What is Shopify?
Shopify is a web application that was developed with the express purpose of assisting merchants in the construction and launch of their very own online stores. If we were to answer the WordPress Vs Shopify debate in one extremely quick analysis, the best thing to do would be to determine if you are looking to run an online store.
Shopify enables businesses to sell both physical and digital goods, and it offers a variety of pre-designed layouts (called “themes”) that may be modified to match the specific branding requirements of individual companies.
Shopify grants users the ability to change the HTML and CSS of their websites, which means that users who are proficient in coding will have a greater degree of control over the appearance of their businesses.
Shopify is known as a “hosted” solution, which means everything operates on Shopify’s servers. Therefore, you need not bother about purchasing web hosting or installing software elsewhere; the concept behind this is that very much everything that you require to construct and manage your business will happen ‘out of the box.’
Shopify is a software as a service (SaaS) platform, which implies that you do not own a copy of the software but instead pay a monthly subscription to use it. This model is becoming increasingly popular among online retailers.
Because Shopify is a web application, it operates “in the cloud.” This means that you can manage your online store from any location as long as you have access to the Internet and a web browser.
What is WordPress?
You may utilise the simple content management system that is at the heart of WordPress to plan and schedule the publication of news material and blogs on your website. One of the reasons WordPress is so popular is that it allows users to select from a wide variety of add-ons, or plugins, to build nearly any kind of website they can imagine. WordPress can be completely open-source, meaning you can customise the functions, look and feel of your website in a holistic manner. WordPress websites are a fantastic solution for standard business websites that look to have optionality in the functions and design on an ongoing basis.
It can be used in a wide variety of situations, and it performs admirably. You can probably already imagine that there are a lot of distinctions between the two platforms, however, a fantastic feature of WordPress is that it is compatible with WooCommerce, a remarkable platform that makes it a lot simpler for you to open up your shop online. Now whilst WordPress is also a good solution for eCommerce, the arguments against using WordPress for eCommerce are that is less of a “full package solution” than Shopify is when it comes to purely online selling. It also is a lot more difficult to get your head around in the beginning if you are looking to start an online store with minimal website development knowledge. Furthermore, many developers argue that WordPress’ eCommerce functions are a lot more clunky and prone to need regular maintenance – leaving users with minimal development knowledge with a headache. However, if you are website savy, the sky is the limit with with WordPress as your online store.
We understand that there are many considerations to the WordPress VS Shopify debate. So we are going to break it down un further detail below.
The Benefits of using Shopify for your business
- It is simple to use
Shopify’s user-friendliness is one of the company’s many strengths. When you decide to move your company online, getting it up and running as quickly as possible should be your top priority. If you need to learn more skills only to get your firm online, then the goal has not been met. When you use Shopify, customising and launching your online business does not require you to go through any laborious steps. With this platform’s drag-and-drop interface, you can easily modify your business to look exactly as you want it to without lifting a finger.
- Support for Customers That Is Currently Available
It is nearly impossible to avoid hitting a rock when utilising any kind of technology. Shopify is aware of this fact. As a result, they have assembled a group of trustworthy individuals into support staff for their customers. In the event that you reach a stage where you are unable to proceed, Assistance is always available. Shopify provides a support team that is available at all hours of the day and night and can assist you whenever you need it. You may get in touch with them by calling their toll-free number, chatting with them live, or sending them an email.
- Multiple Payment Processor
There is no longer an issue with receiving payments through Shopify. Shopify now supports a variety of payment methods, some of which are provided by third-party platforms. The ability to execute transactions from your store domain in a quick and simple manner is one of the benefits of utilizing this function. This also means that you can market to a larger target audience and anyone, anywhere in the world.
- Provide Assistance to a Variety of E-Commerce Business Categories
If you sell products, do you operate as a drop shipper, retailer, or wholesaler? If not, do you sell digital products? Shopify is the best platform available no matter what kind of business you run since it allows you to take your company to the next level.
- Hosting and Informational Safety
Shopify is an independent platform that does not require the use of a host to function. In other words, it is a platform that the company completely hosts. Because Shopify handles its own infrastructure, no additional fees are associated with using the platform. Additionally, the platform is safe to use.
- Customisation
Shopify can assist you with the design of your store website from the ground up, but you may find that certain designs, templates, settings, and themes may not appeal to your personal preference. Because of this, customisation or editing may become necessary.
Through its user-friendly website builder, Shopify has made it simple to alter the appearance of pre-built themes and templates. You don’t need specialised knowledge to personalise your website when using this tool.
Negative aspects of Shopify
Difficulty Through the use of content marketing is equally as crucial to promoting your business as it is to establish your business. In addition, content marketing is an efficient method for reaching new audiences. Blogging, search engine optimisation, and creating material for social media platforms are all forms of content marketing. You are able to market your company using Shopify’s content marketing tool due to the platform’s adaptability, which enables you to do so.
- Only a Slight Amount of Customisation
Earlier on, we touched on the fact that Shopify is amenable to customisation. Sadly, there are some prerequisites and limitations that come with using this tool. In contrast to other platforms, Shopify uses its own Liquid system to customise themes, while those other platforms rely on PHP. One thing is certain: Web designers do not have a general familiarity with this piece of software. As a direct consequence of this, a sizeable proportion of users may find that the process of switching their themes presents them with some challenges. Or you might spend a large amount of time getting acquainted with the configuration of Liquid.
- There is no web-based email hosting available.
Shopify currently does not offer support for email hosting of any kind. As a direct consequence of this, the option of web hosting is the one and only choice open to you if you want to launch an online business. The good news is that in addition to the standard method, there is also another strategy that can be taken. You can have the emails that are sent to you by your customers sent to you and sent directly to your inbox by utilising an extension that is supplied by a third-party email hosting service.
The advantages of using a platform such as WordPress
A Content Management System That Is Straightforward to Use: WordPress, which originated in the realm of blogging, has developed into a robust content management system since its inception.
An administrator of a WordPress website may navigate the administrative portion of the website with relative ease, alter the pages, and add new content with relative ease as well. When using WordPress, which makes the process very simple, organising material does not require a large number of abilities in website administration because WordPress simplifies the procedure.
Plugins: WordPress users have access to over 54,000 plugins, the vast majority of which are free, while some are for a fee. Thanks to these plugins, you’ll be able to personalise and improve each WordPress site you use. There is a good probability that there is a plugin that will allow you to make the precise adjustments to the operation of your site that you require.
Search Engine Optimisation: The significance of using SEO best practices has reached an all-time high. WordPress does a great job of promoting these best practices, which is an important aspect of its mission. You may improve your content, meta tags, keyword focus, and a lot more with the assistance of one of the many available SEO plugins.
Adaptive: There are thousands of themes to choose from while using WordPress. When it comes to reliability in being responsive, these themes, in general, are quite dependable. The user experience (UX) needs to have a website that is compatible with mobile devices and maintains its appearance across all devices. WordPress is an excellent platform in regards to creating websites that meet these requirements.
Why WordPress isn’t necessarily the best option in every situation (and what to do in that case)
- Updates: Maintaining your WordPress site’s health requires regularly installing updates, which can be a headache if the process is not carefully planned out. WordPress themes with a premium price tag receive frequent updates and improvements. These updates are necessary to ensure that WordPress websites continue to have adequate levels of security. It’s possible that updates will cause some minor issues on a website; in that case, you could have to roll back to an earlier version of WordPress.
- Vulnerability: WordPress is likely to be targeted by cybercriminals because it operates on an open-source platform. Always evaluate the quality of a WordPress plugin before installing it, and do so with extreme caution. Another method to reduce the likelihood of this risk occurring is to be aware when selecting plugins and themes for your WordPress website.
- Performance: Several themes have an excessive amount of needless generic code. Because of this, the speed of the site may drop, resulting in longer load times. Without prior familiarity with WordPress, it might be difficult to grasp what code you require and what code you can do without on your website.
- Personalisation: We all hate to spend money on personalisation because it can quickly become very pricey.
In contrast to the majority of other drag-and-drop website builders on the market, WordPress is a very adaptable platform. On the other hand, this can be a problem for you if you aren’t familiar with WordPress and didn’t hire a specialist to build your website for you. As was just discussed, changing the core WordPress software could potentially cause some issues on your website that would need to be fixed by a developer.
We hope this article has made the debate of Wordpress VS Shopify clearer for you. We understand that there are numerous considerations. However if you wish to speak to an expert about what website platform will be most suitable for your business, feel free to get in touch.
At DotMD, not only do we have extensive knowledge of WordPress and Shopify, but we also make that knowledge and those skills readily available to our clients. If you seek professional deals to make your operations run more smoothly and produce more results, reach out to us to have a chat about your business and it’s requirements. We employ both platforms, so your needs will be met here.