There are a few things you should keep in mind when starting an online store. The following factors will help you decide which platform suits your needs perfectly.
Budget – The cost of starting a fully functional eCommerce store.
Ease of use – It should be easy to use even for beginners.
Payment Methods – It should offer support for multiple payment methods (PayPal, Stripe, other processors).
Integrations – A platform you opt out of should offer 3rd party tools and services you can integrate to grow your business as well as to manage some aspects of your business easily.
Scalability – The platform should be able to scale as your business grows.
These are basic requirements that all online store owners must consider. However, depending on your needs, you may also want to look at other options like shipping, inventory management, invoicing, taxes, dropshipping, etc.
Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform that makes it easy for you to create an online store, accept payments, and manage your inventory all from a single platform without worrying about the technical aspects of managing a website such as web hosting, security, caching, etc.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin built for WordPress. It allows you to leverage the most powerful content management system (CMS) and use it to run an online store. Because of the open-source nature, you can customize every aspect of your store and easily build custom extensions.
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is an eCommerce platform that allows you to create an online store. It allows you to set up your store, adds products, and make money through your website. It is designed to help you sell online. With tons of built-in features, data tools, and more, BigCommerce is best for large or fast-growing businesses.
What is Weebly?
Weebly is a no-frills platform that aims to help small businesses or one-man-band merchants get online easily and quickly. So it’s no surprise its eCommerce tools are not as comprehensive as Shopify’s.
| Shopify | WooCom | BigCom | Weebly |
Hosting | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
24/7 support | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
Multichannel integrations | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
3rd party integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Limitless customizations | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Scalability | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Beginner-friendly | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Shopify vs WooCommerce
This is a win for Shopify. Its key features are in-built, its themes just need to be populated with your content, and it’s easy to use. All-in-all, the set-up time with Shopify is a lot quicker than WooCommerce if you’re building an online store from scratch.
Shopify vs BigCommerce
Shopify wins because it has more users, but BigCommerce is more profitable, just about to go public, and growing lightning-fast. A million Shopify stores vs 90,000 BigCommerce stores means more developers, and that means more and better apps, themes, and solutions.
Shopify vs Weebly
Weebly is a cheaper alternative to Shopify. It’s an attractive option if you’re a small business or a merchant looking to sell a modest number of products. Shopify has all the tools you need to make your store succeed. Its sales tools are much more advanced than Weebly’s, but it also takes a bit more time and money to set up. Weebly is quick, easy, and cheap, whereas Shopify is powerful, professional, and a little more pricey.
Most common reasons for migrating to Shopify
I have an online store on Wix and I'd like to migrate to Shopify so I can add lots of new features.
I had an online store on Weebly and I migrated to Shopify because it opened up opportunities for the different sales channels. I was able to sell my products on Facebook, Instagram, and eBay, and all of that is managed from the backend of my Shopify store.
I migrated from BigCommerce to Shopify as my product list grew rapidly and I needed a platform that can support big products catalog as well as apps that can help us manage our workflows easily.
I used a store on WordPress and Buy buttons from Shopify, however, I realized that I have a low conversion rate like this, so I decided to migrate fully to Shopify and my conversion rate increased.
My biggest mistake was building a store on WooCommerce as I have 0 knowledge about programming and I constantly needed help from the developers. So, I decided to cut my monthly costs and migrated to Shopify, this saved me money.
I migrated to Shopify from WooCommerce as my best friend has a successful store on Shopify, while I was struggling with hiring trusted developers to help me out with integrations.