WordPress, while once considered just a blogging tool, has expanded and evolved into an eCommerce platform with a host of advantageous features. Similar to Shopify, WordPress has become a popular e-commerce platform with similar interfaces and catering to small and medium-sized businesses. We take a close look at each platform and compare which one has an advantage for its users:
WordPress
Featuring an open-source, user-friendly status, WordPress stands as approximately 65% of all content management systems on the Internet today. With its powerful WooCommerce plugin, setup is simple, shipping is easy to setup, and shipping/new order notifications are impressive and professional. WordPress caters for optimal search engine capabilities, and therefore attracting a large audience. Other benefits include complete ownership, though you will have to provide your own security and maintenance (plenty of free plugins to help you with that, too!). You can expand on it, it’s highly customisable, and you get a choice of payment gateways such as Stripe, Paypal etc. It integrates seamlessly into any WordPress theme and it’s simple to add it to your existing website. The plugin is free and provides powerful tools to manage your inventory, transforming your website into a complete online store. Features include:
- Works with virtually any WordPress theme
- Unlimited products
- Payment methods
- Shipping methods
- Inventory management
- Reports
- Marketing
- Tax
- Coupons
Shopify
Shopify is exclusively an eCommerce platform and thus is already a hosted site . Therefore, its security is stronger than WordPress, and you pay for the privledge. Shopify’s popularity stems from their wide range of modern, free templates to choose from, however paid themes range from $80 to $180, and you’ll pay anywhere between $29 and $179 per month and up to 2% on external payment gateway fees, whereas WordPress does not have a monthly fee. Shopify has some cool abandoned cart features on their premium packages, while WordPress has some particularly great free abandoned cart feature plugins too. Like WordPress, Shopify has the added advantage of an app store to locate from, and provides training and support as part of their subscriptions. Features include:
- Your own URL
- Website builder
- Customisable
- Blog
Scratching your head trying to decide on a WordPress design? Check out our top five tips on getting started:
[thrive_leads id=’695′]
If you’d like to find out more about our web design packages, contact hayley@virtuallyallyours.com.au or complete the below contact form. [thrive_leads id=’648′][wr_text]
