Shopify Vs WordPress Comparison

Shopify Vs WordPress Comparison – Its widespread use doesn’t suggest it is the best solution for everyone though. If you’re getting to found out an ecommerce store, WordPress is one among your options. And it is a good one – quite a 3rd of ecommerce sites use WordPress also , much an equivalent because the web overall. But Shopify gives WordPress a solid run its money. Let’s check out Shopify vs WordPress to seek out out which one is that the most suitable option for running an ecommerce store.

How WordPress Works

WordPress has been around for over 16 years, with the first version launching in 2003. At its core, it’s designed for content websites – blogs especially . It’s designed to power websites with many written content that’s freely available for visitors to read.

WordPress is stand-alone software that you simply install on your web server. Once it’s installed, you’ve got total control over it. you’ll make changes to the location layout using themes, add features with plugins, and even probe the code and make more significant changes if you would like .

Because it is so widely-used, a whole industry has grown around it to supply add-ons, themes, extensions, support, and almost anything you’ll consider . It’s pretty decentralized though. Most of those add-ons come from third-parties so there is no single source for customer support.

How Much Does WordPress Cost?

WordPress is free software, in two senses of the word. First, it doesn’t cost anything to use. you’ll download the WordPress software for free of charge , install it on your web server, run its “5-minute” installation process, and your website is up and running.

It’s also free within the sense of being open source. the corporate that owns WordPress doesn’t limit what you’ll do with it. they create the ASCII text file available so you’ll probe it and make any changes you would like to your website.

If you’ve the required skills, or have an in-house or third-party IT team that does, you’ll customize WordPress any way you would like .

Is WordPress an Ecommerce Platform?

WordPress itself doesn’t have any built-in ecommerce features. As we mentioned already, it’s designed to be a content management system and it doesn’t have any way of fixing an ecommerce site.

Its extendability may be a big advantage here though. The WooCommerce plugin allows you to add a whole ecommerce platform to WordPress. The plugin is free, an equivalent as WordPress, but there are often costs involved to feature some extra features through their extensions. These costs range from a couple of dollars and up, counting on what you would like to feature .

How Shopify Works

Shopify works quite differently from WordPress. rather than being software that you simply install on your server, it is a service that hosts everything on Shopify’s server.

When you found out an ecommerce store with Shopify, everything gets stored on their end of things. you do not need to worry about installing software, keeping your site updated, or the other technical stuff. All you would like to try to to is load your products into the shop and it’s able to launch.

How Much Does Shopify Cost?

The other big difference between WordPress and Shopify is that the cost. You pay a monthly fee for Shopify, which ranges from $9 up to $299 per month. this provides you unlimited storage so you’ll add as many products to your store as you want without having to stress about running out of space.

Like WooCommerce, Shopify has add-ons and extensions that permit you add features to your store or integrate it with other services. These extensions generally cost extra, and therefore the prices vary counting on the feature.

There will even be fees for accepting payments through your store with both WordPress and Shopify, which we’ll check out shortly.

And remember, unless you would like to use a template and set it up yourself, you’ll still need a Shopify designer and developer to make your unique look.

Setting Up Your Store

As you’ll probably guess from the previous section, Shopify is that the easier of the 2 platforms to urge found out . you do not need to install any software, add an ecommerce plugin, or worry about digging into the code. you only undergo their sign-up process, add your products to the shop , and you’re able to start selling.

With a WordPress/WooCommerce based store, you would like to line up your website domain and hosting, install everything on your server, and configure WordPress properly before you’ll start adding products.

Once you complete those steps, WooCommerce isn’t that much different than Shopify. If you’ve got an in-house IT department to require care of the technical stuff, you’ll be up and running almost as quickly as you’ll with Shopify.

And if you do not have an in-house team but are considering WordPress and WooCommerce for your store, get in-tuned with us to ascertain how we will help.

Which Option is Best for Payment Processing?

One of the foremost fundamental components of any ecommerce store is payment processing. Without how to simply accept payments from your customers, you are not getting to be in business for long.

Shopify and WooCommerce both support common payment gateways like Paypal and Amazon Payments also as Mastercard processing. Shopify includes their Shopify Payments processing, which is powered by Stripe. WooCommerce has extensions that support Mastercard payments through your bank or another merchant account also as directly from Stripe.

The biggest difference between the 2 is that the fees you pay to simply accept payments, You’ll pay fees to the payment gateway, bank, or merchant account provider no matter what ecommerce platform you employ but with Shopify, you’ll also pay extra fees to them.

They charge anywhere from 0.5% to twenty of the transaction amount, on top of the fee you’ll already be paying the payment processor. And if you accept credit cards in your store, Shopify’s rates start at 2.9% plus a 30-cent flat-rate fee.

With WordPress and WooCommerce, you do not pay any extra fees beyond what you pay your payment processor.

WordPress vs Shopify Customer Support

Customer support is another significant difference between Shopify and WordPress, and Shopify has the whip hand during this area. Shopify offers 24/7 customer support by chat, email, and phone so you’ll get help any time, through whatever method you favor .

WordPress and Woocommerce only offer forum-based support through their websites. you’ll or might not get a fast answer, counting on your question, so if you’re faced with an urgent question you’ll be in limbo for a short time .

This is another area where WordPress’ widespread use is a plus though. There are many forums and blogs that cover WordPress and WooCommerce topics so you’ll often find answers to your questions in these places. It means you would like to spend a while checking out the answers, and separating the great advice from the bad (or simply outdated).

Search Engine Optimization with WordPress and Shopify

Search engine optimization (SEO) is vital if you would like to urge new customers who are checking out what you sell on Google. SEO may be a big topic so we’re not getting to get into tons of detail here (check out our eCommerce SEO guide for more information) but there are a few of differences worth mentioning.

Because WordPress is more flexible and there are numerous plug-ins available for it, you will have more control over the various factors of your site that affect your SEO. Shopify allows you to modify tons of the important components but you will not have complete control over everything the way you are doing with WordPress. Either way, we’ve had great success with SEO campaigns on both the Shopify and WordPress platforms.

What About Conversion Rate Optimization?

Shopify Vs WordPress Comparison : Once your store is open for business and you collect some data about your visitors, what they’re watching , and the way well they’re converting into buyers, you’ll start doing conversion rate optimization (CRO) to undertake to enhance those results.

This is another area that WordPress has the advantage due to its flexibility. Shopify will allow you to test a particular number of things but you’re limited by the very fact that it’s designed to host an ecommerce store.

With WordPress, you’ll test differing types of content, specialized landing pages, and anything you’ll consider . you’ll also install CRO plugins that add the power to try to to things like A/B testing automatically.

The Best of Both Worlds

Shopify features a blog extension but it’s extremely limited compared to what you’ll do with WordPress. that does not mean you cannot combine your blog and Shopify store into one site though.

Shopify offers a WordPress plugin that allows you to integrate your store directly into your WordPress blog. it isn’t as integrated as a WooCommerce store are going to be , but if you would like to urge the benefits of Shopify for your store while still having all the facility of WordPress as a blogging platform, this will be the perfect solution.

Shopify vs WordPress for Your Ecommerce Site

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for ecommerce sites. When it involves Shopify vs WordPress, it comes right down to your needs. If you would like an ecommerce site that’s easy and quick to line up, with 24/7 customer support on call to answer any questions, Shopify is tough to beat.

But if you are looking for more flexibility and scalability, WooCommerce running on top of WordPress gives you tons more control over your site. And if your website is already running on WordPress, you will not got to worry about trying to maneuver your content into a special system or combine two different sites into one.

Setting up a WooCommerce store will take more work and you will need some technical skills to try to to it right. If you do not have an in-house IT team and do not want to spend your valuable time learning a replacement skill, Outer Box can help.

We offer several ecommerce web design services to assist you get your ecommerce store found out and prepared to require orders. Get in-tuned today and we’ll send you a free quote showing everything we will do to assist grow your business.