Shopify or Woocommerce, which one shall I choose? This is one of the questions that our customers ask the most. Well, to be perfectly honest both Shopify and WooCommerce have their pros and cons like everything else. In this blog, we are going to try and explain the most important things you should take into consideration before making your decision on which platform to use. To help you find out which one is going to suit you the most we are going to break this blog down into 3 Questions that you need to ask yourself.
1. What is your budget?
(This is probably the most important question of all.)
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that opening a store in Shopify will cost you more than opening a store with WooCommerce. Shopify has three plans: Basic Shopify that cost $29 per month, Shopify that cost $79 per month and Advanced Shopify that cost $299 per month. With all the plans you have an unlimited number of products and file storage, which is good.
In comparison, WooCommerce is a free plugin that you use with the free open source software called WordPress – FREE – FREE – FREE. Well, let me make it clear, it is free to use but you still have to buy a domain name and also have a hosting so you can have your website online.
If you are planning to have multiple online shops the best option for you would be WooCommerce because if you have an existing hosting you can store more then one shop and it will cost you £6-£15 a month, but with Shopify, the cheapest option is $29 a month.
2. How much time do you have to spend?
The next question you have to ask yourself is how much time do you have to set up your store and then run it. It will take you less time to set up a shop with Shopify but it’s going to be more expensive and vice versa it will take you more time to set up a shop with WooCommerce but on the other hand, it will be cheaper.
Shopify is much easier to navigate and its made much more beginner friendly. Shopify has a simplified menu system that means that it less likely to run into a lot of problems. But even if you do, Shopify offers a free 24/7 support with every plan. Shopify will save you a lot of time and TIME IS MONEY.
3. What is your marketing strategy?
Ok, we have discussed the platform options you have and now you have to start thinking about how to drive traffic to your store and also acquire customers. Do you plan to use paid traffic such as Google Adwords and Facebook Ads campaigns or do you plan on using free social media traffic like Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and Instagram fan pages or Search Engine Traffic? Whether you decide to use paid or free social traffic it doesn’t matter which platform you use, but if you decide to optimise your website for the search engines and in this way drive traffic you have to know that WooCommerce has a noticeable edge over Shopify. So if you are planning on using SEO as your main traffic strategy then you should know that with WooCommerce this will take you less time than with Shopify.
These are the Three Questions you need to ask yourself when choosing between Shopify and WooCommerce before you set up your online shop. We hope we were able to make your choice easier by giving you some tips on how to make the right choice for you. By the way, you can try Shopify for free, with Shopify’s 14 day Trial.