When you are thinking to create your online store, the first challenge comes to choose the right platform. Currently, Shopify and WooCommerce are the most renowned eCommerce platforms in the market. There are many advantages and disadvantages of these platforms, still, these both are ruling the market.
Shopify is an eCommerce platform enables us to create an online store, handle the payments and manage the inventory easily through the single platform. It makes us worry free about technical aspects of handling a website such as a web hosting, caching, security, etc.
WooCommerce is an open source eCommerce plugin developed for WordPress. It helps to leverage the powerful CMS (Content Management System) and use it to run an online store. Being an open source, every aspect of the store can be customized and can easily build custom extensions.
Below are the key factors that can help you to choose the right eCommerce Platform:
Budget
Shopify gives us ease to develop an online store, but it starts with the premium plan that is sweetened to your pocket. Even, you can upgrade this plan as per your requirement. Each plan has the domain name, web hosting and SSL certificate. WooCommerce is an open source and free of cost WordPress plugin. But, you need a domain name, WordPress hosting account and SSL certificate to create your WooCommerce store.
Easy To Use
Being a fully hosted platform, you will need to install, update or manage software. Additionally, it keeps you worry free about the security, backups, performance and other compatibility issues. When it comes to the WooCommerce, you have to install it, keep the backups, follow the updates and manage its security, because it is not a hosted platform.
Payment Method
Shopify enables you to accept the payment through a number of payment options. Even, Shopify payments are its own payment gateway. But, it will charge an extra 2% fee on every transaction if you make through a third-party payment gateway. While WooCommerce provides PayPal and Stripe payments by default as well as supports other payment service providers via an add-on. WooCommerce never charges any % fee for any transaction.
Integration And Adds-Ons
Shopify has the powerful API and App Store allow the user to buy third-party add-ons. Hundreds of apps covering useful features are available in the Shopify store that you can use to add to your store. WooCommerce is built on the top of the WordPress. It allow us to access over 50,000 free of cost WordPress Plugins and many paid plugins.
Scalability And Growth
Shopify is able to manage with the technical parts of your store, as a result, you don’t need to worry about the performance, scalability and security of your store. You can upgrade its plan when you find your business is growing. When you choose the WooCommerce hosting, you are responsible to manage the backups, updates and security of your website.
Finally, you can’t deny that Shopify and WooCommerce both are useful and powerful platforms to build an eCommerce store. It truly depends on your preference and requirements to choose the right platform to create your online store. Additionally, you can consult with StrategyWeb a digital marketing agency. We are one of the leading WooCommerce and Shopify development companies in the Scarborough.