The Benefits of Migrating To Shopify: Why Make the Switch?

If you’re running an online store, it couldn’t have happened to not hear about Shopify since this platform is among the top merchant choices. Why do business owners build their websites using Shopify, and how can you benefit from switching to this ecommerce platform? Keep reading to find the answers.

Why is Shopify a preferable choice for merchants?

Shopify stands out as an easy-to-use and straightforward platform that allows building online stores even without deep technical knowledge. It provides many features out of the box, such as hosting, a standard security package, an inventory management system, and other features we’ll discuss later. So, even on a tight budget, you can leverage advanced Shopify features to grow your business with many hassles solved from the beginning.

At the same time, Shopify has become a choice for many enterprise businesses like GymShark, Brooklinen, and KOTN since it provides top-tier retail solutions, such as cloud-based POS, tailored workflows, and vast customization opportunities.

Still, the question is if the Shopify platform is right for you. To help you decide, let’s compare Shopify with its closest competitors – Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

Shopify vs Magento

We compare these two platforms in terms of key aspects:

• Pricing: Shopify pricing starts from $24 per month (if paid yearly), but if you are running a high-volume business, you need the Shopify Plus plan, which starts at $2,000 monthly. Magento has two plans: Commerce Pro and Managed Services, which do not include exact prices since pricing is based on annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Average Order Value (AOV).
• Transaction fees: Shopify offers its payment gateway, Shop Pay, without transaction fees. If you want to use third-party payment gateways, you’re supposed to pay 2% for the Basic plan, 0,5% for Advanced, and 0,15% for Plus. You’ll not find actual transaction fees on Magento’s official sites. Other sources claim it’s 2,9% + $0,30 for domestic transactions and 3,9% for international ones.
• Sales Features: Shopify has powerful POS software with unified analytics, staff management, and inventory tracking features, as well as international selling features like setting local payments, currency conversion, and more. Magento provides POS features only through extensions. You can also enable international sales functions, but your budget will grow proportionally as you add a feature.
• Marketing and SEO features: Shopify offers built-in marketing and SEO tools for any merchant, such as email marketing and automation, fields for adding keywords, and features for optimizing site structure. With Magento, you need to install extensions to add similar functionality.

Based on this information, Shopify is a winner in this comparison since it offers more robust, out-of-the-box features while charging less for this functionality. If you want to switch to Shopify seamlessly, we recommend leveraging Magento to Shopify migration services provided by certified specialists.

Shopify vs BigCommerce

Is it worth migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify? Let’s compare again, considering the previously mentioned information regarding Shopify.

• Pricing and transaction fees: Bigcommerce pricing starts at $39 per month, while its Pro plan costs $299 per month. There are no transaction fees if you use leading payment gateways, while it charges 2.35% + $0.49 for credit cards.
• Sales features: To enable POS functionality, install a free or paid third-party app. Yet, Bigcommerce recently launched internationalization features almost on par with Shopify.
• Marketing and SEO features: With Bigcommerce, you can create promotional banners and set up automated emails for abandoned carts. However, there are no built-in options for personalized emails and social media connections. You will find basic SEO functionality here, just like on Shopify.

Depending on your business size and type, Bigcommerce can save your initial budget since it has no transaction fees for the most popular gateways. Still, Shopify wins in terms of advanced sales and marketing functionality.

Shopify vs. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin for ecommerce businesses that is available for free. Is it worth switching to Shopify if you use WooCommerce?

• Pricing and transaction fees: Even though WooCommerce is free to install open-source software, you should pay operational costs, such as hosting services, domain name, store management, security, and more. This, in total, may reach $1,000-2,000 per year. On average, the transactional fee is 2.9% + $0.30 for each payment.
• Sales Features: WooCommerce offers basic sales features; for more advanced functionality, you need to install additional plugins.
• Marketing and SEO features: There are a lot of free and paid WordPress plugins at your disposal to extend your store’s marketing functionality.

WooCommerce is more complex than Shopify and requires technical expertise to be set up properly. Plus, it is worth noting that Shopify performs better than WooCommerce under heavy loads. Considering all of this, WooCommerce could be good for your first try in ecommerce. However, Shopify is a better choice for growing businesses.

To sum up

Merchants love Shopify for several reasons, such as straightforwardness, many out-of-the-box features, and robust sales and marketing options.

While Magento is mainly focused on enterprise businesses, Shopify helps start, grow, and scale your business, providing features that suit any needs. While Bigcommerce tries to catch up with Shopify in terms of features, attracting users with no transaction fees, Shopify increases the pace of development, providing more and more opportunities for merchants. Finally, WooCommerce, with its free plans, gives you flexibility for experimenting; however, when it comes to performance optimization, Shopify shows significantly better results.

If you need professional assistance in Shopify development, choose reliable Shopify agencies such as DigitalSuits to implement even the most complex solutions.