Ecommerce platforms are an essential to any business selling products and services online. But which is right for you? The most popular ecommerce platforms on the market today are Magento and Shopify, powering over three-quarter of a million websites between them globally.
Why choose Shopify?
Shopify is ideal for smaller businesses who are starting to sell online. Offering monthly prices ranging from $9 to $299 (and transaction fees of up to 2.2% added if using external gateways), it provides a simple, all-in-one solution.
Unlike Magento, Shopify’s ease of use is great for those who plan on singularly managing their site and are not so tech-savvy.
Although Shopify revolves around its easy ready-made themes, they only offer 10 freely. These templates won’t offer a unique and consistent theme with your brand.
Custom Capabilities
Overall, Shopify appears a cheaper and an easier way to sell online due to fewer themes and templates to choose between, but few options might work better for those who are indecisive.
Although you won’t have a unique template that’s consistent with your brand, Shopify does allow for easy customisation of fonts, colours etc. through their theme editor.
Setup
When it comes to setting up, because no real technical knowledge is required it seems easier, but users have said some technical knowledge is required albeit not as much as Magento. It’s not as simple to ask a developer (who often knows HTML and CSS) to set up Shopify, Shopify has their own coding language called ‘Liquid’ and requires a Shopify Expert.
Summary
Shopify, is a simple and easy way for even the most inexperienced technical user to set up an ecommerce platform. With easiest comes limitations, you won’t be able to customise your site to how to really want to look, but this may what you want if you’re just starting out.
Why choose Magento?
One of the biggest perks that Magento offers is the flexibility it gives in the design of your store. No business wants to blend into the crowd, and with Magento, yours doesn’t have to. There are no limitations as to how you can design your store online, so web-developers can have a field day to steer away from every generic ecommerce site out there and make it as personal and appropriate to your business as you want.
Time is of the essence
Perfection takes time, and that’s very true of Magento. To take full advantage of Magento, time will be needed to be invested to allow a web developer to get exactly the look, feel and functionality your business deserves.
Added Value
When it comes to apps and add-ons for your site, Magento is the hands down winner, with over 5,000 free and paid for. That’s in comparison to Shopify’s 100 available apps and add-ons.
Unlike Shopify, Magento offers various in-built facilities, such as multi-lingual support, providing a great opportunity for businesses working globally, and blogging facilities for any sites that are eager to keep their users up-to-date and give their SEO that extra boost.
Summary
Magento websites are costlier than websites similar to Shopify so aren’t often used for small businesses, but for medium to large business, they’re ideal. For a flexible and unique way to sell online, you’ll need to employ a digital marketing company who have certified Magento developers. Once they’ve built your ecommerce site, they will be able to explain and offer videos on how to use your ecommerce for even the most inexperienced.
Conclusion
It’s clear that both platforms have great benefits for different reasons; Shopify being great for start-up businesses who want a simple means of selling their products and services online, and Magento allowing for business' who require a more sophisticated platform that doesn't have any limitations.
If you think your business needs a bespoke built Magento ecommerce site, be sure to get in touch with us here at Clear. We’re Magento certified & specialised and offer the very best in design and functionality of Magento ecommerce sites.
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