1. What is Shopify?
Shopify is an “out-of-the-box solution” that's very user-friendly, with built-in reports and statistics and a wealth of sales channels.
It's a fast and very well-functioning solution for everything from tiny start-ups to large international companies.
Their core idea is to offer a solution that users with no technical skills or coding experience can set up and run without hassle.
When you choose Shopify, you get a hosted solution, so you don't need web hosting from anywhere else or to install software to get started.
Shopify is a paid, cloud-based solution, in other words a so-called “SaaS” (Software as a service) solution.
For you, this means you don't own the software you use, but instead pay a monthly fee for access to it.
If you want to customise your solution beyond what the theme and system offer, you can code directly in Shopify. Shopify also offers a wealth of apps through its app store.
2. What is WordPress (Woocommerce)?
WordPress is open source software that you install on your own server.
If you have your shop built externally, your web agency will in many cases offer you hosting. You can also install it on your server through a hosting provider.
WordPress is the world's most widely used CMS (content management system). It has quite a few more years under its belt than Shopify and was originally a blogging tool.
Since its early days, a huge number of extensions and add-ons have been created that make it possible to use WordPress for much more.
For example, there's a wide range of plugins for running a webshop in WordPress. The most widespread is Woocommerce, which accounts for around 30% of webshops on the internet.
So which should you choose?
Over time, I've gained plenty of experience with both platforms, and I now know where you get the most bang for the buck, what feels most intuitive, which platform is most secure, and much more.
Let me take it step by step.
3. Dashboard and user-friendliness
Both Shopify and WordPress have a relatively simple dashboard, and the layout of the two is quite similar.
Both have a main menu on the left, where you can access reporting, orders, page setup and lots more.
WordPress's dashboard
The page setup panel is also fairly similar in both systems.
For WordPress, there are quite a few different plugins for page setup (called a pagebuilder).
Here you'll find some of the most popular pagebuilders.
WordPress comes with a pagebuilder as standard, but most themes offer a pagebuilder with more functionality and better user-friendliness.
It's important to research the market and see what others recommend.
Some pagebuilders work as visual “drag and drop” solutions and are very easy to navigate. However, be aware that they can affect the page's loading speed, which harms both the user experience and the search engine optimisation of your webshop.
Shopify's dashboard
Shopify has a standard pagebuilder that looks the same across themes, but the functionality and options can vary from theme to theme.
Shopify's dashboard is very intuitive and simple, so you can quickly get started changing your products, viewing your orders and much more.
WordPress's dashboard gives you more scope to change how the panel looks and has more options overall. However, this also means it can become a little more cluttered and confusing.
4. Pages and blog posts
When it comes to creating and managing pages and blog posts, WordPress is the clear winner.
WordPress is built for exactly this, so it offers a wide range of options for organising blog posts with categories and tags.
WordPress also offers versioning, which means that every time you save a blog post or a page, WordPress saves a “backup”.
This is where Shopify falls short, as unfortunately Shopify doesn't offer the same.
When it comes to managing collections and products, Shopify is a simpler and more intuitive system, which is no doubt because Shopify is a dedicated shop system from end to end.
Shopify also offers automated collection sorting. This means Shopify automatically sorts your collections based on prices, names and tags.
If you need to create a page with a large number of products, this can save you a lot of time.
5. Price: Shopify vs. Woocommerce?
Price matters too, of course. So what do Shopify and Woocommerce cost respectively?
6. What do Shopify's plans cost?
Shopify Lite: $9
(approx. DKK 60 a month)
Lets you use Shopify's “buy button” and sell through Facebook.
So it isn't a webshop as such, but works as a sales channel that can be used, for example, on another website or on various social media.
Shopify Basic: $29
(approx. DKK 190 a month, plus 2.0% of the purchase amount deducted on each order)
Shopify Basic lets you build and run a webshop. You can have two accounts and, like the plans below, you get Shopify's 24-hour support.
Shopify: $79
(approx. DKK 525 a month, plus 1.0% of the purchase amount deducted on each order)
This plan offers extended reporting, gift cards and up to five accounts.
Shopify Advanced: $299
(approx. DKK 1,990, plus 0.5% of the purchase amount deducted on each order)
Offers an advanced, customisable report and calculated shipping rates from a limited number of carriers.
Shopify Plus: prices start at $2,000
(approx. DKK 13,330 a month)
This plan varies and is negotiable depending on the size of the business.
Be aware that Shopify's apps are often subscriptions and therefore add to the monthly cost.
You also need to factor in a fee for your payment system, and this applies to Woocommerce too.
7. What do WordPress's solutions cost?
As mentioned earlier, WordPress is free software. However, that doesn't mean running a webshop through the system is entirely free.
Here are some of the things you may have to pay for:
Hosting
Your webshop needs to be on a server, where you pay for the space your webshop uses. The price can vary a lot depending on the solution and provider.
Examples of hosting providers:
Unoeuro
One.com
Hostgator
If you choose Amplify to build your webshop, we offer a support and hosting package.
You can always call one of our nerds on 70 60 50 28 and let us help you choose the right webshop solution.
Themes
There are quite a few free themes out there, but the free ones rarely amount to much.
It's important to build a webshop on a solid foundation, just like a house. The theme should be user-friendly and suitable for Woocommerce.
Plugins
In many cases, you'll need to buy plugins to add the necessary functionality to your webshop.
Integrations
Integrations are often a “nice to have” rather than a “need to have”. However, some integrations can save you both time and money.
8. Themes: Shopify vs. Woocommerce
Shopify offers 10 free themes and around 60 paid ones. All the themes are mobile-friendly and stylish.
On top of that, Shopify offers one hour of free development from one of their developers. You can use it to tailor your theme to your needs.
You'll find all Shopify's themes here
You can also use third-party themes in Shopify, but it's important to bear in mind that Shopify generally doesn't provide support for them.
You can find third-party themes on Themeforest, among other places.
WordPress offers a huge selection of themes that can be found all across the world wide web. Here, Themeforest is again a good place to find your theme. Otherwise, a Google search will get you a long way.
9. Mobile-friendliness
All Shopify's official themes are responsive, which means they scale up and down according to screen size and device.
The most popular Woocommerce themes are also responsive, but this isn't guaranteed. In most cases, though, you can read up on whether a theme is responsive or not.
Shopify and Woocommerce both let you access their dashboard from your mobile. There, you can edit, delete and add products and collections.
10. E-commerce functionality
So which of these platforms performs best when it comes to e-commerce?
Unfortunately, there's no definitive answer to that question.
WordPress has far more options, but it requires quite a bit more setup and maintenance. In most cases, both systems can cover your needs with plugins or custom code.
So unless you've reinvented the wheel when it comes to webshop plugins, someone has most likely made a plugin that's compatible with both systems and works well on each.
As of 12 May 2019, Shopify ended its partnership with Mailchimp due to a disagreement over how their users' data was handled.
You can read Shopify's statement on the matter here.
However, there are some really good alternatives to Mailchimp.
Klaviyo, for example, claims that its users who switched from Mailchimp have seen a 46% increase in total revenue.
Read more about Klaviyo as an alternative to Mailchimp here.
You can easily and conveniently set up Facebook Messenger, Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shopping in Shopify. These are standard sales channels, so they don't need to be installed as apps, unlike in WordPress, where they have to be installed separately.
Amazon and eBay are also an option in Shopify, although this isn't yet available in Denmark.
If your webshop has lots of product variations, Shopify may not be the best solution, as it only offers up to 100 product variants.
That said, there are quite a few apps that can get around this, but in some cases this can affect loading time.
So Shopify is an all-in-one solution that lets you quickly create an attractive, user-friendly webshop.
WordPress with Woocommerce, on the other hand, requires a bit more in-depth study or basic knowledge to get started. In return, it gives you the option of more extensions.
11. Which platform is best for search engine optimisation?
Your webshop needs search engine optimisation to become visible on Google and other search engines.
There's a huge number of factors that determine where you rank on Google. But there are a few differences between the search engine optimisation options in Woocommerce and those in Shopify.
In WordPress, you have more control over your URL paths, which can be an advantage when it comes to getting a shorter, simpler URL.
WordPress also lets you use Yoast SEO, one of the most recognised SEO plugins on the market. Yoast analyses your page's SEO and then gives you a step-by-step guide to optimising your page.
With Yoast SEO, you can also edit how your page should look in the search results.
Shopify has a built-in version of this snippet preview, but unfortunately it doesn't generate a list of steps for optimising your pages.
Here's a checklist to help you optimise your Shopify webshop for search engines.
Shopify has quite a few apps that offer a service very similar to Yoast.
The platform is generally strong on SEO, and it comes with an SSL certificate installed as standard, which is a must for ranking well in the search results.
A couple of other smart features are that Shopify generates XML sitemaps itself and automatically suggests 301 redirects when the name of a page changes.
12. Security and maintenance
Here, Shopify is the clear winner, as the system is a dedicated webshop system, hosted and maintained by Shopify.
This means Shopify makes sure the system is always updated to the latest version.
In WordPress, on the other hand, you're responsible for keeping the system updated and secure.
It's important to make sure:
- Your WordPress version is always up to date
- Your theme is updated to the latest version
- Your server is set up correctly
- All your plugins are updated to the latest version
In the worst case, neglect can mean your site gets hacked.
What often happens when plugin or theme updates are released is that hackers can use the new, updated code to see which bugs/holes exist in the code that hasn't been updated. In other words, the updated code acts as a manual for the bugs the previous code contains.
They then set a computer to check every site that uses that specific plugin or theme. If the computer finds a WordPress site without the update, it forces its way into the site using the bug and inserts malware.
Some WordPress plugins can contain malware when you download them, as (unlike Shopify) they're not in a closed, tested environment. This means anyone could have made the plugin you install.
So pay attention to how many users use the plugin you want to install, and when the plugin was last updated.
Of course, it's also important to protect your site with a strong password.
For example, you can use your email as your username, and it's a really good idea to have a password that's pure gibberish, with upper and lower case letters, punctuation and numbers.
Shopify is also obliged to help you resolve any malware attacks.
Shopify webshops are always SSL-certified, which means your customers visit the site over a secure connection. An SSL certificate should definitely be installed on a WordPress site too, but it isn't installed as standard.
If your website or webshop isn't SSL-certified, call us today on 70 60 50 28 and find out more about why it's important to get certified.
13. Support
Shopify offers 24-hour chat support in all its plans except Shopify Lite.
There, you can get help choosing apps, guides to changing your settings and much more.
The service you get in the chat is top-notch, and you can add screenshots to show any issues.
You then receive a follow-up email with the whole conversation, which you can reply to later if you have more questions.
Shopify also has a very comprehensive help centre with video guides, support forums, blogs and a very well-documented developer portal (support forum for developers).
Unfortunately, WordPress doesn't offer support, but there's a wealth of forums and video guides produced by users, and it also has a support page with documentation, support forums, blogs and so on.
WordPress is generally far better documented than Shopify, because it has such an enormous number of users. The downside is that finding answers to your questions can get messy.
In general, I always recommend getting to know your platform, your theme and your plugins in depth. Video guides can be an easily digestible way to learn more. It makes you more aware of why things might go wrong.
14. Integrations
There are lots of integrations for both Shopify and WordPress (Woocommerce).
Integrations for bookkeeping and shipping are particularly smart, and they can save you many hours AKA money.
Bookkeeping
For bookkeeping, we at Amplify always recommend setting up IEX's integration with your accounting software. IEX offers integrations for most accounting programs, and they work with both Shopify and Woocommerce.
The integration makes sure your orders are automatically entered in your accounting software, so you or your accountant can easily prepare the annual accounts or just get a quick overview.
Shipping module
At Amplify, in most cases we recommend setting up an integration with a shipping module. You simply choose the solution based on the carrier you prefer.
For example, if you have an agreement with UPS, you won't be able to use the Danish modules like Pakkelabels or Smartsend. You can, however, use Webshipper.
In its “advanced” plan, Shopify offers free setup with your own shipping agreement if your carrier is one of these: USPS, UPS, FedEx or Canada Post.
It's also possible with a Shopify or Shopify Basic plan if you pay quarterly, but this has to be arranged with Shopify via its support chat.
WordPress offers various plugins for the same purpose, which may well be a cheaper solution than Pakkelabels, for example.
However, be aware that if problems arise with the plugin, you won't be able to get support. You may end up having to pay for professional help (which can quickly get expensive).
15. Payment system
Both platforms support most payment systems, such as Quickpay, Klarna, ePay and Stripe.
It's the payment system that determines which card types your webshop supports. Be aware that not all systems support mobile payment with, for example, Mobilepay.
In Denmark, online security is very important to users, so we always recommend using the payment system's 3D secure checkout rather than Shopify's or WordPress's built-in checkout.
The user is sent to an external link on the payment system's domain. Finally, you verify your identity with an SMS code sent to your mobile.
16. In short
So which of these heavyweights takes the gold, the glory and half the kingdom?
Unfortunately, the answer isn't that clear-cut.
The reality is that we're dealing with two very capable contenders that have a great deal in common and relatively few differences. Your choice depends on what matters most to your business.
Good reasons to choose Shopify
- Shopify is a very simple, user-friendly system that you can set up quickly. So it doesn't take much to become a whizz at it.
- Shopify is a dedicated shop system and comes with a range of features a webshop needs as standard. That makes it very easy to set up, whereas in WordPress (Woocommerce) you have to install and set up many of these features.
- Hosting is part of Shopify, so you don't need to worry about setup, optimisation and maintenance. If your site is down, you can check Shopify's status page to see whether it's due to a server error.
- Shopify is indisputably the more secure of the two, as Shopify makes sure the shop is always updated to the latest version. So you don't need to worry about maintaining the site. If a problem does arise, it's Shopify's responsibility to fix it.
- Shopify has kickass support that's always available when you need it.
- Shopify's dashboard is simpler and more user-friendly than WordPress's. That makes the day-to-day running of your site smoother.
- You can quickly and easily try Shopify for 14 days, so you can see for yourself whether the system is for you. You have full access to the entire system. To use WordPress, you first need a domain and hosting, and to install and set up WordPress, before you can test it.
- Shopify offers easy sorting of collections by tags, prices, etc.
Good reasons to choose WordPress (Woocommerce)
- WordPress is open source software, so it can be downloaded free of charge.
- WordPress is a far more versatile platform, so you can build any type of website with an accompanying webshop.
- WordPress indisputably has the best CMS, offering versioning, archiving and sorting of your pages and blog posts.
- WordPress has a larger selection of themes and plugins, both paid and free. These can help you extend the site's functionality. Shopify's app store is a little more limited.
- It's slightly easier to optimise your webshop for search engines in WordPress.
- You can add an unlimited number of product variants. Shopify has a limit of 100 variants per product, although this can be fixed by adding apps.
- You have more options than in Shopify for adding e-commerce functionality.
- WordPress is a more widespread platform and is therefore far better documented.
- WordPress is a cheaper solution than Shopify.
Get help with your SEO strategy
Well begun is half done. Badly begun is… well, not good. If you don't have the resources to put together a well-thought-out SEO strategy, you're always welcome to drop me an email at seo@amplify.dk or get hold of one of my colleagues at info@amplify.dk.
