Selling products without buying in bulk, without keeping and managing stocks and without making large investments. It is possible with dropshipping, which has made this online business model extremely popular.
There are several ecommerce platforms that make this easy, but which one is the most suitable? In this blog we give you insights into the pros and cons of Shopify and WooCommerce.
Shopify or WooCommerce?
Both platforms are extremely popular among webshop owners. In this blog we tell you the difference in price, functionalities, different tools and the necessary knowledge and experience to use the platforms.
The price
Right now, Shopify has four different plans: Basic Shopify ($29 per month), Shopify ($79 per month), Shopify Advanced ($299 per month), or Shopify Plus (starting at $2,000 per month).
In many cases, the Shopify Basic plan offers everything you need to start dropshipping. With this subscription you can use a wide selection of free or paid themes, so you don't have to make a design or need technical knowledge to start a webshop.
Hosting
Wordpress/WooCommerce is an open source platform, which is completely free to use. That sounds appealing, but running an online store in WooCommerce involves costs that are already included with Shopify.
For example, you have to arrange your web hosting in WooCommerce yourself. A hosting package easily costs 15 euros per month (excluding domain name).
For dropshipping you often need a better package than the cheapest package: you want to automate processes and maintain your website speed when you get a lot of traffic to your website. Sufficient server capacity is required for this.
With Shopify, hosting is included in the monthly costs that you pay. Shopify's hosting is known for being very reliable. Do you have a Basic Shopify plan of $29 per month, and do you want to offer thousands of visitors at the same time on your webshop a good experience? With Shopify's hosting, that's no problem at all.
The conclusion? The monthly costs for Shopify and WooCommerce are very close to each other.
Setting up your webshop
Shopify offers everyone the opportunity to easily and quickly set up a webshop, without technical knowledge. WooCommerce is open source and is suitable for entrepreneurs with knowledge of web hosting, web design and web development.
On both platforms, the sign-up process is fairly simple: you register an account, verify your email address and you can get started right away. In WordPress you still need to link your hosting and install the WooCommerce plugin.
Do you want to get started quickly, without too much technical knowledge? Then Shopify is the most suitable for you.
Dropshipping Apps & Automation
Both platforms offer ample possibilities in the use of Dropshipping Apps or plugins. There are plenty of dropshipping apps available in Shopify, including our GOGETTERS app. There are fewer of these in WooCommerce, but there are also ample opportunities to start dropshipping there.
How well these apps perform in WooCommerce again depends on your hosting.
Importing products and automating inventory updates, order processing and automatically sending Track & Trace are all processes that use your server capacity: something you don't have to worry about in Shopify.
Marketing
Shopify clearly puts a lot of effort into making online marketing tools available. For example, Shopify has built-in integrations with the most popular marketing platforms such as Facebook, Google and marketplaces such as eBay.
In addition to the built-in tools developed by Shopify itself, there is also a huge range of apps in the Shopify App Store that can help you with online marketing. In addition to these tools, Shopify offers an extensive Analytics dashboard, essentially making analytic tools like Google Analytics obsolete.
Everything in one dashboard and environment? Choose Shopify.
Within WooCommerce you need different plugins to help you with online marketing. These plugins do not come from the developer of WooCommerce itself and can affect the website speed of your website.
An advantage of WooCommerce is that you determine your URL structure yourself. In Shopify you are stuck with a certain structure. For example, a product always has the subfolder /products/ in the URL. This also applies to collections, blogs and the checkout.
Do you like easy, effective and user-friendly marketing tools? Then use Shopify. Do you want to be able to customize a bit more and do you have the knowledge for it? Then choose WooCommerce.
Customer service
Wordpress/WooCommerce does not have dedicated support. It is not possible to ask someone from Wordpress or WooCommerce questions. WooCommerce does have a huge community, where you can share your questions on forums and platforms. Experienced WooCommerce developers often help you with your questions.
On the other hand, Shopify has a 24/7 support desk. Shopify can be reached by phone, email, and live chat. Would you like to have a question beacon available when you start your webshop? Then Shopify is the right choice.
At GOGETTERS you can always use our support. It doesn't matter whether you have your webshop in WooCommerce or in Shopify. We are happy to help you.
The best choice?
The best choice for a dropshipping webshop depends on several factors. We always advise starting entrepreneurs to start in Shopify.
Do you have extensive technical knowledge? Then you have a little more options in WooCommerce.
Do you want ease of use, fast customer service and a very reliable system for your webshop? Choose Shopify.