As the eCommerce landscape continues to grow (with estimates projecting it to be worth $7.385 trillion by 2025), more and more businesses are turning to online store builders for a quick and easy way to launch their online presence.
But with so many options available, it can be hard to decide which one is right for you. That's why we're here to break down the two biggest players in the industry: Shopify and Wix.
We will tackle the key features of each platform and help you decide which one is best for your needs. But before we get started, let's first understand how these platforms work as well as each of their benefits and drawbacks. This will help set the groundwork for our comparison.
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and small business owners to start and run their own online stores. It provides them with an all-in-one solution to selling their products online - from setting up a website and managing inventory to payments, shipping, and tax calculations.
It also offers powerful marketing and analytics tools, which help business owners to make informed decisions on how to grow their stores.
How Does It Work?
To get started with Shopify, you have to sign up for a plan. Shopify is a subscription-based platform that offers different plans to fit different types of businesses. After signing up, you need to customize your store's look and feel according to your own brand's identity, add products to your store, create collections and categories to organize your products, set up payment methods, configure shipping rates and taxes, and finally publish your store.
Once your store is up and running, you can start promoting and selling your products, track sales numbers, access reports and analytics, and manage your inventory.
When a customer purchases a product from your store, Shopify handles the payment processing and you get paid.
Benefits Of Using Shopify
The benefits of using Shopify are as follows:
Quick Set Up And Easy To Use
You don't have to be a tech genius to set up your store with Shopify. With a point-and-click interface, you can set up your store and start selling in no time! Plus, the intuitive design allows you to make changes and updates quickly so you can focus on what really matters: running your business.
Mobile Friendly
Shopify stores are automatically optimized for mobile devices, meaning customers can shop on the go without any issues. And with Shopify POS (a point-of-sale app), you can even take payments in-store using a compatible mobile device.
Secure And Reliable
You don't have to worry about the security of your store when you use Shopify. All stores are hosted on secure servers with daily backups, so you never lose customer data or sales information.
In addition, Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, meaning your site will always be up to date with the latest security standards.
24/7 Customer Support
No matter what time it is, you can get help from Shopify's dedicated customer support team. Whether you need assistance with setup, coding, or marketing, you can always get support when you need it.
Easy Payment Gateway Integration
Shopify makes it quick and easy to get paid by your customers. With over 100 payment gateways, you can accept payments from all around the world in multiple currencies.
Plus, Shopify provides fraud protection services that protect users against fraud-based chargebacks on Shop Pay transactions.
Build, test, and iterate on Shopify without the dev time
Replo has hundreds of templates to help you launch and test new landing pages - without writing a line of code.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Using Shopify?
Some disadvantages of using Shopify may include:
It Can Be Expensive
Shopify offers some great features, but they come with a price tag. Shopify pricing plans start at $24 per month and can reach up to $2000+ per month, depending on the features you need.
Additionally, to enjoy premium features, you'll have to pay extra. These costs can add up quickly and make Shopify an expensive choice for small businesses.
Transaction Fees
With Shopify, you'll need to pay transaction fees for every sale that you make. This can be a burden for businesses with low margins and/or low volume of sales.
Plus, if you choose to use third-party payment processors, you'll need to pay extra transaction fees on top of the ones charged by Shopify.
Limitations On Customization
Shopify offers some degree of customization, but if you need extensive custom work done, then Shopify may not be the right choice for you. On top of that, you may need to hire a developer or pay for a plugin to unlock the full customization potential of Shopify.
What Is Wix?
Wix is a cloud-based website builder. Unlike Shopify, Wix provides an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that makes it simple to create and manage a website. The platform allows you to choose from hundreds of professionally designed templates or start from scratch and create your own design.
In addition to the regular editor, Wix offers an AI-powered Artificial Design Intelligence tool (Wix ADI) which allows you to create a website without any coding knowledge. Through a series of questions, the Wix ADI tool sets up a website draft tailored to your industry in minutes.
How Does It Work?
Wix is designed to make website building and management a breeze. It offers two main methods of website creation. The first is the drag-and-drop editor, where you can customize any template to match your brand's look and feel using a simple interface.
The second is Wix ADI, which creates a website for you in minutes, all with the click of a button. Let's explore how these methods work in more detail.
Wix Editor
To get started, choose a template that best fits your brand, purpose, and industry. Once you've chosen a template, you can start customizing it with the drag-and-drop editor.
You can add pages, menus, images, videos, etc., and customize the design of your online store with a few simple clicks.
Add products to your store, set up payment methods, configure shipping rates and taxes, publish your store, and start selling online.
Wix ADI
With Wix ADI, you can create a website without coding knowledge. Wix ADI will ask questions about your business and industry and use that information to create a professional online store.
After creating the online store draft, you can customize it using the drag-and-drop editor, just like any other template on Wix, and publish your store.
Benefits Of Using Wix
Some potential benefits of using Wix may be:
Easy To Use
Wix makes it super easy to design a website without prior coding knowledge. With a simple drag-and-drop feature, you can create the exact look and feel you want for your website.
Affordable
Compared to other online store builders, like Shopify, Wix has very competitive prices that won't break the bank. Plus, they offer a 14-day free trial, so you can test out the platform before committing to a plan.
SEO Friendly
Wix has great SEO features (including SEO Wiz, Accessibility, and the Wix Blog) to help you get noticed online and drive more organic traffic. With the right optimization techniques, you can easily take your website to the top of search engine results pages.
Customizable
One of the biggest advantages of using Wix is the ability to customize every aspect of your website. You can add videos, images, and content to make your website look exactly how you want it to.
Plus, with the 500+ free eCommerce website templates that Wix offers, you can easily create a unique look for your online store.
Value For Money
Regardless of what paid plan you choose, Wix will provide you with a free domain without additional costs for one year. In addition, you don't need to worry about hosting. Wix takes care of all the hosting needs as soon as you sign up for an account.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Using Wix?
However, some disadvantages of using Wix may include:
Shared Hosting
Although Wix offers free hosting, the downside is you're sharing it with other Wix users. This means if one site experiences high traffic and slows down all other shared sites, you could experience slow loading times or even downtime.
Site Migration Limitations
Wix websites cannot be moved or exported to other systems or hosting services. If you decide to move your website from Wix, you'll have to start from scratch and rebuild it all over again.
Limited To One Template
You can't switch templates after publishing your site on Wix. If you don't like the template you chose, you'll need to start from scratch with a new one. This means a lot of time and effort redoing your content, not to mention the headache.
Shopify Vs. Wix: Key Differences
While both Shopify and Wix are popular online store builders, there are some key differences between these two platforms. Let's take a closer look.
Price And Payment Options
Shopify
Shopify offers five subscription plans. Each plan comes with the following features and services:
Starter ($5 per month): A simple storefront, fast and secure checkout, unlimited product pages, order management and integrated fulfillment network, and Linkpop (a link in bio tool designed for commerce).
Basic Shopify ($24 per month): An online store, POS, unlimited products, 2 staff accounts, 24/7 customer support, multiple sales channels (social media, websites, and online marketplaces), upto 4 inventory locations, discount codes, free SSL certificate, abandoned cart recovery, basic reports (to track and analyze store's performance), marketing automation, market domains and subfolders, language translation, currency conversion, and international market management.
Shopify ($69 per month): An online store, POS, unlimited products, 5 staff accounts, 24/7 customer support, multiple sales channels (social media, websites, and online marketplaces), upto 5 inventory locations, discount codes, free SSL certificate, abandoned cart recovery, standard reports (to track and analyze store's performance), marketing automation, eCommerce automation, market domains and subfolders, language translation, currency conversion, and international market management.
Advanced Shopify ($299 per month): An online store, POS, unlimited products, 15 staff accounts, 24/7 customer support, multiple sales channels (social media, websites, and online marketplaces), upto 8 inventory locations, discount codes, free SSL certificate, abandoned cart recovery, advanced reports (to track and analyze store's performance), marketing automation, eCommerce automation, third-party calculated shipping rates, market domains and subfolders, language translation, currency conversion, international market management, and duty and import tax calculations.
Shopify Plus (from $2000 per month): All features included in the other plans, custom solutions, and VIP support.
Note: All Shopify subscription plans support the following payment options: PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Klarna, Shopify Payments (in-house payment option), and credit card payments.
Wix
Wix eCommerce offers three subscription plans. Each plan comes with the following features and services:
Business Basic ($17 per month): Unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, sales channel (social media only), custom domain, free domain for 1 year, 20 GB storage space, and 24/7 customer support.
Business Unlimited ($25 per month): Unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, dropshipping by Modalyst (up to 250 products), 1000 product reviews by KudoBuzz, multiple sales channels (social media and online marketplaces), automated sales tax (100 transactions per month), currency conversion, custom domain, free domain for 1 year, 35 GB storage space, and 24/7 customer support.
Business VIP ($35 per month): Unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, dropshipping by Modalyst (unlimited products), 3000 product reviews by KudoBuzz, loyalty program by Smile.io, multiple sales channels (social media and online marketplaces), automated sales tax (500 transactions per month), currency conversion, custom domain, free domain for 1 year, 50 GB storage space, and priority customer support.
Note: All Wix subscription plans support the following payment options: PayPal, Stripe, Square, Wix Payments (in-house payment option), and credit card payments.
Ease Of Use
Shopify
Shopify is designed to be user-friendly and offers beginner tutorials to help users get started quickly. With just a few clicks, users can create an online store in minutes. However, its dashboard and editing system works separately. Therefore, users must switch between both systems to edit, add content, and make changes.
Wix
Wix is well-known for its drag-and-drop system, which allows users to manage every content on the front-end interface by simply clicking and dragging it into the designated place without having to switch between the editor and the dashboard. This makes it easy for users to create and manage an online store quickly and easily.
In addition, Wix also offers Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) to users who are completely unfamiliar with web design. Wix ADI creates an entire website based on the user's preferences without the need for coding or design skills.
Extra Features
Shopify
Shopify provides users with a range of features to help them optimize their online stores. These include easy integration of payment gateways, marketing tools such as coupons, discounts and email campaigns, plus the ability to set up an affiliate program.
In addition, Shopify offers a wide range of free tools, including business and domain name generators, pay stub generator, purchase order templates, invoice generator, and profit margin and discount calculators, to help users sell and grow their retail businesses.
Wix
Like Shopify, Wix offers users plenty of extra features to help them get the most out of their online stores. These features include buy now, pay later integrations like Sezzle, Affirm, Afterpay, and PayPal Pay Later, built-in SEO tools like Wix SEO Wiz, Accessibility, and the Wix Blog, and built-in chargeback and refund tools.
Inventory And Product Features
Shopify
When it comes to product features, Shopify allows users to add unlimited products with multiple variants (colors, sizes and materials) to their store. However, users have to install apps like Image Gallery + Video EA and Magic Zoom Plus to enable the zoom-in feature on their product pages, as well as run product videos to improve the customer experience.
They also provide users with an automated inventory system that allows users to upload single or multiple products, get instant updates when products are added or sold, and track stock levels in real time.
Wix
Wix also allows users to add unlimited products with multiple variants to their store and offers an in-built product video function as well as a product zoom feature to improve the overall customer experience. However, unlike Shopify, users require apps to help in visitor analytics and revenue reports.
Design Flexibility And Themes
Shopify
Undoubtedly, an eye-catching storefront can help boost your online presence. Shopify offers users a wide variety of themes to choose from, ranging from 11 free themes to 103 paid themes.
All these themes are mobile-friendly and customizable (with the help of Shopify Liquid - Shopify's coding language) to ensure that the user can design their store to their exact specifications.
Wix
Wix has over 100 free eCommerce website templates and built-in design tools (Wix Editor X, Wix ADI, Wix Velo, and Wix Editor) to help users create beautiful and unique designs for their storefronts.
However, these templates are not changeable, meaning you can only stick to the template you chose right from the beginning, even if you'd like to make drastic design changes like store rebranding or changing the overall look and feel of your store.
Shipping And Carrier Options
Shopify
Shopify offers users a wide variety of shipping options, including the ability to set up free shipping, weight-based rate, and flat rate. They also integrate with carriers such as UPS, DPD, USPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, Evri, Sendle, Chronopost, Mondial Relay, and Poste Italiane to help users get the best shipping and delivery rate for their customers.
In addition, there's the Shopify Fulfillment Network, which allows retailers in Canada and the United States to prepare and ship products from fulfillment centers located in the United States.
Also, with the Advanced Shopify plan, users enjoy third-party calculated shipping rates, which appear at the checkout to show customers the precise courier rate based on their location.
Wix
Wix users have access to multiple shipping options like weight-based rates, free shipping, and flat rates. They also can track orders in real time and enjoy the benefits of drop shipping. However, they have to use shipping apps for global shipping payments.
Additionally, Wix partners with shipping carriers like FedEx, DHL, USPS, and UPS to help customers get the most economical shipping rates.
Customer Support
Shopify
Shopify provides 24/7 customer support for all subscription plans via live chat, email, and phone. In addition, they have a help center where users can find answers to their queries.
Users can also get assistance from over 900,000 Shopify merchants and partners, who engage in meaningful discussions on the Shopify Community forum.
Wix
Wix offers 24/7 customer support for all paid plans and special "priority support" for the VIP plan. Simply submit a ticket or request a callback to get help.
Also, with their help center, you can find answers to your questions, as the platform is loaded with detailed walk-throughs and tutorials to help users get the most out of their Wix store.
Tax Settings
Shopify
With Shopify, you can choose to exclude taxes from displayed prices or add taxes to the final price of a product. Shopify also offers integrated tax services such as Avalara AvaTax (for the Advanced and Plus plans) and TaxJar, which lets users automate the entire process of calculating taxes in different regions.
Wix
Wix allows users to disable and/or enable taxes, set taxes on a regional basis, and include tax in the final product price. Plus, with the free Avalara app (only available in the Business Unlimited and VIP plans), users can automate the entire process of calculating taxes in different regions.
Multilingual Options
Shopify
All Shopify plans (excluding Starter) offer up to 20 language options for customers to view your store in their native language. Through Shopify admin, users can enable multiple languages and create separate URLs for the translated content. The translated URL can then be used to access the translated version of your store. However, users require a third-party app to be able to display translations.
Wix
Wix supports over 180 languages. However, users need to enable Wix Multilingual (an advanced app) to translate their store content into multiple languages. With Wix Multilingual, users can translate their site manually by entering their own translation or automatically with the help of an Auto-translate option.
Templates Quantity And Quality
Shopify
Shopify offers 114 templates (11 free and 103 paid) with prices ranging from $180 to $350. All Shopify templates are mobile-friendly and offer exclusive themes from top designers. Plus, users can fully customize any of these themes using Shopify Liquid (an open-source template language) that allows users to modify HTML and CSS.
Wix
Wix offers over 500 free eCommerce templates that are mobile-friendly and include built-in features like product galleries, Wix Payments, order management, and more. Plus, these templates are fully customizable using Wix Editor (a user-friendly website builder that enables users to create, edit and customize their own sites without coding knowledge).
Mobile Performance
Shopify
Shopify stores are fully responsive. This means they adapt to the screen size of any device. Their mobile interface is user-friendly, intuitive and feature-rich so that customers can browse and shop from any place at any time.
Plus, Shopify provides a mobile app for Android and iOS users to help them manage their products, process orders, and run promotions, all from their mobile devices.
Wix
Wix automatically creates a mobile version of every store, which is optimized for any device (content automatically adjusts and resizes to fit the screen of all devices). However, with Wix, users can choose to either enable or disable the mobile-friendly view of their site with the help of Wix Editor.
Plus, Wix provides a mobile app (Wix Owner app) for Android and iOS users to help them manage their stores, take bookings and payments, track business analytics, and chat with visitors at any time and place, all from their mobile devices.
Loading Speed
Shopify
Shopify stores are powered by a robust and high-performance platform which helps to ensure that pages load quickly.
According to one speed test that was conducted on several eCommerce platforms, the average loading time for Shopify was 1.3 seconds, making it the second-fastest platform.2
Wix
On the other hand, Wix stores load at a relatively slow speed compared to Shopify. According to the same speed test, Wix was found to load at an average of 3.2 seconds. However, Wix provides specific best practices on how to speed up sites' loading time.
By following Wix's optimization tips, users can easily increase their store's loading speed.
Report And Analytics
Shopify
Shopify provides users with reports and analytics (depending on their subscription plan) to help them monitor the performance of their stores.
Starter plan: Analytics page, financial reports (including taxes and payments), and product analytics.
Basic Shopify: Analytics page, financial reports (including taxes and payments), product analytics, acquisition reports, 5 of 7 inventory reports, 5 of 6 behavior reports, and 1 of 5 marketing reports.
Shopify: Analytics page, financial reports (including taxes and payments), product analytics, acquisition reports, inventory reports, behavior reports, marketing reports, order reports, sales reports, profit reports, and 7 of 9 customer reports.
Advanced Shopify: Analytics page, financial reports (including taxes and payments), product analytics, acquisition reports, inventory reports, behavior reports, marketing reports, order reports, sales reports, profit reports, and customer reports.
Shopify Plus: Analytics page, financial reports (including taxes and payments), product analytics, acquisition reports, inventory reports, behavior reports, marketing reports, order reports, sales reports, profit reports, and customer reports.
Wix
All sites in Wix (regardless of the subscription plan) have Wix Analytics available. Wix Analytics is automatically available to all Wix users as soon as they register and create a site. With Wix Analytics, users can have an overview of their store's traffic, behavior, and sales performance.
Wix Analytics traffic overview includes metrics like site sessions, unique visitors, average session duration, top traffic sources by sessions, sessions by device, top pages by sessions, new vs. returning visitors, and sessions by country.
Sales overview includes total sales, average order value, total orders, sales over time, sales by traffic source, top selling items, top paying customers, sales by billing location, new vs. returning customers, and sales by coupons.
Behavior overview includes average pages per session, bounce rate, average session duration, top navigation flows, most popular pages, most time spent, most exited page, store conversion funnel, abandoned carts, recoverable carts, recovered carts, clicks to contact, and new leads.
Build, test, and iterate on Shopify without the dev time
Replo has hundreds of templates to help you launch and test new landing pages - without writing a line of code.
SEO Features
Shopify
Shopify comes with a built-in SEO tool that automatically adds auto-generated canonical tags to landing pages, preventing them from being flagged as duplicate content in Google's search results.
Plus, all Shopify themes are 100% responsive and come with social media linking and sharing options to help users reach their target audience and drive more traffic to their store.
Wix
Wix provides users with SEO tools like SEO Wiz, Accessibility, and the Wix Blog to help them increase their organic search rankings.
In addition, all Wix websites are 100% responsive and optimized for mobile - important factors for getting good rankings on search engines.
Which Is The Best Option For Your Online Business?
The answer depends on your business's individual needs. If you are looking for an eCommerce platform with a wide range of powerful sales features and payment gateway options to support a sizeable online store, then Shopify is the best choice.
On the other hand, if you are looking for an affordable and easy-to-use website builder that focuses on design and creativity while still offering a suite of SEO tools to help you optimize your small online store, then Wix may be the answer.
Ultimately, the best platform for you will depend on the type of product or service that you are selling and your budget!
Final Thoughts
As we have seen, Shopify and Wix have their own features that make them attractive choices for different online businesses. Therefore, it is important to assess your individual needs and goals before making a decision. Be sure to ask yourself, "What features do I need to succeed?" and then leverage the information provided in this article to choose the right platform for your online business.
If you still have questions or are looking to take your Shopify experience to the next level, Replo can help! We take pride in supercharging our clients' Shopify stores with our pre-built landing pages, which are designed to improve user experience, increase conversions, and maximize profits.
So, don't hesitate to reach out. Book a demo today, and let us show you how we can help take your Shopify store to the next level!
Sources:
- Lebow, S. (2021, August 19). Worldwide ecommerce continues double-digit growth following pandemic push to online. Insider Intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/worldwide-ecommerce-continues-double-digit-growth-following-pandemic-push-online
- Shopify Reviews 2022: Pros & Cons: Is it worth the hype? Ecommerce CEO. (2022, December 26). Retrieved from https://www.ecommerceceo.com/reviews/shopify/