Wix, Shopify or WordPress – which commercial platform takes the cake?

irit frank / January 29, 2020 / Websites / 0 Comments

E-commerce is an extremely popular business model nowadays. It provides a lot of benefits to business owners that want to offer their products on the widest scale. We’ll compare three of the most popular alternatives in this field nowadays, discuss the significant differences between them and define the sellers that will get the most out of each one.

We analyzed the most important factors that need to be considered when opening an eCommerce business – from pricing, special properties, design, ease of use, to topics like storage, pros and cons of each platform, target audience of each one, maximal number of product characteristics, marketing optimization, and more.

We eventually hope that this breakdown will help you select the platform that will give you the best solution for your commerce needs.

 

WIX

 

Based on the option you’ve chosen: free option, $4.08, $9.25, $12.42, $16.17, $24.90 (monthly costs).

The cost of your products are displayed in your currency.

Main characteristics

• A wide variety of professionally designed templates
• A drag and drop store building interface
• A photo gallery showcasing your products
• Optimization for mobile use
• Worldwide shipping
• Secure shopping cart
• Easy tracking of each order
• Completely customizable templates that can be filtered by category
• Endless additional web applications and services that are available to users
• The service includes storage

Pros

• The system comes with a lot of templates filtered according to multiple categories. It doesn’t matter what kind of store you have, you’ll surely find a template that suits your site.
• The service includes storage and the option of designing the store so that it looks exactly as you want it to. Also, Wix helps you with detailed video tutorials that explain every step of working with the interface.
• The interface includes an Html5 editor for separate editing of each page, as well as a drag and drop building interface.

 

Cons

• When you can edit and change anything, it may be a bit confusing because you need to build the site completely on your own and to make endless choices (adding a template, texts, pictures, buttons, menus, etc.).

• The store only displays two product characteristics: size and color

Main target audience

People that want a functional site that they can build themselves and those that need an eCommerce component.

Simplicity of use

All you need to do is register, choose a design category and choose a template. The Wix system guides you through all the options and choices. In general, it’s all a novice user really needs! Any change or adjustment is very easy to make. You can choose this tool for eCommerce if you are just starting out.

Shopify

Prices

According to the option chosen: $9, $29, $79, $179 (per month)

Main characteristics

• Over 100 professional designs

• The shops are mobile compatible

• You can edit HTML and CSS code directly

• You can connect it to your own domain

• Site building interface

• Platform equipped for managing a blog

• Complete optimization for marketing and promotion purposes (integration with social media, product reviews, email marketing, discounts and sales).

• Unlimited bandwidth

• Analytic tools to analyze the store’s performance.

Pros

• Shopify provide free storage. This means that all you need to do is register as a user and start setting up your products directly.
• The system comes with SEO options and the ability to interface with social media. This makes it possible to manage site and product promotion easily.
• The management interface is user-friendly and has a modern look. Every user will find it intuitive to use.

Cons

• Shopify only offers three basic product properties defined as default. Every product in the shop is characterized by size, color and material. You can add numerous options within these parameters, but you can’t add others.

Main target audience

This platform is also suitable for eCommerce novices, as well as for seasoned professionals. Beginners will appreciate the user-friendly design that guides you through each step of building a great-looking shop. And more professional users can take advantage of the range of existing options and settings in Shopify’s interface.

Simplicity of use

The Shopify platform offers a simple method to launch a universally-accessible online shop. All you have to do is create a user, select the free template, define the design, and that’s it! You have to follow the instructions in the left menu, add products and items and choose your preferred options. It is fairly easy and straightforward to operate the shop. Shopify is highly accessible from this aspect.

WooCommerce (WordPress)

Prices

Free, it’s a WordPress plugin

Main characteristics

• Equipped with built-in payment options… PayPal, BACS or pay by cash upon delivery

• There’s an option for free or inexpensive delivery.

• Reports on incoming sales, reviews, inventory levels and general performance measures.

• Tax settings with the types and rates of local taxes.

• Advertising campaigns (shop options, limitations of use, limitations on users / products, etc.)

• Built inside a WordPress add-in that’s available in your WordPress site management interface.

Pros

• Includes user reviews and ratings. The customers can easily assess each product by adding ratings to their comments.
• The interface includes well-designed and organized reports. It filters according to specific categories: sales per dates, per product, per category, coupons for specific dates, and more.
• WooCommerce is a free add-in. All you need to do is download it and start adding products directly to your WordPress management interface.

Cons

• Although WordPress is free, it doesn’t include its own storage, so you’ll have to pay for it separately.

• Although it’s fairly simple, you’ll still have to build your shop on your own. This includes downloading and installing the add-in on your WordPress site. And if you don’t have a site, then you’ll have more work to do. You should also choose a template that works well with the WooCommerce interface.

Main target audience

The main target audience of the add-in is users that are already active on WordPress’s platform and that run websites on it. If you already have a site and storage, and the site is developing nicely, you only need to install the add-in. If you don’t have a site, you’ll need to build one from scratch.

Simplicity of use

As soon as you’ve already installed the add-in on your WordPress site, the work is pretty clear. You can edit each item through the WordPress interface, check each element and continue working on the products and pages until you’re pleased with the result. As long as you have basic information on WordPress, you won’t have a problem. In general, this add-in is meant to make life easier for WordPress users who want to incorporate a store on their site. The actual add-in works wonderfully, provides effective, beneficial, and fairly user-friendly options for users. This is a good option that doesn’t fall short of Shopify’s qualities.

We’ll be happy to help you set up an online shop on any of the platforms and to take advantage of the unique options each of them has to offer so that you quickly achieve an impressive sales cycle. Contact us today and get a proper work plan to quickly set up an esthetic shop that performs splendidly.