

Both applications have lots of features that are very useful in designing ecommerce stores.

Shopify offers unlimited products and storage to the users. They also provide automated fraud analysis to ensure safety to the customers. Using Shopify application, one can easily create manual order form containing discount codes. Daily backup, site stats, Product variations and fully featured mobile apps help the customers to sell the items. Some of the attributes such as CSV uploads and shipping options can cost more than 500 dollars to the customers.

Woo Commerce incorporates third party Plug-ins to enhance the capabilities of the website. Numerous payment gateways are available to the visitors along with adjustable shipping rates as well as taxes. You can enter information related to unlimited number of products and categories.

To get features in Shopify, one has to subscribe to the tool while the Woo commerce is a free plug-in. Round the clock email as well as chat support assistance resolves the queries of the customers.

Woo commerce provides more creative freedom to modify the commerce components as it is an open source platform. In addition, it offers more than 1000 store design to the users that are far more in comparison to the Shopify. Woo commerce doesn’t provide hosting as a part of the package and people also have to pay for the SSL security features.

WordPress allows you to create an online store to use your blog to sell products. However, that feature is not as effective as it could be when customers have difficulty browsing through all of your available products. The Search-plugin WooCommerce offers allows users to quickly search through your products and locate only the items they care about. Keyword searching features include options to exclude items with descriptions containing certain words or locate items with descriptions containing those words. WooCommerce Search is available in free and premium versions. The premium version has additional features like the ability to show product prices in search results.

User Interface:

User interface of the Shopify is simple because it is subscription based. Users have to sign into the website and they can start working with the store instantly. People should use basic set up wizard for complete installation of the database along with the front end interface. During the installation of the Shopify, the application provides valuable tips to make the web page more optimized. The process is not only straight forward but also quite fast and easy.

Woo commerce is also easy to use but it comes with a caveat. Setting up the store is not an easy task as users have to complete the task on their own. You are required to have a domain name, a hosting account and the Word press theme. The whole process is not only complex but also time consuming. Clients should be technically qualified to handle the setting up of thee website on the server and domain name. It is also necessary to find a suitable hosting company for the website. In short, Shopify is simpler than the Woo commerce and is preferred by people who are not very skilled in managing the installation process. Therefore, if you are ready to pay extra money go with the former or choose the latter.

Author Bio:

Kylee Brown is a Shopify Trainer by profession and Writer by hobby. She has been providing training for shopify singapore from past 6 years. She has done lots of creative works in the field of eCommerce. She has written multifold blogs and articles that present strategic approach, and marketing tips for online businesses.