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If you are an owner of a business with products or services to sell, having an e-Commerce platform is a necessity for setting up your online storefront. While there are a number of available online shopping platforms on the Internet, there are two popular e-Commerce platforms that seem to stand apart from the rest — WooCommerce and Shopify.
After a simple search on the Internet you will notice a number of debates onWooCommerce vs Shopify, which one is better and why? In order to answer these questions let’s take a look at what differentiates one from another.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is essentially a WordPress plug-in that enables you to convert your WordPress website into a fully functional online store.It is and open source platform that is extremely popular and user-friendly, with many users developing plug-ins to enhance functionality options.Here are some of the features offered through this platform:
• Includes five free themes and several other themes which come at a cost ranging from $39 up to $79.
• Although hosting is not free (unless you have your own self hosted site), this platform is extremely cost effective.
• In order to enhance the online shopping experience for consumers, plug-in extensions are available for purchase at costs ranging from $5-$500.
• As WooCommerce is offered as a free platform, customer support is limited, but the large community of users and plug-in developers add up to a great online support community.
• One of the strongest qualities of this software platform is its SEO worth. WooCommerce’s foundation is made from WordPress which was developed to be highly optimized for search engines.
Shopify
Shopify is an easy to use, hosted e-Commerce platform enabling anyone (even the non-techie) to be able to set up an online storefront. The platform comes equipped with over 100 store templates and offers the ability to create your own store template if desired. Here are some of the features offered through this platform:
• Known for having better themes than its opponent WooCommerce, this platform offers some free themes and others at a cost ranging from $80-$180. The themes offered were developed to reflect a variety of industries ranging from clothing and fashion to sports and recreation.
• This platform provides its own hosting to serve its clients. Security, hosting and payment issues are all handled efficiently with quick response times. This is a pay for what you need, hosted solution.
• Shopify offers standard extensions with payment plans which range from basic at $14, up to unlimited at $179, so there is an ongoing monthly expense to operating the website.
• Customer service is available 24/7 and they are known for their high level of customer care.
• SEO is not its strongest aspect so users have to take it upon themselves to create good quality content.
When it comes to deciding WooCommerce vs Shopify, take careful assessment of your online business needs and match them to a platform accordingly. WooCommerce offers much more in terms of the ability to customize your website, as well as SEO benefits, while Shopify is an all-in-one, hosted solution that is easy to set-up.
