What's best for your online store? Shopify or WordPress!

Now a days online trade has become a way of life, be it purchasing or selling.Not just shopping but online shopping in itself has come a long way from the time when it was introduced, which was about 40 years ago . It all started with a basic connection of a TV, a transaction-processing computer that was linked to a telephone cable, now e-shopping can be done just in a few clicks from anywhere and at any time! Thanks to software like WordPress and Shopify. But they weren’t the first ones to come into the market...

Amazon came up with the first e-commerce software in 1995 only for book sales, after which in 1998 PayPal launched as the sole e-payment system to support online transactions. Then came Ali Baba and the others. Having a dedicated marketplace wasn’t just it! E-commerce platforms started coming into the picture that hosted multiple online stores and sellers, all under one roof. This happened with the launch of Shopify in 2004 after which WordPress too, introduced a plug-in supporting e-commerce development in 2011.

Now there’s an entire plethora of e-commerce software and apps you can choose from to get your online business sailing smooth.

Let’s have a look at the top e-commerce tech of 2021

• Shopify
• WordPress (WOOCommerce)
• Magento
• BigCommerce
• SalesForce
• SquareSpace
• Wix
• PrestaShop
• Template Monster
• 3D Cart.

We shall not go on and on about the different e-commerce solutions available. Rather we dive into the top 2 and help you make the right choice for your online store! What’s it going to be Shopify or WordPress!

Let the battle begin!

First up let’s have a look at Shopify, the veteran stand-alone e-commerce dedicated solution!

Shopify is a SaaS cloud based platform that allows you to set up an online store or even carry out sales in person with its POS. The user-base of Shopify has crossed over a million across the world. Today it is the choicest eCommerce software available, suited to all types of business. It follows a monthly subscription format, offering a wide range of plans and features to choose from. What more? It has extensive plug-ins and integrations so that you can amp up your online store’s performance. Sounds quite a bit like WordPress! But there’s a difference!

We all know that each software has its own methodology and purpose to fulfill. Similarly the difference between Shopify and WordPress development lies in the design and the benefits it gets you!

Now we shall start-off with the process of Shopify development!

1. First off you must go to their website and sign-up, take the free-trial to get going with the setup.
2. Name your store
3. Give out your personal details as asked
4. Fill the business related details as required
5. Click ‘i’m done’ once you finish this
6. Let’s begin setting up your store

Once you’re done with the signing up, you will be redirected to the store admin screen. Start uploading products, customizing your store and setting up payment and shipping options as per your business requirement.

Now comes the designing of your online store

Shopify has its own theme store, so you can choose your theme/layout from there. You can go for the simplistic free designs or the innovative paid ones. It’s your choice! All of these are backed with a list of tweaks you can give to your store. So there's no requirement of coding for development!!

Let’s go on with the editing

Shopify themes make even simple changes look massive, so the appearance of your online store stays immersive. To edit, just go to your admin screen and click on ‘Themes’ from the navigation menu on the left.

The ‘Themes Page’ will display your theme in a box at the top, on the right there are two buttons namely ‘Actions’ and ‘Customize’ . If you choose ‘Actions’ you will see the basic changes according to the settings done earlier, you can also make a duplicate, in case of second thoughts.

When you select ‘Customize’ , there will be a redirect on the page, controlling your store’s basic functionality. You can upload logos, carousel, related items, select product display quantity, color schemes and font choices. You can also re-position and add social proofing.

Time to add the products to your Shopify store

Select ‘Products’ from the left and click on ‘Add a Product’ . In the next screen you can start adding product details such as name, description and URL. Remember to keep it Search Engine Optimised! Now upload images and arrange them as you like. Now click on ‘Save Product’ in the right corners. You can make collections of your products manually or automatically, setting up the selection conditions.

All’s done, get on with the payment gateway

Go to settings and click on ”Payments” and integrate the payment partner you choose, Stripe, Shopify’s very own, Shopify Payments or the vintage PayPal. You can also add the option of card usage, debit, credit or smart. You can also enable offsite payment check-out for authenticated and secure payments.

It’s all set! Now you just need to give a few more personal, taxation and shipping details by going to settings, ‘Product Page' and ‘Shipping Page’ respectively.

Wait!

Don't forget to test your order system before going live!

Use Shopify’s Bogus Gateway for this.

Go to Settings then Payments, go to the accept credit cards section after deactivating the previously enabled credit card gateway. Now, choose Select A Credit Card gateway, then Other and finally Bogus gateway. Now reactivate the deactivated credit card gateway and go live!

That was the entire Shopify development procedure.

Let's glimpse through the benefits!

• Multi-channel support
• Flexible to the digital and the physical world
• Smart integration
• Abandoned Checkout recovery
• Effortless and smart set-up
• Highly secure and reliable
• Auto-responsive
• In-built SEO and marketing
• Great Speed
• Blogging functionality
• 24/7 customer support
• Larger than life payment options

That was about Shopify

Now let’s have a look at WordPress!

WordPress is a free, open-source content management system. It was introduced as a blogging platform but with the continuous upgrades it had become a feature-rich CMS. The software is backed by PHP scripting language, supporting the MySQL and MariaDB database. It is very simple to set-up your online solutions with WordPress, that’s why it’s a choice of over a million users across the world. You can create not just blogs but also websites, portfolios, e-newspapers and even the concept of the hour,e-commerce websites.

Here’s how you can create a WordPress e-commerce website effortlessly!

First you must choose a domain name for your site and select a website host.

Now install WordPress & setup and run the WooCommerce plug-in .

Once the plug-in is installed click on ‘WooCommerce’ on the left , then you will be redirected to a setup page. Just provide all the details required step by step. All will be in WordPress default theme. Once you are done with this you can look up the store setup checklist to know what’s left to be done step by step.

Let’go on and set up the currency aspects, taxation and shipping details from the WooCommerce settings panel.

Time to build the WordPress store!

Unlike Shopify, in WordPress it's not just about adding products, you need to create pages first like Homepage, About page, Contact page, FAQ page and whatever pages you require with the desired content.

Now add the products

Click on WooCommerce, select ‘Add Products’ and click on ‘Start With A Template’. Fill in the product name and main product description. In the central product data section you can add the types of the products you are adding. You can also add short descriptions, product categories, tags and images.

Now click on ‘Publish’.

Now you can add other products and complete the store setup.

You can further customize the shop by clicking on the ‘Customize’ button to make it user-friendly. This will open up endless WordPress possibilities that you can add to your website such as widgets, plug-ins themes and extensions. You can choose among different display choices from the WooCommerce Product Catalog, also add cart and checkout page.

Now finally as we know WooCommerce is a WordPress extension you can also add other extensions to your website for greater performance such as Yoast, MailChimp, FaceBook, Google Ads, payment gateways, WooCommerce Bookings, WooCommerce Subscriptions and many more.

Launch your WordPress store!

We’ll have a quick glance through the benefits of a WooCommerce store!

• Expansive customization
• Vast theme, plug-in & extension library
• SEO friendly
• Free of cost
• Multiple user access
• In-built blogging
• Established and growing community
• Appealing aesthetics
• In-built and downloadable cross promotion and marketing tools
• Negligible coding
• Analytical reporting

This was all for the day about the two e-commerce maestros. Now it's up to you to decide which one to go for. It all depends on your business requirement.

Do you require robust e-commerce development services?

We’ve got you covered!

TRooInbound is a well-established web design and development agency. We have the right blend of marketing gurus and web development professionals, highly devoted to every task they take. The professionals are known for applying insights from their in-depth experience of working with diverse clientele across different industry concerns. We not only excel at building cutting-edge WordPress and Shopify ecommerce platforms but also the new-age HubSpot development services such as blog development, landing page development, email template development, infographic development and migration services!