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WooCommerce vs. Shopify – Forbes Advisor Australia

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Although these two platforms may seem very different at first glance, they have a number of features in common.

WooCommerce is simple with no bells and whistles (unless you add them yourself). It is customizable, allowing for a more creative interface. But creativity comes at a price, and that cost is developers’ knowledge. Shopify is a more complete package for business owners who don’t want the hassle of the technical side of the internet and are willing to pay more.

One of the main reasons why WooCommerce has become as big as it is today is because it is free to use. It is automatically suggested when registering an account with WordPress, making it easy for new users to get started. It’s important to remember that WooCommerce has a learning curve and you will need to spend some time building an online store.

Shopify is easy to use from the moment you start and can be optimized for search in just a few hours. One of the biggest drawbacks, aside from cost, is that it is less customizable than WooCommerce because it is a closed platform.

But those aren’t the only comparison factors to consider. Below, we’ll dive into the details of each platform so you can decide which is best for you.

Installation and user experience

As mentioned above, Shopify is designed for the general public, while programmers and designers prefer WooCommerce.

By default, WooCommerce has a much steeper learning curve for business owners. On the other hand, Shopify’s platform automatically walks you through a step-by-step setup process, and at the end, you’ll have a working site.

The dashboard for Shopify is also easy to navigate. Adding new products to your list is an intuitive process, with an easy-to-follow guide advising the user what details to fill in next.

WooCommerce’s dashboard is also easy to navigate and add products to, but it’s not a subscription-based platform, meaning you’ll need to do some integration yourself before you can get started.

These integrations for WooCommerce include:

  • Obtain a domain name
  • Find a hosting account
  • Install WordPress
  • Find and install WordPress themes

This is better done by someone who is familiar with the platform and knows which plugins to use. Therefore, if there had to be a winner in terms of ease of use, Forbes Advisor Australia would recommend Shopify.

Designs and themes

Once you sign up for a Shopify account, you get immediate access to over 70 free themes, as well as several paid themes. These are polished and easy to implement.

It’s easy to get carried away with the design elements, and you can spend a lot buying a theme from the Shopify store, but it’s a one-time fee.

Conversely, WooCommerce offers hundreds of designs and themes that can be automatically programmed to be mobile responsive. But it can take longer to ensure that your website design is clear and easy to understand, as all plugins have their own unique user experience (UX) to learn.

If you’re looking for a more customized layout for your ecommerce site, it makes sense to choose WooCommerce. But don’t forget that you need to be able to invest time and money in the development.

If convenience is your top priority, Shopify has premium themes ready for you to use immediately. Keep in mind; This does mean that you can share the same theme with multiple online stores.

We believe it’s important to stand out from the crowd, and the ability to customize your designs and themes means WooCommerce is a better choice for design.

Cost

Shopify has a three-day free trial, after which users must pay a monthly subscription fee (however, the first month is only billed $1 AUD). The basic plan starts at $56 AUD per month, with the next tier at $149 AUD per month and the top package at $575 AUD per month. (These are prices when paid on a monthly basis; a 25% discount applies to subscriptions billed annually).

All these plans include both SSL and web hosting. SSL is the standard technology for keeping an Internet connection secure and protecting sensitive data.

If you want your own domain name without the brand name, such as Shopify, in your URL, it will cost about $15 extra per year.

Please note that there is also a sliding scale for transaction fees. You’ll be charged between 1.4% and 2.9% on each transaction, depending on the transaction type and your plan, plus 30 cents (except for personal sales).

Depending on the volume of sales you handle, it may be worth keeping more overhead profit on your offers.

WooCommerce, on the other hand, offers a free initial service. But you’ll have to pay for additional services, such as domain name booking, SSL certification, and one of the many WordPress hosting accounts.

The costs for these services may vary. You can find free website hosting services, while others can range from $5 to $200 AUD per month. SSL certificates cost anywhere for free up to $200 per year. SSL keeps your website secure, which is a high priority and therefore probably worth paying for.

Depending on how you mix and match your third-party apps for WooCommerce, you can create a website at a fairly low cost. Keep in mind that you may end up paying for multiple extensions, namely SEO plugins, for several reasons.

With such varying factors based on cost, determining which platform is best for you may depend more on the features you want than the actual price.

Related: Our pick of the best cheap web hosting services for Australians

Support

While both platforms offer some form of support, Forbes Advisor Australia believes Shopify has a much better system.

Shopify’s customer service team is available 24/7. They can provide you with a fixed solution to your problem because it works on a closed platform, which makes user errors better documented.

Meanwhile, WooCommerce’s open platform ensures that anyone can integrate add-ons. Unfortunately, this means that it is impossible for their support team to have a solution for every issue submitted.

SEO

If you want your website to be discovered on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to create a search engine optimization (SEO) plan.

Shopify has a built-in SEO plugin and helps with basic SEO practices like meta information and site copy. It’s also important to note that Shopify sites load faster on average compared to WooCommerce sites. This can give your site even more oomph in the Google rankings.

However, WooCommerce is integrated into WordPress, a blogging platform. It also allows users to change the main content, URLs, meta descriptions, alt tags and other elements on the page with great SEO tools.

This means that WooCommerce is better for people who want to rank well on Google.

Dropshipping

When you start an ecommerce site, you need to make sure that your customer base gets what they ordered. This means you need to integrate delivery suppliers into your website, also known as dropshipping.

Shopify has several popular suppliers that will deliver your goods. The costs involved may vary, as can your own monthly membership fees or one-off fees. But you are limited to Shopify’s plugins.

WooCommerce allows you to browse through hundreds of options and decide what you need. For example, if you are a small business with one or two deliveries per month, you may be interested in a per-item delivery instead of a monthly subscription.

So if you’re looking for a delivery solution customized specifically for your business, we recommend WooCommerce.

Related: What is dropshipping? The complete guide

WooCommerce vs Shopify: the bottom line

Every business has its own unique requirements that must be met. And if you plan to make a smooth transition into the ecommerce world, you’ll want to choose the platform that best suits your needs.

Shopify is the choice for your business if you want an all-in-one platform for your ecommerce store that keeps everything running quickly while offering lots of easy-to-use features and apps. Plus, there’s a great support staff on hand to help you with any issues, as well as plenty of integration options.

WooCommerce is for you if you already have a WordPress website or are planning to create one and want to gain more control over your online store or spend the time on the design details on this platform. It is highly customizable, serves better SEO purposes, and can be scaled immensely.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what your business needs and wants.

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