Eager to get going and make sales, small businesses and startups often jump headfirst into a platform without considering the long-term costs and benefits. Choosing the best ecommerce platform can be tough. Which is better? Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Etsy?
This ultimate guide to choosing the best ecommerce platform will help you make that decision that’s right for your business.
Starting an online store in 2024 is rather simple. But easy access doesn’t equal success. It takes more than writing great product descriptions or capturing perfect product photos.
A successful online store needs to be built on the right ecommerce platform. Most of my clients use WooCommerce (built on WordPress), which I agree is best for many businesses. However, Shopify and Etsy are also great choices.
My current client mix on e-commerce platforms:
- WooCommerce (WordPress) = 71%
- Shopify = 24%
- Etsy = 0%
- Other niche-specific marketplace platforms = 5%
If you’re jumping on the growth trajectory of ecommerce stores, please know there are many ecommerce trends that can help you succeed.
But, first, choose the best ecommerce platform for your business goals.
Let’s compare the Pros and Cons of Shopify, WooCommerce, and Etsy.
Shopify Pros and Cons
Click to Enlarge.
Shopify prioritizes sales, traffic, and session data in the dashboard. Compared to WordPress, it’s a bit harder to navigate to pages, blog posts, and sales channels.
Pros
- Easy to Use: Shopify boasts a user-friendly interface, making it great for beginners with no coding experience.
- Great Features: It offers a robust set of features for running an online store, including inventory management, secure payments, and marketing tools.
- Scalable: Shopify can grow with your business, with plans suitable for both small startups and high-volume stores.
- App Store: A vast app store provides additional functionalities and integrations for your store.
- Reliable Hosting: Shopify takes care of web hosting, ensuring uptime and security.
Cons
- Transaction Fees: Shopify charges transaction fees on top of their monthly plan fees, which can eat into profits.
- Limited Customization: While themes offer design flexibility, extensive customization might require coding knowledge or paid apps.
- Costly for Large Stores: Higher-tier plans can become expensive for businesses with very high sales volume.
- Not Ideal for Blogging: Content management features are not as robust as dedicated blogging platforms like WordPress.
- No Email Hosting: Shopify doesn’t offer email hosting, so you’ll need a separate provider for business emails.
Is Shopify best for you?
Shopify is a user-friendly platform with a strong feature set, ideal for businesses who want a hassle-free ecommerce solution. However, transaction fees and potentially high costs for large stores can be drawbacks.
WooCommerce Pros and Cons
Click to Enlarge. Image Credit: Source
The WooCommerce dashboard is built into the admin side of your WordPress website. We set this up when we build a WooCommerce Website for Clients.
Pros
- Cost-Effective: WooCommerce itself is free to download and use as a WordPress plugin. You only pay for web hosting and potentially for additional plugins or themes.
- Highly Customizable: Built on WordPress, WooCommerce offers immense flexibility for design and functionality through themes and plugins.
- SEO Friendly: Leverages the SEO strengths of WordPress, making it easier for your store to rank well in search engines.
- Open-Source: Benefits from a large and active developer community offering support, tutorials, and custom development options.
- Integrations: Integrates seamlessly with other WordPress plugins and popular business tools.
Cons
- Steeper Learning Curve: Requires some technical knowledge to set up and manage compared to Shopify’s user-friendly interface.
- Security Concerns: As a self-hosted platform, the onus of security updates and maintenance falls on the user.
- Limited Support: WooCommerce itself doesn’t offer dedicated customer support, although there are community resources and paid support options.
- Scalability Concerns: While technically scalable, managing a high-traffic store on WooCommerce might require significant technical expertise or expensive hosting solutions.
- Potentially Higher Costs: While the core platform is free, additional plugins, themes, and developer resources can add up over time.
Is WooCommerce best for you?
WooCommerce is a powerful and cost-effective option for users comfortable with some technical aspects. Its flexibility and SEO advantages are great, but security and potential costs for managing a large store require consideration.
Consider WooCommerce if you want to outpace the competition with ecommerce SEO strategies – that is, earning search traffic to your site. It’s an excellent long-term strategy but takes skill and likely you’ll need to hire a pro.
Etsy Pros and Cons
Click to Enlarge.
Etsy seller dashboard provides a quick snapshot of sales, recent activity, and all of the sotre’s listings.
Pros
- Established Marketplace: Etsy has a large built-in audience actively searching for unique, handmade items.
- Easy to Set Up: Opening an Etsy shop is relatively straightforward and requires minimal technical knowledge.
- Focus on Handmade: Perfect for crafters and artists selling unique, handcrafted goods.
- Global Reach: Etsy connects you with buyers worldwide, expanding your potential customer base.
- Community Support: A supportive community of sellers offers encouragement and resources.
Cons
- High Competition: The sheer number of sellers on Etsy can make it challenging to stand out, especially for common items.
- Limited Customization: Etsy’s shop design options are limited compared to dedicated ecommerce platforms.
- Fees: Etsy charges listing fees, transaction fees, and a new offsite ads fee, which can reduce your profit margins.
- Limited Control: You’re subject to Etsy’s policies and algorithms, which can impact your shop visibility.
- Not Ideal for Mass-Produced Goods: Etsy caters more towards handmade items, so reselling manufactured goods might not be a good fit.
Is Etsy the best for you?
Etsy is a great platform for established crafters and artists to showcase and sell their handmade creations. However, the high competition, limited control, and fees can be drawbacks for some sellers.
Trends in E-commerce Platforms
Updated 12/22/2024
Diving Deeper into Specific Trends: An In-Depth Exploration of Emerging Patterns and Their Implications
Social Commerce
TikTok is leading the way in social commerce. The platform you choose to build your online store on needs to integrate with TikTok.
Keep reading to see how each platform compares.
Image Source: TikTok
Social media platforms have evolved beyond simple sharing. They are now bustling marketplaces. Integrating your online store directly into these platforms allows you to tap into a massive audience already engaged and ready to shop.
Features like shoppable posts on Instagram and Facebook, and shoppable pins on Pinterest, enable customers to browse and purchase without leaving the platform.
This seamless experience boosts impulse buys and strengthens brand visibility within these social ecosystems.
Social Commerce on Shopify
I’m not going to leave you with a simple description of social commerce.
Nope, let’s look at examples.
How do social commerce trends fit into the three e-commerce platforms we’re discussing?
Read on.
- Seamless Integration: Shopify offers robust integrations with major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- Shoppable Posts: Easily create shoppable posts directly within these platforms, allowing customers to view product details and make purchases without leaving the social media app.
- Social Media Marketing Apps: Utilize Shopify’s app store to find tools that enhance social media marketing efforts, such as scheduling tools, influencer marketing platforms, and social media contests.
- Facebook & Instagram Sales Channels: Shopify offers dedicated sales channels for Facebook and Instagram, enabling you to manage orders and customer interactions directly within these platforms.
Social Commerce on WooCommerce
WooCommerce has tools to enhance your e-commerce store for social media logins and marketing, TikTok integration, seamless product catalog sync, efficient order management, accurate inventory synchronization, and robust TikTok Pixel tracking.
- Social Media Marketing Plugins: Leverage WordPress plugins like WooCommerce Social Login, which allows customers to log in to your store using their social media credentials, and WooCommerce Social Media Marketing, which helps you share products across various social media platforms.
- TikTok for WooCommerce Plugin: This official plugin facilitates the connection between your WooCommerce store and your TikTok Shop. Key Features:
- Product Catalog Sync: Automatically syncs your WooCommerce product catalog (including product information, images, and pricing) to your TikTok Shop.
- Order Management: Manages orders placed through TikTok Shop within your WooCommerce dashboard.
- Inventory Synchronization: Ensures accurate inventory levels across both platforms.
- TikTok Pixel Integration: Allows you to track conversions and analyze campaign performance.
These TikTok tools are powerful for WooCommerce stores.
Social Commerce on Etsy
- Shop Policies and Announcements: Utilize Etsy’s built-in tools to share shop announcements and updates with your followers on social media.
- Social Media Integration: Etsy allows you to connect your shop to your social media accounts, making it easy to share your listings and engage with potential customers.
- Etsy Ads: Run targeted ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to promote your Etsy shop and reach a wider audience.
- Community Engagement: Actively participate in relevant Etsy communities and social media groups to connect with potential customers and build brand awareness.
By leveraging these strategies, you can integrate social commerce trends into your chosen platform, expanding reach, increasing engagement, and driving sales.
But wait, there’s more.
Enter A.I.
AI-Powered Personalization
AI is revolutionizing the customer experience. AI algorithms can analyze customer data, such as browsing history, purchase history, and even social media activity, to provide highly personalized product recommendations. This level of customization enhances the shopping experience, increases customer satisfaction, and drives higher conversion rates. AI can also power chatbots that provide instant support, answer customer queries, and even assist with order tracking, freeing up human agents for more complex issues.
It’s likely too much to go into in this article, in fact, I’ve dedicated a full section on this blog about AI trends.
Just be sure to check the growing list of AI tools on each platform.
Live Shopping
Live shopping, inspired by platforms like TikTok and Instagram Live, allows businesses to interact with customers in real-time. During live streams, businesses can showcase products, answer questions, and offer exclusive deals, creating a dynamic and engaging shopping experience. Live shopping fosters a sense of community and allows for immediate feedback, making it a powerful tool for building relationships with customers.
Live Shopping on Shopify
Shopify’s live shopping feature lets merchants broadcast directly within their stores, with additional support for Facebook Live and Instagram Live, and marketing tools to promote events.
- Shopify Live: Shopify offers its own live shopping feature that allows you to broadcast live streams directly within your Shopify store.
- Third-Party Apps: Utilize Shopify’s app store to find apps that integrate with live streaming platforms like Facebook Live or Instagram Live.
- Marketing Integrations: Leverage Shopify’s marketing tools to promote your live shopping events through email, social media, and targeted ads.
Live Shopping Integrations with WordPress (WooCommerce)
WooCommerce (aka WordPress) has you covered if you’re utilizing Live Shopping for your store.
Here’s how.
- Plugins: Utilize plugins specifically designed for live shopping. These plugins may integrate with platforms like Facebook Live or Instagram Live, allowing you to broadcast directly from your website.
- Live Streaming Platforms: Integrate with external live streaming platforms like YouTube Live or Twitch. You can then embed the live stream within your WooCommerce store or promote it through social media and email marketing.
- Interactive Elements: Use plugins to add interactive elements to you webpage or blog post that has the embedded live stream. Consider tools such as comments, Q&A sessions, and product polls.
Best Ecommerce Platform for your Online Store
While each platform will claim to be the best ecommerce platform, the key is “best for you”.
I’d like to wrap up this guide with a handful of concluding questions that I use with clients when making this decision.
- Short-Term Goals. What do you want to achieve in your online store in the next 30 and 90 days? What does success look like in the next 3 years?
- Long-Term Goals. Do you have an exit plan? For example, sell the store to a bigger company, hand over management and become a passive owner, etc. Do you want to develop an affiliate strategy? Would you like to sell ad space?
- Traffic and Growth Strategy. What’s you’re traffic strategy? Do you have a competitive ad budget (see average PPC costs per industry)? Will you prioritize earned media over paid media?