WooCommerce VS Shopify

WooCommerce vs Shopify: two of the most popular and easy-to-use eCommerce platforms available!

WooCommerce vs Shopify: what is the difference?
When you Google reviews of WooCommerce and Shopify , you will find many opinions from different business owners. While this information can be useful, the truth is that whether you choose WooCommerce or Shopify will come down to a few key differences.

For example, the main difference between WooCommerce and Shopify is that Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce solution designed to give you everything you need to get started online.

Shopify takes the complications and technical aspects out of running an online business and replaces them with easy-to-use tools. Your Shopify store can be set up and running in minutes. However, this also means that you will not have granular control over your site.

On the other hand, if you are looking for more customization options, WooCommerce is self-hosted eCommerce software. This means you can tap into the code and access various parts of your store.

WooCommerce gives you a lot of freedom to build everything in your store, this is crucial for your team. It also means you can run your business in conjunction with a WordPress blog.

However, when comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce , remember that the freedom you get from WooCommerce comes at a price. In other words, you need to know how to manage the technical side of your site and keep it safe .

If you are starting with a beginner and don’t want to look into things like web hosting and hosting provider details, Shopify is a good choice. If you want more freedom to experiment with your site and already like using WordPress, opt for WooCommerce.

Shopify is your choice if : you spare no expense and want an all-in-one package for your e-commerce that gets you up and running quickly with many great features and 7-day-a-week support.

WooCommerce is for you if : you don’t mind taking more control over your store and want autonomy over both hosting and graphic and feature customization of your site.

What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open source e-commerce plug-in for WordPress. WordPress is a blogging platform. WooCommerce is the WordPress module that allows blog sites to take it a step further by turning their blog sites into an eCommerce store. WooCommerce is free to install and is the most ideal eCommerce platform for cost-conscious users.

What is Shopify?
Shopifyis an all-in-one cloud-based eCommerce platform. Shopify facilitates its users with all their requirements to create, grow and manage an online store under one roof. It is a brilliant platform that also covers every technical aspect of caching and web hosting security.

WooCommerce Vs Shopify: comparison for 2021!
We did some research and looked at what each of these platforms has for them. Read on to find out who wins.

Now let’s start the showdown….

What to look at when choosing an e-commerce platform?
A number of users have difficulty choosing an e-commerce platform because they don’t know what to look for in one. Most choose WooCommerce or Shopify because everyone else uses them, but as a store owner, you need to develop a rationale behind your decision-making process, and I will help you do just that.

So before you choose an e-commerce platform, consider the following factors:

1. Getting started.
   WooCommerce is also easy to learn, especially if you are already familiar with WordPress and its ecosystem. The only real difference is that with WordPress and WooCommerce you have to do the installation and maintenance yourself.

Shopify is the easiest platform to get started because you are guided from the moment you create the account. You can create your e-commerce store without having technical skills. The idea behind Shopify is to provide a platform where the risk of “getting it wrong” is minimized.

2. Ease of use
   As an online store owner, you will want to spend as much time as possible on essential business activities such as receiving customer feedback, processing orders, answering customer questions, and dealing with suppliers. For this ideal situation to occur, you need an e-commerce platform that not only allows you to easily create your online store, but is also easy to maintain and manage. WooCommerce also makes it easy to ‘process e-commerce payments with numerous options.
3. Third-party integration
   Managing an e-commerce store is not just limited to a platform that will allow you to create one. You need a number of tools and services that work side by side such as email marketing tools and social media tools. It is important that the e-commerce platform you choose to integrate with these tools such as WooCommerce integrates with MailChimp.
4. Scalability and growth
   Think of your e-commerce platform as your business partner that will make it easier for you to grow your business rather than throwing obstacles in your path. Many platforms are not compatible with a growing business or limit the growth of your business by taking control of crucial aspects such as customization or scalability. Make sure your ecommerce platform gives you the freedom to grow your business as you see fit.

5. Hosting options
   Although reliable hosting is important for all Web sites, it is critically important for e-commerce stores that may experience spikes in traffic during sales and special offer season.

Since Shopify is a proprietary platform, your e-commerce store is hosted on Shopify’s servers. Take advantage of their infrastructure with unlimited storage space. And, of course, you can point to a domain name you have already purchased for your store.

With WooCommerce, you choose the provider to host your e-commerce store and get your choice of server specifications (server size, storage space, processor and bandwidth).

6. Customization
   The user interface (UI) is an essential consideration for any e-commerce store as it creates the first and a very lasting impression on visitors.

WooCommerce does not have its own theme store. However, you can find good-looking (and very functional) themes in marketplaces such as ThemeForest , which is part of Envato Market. Just remember to choose a lightweight responsive theme to ensure that visitors have a smooth experience regardless of the device they use to access your store.

7. Add-ons/extensions
   The two platforms give you the functionality you would expect from a top e-commerce platform: product creation, CSV import of a catalog, product presentation, management of payment methods, orders, delivery, customers, stock, discount codes, coupons, etc.

To further extend native functionality, you can opt for extensions and add-ons that connect to the platform seamlessly. WooCommerce offers a number of extensions, and Shopify puts at your disposal a fairly large App Store with nearly 500 apps.

In terms of content, the big difference between WooCommerce and Shopify comes from the side pages. Shopify is primarily a storefront with only product pages. If you want to create pages about your brand, company news, and a blog, WooCommerce is a better choice.

8. Payment gateways.
   Payment options are an important part of the WooCommerce and Shopify platforms.

Shopify offers native Shopify Payments powered by Stripe and third-party payment gateways, such as PayPal, Amazon Payments. Please note that Shopify Payments is only available in some countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

For other countries, you need to use a third-party payment gateway (possibly for a fee).

WooCommerce offers several payment gateway integration extensions : PayPal and Stripe are free while other solutions such as Authorize.Net, Amazon Payments or Braintree will cost you almost $100 per year. Stripe and PayPal are a good choice for starting an e-commerce store.

9. Shipping methods
   Both WooCommerce and Shopify allow you to set shipping costs based on a number of parameters: product size and weight, local and international delivery, etc. If you want to go further, you can also set up a real-time shipping cost calculation with different delivery options such as FedEx and UPS.

For WooCommerce, you will have to purchase a plug-in.

With Shopify, you must opt for at least the Advanced Shopify plan to add the functionality to your store.

Keep in mind that Shopify has partnerships with top players in product delivery including Amazon and Rakuten (this offers a very practical solution to your logistics problems).

10. Ease of use.
    If you are not a developer by trade, this is something you need to consider very seriously. WooCommerce offers a lot of simplicity and customization, but advanced customization requires a professional developer. This is also the same for Shopify because the drag-and-drop interface of selection makes it easy to set up your online store, but you will have to get your hands dirty if you want to make early changes.
11. Multilingual support
    After what you read in the section on payment options, you will not be surprised to be told that Shopify is not very useful for multilingual stores. This problem has been solved in part with langify , a Shopify app that offers multiple languages and currencies. On the downside, the app costs $17.50 per month.

12. SEO Optimization.
    Placing WooCommerce or Shopify products in search engine results pages (SERPs) is important to gain visibility and thus increase sales.

Since WooCommerce is a powerful platform, you only need to install Yoast SEO, a freemium plug-in.

Shopify also offers great SEO features, but I would like to bring in two points you should consider:

Rich snippets: this metadata allows search engines to better understand page content and provide appropriate rankings in the SERP. Rich snippets include information such as product availability, manufacturer, customer feedback. To isolate this information in Shopify, you need apps or dive into the code.
Page URLs: Shopify does not allow you to freely customize page URLs at the store level. For the blog, you are required to display the come/blog/news/ folder, which is not a great facility for SEO optimization. For normal content pages, Shopify requires /pages/ in the URL.

13. Marketing elements.
    Marketing elements are an important part of an e-commerce store’s success. The two platforms, WooCommerce and Shopify, offer the following options:

Create an account or order as a guest: a good marketer prefers that the customer create an account to collect information. However, industry best practices call for allowing anonymous orders because account creation scares some buyers away.
Affiliate system or refer a friend: via extensions for both platforms, although WooCommerce’s options are less expensive.
Email/newsletters: Shopify offers a native email system with the ability to customize the templates and content of automated emails. With WooCommerce, you have to use a free plug-in and configure all the options yourself.

WooCommerce Pricing and Costs.
WooCommerce, technically speaking, is a free WordPress plugin for eCommerce. That means you can start using it without any upfront financial commitment.

But that’s really where it ends.

To successfully create and manage your online store using WooCommerce, you will definitely spend money.

Your expenses will include:

• Hosting and domain
• Theme/design
• Extensions
• Hosting and domain name

First, hosting and domain name is an area where you will spend money.

Typically, the cost of hosting a WooCommerce Web site usually starts at €3.00 per month but this depends on the hosting provider you go with.

Here’s a sampling of the costs on netsons, one of my favorite hosting solution providers for running sites. Obviously I chose the SSD plan because it is the minimum to run an ecommerce. On the Cloud plan, we go to even more power, but with higher costs!

Shopify Pricing and Costs
One of the main advantages of running your store on Shopify is that everything is ready for you: hosting, domain name, SSL, etc. But, of course, at a price.

To get started with Shopify, expect to spend no less than €27.00 per month. And even with this basic plan, you may not get all the features you need to run your store smoothly.

Therefore, to get the most out of Shopify, you may find yourself upgrading to the higher plans: Shopify and Advanced Shopify.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: SEO
Optimizing your store for search is critical to the success of your business.

Yes, you could run dozens of PPC campaigns, social media ads, etc. to drive traffic to your website. But organic traffic via Google search will always put you ahead of your competition.

So how does WooCommerce measure up against Shopify when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Let’s find out!

WooCommerce SEO
When it comes to SEO, WooCommerce is a top dog. The simple reason is that WordPress on which it runs is super SEO-friendly.

In addition, some of the most powerful SEO solutions in the world work on WordPress. Two of them are Yoast SEO or Rank Math and they both have free or paid versions.

With these plugins, you can accurately tell Google what your store and products are about. This is because it allows you to add meta descriptions to your pages and alternative text to your product images. And all this helps improve your website’s visibility on Google.

Yoast has an SEO plugin dedicated exclusively to WooCommerce . It comes with every imaginable solution you will need to make your site perform well in terms of SEO.