Is Shopify better than Prestashop etc?

[anonuk]

Looking to get a new ecommerce store up and running within the next month. It'll have about 1,000 products for sale. Having always used Prestashop up to now (as a web developer in a past life), that would be my go to, but just wondering if Shopify will get me up and running quicker, and is Shopify more robust than a self hosted system?

 

[Solve My Problem]

100%, I always avoided Shpoify as it seemed an expensive option. I always hosted my own platforms using everything from oscommerce to magento. Always coding custom solutions.

Since then I have migrated all our own retail platforms to Shopify as well as migrated clients from WooCommerce.

No security headaches, high conversion, a lot of features can be modified.

You will need a premium theme, you will have to make some sacrifices, there will be things you can't do that you will want to do and won't understand why you can't.

But done properly it's a high converting, decent ecommerce platform.

 

[anonuk]

Thanks. Have also looked at EKM as they are U.K. based but I must admit I like the fact that shopify links so well with things like Facebook and Instagram.

 

[Solve My Problem]

I don't have personal experience of EKM but have had clients who tried them and moved away.

Shopify on the whole works, their API's are powerful to allow a lot of interaction if that's your thing. Liquid is pretty powerful and with Online 2 due out this year that will get even more powerful.

I had to make some really heavy modifications to a client site using a premium theme and was able to get everything needed without too much trouble.

Theme upgrades should be easier moving forward as well.

 

[WebshopMechanic]

I've heard EKM is a good platform with awful customer service.

Speak to the chaps at @antropy about Open Cart. Cheaper than Shopify and can be customised. They can also advise on the social integration side.

Matt

 

[anonuk]

I've heard EKM is a good platform with awful customer service.

Speak to the chaps at @antropy about Open Cart. Cheaper than Shopify and can be customised. They can also advise on the social integration side.

Matt

I’m quite experienced at coding and have used Open Cart in the past.

If I was going to self host a site, I think I’d stick with prestashop so wouldn’t be interested in Open Cart at the moment.

 

[Solve My Problem]

DM me if you want to see how the customised code goes, it's logic based

You generally don't need plugins for most things especially if you are experienced.

 

[WebShopAssist]

I've setup many stores on Shopify and I highly recommend it.
Only the peace of mind of not having to manage the infrastructure is worth the cost.
They do it well. It's robust and they invest a lot in developing the platform.
All the improvements are just becoming available in your store with no effort for you. For me, that's another big advantage over hosting your own platform.

 

[antropy]

Speak to the chaps at @antropy about Open Cart. Cheaper than Shopify and can be customised. They can also advise on the social integration side.

Thanks very much Matt.

Shopify is quick and easy and robust if you want a site up quickly without any back-end functionality customisation.

OpenCart is our favourite but Prestashop is also a great choice. Most of the others such as Magento are to be avoided!

Paul.

 

[anonuk]

Out of interest, does the fact that Shopify servers are overseas have any SEO impact on UK websites? I know this used to be a big thing but I've been out of the game for a while now.

I have ready a lot of reviews of Shopify and the amount of people that believe their websites have high conversion due to the fact they are using Shopify is beyond me, but I do like the idea of not having to worry about my web hosting server being hacked, etc.

 

[Solve My Problem]

Out of interest, does the fact that Shopify servers are overseas have any SEO impact on UK websites? I know this used to be a big thing but I've been out of the game for a while now.

makes no difference, I moved a high ranking magneto site to Shopify with no SEO loss.

Shopify is a huge platform and from googles perspective it knows that. I suspect it gives it a boost albeit small due to the fact that it's a trusted platform and as such is less likely to be hacked etc..

Shopify is never fast but it doesn't hurt conversions.

I have ready a lot of reviews of Shopify and the amount of people that believe their websites have high conversion due to the fact they are using Shopify is beyond me, .....

I am sure there is some truth here as above as well as due to the way the themes work generally, less hacky and more focused. The fast checkout will increase conversions which in turn decreases bounce rate. It's all interconnected.

We ran a brand new stock + domain last year and picked up 2k a month in sales within 6 weeks without even listing the domain anywhere. Traffic/visitors found the site with zero interaction from us.

It's far from perfect, I work on Shopify every week and want to cry some times but it's now my goto platform for clients.

 

[antropy]

I like Adobe Photoshop more than any editing software.

 

[anonuk]

I like Adobe Photoshop more than any editing software.

I'm so pleased you signed up to the forum just to share that useful nugget of information

 

[SaveCo Online Ltd]

Hello people.

New to the forum, so just thought I'd add my 2-pence worth to the discussion.

We're an online grocery delivery start-up and after having evaluated Magento, Woocommerce, Ecwid, Squarespace and Shopify - we settled on Shopify for offering the best overall service and value.

We evaluated the following (in no particular order):

• Annual cost (We paid Shopify upfront for a year)
• Flexibility and bespoke features
• Level of coding required
• 3rd party app support
• Forums/community support
• Ease of use
• UX/UI and aesthetics

So in all but one of the above factors, Shopify came out top. The only thing it was beaten in was flexibility and bespoke features, for which we concluded Magento was the best option. But like most start-ups, we felt in our first 12-18 months at least, we wouldn't need the detailed level of bespoke features that would be needed perhaps once we were pretty well established.

So far, aside from a few teething errors and the occasional software bug, we're quite happy with Shopify but as with all software, you always wish things could be smoother/faster and less buggy.

Will keep the forum posted with updates in the future.

Regards
Naz Hussain
SaveCo Online

 

[antropy]

we concluded Magento was the best option.

Oh dear, you didn't do very thorough research then did you?

Paul.

 

[SaveCo Online Ltd]

Oh dear, you didn't do very thorough research then did you?

Paul.

LOL, what do you mean? We thought we had! What obvious thing did we miss out?

EDIT: Oh I see you mean with regards to me saying that for bespoke features, Magento was the best option. Well, I may be inclined to agree that we didn't do thorough research in this aspect, since overall Shopify was still the best option so it didn't matter much in the grand scheme.

 

[antropy]

LOL, what do you mean? We thought we had! What obvious thing did we miss out?

EDIT: Oh I see you mean with regards to me saying that for bespoke features, Magento was the best option. Well, I may be inclined to agree that we didn't do thorough research in this aspect, since overall Shopify was still the best option so it didn't matter much in the grand scheme.

Indeed, most developers agree that Magento is an absolute bloated beast of a piece of software and incredibly difficult to work with. Because of the complexity it requires a beast of a server too.

More info here: https://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/the-lure-of-magento/

Paul.

 

[SaveCo Online Ltd]

Aah, I see. Honestly, we never really got beyond a mere superficial comparison between Shopify and Magento. We concluded that for the substantial increase in annual cost, the added benefits of flexibility lent by Magento were a bit of an overkill for us in the start-up phase.

I also was a bit confused with Magento's status - originally I thought it was open source but understand it's since been acquired by Adobe. So I'm guessing it's more of a proprietary solution now any way.

 

[antropy]

the added benefits of flexibility lent by Magento were a bit of an overkill for us in the start-up phase.

And Magento is only flexible if you're prepared to pay a lot for development because it's so complex everything takes much longer and costs more.

I also was a bit confused with Magento's status - originally I thought it was open source but understand it's since been acquired by Adobe. So I'm guessing it's more of a proprietary solution now any way.

Last time I checked (which was a few years ago) there was a free and open source Community Edition (CE) and a massively expensive paid edition.

Anyway, I agree Shopify is great if you don't need much customisation. If you do then look at OpenCart or Prestashop because they're both great platforms and both much, much easier to work with - and therefore cheaper in development cost - than Magento.

Paul.

 

[SaveCo Online Ltd]

Cheers Paul. I'm sure at some point in the not too distant future we'll outgrow Shopify (the main bug bear being the seemingly endless need to use third party apps to achieve the functionality we require but I assume it's the same for most platforms) and at that point we'll be researching better alternatives.

 

[antropy]

Cheers Paul. I'm sure at some point in the not too distant future we'll outgrow Shopify (the main bug bear being the seemingly endless need to use third party apps to achieve the functionality we require but I assume it's the same for most platforms) and at that point we'll be researching better alternatives.

The problem is, even using apps, many things can't be done in Shopify.

And of course Shopify apps are all monthly subscriptions whereas extensions for something like OpenCart are a one-off free of perhaps $20 or $30.

I mean don't get me wrong, with my investor hat on, I have a lot of Shopify shares - it has its place and it will do well. But with my developer hat on, it's restrictive, locked down and impossible to work with.

Paul.

 

[SaveCo Online Ltd]

I've had a quick browse on the opencart website. Just to humour me for comparison sake, what would it typical cost for a year? To give you an idea of what we're dealing with, please see our site. I can't post the link as I'm new here but you can see it in our logo.

Regards
Naz

 

[antropy]

I've had a quick browse on the opencart website. Just to humour me for comparison sake, what would it typical cost for a year? To give you an idea of what we're dealing with, please see our site. I can't post the link as I'm new here but you can see it in our logo.

Good questions, I see the site https://savecobradford.co.uk/ and it's nicely made.

On OpenCart you'd have the initial build cost which might be between £5k and £10k and then the hosting cost which would depend on how busy the site is but could be anything from £5/month for shared hosting to £300/month for your own server.

Plus you'd need to have a developer/freelancer on hand to help you with things as and when needed.

Paul.

 

[SaveCo Online Ltd]

On OpenCart you'd have the initial build cost which might be between £5k and £10k and then the hosting cost which would depend on how busy the site is but could be anything from £5/month for shared hosting to £300/month for your own server.

Plus you'd need to have a developer/freelancer on hand to help you with things as and when needed.

Hmm. We'd probably opt for own server, if we were to go down this route. I did read some comments from other forums about OpenCart being quite slow in comparison to others.

In any case, the cost does seem quite comparable. And I'm still not sure about any of the third party apps and functionality that we've integrated into the site from a compatibility or optimisation point of view. Very interesting.

 

[antropy]

Hmm. We'd probably opt for own server, if we were to go down this route.

That is the best way if the budget is there.

I did read some comments from other forums about OpenCart being quite slow in comparison to others.

No idea where that comes from as it's just not true. Simple code is pretty much always the fastest code.

In any case, the cost does seem quite comparable. And I'm still not sure about any of the third party apps and functionality that we've integrated into the site from a compatibility or optimisation point of view.

Feel free to take a look at the extensions that are available: https://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=marketplace/extension

Paul.

 

[anonuk]

Just to update the thread, I've decided to stick with Prestashop.

When weighing up the options, I just couldn't justify spending money on Shopify to have a more restricted store, especially as has already been mentioned, all the plugins are monthly subscriptions so even though one of the plugins we purchased for Prestashop cost around £180, it's a one off fee vs £10+ every month for the life of the website.

 

[antropy]

Just to update the thread, I've decided to stick with Prestashop.

When weighing up the options, I just couldn't justify spending money on Shopify to have a more restricted store, especially as has already been mentioned, all the plugins are monthly subscriptions so even though one of the plugins we purchased for Prestashop cost around £180, it's a one off fee vs £10+ every month for the life of the website.

I think that's a good decision.

Paul.

 

[dx3webs]

It is worth adding that a fully managed VPS can run Open Cart like a rocket for a fraction of a dedicated server.. and that a managed dedicated server can cost a lot less than 300 quid.

 

[swaps]

It may just be me but I have search for these stores and never found were to go to see what for sale. I am an experienced internet user so anyone with no experience will have any chance of finding your store on there unless you give them a link.

Looking to get a new ecommerce store up and running within the next month. It'll have about 1,000 products for sale. Having always used Prestashop up to now (as a web developer in a past life), that would be my go to, but just wondering if Shopify will get me up and running quicker, and is Shopify more robust than a self hosted system?

 

[Trisha&ChrisPlant]

I was under the impression that updates on Open Cart were very few and far between and it was slowly being overtaken by WordPress. At least that was the advice I was given about a year ago, and seemed to be backed up by reading on their support forum.

 

[Pish_Pash]

i was on prestashop...it was ok (ish), but that back end office was intolerably slow...i've since migrated to bigcommerce (i couldn't stand the thought of shopify skimming a percentage of my sales)...no complaints.

 

[Trisha&ChrisPlant]

i couldn't stand the thought of shopify skimming a percentage of my sales

Yes, that is why I would never go with Shopify or other similar platforms.

 

[Tigris]

I have a shopify store which I found quite easy to setup. Just working on the SEO now to drive organic traffic.

 

[swaps]

I have a shopify store which I found quite easy to setup. Just working on the SEO now to drive organic traffic.

so how does anyone fine your store ?

 

[Tigris]

so how does anyone fine your store ?

Social media

 

[fisicx]

so how does anyone fine your store ?

Marketing. There are a whole load of ways to drive traffic that don't rely on search engines.

 

[AW-UK]

I would personally go for OpenCart or WordPress with WooCommerce, both PHP based so easily modifiable, quite a lot of plugins etc for them, both have free offerings, easy to install, mostly easy to maintain, you can try them both for free, you might be able to find an online demo, or just download something like XAMPP and try them locally.

I find that whenever I (which is not very often these days but used to do a good number of them a few years ago) install a webshop for someone I have my laptop with both installed locally and get the customer to try them both out and see which one they prefer, if they require something that isn't available then it isn't a massive deal to make a plugin for either, or find someone who can.

 

[swaps]

Marketing. There are a whole load of ways to drive traffic that don't rely on search engines.

Sound rather silly to know the name of shopify but its not fully understood how you find the shops to buy from. Im no technophobe. Can you imagine ebay if all results for it were removed from the internet ? the site would die eventually

 

[fisicx]

Run an targeted advert on FB/IG and you will get lots of visitors ready to convert. Get their email address and market directly with new products and offers. No need to go anywhere near the search engines. Many people now use SM to look for products instead of Google.

 

[UKOnlineServices]

Shopify is quite good for shops with limited number of products. Currently, filtering products is still a headache on Shopify, so if you're looking to sell a wide range of products with many properties (for example electrical supplies) Shopify might be painful. Also, unless you buy Shopify Plus subscription (2k USD per month) you won't be able to customize your checkout. The standard Shopify checkout is actually pretty good, but some businesses require a bit more customisation. Having said that, the peace of mind of not having to deal with hosting, payments and security is very nice.