Are you planning to build an eCommerce website, but confused about whether you should go with WordPress or Shopify?
Developing an eCommerce store can help your business get more visibility. With a physical store, you are limiting your target market to a specific region. Unlike a physical store, an eCommerce website provides exposure to the global market.
Users started to switch from offline buying to online buying. Thus, if you still don’t have an eCommerce store, you are missing out on so much.
There are so many platforms out there for eCommerce website development. WordPress and Shopify are the most popular ones. Most business owners often get confused about deciding between these two.
We are sure this detailed guide will help you choose the right platform. Here, we have discussed performance, ease of use, features, pricing, and many other aspects of both platforms.
WordPress For eCommerce
WordPress is a popular choice for creating blogs, business websites, as well as eCommerce websites. There are two versions of WordPress. WordPress.org is self-hosted, while WordPress.com is hosted platform. Here, we will talk about WordPress.org.
WordPress is the top CMS (content management system) platform out there. This CMS platform makes it easy for website owners to manage and publish content without hassle. You don’t need to be tech-savvy in order to manage your website content with WordPress.
As this is a self-hosted platform, you will need a domain name and web hosting to get started with it.
Shopify For eCommerce
Shopify is a hosted platform, which means you don’t have to host your store on a third-party hosting provider. This platform is popular for eCommerce website development. Depending on the plan you choose, Shopify will provide access to a wide range of amazing features.
With a Shopify website, you get to choose from so many apps and plugins. Shopify’s app store contains over 1200 plugins and apps. These apps allow you to add a specific feature or functionality to your eCommerce website. They can help you with payments, inventory management, shipping, etc.
WordPress Vs Shopify
WordPress and Shopify are two of the most popular platforms for eCommerce website development. Both platforms can be used for creating an appealing online store. Depending on whether you choose WordPress or Shopify, the entire store development process varies.
Let’s compare factors like customization, pricing, performance, ease of use, features, etc. of WordPress and Shopify.
eCommerce Operations Management
Shopify is developed especially to create eCommerce stores. In terms of eCommerce operations management, Shopify is a lot better than WordPress.
Talking about WordPress, WooCommerce will help with eCommerce tasks like inventory tracking, order routing, etc.
Shopify on the other hand offers all the features and functionalities for eCommerce operations management. It also has an app. This is what makes Shopify an ideal choice for online stores. It lets you manage all the operations, starting from label printing and print-on-demand to checking orders and inventory management.
Analytics
Your eCommerce store’s analytics will provide an in-depth overview of your audience’s behavior, your store’s traffic, performance, etc. To monitor the analytics of the WordPress store, you have to integrate it with Google Analytics. From the Google Analytics tool, you can monitor all the metrics like traffic, audience behavior, audience acquisition, etc.
The upside of having a Shopify store is, it provides in-built analytics. From its analytics dashboard, you can monitor different metrics like live view, average order value, conversion rate, sessions, repeat customer rate, total sales, total orders, top landing page, acquisition, behavior, profit, and more.
You can even integrate your Shopify store with Google Analytics or any third-party tool. This way, you can monitor data with Shopify’s in-built analytics as well as with any third-party analytics tool.
Content Management
Though Shopify is mainly for creating eCommerce websites, you can still have a blog. However, Shopify blogging isn’t as flexible and feature-rich as WordPress.
In terms of content management, WordPress is better than Shopify. As compared to Shopify, managing blog posts and pages is easier. On WordPress, features like revision history and restoring revisions are free with plugins like Yoast SEO. Talking about Shopify, there’s no such free plugin or app. This functionality can be availed using a paid tool like Rewind.
Speed
You may have a well-designed and appealing online store, but if it takes too long to load, it’s not worth it. Ideally, your eCommerce website should load within two seconds. If your store takes too long to load, your site visitors will bounce back. A slow-loading website won’t just ruin the user experience, but it will negatively affect SEO as well.
WordPress offers so much customization. Plugins give features and functionality to your website, but too many plugins can slow down the website. The site’s loading speed is also based on the hosting provider you choose. Shopify also has so many plugins to choose from. But, as it’s a hosted platform, Shopify keeps an eye on which plugins/add-ons to allow on the platform.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization helps you show up your site on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. It ensures that your site appears higher on SERP (search engine results page).
With WordPress, you can use a plugin like Yoast SEO. This plugin helps with on-page (like metadata, content readability, internal & external linking, etc.) as well as technical SEO activities (like sitemap, robots.txt, etc.).
Shopify also offers numerous plugins. You will find a plugin for any SEO need. On WordPress, you will find more advanced SEO plugins. Therefore, in terms of SEO, WordPress is a better choice than Shopify.
Pricing
Depending on whether you choose WordPress or Shopify, the cost of eCommerce development will vary. Just because WordPress is an open-source CMS platform doesn’t mean it’s free of cost. How much exactly eCommerce development with WordPress will cost is a bit difficult to tell. The cost will vary depending on the web hosting you select, template, plugins, eCommerce integration, etc.
Talking about Shopify, it’s about the plan you select. Shopify has five plans – Starter, Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Shopify Plus. Its Starter plan costs $5/month, Basic plan $29/month, Shopify plan $79/month, Advanced plan $299/month, and Shopify Plus plan starts at $2000/month. If you want to build a store with Shopify, make sure you choose the right plan as per your requirement.
Which is Better Shopify or WordPress?
On one hand, we have WordPress, which is a self-hosted platform. And on other hand, we have Shopify, which is a hosted platform. It’s hard to tell which one’s the best platform because both have their own pros and cons. Before selecting WordPress or Shopify for eCommerce development, consider your needs.
Do you want a highly customizable and versatile eCommerce website? Go with WordPress!
You don’t want to mess with technical stuff? Go with Shopify!
Are you concerned about content management? WordPress can be a good choice!
Want a smooth, hassle-free eCommerce solution? Consider Shopify!
Wanna create an appealing eCommerce website for your business? We are here to help you. At Encircle Technologies, we have a team of skilled WordPress and Shopify developers. We will consider your need and provide the perfect eCommerce solution.
Get in touch today! Email us at support@encircletechnologies.com
