Do you want to create an ecommerce site and don’t know whether to choose Shopify or WooCommerce ?
Many people ask themselves the same question. Most of those who want to open an online store find it hard to decide between one or the other. Both Shopify and WooCommerce allow you to build an online shop. But they offer very different features, pricing, and user experience. In this post we will do a detailed comparison between Shopify and WooCommerce to help you identify the best option for your business.
Shopify vs WooCommerce: overview
Before doing a head-to-head comparison between WooCommerce and Shopify, let’s take a quick overview of both offerings.
What is Shopify?
It’s a “hosted” solution, which means less hassle for you – you don’t have to worry about finding a hosting service or installing the software, because Shopify does it already.
Basically, to start your online store, all you have to do is create an account on Shopify , choose and buy a domain name (or synchronize an existing one) and install a theme.
Are you new to ecommerce? Are you moving your retail business online? Shopify provides you with a number of free tools to help you build a brand , including a logo generator , tagline generator, and business name generator .
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free WordPress CMS plugin, which allows you to transform a standard website into a fully functional ecommerce store.
It’s open source, so you can customize every aspect of your store and add custom extensions.
To build an online store with WooCommerce you don’t need advanced programming skills, but you will need to find a hosting service and install WordPress.
If this is your first time using WordPress, you will also need to learn how to install plugins. Bottom line: WooCommerce has a slight learning curve but, once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy to use.
Shopify vs WooCommerce: the comparison
Now that you have a more or less clear idea of how both ecommerce platforms france business email list work, let’s compare their ease of use, features, price, and customer support.
Ease of use
As we said earlier, Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform. This means that it manages the technical side of the creation of a store, starting from the activation of the hosting, to the installation of the software, up to the integration of security functions such as the SSL certificate.
Shopify software is extremely intuitive. Once you’ve created your account, the wizard helps you select a theme, add content and products, and publish your store. With Shopify’s drag-and-drop theme editor, you can add, remove, or move items at any time and in just a couple of clicks.
WooCommerce, on the other hand, requires several additional steps: you have to choose and purchase hosting, install software, and manage site backups. The setup wizard helps you create your online store and choose a theme. But you need to complete all the steps yourself.
This, of course, takes time; time you could devote to developing a marketing strategy .
This is not a super intuitive dashboard that you can use on the fly without documenting yourself with the tutorials.
Basically: If you’re looking for an easy-to-use ecommerce platform, Shopify is your best choice.
On Shopify, you can choose one of many professional themes. Including Shopify-verified and approved free themes, which reflect the latest web design best practices.
Even though WooCommerce’s library of customizable themes is more extensive. Shopify’s themes are more curated and you don’t have to constantly update them like on WooCommerce.