This is my review of Shopify vs Woocommerce.
That's it, after several weeks you are finally ready to get started and create your own e-commerce site. You must now make a choice that will guide the rest of your business: your e-commerce solution.
There are dozens of different solutions on the market, but we'll focus on the two most popular at the moment; Shopify and WooCommerce (based on WordPress).
Each of these two solutions has its advantages and disadvantages. So what is the best solution for you? When to use Shopify and when to take WooCommerce?
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce launched in 2011 is a WordPress plugin which is an open source CMS for blogging. The success of this plugin and this platform has since been growing and used by millions of e-commerce stores.
If you want to dropship with WooCommerce, in addition to WordPress you will probably need the AliDropship plugin .
This plugin will allow you to automate your imports of products from AliExpress as well as the placing of orders with the supplier. It is paid but will be essential for the day-to-day management of your dropshipping WooCommerce store. Find out by clicking here .
If you want to do Print on Demand , the majority of the big suppliers are on WooCommerce. The choice is however more varied on Shopify which has become the benchmark for Print on Demand. If you don't know what Print On Demand is, check out our article on the subject by clicking here .
What is Shopify ?
Unlike WordPress, Shopify is an integrated SAS solution. Everything is included and turnkey. You don't have to worry about the technical part, but just the configuration of your store.
Shopify has become in recent years one of the leaders in solutions to create an e-commerce store.
If you want to dropshipping with Shopify , you will need Oberlo, which is a plugin that looks like Alidropship for WooCommerce, and allows you to more easily import and manage your product imports and orders on AliExpress.
Almost all of the large Print On Demand providers ( Printful , Tunetoo , Printify) have their application on Shopify . Shopify has become the benchmark in Print On Demand.
Comparison of WooCommerce and Shopify
Below is a comparison table between WooCommerce and Shopify .
The price
For many people, price is a major factor in their decision. You might think at first glance that WooCommerce is cheaper than Shopify since it's a free plugin, but the situation is more complex than it seems.
You will often have to buy many additional modules on WooCommerce and the price can therefore be significantly closer to that of Shopify depending on the case.
Price should therefore not necessarily be such an important criterion in your choice.
Pros and Cons of WooCommerce
Benefits
- Unlimited admin / moderator account
- Creation of a blog within the e-commerce site which will be very complete and very well referenced
- Free during installation, no license to pay
- Thousands of plugins available on the Internet
- Hundreds of free themes to download
- Fully customizable with computer skills.
- Unlimited number of variations per product
Disadvantages
- You manage your e-commerce site yourself. You need to find accommodation.
- It is up to you to update your site and all these plugins. If you don't, you risk getting hacked site glass.
- No dedicated support, but there is a strong community
- For a basic site you won't need any technical skills. If you want more advanced things, you might have to pay someone to help you.
- Inventory management is not ergonomic
- No POS and ERP synchronization
- Everything is not included in WooCommerce, it is necessary among other things to provide the coup of the hosting, the domain name, the SSL certificate and the various additional plugins if you wish.
- The WooCommerce plugin is not compatible with all WordPress themes
- Customizing WooCommerce requires coding skills.
Pros and Cons of Shopify
Benefits
- Ease of use
- Ergonomic
- Very many templates and applications
- Integration with many services
- Excellent support
- Creation of a first online site in a few minutes
- Everything is included (SSL certificates, hosting, etc ...)
- Multilingual
- 100% responsive and mobile compatible
Disadvantages
- Some themes and applications are paid (but can quickly pay for themselves with a few sales)
- Paid solution
- Possibility in terms of relatively reduced blog creation.
WooCommerce or Shopify, which one to choose to start?
If you want to do dropshipping or Print on Demand, I strongly recommend Shopify , even if the solution is paid.
You will find tons of articles, tutorials, help of all kinds to optimize your store. There are also dozens of free and paid apps to make your dropshipping and POD life easier.
Shopify's ergonomics and ease of use will allow you to configure your first store very quickly without any particular IT skills.
If you have computer skills, can spend some time before launching your store and if you want 100% control of your e-commerce store.
In this case you can go to WooCommerce, you will then save Shopify fees but risk wasting time in return and paying other plugins to have the same features.
Conclusion
Shopify and WooCommerce are both great e-commerce solutions with their pros and cons. As previously written, I personally recommend Shopify , which I also use on my various e-commerce stores.
There is certainly a cost but the ease of handling is well worth the price for me.
Either way, whether you choose Shopify or WooCommerce, get started! Don't wait any longer to open your store and start generating your first income.
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