Selecting the right eCommerce platform is essential for business owners, to properly manage and grow their business. When it comes to eCommerce, the top two platforms are WooCommerce and Shopify. Many choose to hire agencies for WordPress web development services to make the whole process of creating an online store an easier task. Additionally, the companies have professional and skilled developers who create a new site or customize the existing one according to desired preferences.
However, it is also important to figure out which platform is more suitable for your business type. There are various factors like cost, flexibility, appearance, etc. based on which we can compare the two platforms. Therefore, let’s take a look at the features of both WooCommerce and Shopify, to figure out which one is better for eCommerce development in 2022.
Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Best For eCommerce Development in 2022
While selecting one from the two platforms, your business requirements, budget and other important requirements majorly impact the decision. So, let’s compare both platforms based on different factors.
Ease Of Use: Shopify vs WooCommerce
With Shopify, you don’t need to install or manage any kind of software because the platform is fully hosted. Additionally, you can avoid various issues related to security, compatibility, performance, etc. When you sign up, you get the option to select a design from multiple Shopify themes for free. Afterward, the platform helps you in customization and adding products. Moreover, the interface supports drag and drop operations. Hence, the sales, product pages, and inventory are easier to manage.
Unlike Shopify, the WooCommerce plugin is needed to be installed for the eCommerce website. It helps to manage backups, updates, and security of the website. WooCommerce provides a lot of customization options as you have access to the whole platform. Thus, you can add any required functionality to your site by using tons of available WordPress plugins.
Design: Shopify vs WooCommerce
Shopify provides us with themes with appealing visual designs. Moreover, all are mobile responsive and come with tons of customizations. Furthermore, the themes have a modern look and clean aesthetic, perfect for modern websites. Many professional web designers contribute to creating engaging themes for the platform. So, you get a decent variety of designs to make a better selection. Besides, you also get a theme editor to fully customize the themes.
As discussed earlier, the WooCommerce platform is open-source. For this reason, a lot of developers provide good themes for various industries and requirements. Additionally, it is compatible with major themes available in the market. For this reason, you can choose any WordPress theme you prefer; and integrate it with WooCommerce. However, if the website design is a priority, you must go with the themes specifically designed for WooCommerce, to avoid any issues.
Payment Methods: Shopify vs WooCommerce
“Shopify Payments” is the payment gateway provided by the platform. In addition, other third-party payment gateways can also be used. However, you have to pay an extra 2% transaction charge for that. Additionally, you are also charged by the payment gateway provider, for every transaction.
Any payment company can make add-ons for WooCommerce. Hence, it provides support for many less popular and regional payment services. Besides, you only have to pay the transaction fee charged by the payment gateway or the bank; because it is a self-hosted platform. Moreover, if you use “WooCommerce payments”, the platform doesn’t even charge a fee for credit card payments, which is a huge benefit.
Scalability: Shopify vs WooCommerce
Shopify can seamlessly manage your business growth. The platform deals with security, downtimes, updates and, backups on its own. Therefore, you don’t have to put your efforts into handling these technical tasks. In addition, you don’t have to worry about performance and scalability as when the business starts expanding you can simply upgrade your Shopify plan. In this way, you save resources and don’t need to hire a technical in-house team.
With WooCommerce, you are in total control of your WordPress website. So, you have a variety of options to manage the business growth. There are multiple managed WordPress hosting providers available in the market; that help you scale the eCommerce store. However, you have to manage all the technical tasks like backups, maintaining updates, and security of the site on your own.
Security: Shopify vs WooCommerce
Shopify comes with pre-integrated SSL security. That ensures the website is secure and the personal and payment details of the customers are safe. Most importantly, you get a decent boost for your eCommerce store SEO due to added security. In this way, the platform’s SSL provides a safe browsing experience to your users.
On the other hand, WoCommerce doesn’t provide SSL security. As the plugin is open-source, you have to find and implement your security along with an SSL certificate. However, sometimes you can get the security certificate for free via your hosting provider. Besides, you have to configure things like two-factor authentication and security plugins to protect your website from potential security threats on your own.
Support: Shopify vs WooCommerce
Shopify offers customer support through phone, live chat, email, and many more channels. In addition, the platform provides documentation, how-to guides, video tutorials, and discussion forums. So, the users can fix the problems on their own. Moreover, in case you need expert assistance, the platform provides “Shopify Experts” for your help. However, Shopify does not provide any support for third-party templates or applications.
Talking about WooCommerce, your hosting provider is responsible for providing support for various server issues. Similarly, the developers whose extensions and themes you are using; are responsible to provide support for their various products. Hence, WooCommerce doesn’t provide a dedicated support system. Still, you can easily find developers to fix various issues related to your eCommerce store; because the platform is very popular.
You should read also What are the benefits of upgrading to Shopify Online Store 2.0?
Conclusion
Shopify comes with an easy-to-use interface. Thus, you can get started with it quickly and set up the payments easily. While its drawback is you are not in absolute control of the platform, and the cost is very high combining add-ons and transaction charges.
On the contrary, WooCommerce is an open-source plugin that provides you total control over your website. Additionally, it is a cost-effective option for starting an online store. Its drawback is you have to maintain the software utilities on your own. So, you have to go through a learning curve for using it efficiently.
In conclusion, both Shopify and WooCommerce are good platforms; but it depends upon your needs and preferences, which one is suitable for you.
