How to choose the right platform for your e-business

Woo Commerce v/s Shopify v/s Bigcommerce

If you are a business owner, and you do not know which eCommerce platform to choose for your business, you are not alone. There are thousands of businesses who are indecisive of their platform choice. Nevertheless, it is a very crucial stage in the e-store development journey.

Woo Commerce, Shopify and Big commerce, all are top and compatible eCommerce platforms. You must know each platform’s features, pros and cons and how-tos in order to choose the right platform for frictionless compatibility with your business.

You don’t have enough time to research all of the platforms and assess their comparison? Don’t worry, we have got you!

Here is everything you need to know about all three amazing platforms for your online store.

Brief Description:

WooCommerce

Woo Commerce is a WordPress plugin. An already existing WordPress website is converted into an eCommerce website by installing and setting up the Woo Commerce plugin.

It is open-source, which makes it accessible to everyone and gives it a higher capability of customization than Shopify and Big Commerce.

Shopify

Shopify is a full-package solution for an eCommerce store. It is rich with features like payment gateways and inventory management and is considered the quickest and easiest way to start an e-store.

Its built-in tools and user-friendly potential technical pressure of managing the website, its customization, and integration.

BigCommerce

Like Shopify, it is also an all-rounder with unending attributes related to an eCommerce store. It has impressive payment processing options; best suited for businesses.

BigCommerce provides services on a subscription basis. Its starter templates, WYSIWYG editors, enables you to edit your e-store according to your own preferences.

Things To Consider While Choosing An eCommerce Platform

You are suggested to look into each of the eCommerce platforms before choosing one for your online business. Choosing the wrong platform may cost you a lot of your time, or resources that you may not want.

These are the things that help you choose the right type of platform for your e-store.

Investment:

What can you invest in your e-store? The initial cost for each platform varies. Choose a platform according to your budget.

User-friendliness:

You should go for a more easy-to-use platform if you are a beginner, especially when you do not have any developers in your team.

Integrations:

The platform’s ability to integrate tools from other plugins, extensions/apps or any third-party tools when it comes to your e-business expansion.

Scalability:

The platform that you are choosing, make sure that it scales with your business as it grows and expands.

Support:

From the scale of 1 to 10, how much support do you need for your e-store? Although all of the platforms provide support services but the nature and support provider differs. So choose wisely!

Platform Comparison

Comparison on the basis of	WooCommerce	Shopify	BigCommerce
Cost	Domain Name: $14.99 SSL Certificate: $69.99 WordPress Hosting Account: $7.99/month Fee on transaction: Free	Basic plan: $29/month Upgrade: $79 Advance Plan: $299/month Domain name: $14/year Payment solution: 2.9%+30 cents per transaction Third party payment gateway: 2% flat for all transaction Shopify Lite: $9/month	Standard Plan: $29.95/month Plus plan: $79.95/month Pro plan: $%299/month Domain name: $10/year SSL Certificate: $59 Business ID: $159
Easy-of-use	Need of plugin installation, updates, keeping backups and security Fee/paid plugins to automate tasks Flexible customization 60K+ plugins to provide all kinds of functionalities No built-in drag and drop functionality Requires more website management and signup for merchant account (stripe/paypal)	Fully hosted (No need to install, manage, update software Fully secure, high performance, backups and highly compatible Free themes Fully customizable Highly-optimized user-experience Built-in drag and drop design builder	PCI compliant hosting, HTTPs Security Incredible built-in sales features Can accommodate up to 600 variations per product Drag and Drop builder More design flexibility than Shopify
Payment Methods	Offers Paypal and Stripe payment WooCommerce Payment (powered by Stripe) Adds-on payment gateways Credit card fees: Free Third-party payment gateways: Free	Shopify payments (powered by Stripe) Charges extra 2% fees on each transaction for third-party gateways (reduces for Advance plans Credit card fees: 2.9%+30 cents for basic plan.	Enterprise plans: Pro (starting at $299.95/month and less than $400K in online sales, +$150/month for each additional $200K sales. Processing fees on debit and credit card fees: 2.59%+$0.49 per transaction American Express Online rate: 3.50%
Add-ons	Open-source 60K+ plugins Many more premium plugins More plugins than Shopify apps Seamless integration with third-party tools and services Easy custom plugin development	Powerful API and App Store for Adds-on Both Free and Premium Apps Paid runs on monthly subscriptions	Bigcommerce has more than 100K apps Have both built-in and third-party apps. Open architecture with RESTful API
Scalability	You are responsible for managing, handling the e-store More traffic-more load on your website hosting Plenty of management options for website handling Hosting costs increase with better control on upgraded resources Has managed WordPress hosting provider choices	No handling/managing headaches With growth in business, upgrade your Shopify store No downtimes, backup, updates or security handling High scalability expenses Saves developer/manager hiring costs. Hassle-free solution	Leading SaaS platform All-in-one solution handling updates, backups, security and much more. Pre-built integration tools Over 400 requests per second Choice of coding languages Robust documentation for flexibility No disruption from platform API
Support	Tons of support options Extensive documentation, tutorials and guides for self-help WooCommerce support forums and Woocommerce expert teams 24/7 chat support for Woocommerce premium extensions or themes.	Shopify-controlled platform 24/7 support live chats, hotlines, emails and Twitter Expensive documentation, user-manuals, knowledge, forums and tutorials. Shopify experts you can hire for extra help No support for third-party apps or templates	World-class in-house support Throughout process helps 24/7 help through chat, email and US-based helpline technical support.
Free trials	No	Yes	Yes

Pros and Cons

WooCommerce

Pros: Lowest costs, high customization and it is great for Search Engine Optimization. As it is open-source and the code is available for the public, it is free to use. If you have a WordPress website, WooCommerce is the best option to go for.

Cons: Self-coded features/paid extensions, it should be managed by WordPress experts and programmers. WooCommerce requires more technical assistance to operate plugins. Domain name acquisition and some extensions might cost the owner a bit more than expected.

Shopify

Pros: An outstanding platform that covers all aspects of your ecommerce store. It provides recovery options and tools for the abandoned carts and the e-store can be set-up faster than other eCommerce platforms.

Cons: It has high costs of transactions and needs Shopify developers to reformat while choosing another theme. Advanced features are only available on its most expensive plans.

BigCommerce

Pros: The features are mostly built-in and this platform has SEO features as well. It provides unlimited bandwidth, staff accounts and products for all of its plans. In addition, it also has a single page checkout feature.

Cons: The interface editing is tricky and has no mobile app to go with your eCommerce website. Bigcommerce also has processing limits for its plans and doesn’t offer many integration options like that of Shopify and WooCommerce.

Which one is better?

One can see that WooCommerce wins today’s race. It is available for users at cheaper rates and provides more add-on options. WooCommerce provides multiple payment gateways for its users with no transaction fees. It also provides support services and third-party support through Bluehost.

Although WooCommerce is a very versatile eCommerce platform, it may not be the best option for each one of the businesses due to their industry and business nature.

Shopify

You should opt for Shopify if:

• You are looking for undisturbed business operations.
• You want exceptional tools despite the related costs.
• Transactional fees are not a concern for you.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a better option if:

• You want unending customization options for your e-store.
• You require more support or help while operating your Woocommerce website.
• You know a little bit of coding or have someone who can easily do that for you.

Bigcommerce

Your best choice must be BigCommerce if

• Your focus is business growth and scalability.
• Marketing tools are important factors for your business.
• You have a developer in your team or you want to learn more of WooCommerce programming yourself.

You must acknowledge the fact that each eCommerce platform has its own competitive advantage. WooCommerce has its edge in versatility and customization, Shopify provides all-in-one services and is best for dropshipping, and lastly, BigCommerce is a giant for its sales growth and capabilities. It is up to you to determine what you require and which factors are more important than others.

Happy Business To You!