Ecommerce platform (Magento, Shopify etc) - which to choose?

[Aquarius909]

There are a lot of ecommerce platforms out there like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce etc but how can you decide which is the best for your business? I'm assuming they each have their relative strengths or weaknesses so is there someone out there who can look at your business and say that based on turnover, number of markets serviced, number of products etc then XYZ is the best platform?

In my business (small, niche market turning over circa £500k pa with about 20 products, currently with a UK & US website but ambition to build into other language markets) we use Magento 1.9 and we are now faced with the "stick or twist" decision of whether we upgrade to magenta 2.x or move to some other platform. Magento annoys me in several areas - and I can never quite tell whether it's a Magento issue or just the developer we use not knowing how to fix things, to be fair - but this doesn't mean the far away hills are greener. I'm sure Shopify or WooCommerce would have its irritations too.

Is there anyone out there who can impartial review our situation and make a recommendation? The trouble I find is developers are generally aligned to one or the other and therefore don't have a relative perspective. I'd like tome independent advice.

And, replying saying "we use XXX and it's great" doesn't help me either. I'm looking for independent, unbiased, reasoned analysis.

[DSLiverpool]

We are Shopify Plus and our main business is putting Magento 1.9 onto Shopify at present BUT it doesn't suit everyone.

If you look at crucial functionality you absolutely will not compromise on and can let me know I will honestly tell you if Shopify can do it. Also, advise what business you are in.

Shopify works best for D2C rather than B2B if you're using a template however if a custom-designed site that doesn't apply.

Costs - generally Shopify is cheaper to develop and ongoing costs are lower as it does not require updates, a server etc.

[ctrph]

I have a website that reviews ecommerce platforms, mainly aimed towards smaller/new ecommerce businesses but may still be worth a read.
https://www.ecommerce-gold.com/

Edited by ctrph on Friday 28th August 22:24

[MrSparks]

Aquarius909 said:

There are a lot of ecommerce platforms out there like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce etc but how can you decide which is the best for your business? I'm assuming they each have their relative strengths or weaknesses so is there someone out there who can look at your business and say that based on turnover, number of markets serviced, number of products etc then XYZ is the best platform?

In my business (small, niche market turning over circa £500k pa with about 20 products, currently with a UK & US website but ambition to build into other language markets) we use Magento 1.9 and we are now faced with the "stick or twist" decision of whether we upgrade to magenta 2.x or move to some other platform. Magento annoys me in several areas - and I can never quite tell whether it's a Magento issue or just the developer we use not knowing how to fix things, to be fair - but this doesn't mean the far away hills are greener. I'm sure Shopify or WooCommerce would have its irritations too.

Is there anyone out there who can impartial review our situation and make a recommendation? The trouble I find is developers are generally aligned to one or the other and therefore don't have a relative perspective. I'd like tome independent advice.

And, replying saying "we use XXX and it's great" doesn't help me either. I'm looking for independent, unbiased, reasoned analysis.

We were on Magento 1.9 for quite a few years, there were lots and lots of things I loved about it, and lots I didn't.

We initially moved to M2 but that didn't go too well so we made a late decision to move to Shopify.

There are so many things I love about Shopify (as do my team!) but a few things we don't like, as with anything.

Likes:

- Smart Phone App
- Reporting & Out Of The Box Ecom Analytics
- Send Basket / Quote Feature
- Ease Of Use & Sheer Speed Of Adding / Editing Anything
- Not Worrying About Security Or Servers
- Ease Of Changing Themes etc.
- Never (Hopefully) Seeing The White Screen Of Revenue Losing Death Again
- Not Wondering Whether The Checkout or Add To Cart Buttons Are Actually Working Or Not

Dislikes:

- Payment Fees If You Use A Third Party Provider (We Use Shop Pay which is good to be fair)
- Having To Do Some Work Arounds
- Using Paid Monthly Apps (Sometimes This Is Also A Major Like Though!)
- No multisite so we now have 3 separate Shopify stores. (They work well under one admin but you can't share products etc. We use Linnworks to sync stock)

Was It Right For Us?

Yes all day long.

For us, moving to Shopify was a blessing, we've got a freelance developer who has managed to achieve everything + more the last site did, mostly without apps. As DSLiverpool says you can do almost anything so technically there's not much you can't achieve. Metafields are your friend!! Often it's with a paid app which is not a great thing, but arguably developing these features would likely cost 10 years of app subscription anyway so it's not all bad....

It's easy, it's fast, it's secure, our site looks great without having spent tens of thousands on custom themes. We know we can get a custom theme done in the future too so the capability is there.

We're just under £1m /year at the minute so relatively small, will it be right when we're doing £10m /year? Not sure.. but I guess at that time we should have money to move if needed!!

Is It Right For You?

Probably.

I mean there's not much it can't do, unless you have really complex software.

If you have multiple store fronts then you'll either need to do a language/currency switch on one domain or you'll need two stores. So that's a bit annoying, but the pros will likely outweigh the cons.

I'd love all of our sites to be on one multi store again, but not if I lose the ease, speed, the app and the not-stressing over servers.

Ultimately, moving to Shopify has allowed us to focus on adding the right products and marketing which is helping us grow. I can't guarantee it'd be right fo you without knowing what you sell and what features you have but despite me being against hosted solutions for many years, I'm now a Shopify Advocate!

Feel free to message me and I'll send you links to our three stores so you can have a look, we sell technical kit and have added features such as product links, videos, downloads etc all without apps. Nothing groundbreaking but gives you an idea.

[MrSparks]

Oh yeah, we've got a WooCommerce store too.

Luckily it's a small brand site and we push most sales to our trade store which is on Shopify.

Which is good because WooCommerce is crap!

[akirk]

of the online offerings currently available, I would look at BigCommerce and Shopify, you can set up test stores on both, I would do that and have a play.

we use both for clients, and both have pros and cons, but both can be modified considerably if necessary... we have written integrations with external stock systems / admin systems / etc.

so try first...

[khushy]

ctrph said:

I have a website that reviews ecommerce platforms, mainly aimed towards smaller/new ecommerce businesses but may still be worth a read.
https://www.ecommercegold.co.uk/

Top work - we were with EKM now (since Jan 16) shopwired

Great site - well done

[ctrph]

khushy said:

Top work - we were with EKM now (since Jan 16) shopwired

Great site - well done

Cheers, that put a massive smile on my face.

There has been a lot of work that has gone in to the site but hopefully it will help people make an informed decision as some of the 'reviews' out there are just seem like a sales pitch to me.

How are you finding ShopWired?

[khushy]

ctrph said:

Cheers, that put a massive smile on my face.

There has been a lot of work that has gone in to the site but hopefully it will help people make an informed decision as some of the 'reviews' out there are just seem like a sales pitch to me.

How are you finding ShopWired?

Its a great platform straight out of the box - takes seconds to create a product - really simple - the uk support is awesome too - cheap as chips and it just works

Gets 10/10 from me for what it is