WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which is best for your e-commerce website design?

E-commerce is now an indispensable part of global retail. Driven by changes in technology and global circumstances, ecommerce is growing – and shows no sign of stopping. Paving the way in the rise of online shopping are WooCommerce and Shopify. Between the two, there are an estimated 5 million-plus users who’ve earned billions of pounds, globally. In this article, we compare WooCommerce vs Shopify so you can decide which is the best option for your online store. We’ll take a close look at each platform’s features, cost, user experience, customer support and more.

Global retail ecommerce sales are projected to grow by 39% over the coming years, surpassing 8-trillion by 2027. Online marketplaces account for the largest share of online purchases worldwide, with Amazon leading the ranks.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an e-commerce plug-in used specifically for WordPress websites. As an open-source platform, WooCommerce can transform any WordPress website into an e-commerce store for free.

WooCommerce allows online merchants to create and manage an online store to sell physical products, digital products and services. This popular platform has 3,876,748 websites using its services while holding 6.8% of the top 1 million websites. Customise your store to match your exact vision and connect it to any other software you need – anything’s possible.

Top Benefits

• Flexibility – The main benefits of WooCommerce are revealed in the immense flexibility. All types of businesses can sell all types of products, from physical items to external products on other affiliate websites like Amazon. As a modular system, WooCommerce also includes many features that can be extended through the thousands of plugins available to WordPress.
• Scalable – WooCommerce can accommodate unlimited amounts of products. So, as you scale your online business, you won’t have to contend with slow website speeds and poorer Google rankings.
• Limitless Customisation – Included in the countless plugins from an enormous WordPress Community, you’re granted e-commerce-specific extensions designed especially for WooCommerce. This aligned with the open-source element gives you limitless customisation and control over your e-commerce website.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a user-friendly e-commerce platform that helps small businesses build an online store and sell online through one streamlined dashboard. Shopify is a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales platform.

The Shopify platform works by centralising your product data, customers and operational tasks in one system that connects to all of your sales channels seamlessly. Once the essentials are in place, Shopify makes it easy to explore and expand into new product lines and sales channels.

Top Benefits

• Beginner-friendly – Shopify is a “hosted” e-commerce platform that manages the technical side of operating an e-commerce store, including domain details and security. Shopify also takes care of installations, management and upgrading of software.
• Quick Launch – Shopify’s 14-day free trial basic plan suggests this timeframe is much more realistic if you want to build a fully functional website.
• App Access – On Shopify, you’ll have access to thousands of apps that can extend your store. Shopify apps support multiple providers, such as Oberlo, Pocket and Printful.
• Support – Got a problem that needs solving overnight? No problem. Shopify offers 24/7 customer service support to answer any queries or solve any issues you may encounter.

WooCommerce vs Shopify

Shopify and WooCommerce are regularly featured on best ecommerce platform lists for a reason. They are both used to build and manage an online store through a user-friendly experience.

While both e-commerce titans have their strengths, each service suits different needs and preferences.

Both WooCommerce and Shopify share ease and convenience in common, which is what makes them so popular. Of the two, Shopify is slightly more simplistic and easier to grasp, but at the price of a lot less control and customisation.

Pricing Considerations

Shopify can only offer fixed prices at various rates, while WooCommerce is much more flexible with cost. As a plugin, WooCommerce is free. However, there are always additional costs to consider when launching and operating an e-commerce store.

Shopify prices range from £24 to £259 a month. These pricing structures vary depending on whether you’re a new e-commerce business or a larger scaling company that requires advanced reporting. Costs will increase with transaction fees, add-ons, and integrations. Shopify pricing takes a significant step further with the introduction of Shopify Plus. For this advanced service, prices begin at the equivalent of £1523.59 per month.

Despite being more detailed and flexible, WooCommerce pricing is cheaper than Shopify. WooCommerce offers a free initial service. But you’ll need to pay for additional services, such as booking domain names, SSL certification and one of the many WordPress hosting accounts. On an annual basis, you can estimate to spend between £83.80 and £300 per year. Depending on how you mix and match your third-party apps for WooCommerce, you can create a website for a fairly low cost. Keep in mind you can end up paying for several extensions for various reasons, namely SEO plugins.

Overall, WooCommerce could come in at least half the price of Shopify. However, with such varying factors based on costs, determining which platform is best for you can depend more on the features than the actual price.

eCommerce Conversion Rates

It’s extremely difficult to distinguish which e-commerce platform has the better conversion rate due to conversions being dependent on so many factors outside of the e-commerce platform.

For example, conversion rates rely on:

• Domain authority or website reputation
• Speed of page loading
• SERPs ranking
• User experience
• Branding
• Quality of content
• Pricing

Both platforms have cases for beating the other with conversions, whether that’s Shopify being simpler to establish and operate as a beginner, or WooCommerce giving you greater control and customisable features.

All in all, conversion rates depend on your business, marketing and overall quality of the website. You can have the best version of each e-commerce platform for your business, but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll generate leads and drive sales. That’s where our e-commerce website design and digital marketing packages come in.

Woocommerce vs Shopify – Final Thoughts

Every business has its own set of unique requirements that need to be met. And if you’re planning on making a smooth transition into the e-commerce world, you’ll want to choose the platform that best suits your needs.

Shopify is the choice for your business if you want an all-in-one platform for your e-commerce store that gets everything running quickly while offering lots of easy-to-use features and apps. In addition, there’s a great support staff waiting to assist you with any problems, as well as loads of integration options.

WooCommerce is for you if you already have a WordPress website or are planning on creating one and you want to take on more control of your online store or have the time to dedicate to the details of design on this platform. It’s highly adaptable, serves better SEO purposes and can be scaled up enormously.

At Rokir, we supply Shopify builds, WooCommerce WordPress website design and development package services for small and big e-commerce businesses. When it comes to running an online business, we believe you should have control, flexibility, and customisation.

If you’re interested in getting your eCommerce website off the ground, get in touch with us.