When you want to start an online trading business, you need to take a lot of things into consideration to find the most suitable ecommerce platform for your store. If you want to start a dropshipping business, you need to consider even more aspects. In this article, we would like to show you if Shopify or WooCommerce would be a suitable option for your business.
Keep in mind that we are not trying to convince you to choose one instead of the other as both of these platforms work very well with Syncee and are great to run an online store on in general. We would like to give you some important points in connection with the advantages and disadvantages of these two platforms so the decision can be easier for you regarding which one to choose.
Advantages – Shopify or WooCommerce?
There are a lot of advantages of both platforms so it is definitely not easy to choose if Shopify or WooCommerce would be the best for you to choose. When you want to find the perfect ecommerce platform to work with, you need to write down some important features which you cannot work without, and after that, you can make a more relevant decision.
1. Shopify
- The platform provides you with easy-to-use features. You do not need to have IT knowledge to explore Shopify.
- It is also hosted, so you do not have to worry about managing your online store.
- The SEO and marketing features are outstanding and you can find great solutions for your ideas.
- You can choose from several themes on their own Theme Store to customize your online store.
- You will be very pleased with the security and reliability of the platform.
- The customer support is available 24/7 so you will get a fast answer for your problems.
- The platform has its own payment gateway and the payment is also very easy.
- There are no hidden charges.
- There are over a thousand applications to choose from so you can make the most out of it.
- You can easily integrate your store with Syncee and start finding and managing dropshipping products.
Find more details on the official website of Shopify.
2. WooCommerce
- WooCommerce is free to use, you just have to pay for the hosting and different plugins and extensions and a few more services to be able to run your store.
- There are many payment gateways to choose from, you will surely find the best one for your business.
- You can have a really great search engine optimization which is very important if you wish to own an online store.
- WooCommerce is highly affordable, flexible, and 100% customizable if you prefer these aspects the most. You can find their own Theme Store as well.
- There are several plugins and extensions to choose from. You can choose ecommerce plugins right from WordPress, or, you can search for them in the Extension Store of WooCommerce.
- The product categories can be easily managed which is very important for a smooth work with your store.
- WooCommerce is very secure which is one of the most important aspects.
- You can easily manage your online store no matter where you are as you can easily manage everything from a mobile app.
- The WooCommerce community is outstanding, you can easily and always get help from the members there.
- In the case of WooCommerce, you can also integrate it with Syncee if you wish to start a dropshipping business.
Find more details on the official site of WooCommerce.
Disadvantages – Shopify or WooCommerce?
If you have a hard time deciding whether to choose Shopify or WooCommerce, the disadvantages might help you with that question. You have to consider many aspects when making the decision on which platform to choose.
1. Shopify
- The monthly fees can be a bit pricy so you need to decide on how much money you can spend on your online store.
- There are some limitations with the customization so you cannot create anything you want.
- You have to pay transaction fees after every customer’s purchase.
2. WooCommerce
- You will definitely need some IT skills if you choose this platform for your online store.
- You will have to take more time on finding solutions for everything so your online store can work, like hosting service and more.
- It can be a bit misleading that WooCommerce is free as there are many services you have to pay for so your store can work.
- If there is an update on WooCommerce, just as it happens with WordPress, you shouldn’t update it immediately. You have to make at least a backup to avoid any unexpected issues the update might cause, or you have to test it with a closed test environtment. The plugins and the theme you are using might not be fine-tuned for the update of WooCommerce.
Pricing – Shopify or WooCommerce?
Now let’s see the prices because it can easily help you to decide if Shopify or WooCommerce would be more affordable for you.
1. Shopify
Shopify comes with four plans and each of them have different features. You can check out these features here.
- Basic Shopify: $24/month (in May 2024)
- Shopify: $69/month (in May 2024)
- Advanced Shopify: $299/month (in May 2024)
- Shopify Plus: $2,300/month (in May 2024)
Source: Shopify
2. WooCommerce
Using WooCommerce and WordPress is totally free, there are no subscription fees or any other monthly subscription fees for the platform. However, you have to pay for the hosting, domain, SSL certificate, design theme, plugins, and more. Because of all this, we can just only share approximate prices, and you can check this other article for more details.
- Basic Site: $6.95/month (in 2024)
- Mid-Range Site: $8.95/month (in 2024)
- Advanced Site: $12.95/month (in 2024)
Dropshipping – Shopify or WooCommerce?
Dropshipping is a trading model. If you work with it, you do not have to invest money in product inventory before being able to sell them. You will only work with product data in your online store. Your supplier partners will receive the order requests of your customers, and they will ship it directly to them. Logistics-related tasks are your supplier’s responsibilities.
However, if you want to make sure that your customers get everything at the same time in case they choose more products from different suppliers, you can order everything to your doorstep first. You can pack everything together and add some gifts to it to make the whole package a lot more personal.
Both platforms are suitable for those who want to run an online store using the dropshipping model.
Syncee – Shopify and WooCommerce!
Syncee is a B2B platform with millions of products and hundreds of suppliers from the US/CA/EU/UK/AU + more. You can easily become a dropshipper with this application. If you are interested in the products which Syncee can offer, feel free to search for them on Syncee Marketplace.
If you want to integrate Syncee into your Shopify store, you can do this here, and if you want to integrate Syncee into your WooCommerce store, you can do this here.
Who Should Use Shopify or WooCommerce?
Shopify’s biggest advantage is definitely the fact that it is very easy to use. You do not need any IT knowledge if you want to start creating your online store. This can be a very important point while you are searching for the perfect ecommerce platform. Therefore we are advising you to try out the 14 days trial as it can give you some ideas about the whole experience.
WooCommerce’s biggest advantage is that you can create a whole unique online store, it is fully customizable. There are many plugins you can choose from for smoother work, and using WooCommerce is completely free. Let your creativity take over to make everything just the way you want it. That way you can always create newer experiences for your customers and your online store will be one of their favorites.
Overall
Finding a suitable ecommerce platform can be a hard task. In this article, we wanted to help you to decide whether Shopify or WooCommerce would be the best choice for you to start your online store.
