Factors to Consider When Choosing a Particular E-commerce Platform
With the increased transformation of the digital world, the demand for accessibility and
convenience bordering on online shopping is a cutthroat competition amid e-commerce
platforms. In a digital market flooded with incredible e-commerce platform solutions, I bet it can be a daunting task choosing the right platform for your business.
A Brief Overview Between WooCommerce and Shopify
The impressive thing about these two platforms is that they possess an in-built user-interface that is simple to apply. One major difference between the two is in the setup. For WooCommerce, it’s a WordPress Plugin which means paying domain and hosting fees whereas for Shopify it is self- hosting.
Let’ s dive on each of these e-commerce platforms and get to know what they have to present.
1. Pricing
When it comes to setting up your online store, you’ll look for a platform that’s cheaper. Shopify comes with a bouquet of free apps (over a hundred), but several others are paid apps. Shopify possesses some developed apps like (Oberlo, Kit, Product reviews). That means it might get more expensive. For instance, if you’d require 2 or more paid apps, be ready to pay an additional $50 to $70 per month.
You may consider the Basic plan which is $29 per month, but if you plan to set up multilingual stores, go the paid app way (not cheap). In case you’re a WordPress user you can integrate Shopify Lite for $9 per month. If you decide to go the domain way with Shopify, you’ll incur additional costs. So, it advisable to use Shopify’s own payment gateway and save on cost.
WooCommerce runs under WordPress plugin where you’ll pay hosting and domain fees. The
best part is that hosting can be as little as $3.95 to as high as $5 per month. When it comes to domain fees, expect a budget of approximately $15 per year for every single domain name you intend to use.
2. Usability
When we talk about usability, it’s about how easy it is to set up and manage the e-commerce platform. Shopify is an easy and powerful tool to use. It’s easy to navigate, and whenever you’re stuck, you can always check their tutorials or ask for support.
Sadly though, Shopify only offers 10 free templates. You can decide to customize your own template or buy one of the paid themes. You only need to get to their website, signup, go through the vital setup wizard and that’s it! The platform will go further and offer you tips concerning the right fit design for the nature of your store and how to set it up. WooCommerce is powered up by essential premium plugins that enable you to maintain backups of your products, pricing needs, and marketing. These include Beeketing, Dynamic Pricing and Discounts, and Product Import Export plugins. All you require is the right CSV configuration.
3. Payment processors and transaction fees
Shopify as an e-commerce platform prides in having over 100 providers online payment
processors. You can imagine renowned names like Stripe, PayPal or 2Checkout. Although
Shopify runs on its own system (powered by Stripe), you’re likely to incur extra transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify payments (2percent 1 percent or 0.5 percent) depending on your plan.
The excitement with Shopify comes with the live shipping rates. You connect your store with carriers (like FedEx or UPS) and get accurate shipping costs. The good news is that if you’re in dropshipping, Shopify connects you directly with providers such as Amazon Fulfillment, or Rakuten. WooCommerce has pre-installed payment gateways that include Direct bank transfer, cheque payment, cash on delivery through PayPal. Not only that, WooCommerce as an e-commerce platform consists of geolocation support that enables shipping and tax calculations easier by permitting your store auto-detect clients address.
Besides, through a WooCommerce currency switcher, you can create multiple currencies for your online store.
Wrapping Up
Hope that this article helps you in any way. Setting up and e-commerce platform is never easy, but with the right knowledge, guidance, and timing, you can be successful. As always, never hesitate to seek assistance from experts. It’s never wrong to gain vital information regarding this field.
