What is the Difference Between WordPress and Shopify?

Ecommerce retail sales are expected to reach over $5 trillion by 2021, and platforms like Shopify and WordPress have made it easier than ever to start your own online store.

You may construct your own online store with Shopify, a specialist ecommerce platform. It will host your website and provide you with all of the necessary tools. WordPress, on the other hand, is an open-source software platform. WooCommerce and other e-commerce plugins must be installed on your own website.

Both are web building goliaths, yet they cater to a wide range of customers.This article will help you determine whether Shopify or WordPress is best for your business.

Related Article: Types of eCommerce

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a monthly subscription-based online selling platform. It’s possible to build an internet store to sell and transport your things once you’ve decided on a price plan.Shopify’s inexpensive startup costs and user-friendly design have made it a popular platform. Despite its flaws, Shopify is a great option for many businesses, but it’s not flawless. 

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source platform for creating websites and blogs. WordPress has grown in popularity since its initial release in 2003, becoming one of the most widely used tools for creating websites. Just by using your computer browser, you can create and administer a full-featured website without having to learn any coding. For the most part, the WordPress Editor is very similar to a text editor like Microsoft Word.

Related: Successful eCommerce Websites

Which is better: Shopify or WordPress?

Pros and Cons

Shopify, the self-proclaimed one-stop shop for online sellers, is primarily meant for individuals who lack web development skills or a budget to hire somebody to build their store. It has a number of pros including but not limited to the following:

• Shopify doesn’t require any coding or technological expertise to utilize. 
• For e-commerce websites, it has all of the sales tools you need pre-installed and ready to go!  
• You don’t have to pay for external hosting or security. 

However, Shopify also has a number of cons, these cons include the following:

• You have to pay extra transaction fees (0.5% – 2% per transaction) unless you use Shopify’s own payment gateway, Shopify Payments
• If you choose to change your theme, you will have to reformat your content
• It’s still not as basic or as simple to use as a drag-and-drop platform, like Wix

WordPress, on the other hand, is primarily meant for those who have some form of coding knowledge, have the budget to pay for a developer’s help, or want total control over your site’s customization. As such, the pros of using WordPress are as follows:

• Shopify lacks the power and flexibility of this platform.
• Its new editor, ‘Gutenberg,’ makes it a little more user-friendly.
• There are a plethora of online tools, from user forums to expert developers, that can aid you with your game.

In terms of cons though, WordPress also has its own fair share. Its cons are as follows:

• To get the most out of the platform, you’ll need a fair amount of technical know-how.
• Expenses can pile up really quickly.
• You’ll have to buy things like a domain name, security, and other services on your own.

Set-up and Support for Users

Shopify promotes itself as a one-stop shop for any and all online sellers. When it comes to setting up your own online store, a Shopify subscription should cover all the bases. Your monthly Shopify payment allows you to have comprehensive customer support available around the clock. Support is available by phone, email, or live chat. The Shopify knowledge base might also help you with lesser issues.

To get started with WordPress, you’ll need to pick a Managed WordPress hosting provider from among the many options available. Your WordPress site will be maintained and monitored by these hosts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you can concentrate on building and reaching out to your audience. The WordPress software can alternatively be downloaded from WordPress.org and installed on your own web server if you wish.

You may be interested: What is an ecommerce platform?

How do I migrate my WordPress site to Shopify?

In order to migrate your WordPress site into Shopify by following these crucial steps:

1. Using the “All Export” plugin, export your WordPress blog posts or pages to a CSV file.
2. The CSV file should be renamed to contain words like “WordPress” and “Posts” or “Pages” depending on what you are migrating. 
3. Use the Matrixify app to upload the CSV file
4. Click Import options, choose “Dry-run” and fill in the URL of the old server.
5. Download the files generated by Matrixify.
6. In Admin, go to Settings -> Files and upload the images.
7. Verify and correct any errors in the resulting Excel file (if you did a dry-run).
8. Use the Matrixify software to generate your blog posts and pages by importing an Excel spreadsheet (if you did a dry-run).
9. After the import, review your Import Results file.

Once you’ve followed all these steps, your new, updated store on Shopify should be more than good to go!

How do I use Shopify in WordPress?

Now, you might also be wondering how to use Shopify in WordPress. Not to worry because this article will also help you answer that question through the following steps:

1. Create a Shopify Account by signing-up, providing your information, then clicking “Create your store.”
2. On WordPress, you’ll need to install the Shopify eCommerce plugin so that it can function properly on your website. 
3. After the plugin is properly activated, there will be a new menu item on the backend of your WordPress site. This will connect your Shopify account to WordPress.
4. On the Settings page of WordPress, you’ll have the opportunity to add products to your site’s inventory. For each of your products you’ll need to provide Product titles, Images of the product, Short Descriptions, and Variants. Once done, save the changes so your product will be officially created.
5. Set-up and customize your payment settings for your products. 
6. Set up your shipping options by first setting up your site’s shipping origin address. This can be the location where you’ll keep all of your inventory (such as a warehouse) or if you happen to run your business from home, you can use the address of the parcel service you’ll be using for your deliveries.
7. Finally, add your products to the WordPress site and start selling.

Once you’ve followed all these steps, you should be more than ready to maximize your selling experience both on Shopify and WordPress.

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