Shopify vs Wix – Where Should You Sell?
- Dec-19-2018
- Dilawar Hussain
- 0 comments
If you want to build the most impressive looking online shop then at some point, Shopify vs. Wix comparison must have entered your mind. Both of these options are quite popular within the eCommerce industry.
Both Shopify and Wix have a plethora of features that enable users to create the best looking online stores without much hassle. Even though both these platforms offer the capability to develop online stores in minutes, but which one is the better option for your online business?
Should it be the highly popular Shopify or the aesthetically pleasing Wix? This comparison will ensure that you find the perfect ecommerce option for your entrepreneurial journey.
Shopify vs Wix – Top Differences
Let’s check out what are the top differences when it comes to Shopify vs Wix. We are going to compare both these platforms on multiple different features to see which one comes out on top.
Shopify | Wix | |
Ease of Use | ***** | **** |
Themes | ***** | **** |
Pricing | *** | **** |
Blogging | **** | **** |
SEO-Friendly | **** | **** |
Apps/Integrations | **** | *** |
Customer Support | ***** | **** |
Mobile Optimization | **** | **** |
Ease of Use
Wix is specifically built for people who are not really tech-savvy and often have problems with coding in general. Users who are frightened by the sight of complicated interfaces are the ones that Wix targets.
In order to help such users, Wix offers a clean and straightforward interface that allows users to create a professional looking web page without worrying about web-design or programming at all. The platform offers some amazing templates, add-ons, and provides a drag/drop interface for website building.
That’s not it though, Wix also takes the developers into consideration and offers a basic level of customization-freedom so they can tweak their stores to their liking. However, overall the platform is quite basic.
On the other hand, we have Shopify which is definitely the winner in this category. Shopify was built for the sole purpose of providing users with a simple interface to create and set up their online store.
When you are on the Shopify homepage, you are guided by a simple setup wizard. Afterward, you get to the Dashboard from where you can set up your online store, manage items, check analytics, edit pages, and customize other settings for your online store.
With Shopify, all the options you need for customizing your store are located in the sidebar.
However, with Wix, all the customization options are scattered all around the screen making it difficult for users to understand and use the tools.
Shopify definitely wins when it comes to Ease of Use and set up.
Themes/Templates
Wix offers a decent number of themes and templates that are designed for online stores. However, it does not have anywhere near the number of themes that Shopify has. Still, what they do have is quite polished and well-designed. Their themes are focused on specific niches like they have themes created especially for categories like furniture or jewelry.
Shopify’s offerings are much more diverse. Even though the setup wizard also guides you when you are building your store. There are also hundreds of paid and free themes available on the Shopify theme store.
All Shopify themes are fully customizable and come with multiple variations which means a single theme can have up to 3 different styles to go with your online store.
Shopify again takes the win with its extensive collection of themes.
Pricing
It’s quite obvious that when you are starting out in the online realm you’d want to be very careful with your budget. Well, luckily, both Shopify and Wix offer free trials of 14-days so you can test the services out before you actually have to pay for them.
Once your trial period is over, you will have to make a decision regarding which platform you are going to stick with. Well, let’s see how both these platforms fare when it comes to pricing and plans.
To get yourself started on the Wix platform, you can choose the Unlimited plan for $12.50/month. This plan provides you with everything that you need to get your online store up and running. Shopify, on the other hand, requires you to shell out $29/month for its Basic plan.
When we put Basic Shopify and Wix Unlimited side-by-side in a comparison then it’s quite clear that Wix beats Shopify with its cheaper offering while providing similar features.
So, when it comes to pricing then Wix is definitely a much cheaper and affordable ecommerce solution. If you are on a tight budget and want to get started with something cheaper than Wix is definitely something you should check out.
Blogging
Fortunately, both these ecommerce platforms support hosting a blog. Each ecommerce business owner knows really well how important a blog is for an online store. If you run a blog and maintain it, then it can prove to be a powerful tool for engaging audiences and driving traffic.
A great blog is an excellent way to bring in a lot of traffic and attract new customers to your business. It can also keep your customers happy because you will be providing them value with each content piece.
The consensus among the users is that both the platforms have equally good blogging features. I personally like Shopify’s blogging system since it has a much clearer content management area.
Both Wix and Shopify have equally strong blogging platforms.
SEO-Friendly
If if you have a blog, what actually matters is ensuring your content pages come up in the top search engine results when people search for relevant keywords.
This means that you need exceptional SEO features on your online store. Both Wix and Shopify offer built-in SEO settings which make things a whole lot easier for you.
You can let the platforms take care of all the work which means generating SEO-friendly metadata for you, or you can do it all yourself.
You can also install countless different SEO apps available on Wix store or Shopify app store to take care of the SEO for you.
I think it’s a tie when it comes to SEO-friendliness!
Apps/Integrations
Shopify and Wix both offer huge app marketplaces with tons and tons of apps available for download. There are countless paid and free apps available on both platforms.
However, the real difference is that all of the apps available on the Shopify app store are related to ecommerce. On Wix, You also get apps that are focused on improving your blog or website, so there are numerous apps on Wix that have nothing to do with ecommerce.
So, I think Shopify gets the win when it comes to apps.
Customer Support
Both of these platforms invest highly in their customer support experience. They want to ensure that customers get the best support experience on their platforms.
Wix offers a knowledge base filled with FAQs. In addition to that, they also provide all the contact channels like support ticket, email, phone, and live chat. If you need “Priority” support, then you will have to pay for it though.
On the other hand, Shopify’s support center provides the FAQ as well as an extensive knowledge base to help its users. Their contact channels include email, live chat, and phone support. They also provide Shopify Academy where you can find great resources to learn more about this platform, and about how to run a successful Shopify store.
Their customer support team will not only help you with any technical problems but also with your business problems.
Shopify is a clear winner in the customer support department!
Mobile Optimization
When it comes to mobile-friendliness both these platforms are pretty much at the same page. Both these platforms are fully-optimized for Android, iPhone, iPad, and other software out there. There’s almost no difference.
Both Shopify and Wix have made sure that their platforms support as many OSes a modern user might use. This provides online stores with great flexibility as they can cater to mobile users as well without having to code different mobile-friendly versions of their website.
So, it’s a tie when it comes to mobile optimization.
The Winner
If you want to build a professional-looking online store with a lot of customization levels, an extensive choice of apps and integrations, and simple interface then Shopify is the best choice for you.
They have a dedicated team ready to help you out with all your issues be it technical or related to your ecommerce journey.
Wix also sports a decent offering and provides an excellent choice for beginners who have no experience with online platforms, but Shopify definitely outclasses Wix in almost everything.
Shopify is already considered the top ecommerce platform in the world, and it’s safer for you to stick with it and build your online business on the platform.