eCommerce is an important concept for companies which helps businesses drive towards higher sales and ROI. Consequently, companies are now working towards eCommerce stores so that they are able to capture audiences at a wider scale. A comparison like Shopify vs Magento often comes to mind, when choosing the best eCommerce platform for creating an online storefront.
Just imagine this scenario. You are a well-established company of cane furniture operating from Karachi or Kathmandu. But the demand for such furniture is all over the world.
Therefore, you want to span out your reach to a higher consumer base. By developing an eCommerce website, you are accessible to consumers across the globe.
There are a handful of eCommerce platforms to choose from for this purpose. One of the most interesting debates is related to Shopify vs Magento nowadays. Both of these platforms are hugely popular for creating eCommerce websites.
Most of the people like to do shopping online nowadays. IT firms providing eCommerce Development Solutions help companies in establishing online shopping portals.
Shopify and Magento are two of the famous eCommerce platforms with largest market share worldwide. Both of the shopping cart software are set to witness more growth in the decade of 2020. It is interesting to have a thorough discussion about the two platforms for a direct showdown between the two.
Shopify – The Popular Choice
With over 600,000 websites under its belt, Shopify is a force to reckon with. It has a respectable number of Shopify developers worldwide. Hence it has a strong back with developer community and documentation collateral to help upcoming or existing developers learn about the platform.
Shopify is a very inclusive eCommerce development platform. So, you do not need to have expertise in programming to use Shopify for developing your online store. Top shopify web design companies can assist businesses in launching a user-friendly eCommerce store to provide perfect experience to shopaholics.
You can use the drag and drop facility to create your online store without having expert capabilities. However, if you are able to have some basic to advanced level expertise; then you can make further customizations to make your store stand out from competition.
Themes
The reason behind the popularity of Shopify is the number of themes available under the platform: over a hundred. Most of all, these themes are not that costly. The majority of themes involve around 0-180$ which is very cost-effective and manageable.
Shopify has a comprehensive eCommerce website builder which helps stores expand on their existing online stores. Users are given up to 10 themes as free for trying out for their online stores.
Support
In order to help users out with their Shopify development, 24/7 support is readily available. For any pressing queries or help required for the eCommerce platform, Shopify support can be contacted.
Shopify is created in Liquid, an open-source template language, written in Ruby by Shopify Inc. This customer-facing templating language helps in making flexible and secure web apps. Since 2006, Liquid is backbone for Shopify themes, and loads dynamic content on online storefronts.
Transaction Fee per Sale
If you are an upcoming store, then you will probably have an issue because there is a transaction fee per each sale that is made through Shopify. However, if you are an established business; this does not hurt you as it decreases as you pay more each month by investing in an inclusive plan.
Therefore, Shopify expects you to make long-term commitment by investing on an inclusive plan. This is probably something you might not be comfortable with if you are a startup company looking to make your mark in the industry and budget is scarce.
Magento – Name speaks for itself
Not just popular for websites, Magento Development also has application for mobile eCommerce development. It has a vast or rather extensive community with a huge number of developers. This means that you can get any kind of support or documentation online at any step of development.
One of the biggest reasons for its popularity is because it is open-source. This means anyone who is interested in learning about the platform, or wanting to get their eCommerce website developed on it does not have to exclusively purchase it.
Magento is free and open to be used by anyone who opts for it. Top magento web design companies can enable enterprises and startups in offering online shopping experience to users with little fuss.
Complete Flexibility
Since, this is a popular programming language so sky is the limit when it comes to designing your store. As long as you know how to code in Magento, you can tweak, customize or write program that befits your online shopping store requirements.
Moreover, if you are stuck at any point; you can always consult the online existing documentation. top Magento developers are also willing to help others without any cost at any time.
Keep in Mind the Web Hosting and App Costs
Although Magento is free but the website hosting or other app costs need to be incurred by you. Therefore, it is important to keep all these costs in mind before you start off your eCommerce development venture in Magento.
Also, the web hosting of online store is dependent on the number of items that are available on it. The more your store grows; the higher it will cost you to host it online.
However, once you grow as a business; you do intend to have a higher sale as well. Therefore, this factor is nothing to worry about but to keep in mind once you start your P&L for the quarter.
Also, Magento is free, but some of its apps are not available without cost. So, you might have to spend $100 mark per app. If you want to integrate a couple of functions in your store then multiply the count with this number to know where you are headed.
Magento Development is not something that will be free though. Written in PHP language by means of the Zend Framework, Magento uses MySQL or MariaDB relational DBMS. So, you will probably need to hire expert developer for it. Hiring a competent programmer has its own price to pay.
Conclusion
In our deliberation of Shopify vs Magento, it is important to note that both platforms have multi-lingual, SEO and customization capabilities. Both are ranked in the premier eCommerce platforms in the world with their own fan following and completely operational online stores.
You can choose any of these platforms to get started on your quest for a feature enriched online store. However, the option for selecting either of these is dependent on your budget, time and go-to-market constraints.
If you are a single person wanting to venture off towards an online store with very limited budget. Or if you are a startup company that wants to embark on the eCommerce store journey. Then probably exploring Shopify will be a better choice. As it does not require much to get started in developing an online store through it.
Once, you gain traction; you can always move towards hiring expert-level resources for getting your customizable store developed in Magento. Both of these eCommerce platforms are highly customizable, enriched and powerful. It is all your drive and direction that will make your store look attractive and appealing to users.
For a higher user experience, it is always best to get expertise of a specialized software development company that can guide you on what features, user flows and development route to take for creating a successful eCommerce storefronts.
Do you need to develop an online storefront in Shopify or Magento? At Techliance, we are able to understand the requirements of all customers for eCommerce stores. We offer them a solution that befits their budget and timelines. Contact us today to learn more about your options for online eCommerce stores.