What Is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is currently one of the most popular eCommerce platforms available.

Its user-friendliness, powerful feature, and limitless customization options make it popular and successful among store owners.

And not only that, it enables you to run your online store using WordPress - the most widely used CMS in the world.

According to studies, WooCommerce holds a 29% market share of the top 1 million eCommerce websites in 2022, compared to a 26% market share in 2020.

What is Shopify?

With more than  1.75 million merchants having a store on Shopify, and more than 2,1 daily active users, Shopify is a big name in the eCommerce business.

Shopify offers more than just a simple way to start and run your online store.

It is designed to assist store owners in crucial areas, including launching extra channels (like Amazon, eBay, or Facebook), providing customer support options (like live chat), and handling technological difficulties.

Things To Consider When Choosing The Right eCommerce Platform

Let’s take a look at factors that can help you determine which platform is right for you:

• Cost – It should fit your monthly or yearly budget to start or maintain your store.

• User interface – Does it need a bit of a learning curve, or is it beginner-friendly?

• Payment methods –  Does it offer different payment methods that are suitable for global retail?

• Integration –Can you connect third-party tools to your business?

• Mobile service – Is Android and iOS mobile app provided?

• Themes – Since it is the first thing your visitors will notice, it should offer a variety of free and paid but high-quality and responsive themes.

Themes

It is crucial to make a good impression on your clients anytime they visit your website.

That's why choosing a theme is essential, because if it is not appealing, customers may leave the store.

WooCommerce Themes

WooCommerce has a lot of stunning themes to choose from, divided by categories and industry. There are 52 themes available in the Category section (Free, Storefront themes, and Responsive). 

Since WooCommerce has been configured to work with nearly every theme on the market, you can typically choose any WordPress theme and have it function with WooCommerce.

In addition, you can also choose from over 1,300 WooCommerce themes and templates using ThemeForest. The average price ranges from ＄29 to about ＄59.

Shopify Themes

Shopify offers free and paid Shopify themes, with an average price of ＄250.

There are currently 92 themes available, categorized by price, industry, catalog size, and features.

Choosing WooCommerce is excellent if you want a more personalized design for your eCommerce site. But, you'll have to invest time and money into developing your theme.

If you are unfamiliar with designing, Shopify has premium themes that are ready to use immediately.

But, this also implies that you can be using the same theme with many online shops, and you won't be able to stand out.

User Interface

WooCommerce User Interface

Since WooCommerce is not a hosted platform, you will need to manage a few tasks before setting up a store. That includes installation of WordPress, picking a theme, and getting a web host and domain page.

Once you've finished these steps, you can install the WooCommerce plugin on your WordPress platform.

WooCommerce is a good choice if you already have a WordPress blog or have some previous web developing experience.

Shopify User Interface

Shopify is a built-in store, so the process of setting up and managing a store is intuitive and straightforward.

To start selling, you just need to complete the Shopify sign-up process and follow the simple setup instructions.

Shopify is made for all business owners, including those without programming experience.

Having a straightforward interface, Shopify is better for store owners without previous technical knowledge.

Security

WooCommerce Security

When it comes to security with WooCommerce, the majority of it is in your control.

More specifically, you will be responsible for obtaining your own SSL certificate, setting up your site security plugins, two-factor authentication, PCI compliance, and other site security measures.

But, WooCommerce also offers Jetpack. It is a free tool for security, performance, and marketing.

It offers 1-year extension updates and 1-year support.

With Jackpack, you can:

• Secure and backup data to keep your store online.

• Use automated malware scanning, verified client logins, and the prevention of brute force attacks that can help prevent security issues.

• Utilize real-time backups.

• Be organized with data on orders, trends, and traffic.

Shopify Security

Shopify has Level 1 PCI DSS certification.

It indicates that the stores have methods for data encryption, safeguarding Shopify money transactions, preventing malware on the servers, tools for risk analysis, and ongoing security vigilance.

For your Shopify store, using an automatic backup solution like Rewind makes backups and recovery easy and offers you confidence in the security of your business data. 

In addition, it is the only backup app in the Shopify Plus Certified App Program.

Mobile service

According to statistics on mobile commerce, in 2021, 72.9% of all internet sales were made using mobile devices.

That's why it is significant to have a stable mobile app.

WooCommerce Mobile App

With the WooCommerce mobile app, you can easily switch stores, track statistics, and manage labels and orders. Then, create, edit, and publish the product, and get notified whenever you receive a new review.

To use the mobile app, you should download the Jetpack plugin first.

Shopify Mobile App

Shopify also offers a mobile app with similar options.

With this app, you can manage your online business, upload product pictures or run a marketing campaign. 

Get real-time store analytics, and keep track of incoming orders.

Shopify's mobile app is free to download from the App and Play store with a 14-day free trial.

Payment methods

WooCommerce Payment Methods

The most crucial aspect of every business is making sales, but picking the appropriate payment option is equally important.

A payment gateway is a web-based tool that accepts and processes credit and debit card payments.

Then again, if it's too demanding for your customers to make a payment, they'll abandon their basket, and you'll lose sales.

WooCommerce is compatible with most payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.Net, PencePay, etc. It is free to add PayPal and support for credit cards via Stripe.

But, you should also be aware that transactions are not entirely free.

Even though WooCommerce will not charge you, the associated payment processors will.

Their fees, however, vary from one provider to the next.

Shopify Payment Methods

On the other hand, Shopify offers Shopify Payments free with your account. It conveniently lets you accept all major credit cards and other online payment methods.

For the Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans, this fee is 2%, 1%, or 0.50%, respectively.

Note that this service is not available in all countries. For example, it includes the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but only a few countries in Asia and Europe. This means that you must rely on third-party services, where fees may vary from country to country.

Shopify also accepts a variety of third-party payment gateways.

There is, however, a significant disadvantage: the platform charges additional fees for using these gateways.

WooCommerce and Shopify both support multiple payment gateways.

That said, unless your customers use a specific payment method, you should be fine regardless of the platform you use.

If you compare their pricing methods, WooCommerce wins. 

By charging additional fees, Shopify forces customers to use Shopify Payments, which may be unappealing to some users. 

Integration And Automation Tools

WooCommerce Automation Tool

WooCommerce has developed its own automation tool – AutomateWoo.

This automation tool allows you to:

• Send follow-up emails - Automatically email clients who purchase particular goods to solicit feedback or recommend related products.

• Remind clients who abandoned their carts by sending them emails at predetermined intervals.

• Reactivate inactive customers – Use email marketing campaigns to reach out to them by sending out promotions and suggestions.

• SMS Notifications - For any of AutomateWoo's numerous triggers, send SMS notifications to users or administrators.

• Send discounts as review rewards to entice further product evaluations.

• Use wishlist marketing – Notify customers when a desired product is on sale and send timed wishlist reminder emails.

• Birthday Emails – Use the AutomateWoo Birthdays Add-on to delight customers with a unique WooCommerce birthday email and coupon.

• Card Expiry Notifications – Inform clients when a saved credit or debit card is about to expire.

• Automatic VIP - Based on various spend thresholds, reward your top clients with VIP status.

• Subscriptions Automation – WooCommerce Subscription activities like status changes, declined payments, and renewal reminders can be handled automatically via subscriptions.

AutomateWoo integrates with your plugins and services, such as WooCommerce Subscriptions, WooCommerce Memberships, WooCommerce Bookings, WooCommerce Points and Rewards, and WooCommerce Wishlists.

WooCommerce Plugins

For your business to operate at its full potential, use WooCommerce integrations. They are available through the WooCommerce store or can be downloaded from third-party websites.

WooCommerce offers 592 extensions for all your logistical, technological, and marketing requirements.

You can find them on the WooCommerce website, under the Extension store tab.

These plugins are divided into 12 categories, from marketing to production and inventory management.

Additionally, since WooCommerce is a Wordpress plugin, users can access WordPress' enormous plugin library, with over 58,000 free and paid plugins.

Shopify Automation Tool

Shopify Flow is available to businesses on the Shopify, Advanced, and Shopify Plus plans. It allows eCommerce businesses to 

• Keep track of the inventory – hide out-of-stock products from the site, instantly reorder supplies, etc.

• Analyze customers – Customers can be identified, tracked, and tagged based on spending, number of orders, loyalty points, and more.

• Prevent fraud – It marks orders with a high-risk level, so you won't have to go through each one manually.

• Connect to your apps – Flow integrates with all the programs and platforms you already use to manage your business, allowing you to make the most of the tools you already have.

To enhance customer loyalty and encourage returning customers, you can use MailChimp, Conversio, Klaviyo, Drip, and other email marketing tools with both WooCommerce and Shopify.

Shopify Plugins

Shopify offers 5899 applications and extensions on its Shopify App Store.

To navigate this excessive amount of apps more efficiently, they are divided into many categories, like inventory management, orders, shipping, sales and conversion, etc.

These extensions help you monitor your online store quickly and increase traffic and revenue.(Check the Shopify fulfillment plugin with byrd)

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WooCommerce vs. Shopify - Pricing 

WooCommerce Pricing

WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin for WordPress.

WordPress and WooCommerce are both open-source, free programs.

Even though this can result in significant cost reductions regarding WooCommerce prices, opening a new store still includes some expenses.

You'll need a WordPress website that supports plugins since WooCommerce is also a plugin.

Selecting a host for your store and purchasing a plan will be your first step in setting up a business. The expense of buying a domain, or site name, comes next.

Your domain serves as your company's online address, but you still need to find a location for your WooCommerce store.

This location is referred to as web hosting and also goes toward your monthly WooCommerce expense.

Prices may vary but are around $120 per year for hosting and about $15 for domain registration.

Shopify Pricing

Spotify offers a 14-day free trial. After that, users must pay a monthly subscription.

The basic plan starts from $29 per month, followed by the next tier at $79 per month and the top-tier package at $299 per month.

These services include web hosting and SSL ( technology for protecting sensitive data and securing internet connections ).

However, owning a domain name without a brand name (Shopify) in the URL will cost you an extra $14 per year.

The basic plan offers limitless product and storage capacity but only for two users per account.

However, this excludes the use of third-party add-ons and in-platform technologies.

Keep in mind that transaction fees are calculated on a sliding basis.

For example, the basic plan imposes a flat cost of 2.0% on all transactions. In contrast, the most expensive option lowers this to 0.5%.

The same goes with the shipping expenses, with the Basic plan discount of up to 77% and up to 88% shipping discount in the Advanced plan.

Conclusion

In this article, we covered the basics of both eCommerce platforms.

Shopify has set pricing with more advanced features as you upgrade your plan. WooCommerce is initially free but requires additional costs for hosting, a domain name, and security.

Shopify is more suitable for beginners, while WooCommerce is more flexible and customizable but requires previous tech knowledge.

Either way, both are amazing; just find the one that will fit all your needs.

Regardless of which platform you choose, you will need top-quality images to provide the best possible user experience. 

And that's where Glorify can help you. It s a free online powerful design software that will meet all your needs for creating stunning images for social media, ad campaigns, product photos, and more.

A hero product image is the main image used to show a product on an eCommerce site with preferred dimensions of 2000 x 2000, which allows high quality with great zoom-in features.

1. From the Template library, select Hero images.

You can start from scratch, upload your own image, or use a predefined template.

2. Every image is fully customizable.  For instance, the editor on the right opens by clicking on different parts of the image.

The Background remover is a powerful tool especially important for product photos.

Different editing options allow you to manipulate the image, creating a unique design.

3. Easily change the font, colors, background, or any other element to your liking.

4. If you want a clean, white background for your product to stand out, right-click on the element to open a menu. Select Erase for each element, and then choose the preferred background color.

5. Smart Resize is a time-saving tool, great for using one design across different platforms, from social media ( Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.) to eCommerce ( Aliexpress, Amazon, etc.), business (Linkedin, Upwork, etc.), and more. Without compromising the picture quality, switch to different formats in seconds.

Good product photos support sales and make your brand even more recognizable. Additionally, high-quality images build customer trust in your products and your company.

So, start your journey with Glorify for free, and create high-converting product images fast, easy, and at scale.