wordpress woocommerce or shopify for Ecommerce

[CT1212]

I have currently a wordpress ecommerce website, I designed the mock up version myself trying to focus on the branding, we have custom made tabs on the footer. However, I am getting a bit tired of all the ongoing maintence, such as updating the plugins regularly, optimising the website loading speed, sorting out the search function, changing the theme every few years, which costs money anyway. I don't mind paying the shopify monthly fee if it means I don't have to worry about the ongoing maintence such as updating plugins. Is it worth the while to migrate the website to Shopify? What are the pros and cons? And how much would be a reasonable cost to migrate the website to shopify keeping most of the design elements?Many thanks.

 

[fisicx]

Why just these two options?

You can automate all those WP updates and you shouldn’t need to pay for a theme.

Long term it’s going to cost you a lot more to run a Shopify site with far fewer options and reduced functionality. Plus you will lose what ever ranking you have got.

A far better option is to use a dedicated e-commerce platform like open cart. talk to @antropy

 

[lucanb]

You should definitely look for other options other than these two if you're thinking long-term. Something that has more functionalities AND is easy on the pocket.

 

[CT1212]

Why just these two options?

You can automate all those WP updates and you shouldn’t need to pay for a theme.

Long term it’s going to cost you a lot more to run a Shopify site with far fewer options and reduced functionality. Plus you will lose what ever ranking you have got.

A far better option is to use a dedicated e-commerce platform like open cart. talk to @antropy

Thank you for your suggestions. Could you pls let me know why opencart is better?

 

[fisicx]

Thank you for your suggestions. Could you pls let me know why opencart is better?

Because it’s a proper e-commerce platform.

Woocommerce is a plugin on a CMS. Performance is poor and needs a lot customisation to be any good.

Shopify is SaaS. You are tied to their platform with huge restrictions on what you can do.

Like I said, talk to @antropy - he’s the best person to show you the benefits of OpenCart.

 

[antropy]

Because it’s a proper e-commerce platform.

Woocommerce is a plugin on a CMS. Performance is poor and needs a lot customisation to be any good.

Shopify is SaaS. You are tied to their platform with huge restrictions on what you can do.

Like I said, talk to @antropy - he’s the best person to show you the benefits of OpenCart.

Thanks very much indeed for the recommendation @fisicx, and of course I agree with the above, essentially:

1. WordPress is not designed to be an ecommerce platform whereas that is OpenCart's raison d'être.

2. Shopify is becoming more and more popular, and while I'm a shareholder in Shopify, as a company we won't work with them. We've tried several times to do Shopify development and every time we realise our hands are tied - the system is so locked down we can't really do anything other than change front-end code. As serious developers that's no good for us.

3. OpenCart is still one of the best platforms as it's simple and has a great community of developers and a large number of extensions.

It sounds like a good WordPress freelancer or agency could take on the on-going maintenance for you though and potentially make management easier for you that way.

Paul.

 

[Phil Sproson Photography]

I've used basic Shopify in the past and it was faultless for my needs, it just did its job very well... costs can spiral if you need further integrations though. If you wanted to add some functionality that in Wordpress may be free, then in Shopify, you may find that the same can only be achieved via an app with a monthly charge... that is the downside.

On my photography site (Wordpress) I use ecwid which I am really happy with. Features such as anniversary of purchases emails, abandoned cart emails, etc... really help draw people back to the shop as I sell annually renewing products. Integrates well with Facebook and Instagram too.

 

[antropy]

in Shopify, you may find that the same can only be achieved via an app with a monthly charge... that is the downside.

We've often found that many things can't be achieved at all whatever the cost because certain code just cannot be changed even if you pay for Shopify Plus.

Paul.

 

[webhostuk]

We've often found that many things can't be achieved at all whatever the cost because certain code just cannot be changed even if you pay for Shopify Plus.

Paul.

I will surely avoid shopify if that's the case with paid version.

 

[antropy]

I will surely avoid shopify if that's the case with paid version.

Well, don't get me wrong, Shopify has its place - it all depends on whether you'll need to customise the functionality or not. If you don't need to then it's not a bad choice.

Paul.