Volusion Vs Shopify – Which one is better for you?


In our Volusion Vs Shopify comparison, we are going to pit two of the most popular eCommerce solution providers against each other to see which one offers the most features for the money.

We are going to look at all the features provided by both these platforms, so you can easily decide either to choose Volusion or Shopify for your ecommerce business. 

Volusion vs Shopify Comparison 

Verdict – Shopify is the better ecommerce platform than Volusion.

Shopify ouranks Volusion in terms of ease of use, theme, apps, blogging, SEO  and shipping service. Although, Volusion turns out better in pricing, transaction fees and customer support.

FeaturesVolusionShopify
Ease of Use
Themes
Pricing
Apps
Blogging
Transaction Fees
Premium Themes Pricing
SEO-friendly
Tax Settings
Shipping
Customer Support

Keep on reading for an overview and reasoning of all the difference between both these platforms and what sets them apart from each other.

Volusion Vs Shopify – Top Differences

We are certain that the Shopify Vs Volusion comparison will be quite interesting as both of these platforms are unique and positioned slightly differently from one another.

Shopify has succeeded to prove itself as the go-to platform for both small, first-time niche retailers and veteran ecommerce enthusiasts. It’s a platform for people who value simplicity and ease of use.

Volusion is geared toward medium-sized stores and generally towards people who are somewhat experienced in using ecommerce solutions.

Let’s dive right into the comparison and discover the strengths and weaknesses of both these platforms.

Volusion Vs Shopify – Ease of Use

Shopify has a much better and simpler user interface, and when you put both these products against each other, you will realize that setting up an online store is much quicker and more straightforward with Shopify than Volusion.

Volusion did try to up their game in the “Ease of use” department by providing a step-by-step wizard to help you set up your online store. The older version of Volusion just threw you into the deep end without any tutorials.

Once you’ve completed the setup wizard on Volusion, you will still find it very difficult to do simple things like reorganizing or adding an “About Us” page. With Volusion, you will have to resort to Googling most of the basic tasks unless of course, you are very tech-savvy and know your way around technical platforms. This is proof that the system is not very intuitive or newbie-friendly at all.

Shopify, on the other hand, is quite newbie-friendly and lets you set up an online store without much hassle.  

Both products provide you with the freedom to tweak your store’s CSS and HTML, so if you are an experienced developer or have a developer on your team, you can customize your store to your liking.

I personally think that when it comes to ease of use and newbie-friendliness, Shopify is the superior platform and makes it easier for newbies to setup their online store.

Shopify – 1 | Volusion – 0

Volusion Vs Shopify – Themes/Templates

Both these platforms offer a decent collection of free and paid theme; all look quite professional in appearance. All the themes are responsive as well which means they will resize automatically to fit the device, be it a laptop or a smartphone.

When it comes to quality, both the Shopify and Volusion themes provide high-quality in terms of visuals and responsiveness. Since both platforms offer high-quality themes, we can only judge them on the selection and pricing.

Number of themes offered

When you look at the quantity, Shopify does come out on top. Shopify offers 10 free themes while Volusion sports 11 of free templates, however, Shopify themes come with different variations which easily doubles the number of free themes at the very least. So, there’s more choice available with Shopify.

Shopify – 2 | Volusion – 0

Shopify Vs Volusion – Premium Themes Pricing

Both these platforms offer a decent selection of premium themes. Shopify offers nearly 57 paid-themes while Volusion offers around 35 paid themes. Shopify premium themes are priced somewhere between $140-$180 on average while all Volusion themes cost $180 (Compared to previous Volusion pricing of theme, these new prices are highly welcome).

Feature-wise, Shopify themes provide a bit more than Volusion themes. They sport a more contemporary design features including parallax scrolling and video ready backgrounds.

Overall, Iw ould say that when it comes to themes, it’s pretty easy to conclude that Shopify offers significantly better themes than its competitor in this comparison.

Shopify – 3 | Volusion – 0

Shopify Vs. Volusion – Pricing

Shopify pricing comes in five plans, for full Shopify cost breakdown check out the Shopify cost article:

  • Shopify Lite: $9/month
  • Basic Shopify: $29/month
  • Shopify: $79/month
  • Advanced Shopify: $299/month
  • Shopify Plus: pricing depends on your requirements (but it usually costs somewhere around $2000/month).

Volusion pricing offer four different plans. The pricing structure is quite similar to Shopify pricing plan:

  • Personal: $29/month
  • Professional: $79/month
  • Business: $299/month
  • Prime: custom pricing, depends on your requirements

Transaction Fees

Some eCommerce solution providers charge you an extra transaction fee in addition to charging you the monthly fee. Shopify also charges you a transaction fee on each sale. This is where Volusion trumps Shopify with its lack of any type of transaction fees on any plan.

Shopify does allow you a simple workaround to avoid transaction fees on its plan, but it requires you to use Shopify’s own payment processing features knowns Shopify Payments.

The problem with Shopify Payments is that it’s only available in a few countries, so not everyone can use this payment feature. The countries are as following:

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Hong Kong
  • Ireland
  • Japan
  • New Zealand
  • Singapore
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

If you are not a resident of any of the above countries, then you will have to rely on third-party payment processors for your Shopify store, and using a third-party payment gateway means Shopify will charge you transaction fees of up to 2% on each sale. So, I think that Volusion is better when it comes to the pricing of both platforms and the fees associated with each plan.

Shopify – 3 | Volusion – 1

Volusion Vs Shopify – Apps

If you need some extra functionality on your online store, then you have to use third-party apps. Both Shopify and Volusion have their own app stores.

Volusion offers around 71 apps out of which approximately ten are available for free. Shopify, on the other hand, offers thousands of apps out of which hundreds of apps are available for free.

Volusion apps do offer the basic functionality, but Shopify does triumph in this category with its extensive collection of apps. Shopify definitely comes out on top when it comes to app integrations.

Shopify – 4 | Volusion – 1

Shopify Vs. Volusion – Blogging

Shopify offers one of the most important features right out of the box that is a blogging tool. While Volusion entirely lacks this feature.

Some might think that a blog is not as important for an ecommerce store, but you can’t be more wrong about this one. In today’s world, inbound marketing and content marketing require you to post regular blogs. Blogs help you bring traffic to your online store and generate sales.

Volusion does allow you to link a third-party blog (like WordPress, etc.) to your store, but that’s a headache, and most inexperienced users will avoid such workarounds.

Shopify’s built-in blogging tool lets you add a blog to your store without any problems. Majority of users will easily be able to create a Shopify blog and update it without any problems. So, this definitely gives Shopify an edge over Volusion.

Shopify – 5 | Volusion – 1

Shopify Vs. Volusion – SEO-Friendly

Both these ecommerce platforms allow you to tweak SEO settings which include, but not limited to URL, page title, meta descriptions, alt-text, redirects, and more. However, I personally prefer Shopify’s user-friendliness when it comes to tweaking SEO. Especially when it comes to 301 redirects and search-friendly URLs, Shopify takes the lead.

Shopify automatically creates a redirect for you every time you change the URL of any page on your online store, while Volusion makes the whole process a bit more difficult. You have to go to the “Redirect manager” page and upload an XML file to create a 301 redirect on Volusion.

Also, Shopify by default makes all URLs search-friendly, while in Volusion you have to go into the settings and turn on the “Search-friendly URL” feature to get the SEO-friendly versions of product page URLs.

So, seems like Volusion just over-complicates a lot of basic features that should be easy to perform. Shopify takes an edge over Volusion in being the most user-friendly platform. 

Shopify – 6 | Volusion – 1

Volusion Vs. Shopify – Tax Settings

Volusion allows you to show prices with or without the VAT included. You can set taxes either manually through settings, or automatically depending on your preferred region.

Shopify also does the same when it comes to tax settings. You can set up taxes easily through Shipping settings for each region. Both platforms are pretty much tied when it comes to tax settings.

Shopify – 7 | Volusion – 2

Volusion Vs. Shopify – Shipping

Volusion allows you to tweak shipping settings and set the fees according to the region. Shipping fees can also be calculated automatically in real time with some of the carriers like UPS, Royal Mail, FedEx, Canada Post, and Australia Post.

Shopify also provides you with similar options, but it offers more integration options with carriers like Rakuten, Shipwire, and also Amazon fulfillment. So, Shopify does take the cake when it comes to shipping.

Shopify – 8 | Volusion – 2

Shopify Vs. Volusion – Customer Support

Both ecommerce platforms provide multiple ways of getting in touch with the support teams.

Shopify does offer strong customer support options. You can get in touch with the support team via multiple channels including live chat, email, and phone support. Other support resources like wiki and discussion forum are also available. Shopify also has a helpful blog with tutorials and the ecommerce university that teaches everyone about the intricacies of ecommerce and online business.

Volusion also offers amazing support via live chat, phone, and email. They also have an extensive help center with top-questions and issues. They do lack a forum because the population is a bit low, but Volusion makes up for it through their 24/7 available teams via multiple channels.

Shopify – 8 | Volusion – 3

Related Article:
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Shopify vs BigCommerce Reviewing the Best eCommerce Solutions

Conclusion – Which one is better for you?

If you look at it objectively, then Shopify clearly comes out on top in this comparison. But, that doesn’t make Volusion an inferior option. Volusion is still a good solution for small businesses, but ass long as you feel comfortable with using a complicated ecommerce solution.

If you are still on the fence and can’t make a decision on either one of the solutions, then I recommend that you sign up for a free trial for both the ecommerce platforms and see how both of these work.

Feel free to let us know which platform is your favorite and why? Comment below and let us know.

Dilawar Hussain

Dilawar Hussain is a professional blogger who loves gaming, technology, and ecommerce. He spends his time testing new strategies, hacks, and tricks to help the ecommerce community.

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