WooCommerce or Shopify?
WooCommerce or Shopify?
In the words of the national treasure Harry Hill from the good ol’ TV Burp days: “there’s only one way to find out… FIIIGHT”
Now, there’s other e-commerce building platforms out there, however WooCommerce and Shopify are the gods of the industry. I’ve built, run and maintained a number of shop websites and still do to this day, yes it takes a lot more implementing compared to another website build, yes there’s more time needed to build the site of this type, and yes it can be more stressful… however once it’s complete and once the thorough testing (and I mean: thorough) is undergone and completed, you’ve got an e-commerce website at the end of it. It’s quite an achievement and an exciting feat from a client’s point of view as they can showcase and sell their products to the WWW.
I’ve used both WooCommerce and Shopify, and I 100% prefer and recommend one of them over the other… here’s why:
Pros and cons (everyone loves these)
WooCommerce is the cheapest plugin out of the two at first glance, however it’s self hosted meaning you’ll need to be responsible in finding and purchasing a domain, a site host and multiple plugins. The biggest thing for everyone these days is cost, and in my opinion Woo is significantly cheaper and a better investment over Shopify to allow a return for your business.
A drawback I’ve experienced is the lack of ‘talking to humans’ support however (going straight to a pro:) there is a VAST amount of documentation and guides online, and mainly hosted by WooCommerce themselves which is decent… you’ve just got to search and look in the right areas. Remember I mentioned in one of my blog posts how I love creating procedures to avoid ‘re-inventing the wheel’ whenever I need to remember how to undergo a task or function? Well once I’ve found a solution when implementing something within WooCommerce, I make a procedure to note! Woo have provided thousands of guides and videos to assist so even if you’re a beginner you’ll learn fast.
Now, I only mention there’s lack of support if you’re a free or minimal fee user, they do of course provide this but that’s when you’re subscribed as a premium. But to be honest it’s not needed once you learn Woo hard enough – took me 3 months to get to grips and experiment with the software, so it’s all about patience.
The biggest win for Woo for me as a web designer is the full functionality and design you can implement within the plugin, it’s immensely powerful and worthwhile and fulfils a brilliant e-commerce setup at the finish. The payment gateways they offer are always easy to setup and maintain and they work a treat too.
Now to just cover myself here: I gave Shopify a good go but I have to be honest I could have done more experimenting… however I’m the kind of guy that if I get a feel of something quite quickly, I’ll commit and learn. I didn’t get that feeling with Shopify, I persisted don’t get me wrong! Anyway:
Shopify on the other hand has a user-friendly interface and is relatively simple to set up and use with 24/7 support. The main drawback that put me off with the software is the limited customisation options and how dependant it is on its own ‘ecosystem’ setup if you like.
In terms of hosting and security, you’re onto a winner if you’re looking to have it all included within the software, as that’s what they offer included within. This saves you sourcing your own domain and attaching as well as hosting externally too. However, if you’re happy to pay monthly then be warned this is what you’ll get with Shopify, as opposed to Woo which is free (excluding any add-ons you choose or desire).
I think it all depends on what kind of web designer you are, and in my way of things I need a software that gives me full control and customisation to guarantee I can fulfil my client’s requirements and needs. You’re likely to still get that with Shopify and maybe I didn’t give the software enough of a chance or experiment to give an honest enough opinion.
Finally, which do I prefer?
This may come to a surprise (… although I highly doubt that) but WooCommerce is the winner in my eyes. They’re both fantastic pieces of software however with my expertise, knowledge and practice I’ve put time in to Woo, every e-commerce site I design and build will be through that platform 110%. It’s exactly what I’m after, full customisation, great on price and it suits my setup on not needing to be self-hosted.
I’ll be honest, I have taken on around 3 clients with e-commerce setups that had Shopify previously and they’ve asked to be moved away from Shopify and they’ve never looked back after I’ve implemented a WooCommerce build (just thought I’d squeeze that in there, no bias here in this article, honest).
As mentioned earlier, I tried both pieces of software out and one grabbed me more than the other; it’s like taking a car for a test drive, one car was great, but another car really hooked you and made you fall in love (don’t worry Kayles, I’m not in love with a piece of software over you).