Shubham Sawarkar
Are you ready to build your E-commerce platform?
The first hurdle that you will come across is, whether to choose WooCommerce or Shopify’s E-commerce website building platform. Both these E-commerce platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses that make it even harder to know which is the best.
If you are searching for which E-commerce building platform is perfect for you, then fret not; we have got your back.
It might seem challenging to know which one is the best platform for your E-commerce store. The best news is that by comparing features of both WooCommerce and Shopify, you can easily find which one is the best for you. And to simplify things for you, we have done the same for you in this post.
But, before starting on with the comparison between the WooCommerce and Shopify platforms, let’s have an overview of both the platforms:
WooCommerce vs Shopify
Shopify was launched in 2004 and offers a variety of features specifically for E-commerce platforms. On the other hand, WooCommerce, launched in 2011, is a plugin of WordPress that enables users to upgrade their website into an E-commerce store. So, now you know that WooCommerce is a newer platform than Shopify.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s dig a bit deep into both website-building platforms, starting with WooCommerce first.
WooCommerce
Launched in 2011, WooCommerce is a powerful WordPress plugin that allows users to convert their website into an E-commerce platform. This WordPress plugin is open-source with all the features to convert a website into a fully functional E-commerce store.
Although being a new E-commerce building platform, there are over 3.8 million users worldwide. Unlimited customization, easy-to-use, and handy features make it a popular E-commerce solution.
Just install the WooCommerce Plugin to the WordPress website, and with a few customizations, your E-commerce store will be up and running.
Shopify
Shopify is an older E-commerce building platform than WooCommerce. Launched in 2004, it is an all-in-one solution for E-commerce. It has everything from creating an online store, payment acceptance to the inventory management system.
One of the best things about this E-commerce platform is that users can create their E-commerce store without any technical knowledge. There are more than 2.1 million daily active users worldwide using the E-commerce building platforms.
Choose the right plan – Shopify, Shopify Basic, Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Plus as per your business requirement. And your E-commerce store will be up and running.
Now, you know a bit about both platforms. It’s time to compare WooCommerce and Shopify to help you choose the best E-commerce building platform.
WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which one is the best platform for E-commerce
There is a lot of similarity between both the E-commerce building platforms that often make it difficult for users to find which one is truly best for them. We have compared both platforms on different aspects so readers can make a well-informed decision about which platform to choose.
User-Friendly
The WooCommerce platform is a bit easy to use for WordPress users as there are a lot of similarities between them both. However, what’s different is that in WooCommerce, users have to do all the installation and maintenance work on their own.
Contrary to this, Shopify is an all-in-one E-commerce website building platform. Compared to its competitor, it’s more user-friendly as it guides users from creating accounts until the end. Don’t have any technical skills or struck in mid-way? The platform offers plenty of tutorials to help you out, thus minimizing the risk of things going down south during the initial stages.
For someone who loves to learn new skills and manage things independently, Shopify is the best platform with very informative tutorials to guide you. You can also take help from a Shopify web development company if you want to focus on business and not on the development process.
Design & Templates
Website themes play an important role in grabbing customers’ attention and creating a user-friendly interface. So, it’s vital to choose a platform that provides you with multiple themes and templates options.
WooCommerce offers a variety of designs and templates for almost all the prevalent themes in the market. This opens a world of opportunities for users to choose from and select the best ones for their E-commerce platform. One added advantage with this platform is that WordPress themes can also be customized as per your E-commerce website requirements.
On the other hand, Shopify offers 73 template options, out of which only nine are free for users. But that’s not the complete story. With Shopify, you can customize the themes and create a specific variation as you like. This means you are getting more than 100 design options to choose from for your E-commerce website. One added advantage with Shopify themes is that they are feature-rich and mobile-friendly, improving the chances of ranking in SERP.
With more options for users to choose a website design and templates and easy customization, Shopify has an edge over WooCommerce in this category.
Inventory Management
WooCommerce offers inventory management solutions to its users, a must-have feature in any E-commerce business. Users can create and manage their inventory all from one place with the added advantage of changing product attributes. With this platform, you don’t have to worry about managing your inventory, as there are multiple options to create and manage inventory. The platform is easy to integrate with third-party apps, which means you can bring out the best performance while managing inventory.
Being an all-in-one E-commerce solution platform, Shopify offers its users inventory management systems as well. Track stock, stock alerts, automated repurchase, setting up stock limit, and so on are some of the basic features you get with the Shopify inventory management system.
Although both platforms offer users attractive features to manage their inventory, easy integration with third-party apps gives WooCommerce a competitive edge over Shopify.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In this competitive virtual world, a business needs to create a Google-friendly responsive website. WooCommerce is a WordPress login, which takes advantage of Shopify. With a plugin like Yoast SEO, WooCommerce offers users plenty of options of changing meta tags, alt tags, meta description, and adding other elements to make an E-commerce website SEO friendly.
In contrast to this, Shopify users are likely to face some limitations when it comes to making website search engine friendly. But that’s not the only thing wrong with the platform. Want to create sub-categories on Shopify E-commerce platforms? Well, that’s not going to be an easy task for you.
WooCommerce appears a clear winner in this category.
Payment Gateways
PayPal and Stripe are the two payment gateways that you get with WooCommerce as a default option. Both these payment gateways are popular and tested solutions for any E-commerce business. One added advantage of these payment gateways is that they eliminate the need for a bank account, and you can start things swiftly. The online E-commerce building platform also supports less popular and regional payment gateways. This means the transaction fees charged will be by bank or payment gateway only.
While with Shopify, there is no need to worry about payment gateways as there are more than 100 options to choose from. However, the transaction fees can vary from 0.50 to 2 percent, depending on the Shopify plan.
With so many payment methods, along with international pricing, it enables merchants to have the power to choose specific price products as per customer’s location. Thus, giving Shopify an advantage over its rival.
Dropshipping
When it comes to dropshipping, WooCommerce offers attractive plugins to drop shippers. With these plugins, merchants can instantly import products, complete orders, and manage other aspects related to dropshipping. The majority of the apps offer the same functionality to drop shippers, WooCommerce stands out with DropshipMe with over 8000 active installations.
Popular drop shipping platforms such as Dropified, Oberlo, and others are well integrated with Shopify. Without even thinking, you can choose any app for your E-commerce store, and the platform will handle the rest with its reliable and robust feature to grow your dropshipping business.
With various plugin options, WooCommerce is the most preferred choice for dropshipping companies.
Verdict
So, that’s it for this post. Although we have compared both E-commerce building platforms to answer – Is WooCommerce Better Than Shopify For E-commerce Business? But in the end, it all boils down to what exactly you are looking for and which platform perfectly matches your needs.
Shopify might be a clear winner in this post, but that might be different for you. So before moving on with the E-commerce platform, it is recommended to consult with a WooCommerce or Shopify Plus development company to know which platform will be best for you.
