Ecommerce is one of most powerful business solutions . To get most out of it , online store is key to get more sales and value in terms of branding. In order to solve the issue of selecting the best ecommerce online store builder platform. I have done critical analysis of three top website builders platforms. You will read the salient features and comparison of Shopify Vs Wix Vs Squarespace . The most advanced website builder platforms.
In this article , I will explain step by step functioning of Shopify , Wix , Squarespace and their pros and cons with detailed analysis . This comparison of shopify vs wix vs squarespace would also explain pros and cons of these website builder platforms. You will also learn about , how you can make best choice in choosing the platform for your upcoming online store that meets best of your needs.
Lets Dive Deep in…
Comparison Review of Shopify vs Wix vs Squarespace
Quick Overview
When we compare Shopify vs Wix vs Squarespace in terms of ecommerce store. Shopify has a lead on both the platforms. Shopify has number of greater ecommerce features than Wix or Squarespace.
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Shopify
Shopify is the biggest ecommerce website builder platform. It has dynamic features and thousands of beautiful templates. You can signup on Shopify for a free Trial without any payment to get started.
Salient features of Shopify
High Quality and easy to customize Templates
The most powerful feature of shopify is its themes. You can choose high quality responsive themes with 1 click. It enables you to customize your ecommerce store and make it user friendly. It has beautiful themes and colors. You can easily add navigational links and buttons. It makes shopify on top of edge when it comes to themes and beautiful designs.
Fast and Efficient Loading Speed ( Even with high quality images )
When it comes to ecommerce store , websites does not load as fast as they should. Shopify solves the issue of loading speed as its servers are of high quality and provides high speed to the websites. You can publish high quality images of your products without letting down the loading speed of your website. Loading speed directly impacts on sales , conversions as well as on your organic search traffic,
Shopify App store having thousands of Applications
Shopify has a strong app store which also includes third party apps. By integrating those apps into your website. you can make your website more efficient , user friendly and powerful. The app integration in Shopify is very easy and can be done without much expertise.
Mobile Ready and Friendly Themes
People tend to browse more on Mobile than desktops. If you are a ecommerce store owner , you must be looking for a high quality mobile friendly website. With Shopify themes you get built-in mobile friendly websites with high quality user interface. Easy to navigate and purchase the products from your store. Shopify also take care of loading speed on mobile devices to make sure your customers get high quality experience.
Abandoned Shopping Cart recovery
Shopify has automated function for people who choose products to buy in the cart but the at that stage they left without actually buying it. These customers can be converted into actual sales by sending reminders of empty cars as well as offering offers and discounts. Shopify automatically sends emails , reminders to those people and make an effort to return those people and make a purchase from your store.
Integration of Point of Sale ( POS ) with online shopify website
Just Like Squarspace , Shopify has also a powerful POS system allowing you to connect your offline goods sales to shopify online system. You can integrate POS with shopify POS application. It has advanced reporting dashboard keeping you updated about sales , Customer Purchase History and more.
Multiple Payment Gateway Options
Shopify offers multiple payment options including its own payment gateway Stripe. By using stripe you will not charge any transaction fees. You can also integrate other payment gateways as well.
Dropshipping
Shopify offers its powerful dropshipping feature. It enables you to sell products without having cost to store products on your warehouse. It makes shopify very powerful ecommerce platform.
Advanced SEO Tools and Plugins
Shopify has advanced SEO tools and third party apps such as Smart SEO which makes your website to rank better on search engines such as Google , Bing , Yahoo etc. Better SEO means more traffic and sales. Shopify has a edge when it comes to SEO in comparison of Shopify vs Wix vs squarespace . Shopify has more powerful plugins and SEO friendly features than Wix and Squarespace.
SEO is one of most powerful marketing strategy. Even Shopify Built-in powerful SEO tools , you can make your content , product pages seo friendly. It will Help you get more relevant traffic and Sales.
Shopify is powerful for SEO after initial tweaks. It has the drawbacks of being expensive, but it’s workflow is amazing. For an ideal SEO structure, you will want to change the product URL to redirect to the primary /product/ URL – By Patrick Rice
Pricing
| Package | Price |
| Basic Package | 29$ per Month |
| Shopify Package | 79$ Per Month |
| Advanced Package | 299$ per Month |
Cons of Shopify
Paid Plugins and Apps
Although Shopify has large base of apps and plugins but most of these plugins are paid ones . Unlike, a platform like woo-commerce where you can use plugins almost all of them free. This makes shopify a very expensive platform .
Migration from Shopify
If you want to migrate your website from shopify to some other ecommerce platform then it would not be a easy task to be done. You will need high expertise and cost to make it happen. Always choose wisely your platform before starting to build your online store.
Wix
Features of Wix Ecommerce Patform
Easy to use Website Builder
Wix is a very powerful and easy to use website builder platform. You can create beautiful landing pages and Sales Funnels for best conversion results. Its powerful , integrated website drop and drag builder makes it the best Choice for Beginners . The website builder allows you to make changes in website and preview the live version simultaneously as you are making changes. It gives you plenty of options of doing basic to advanced changes including Navigational menus , Headers , Sliders , Images , Text , Footer.
You can easily change content , add dynamic buttons , change colors , Use animations and make your website beautiful with unlimited freedom. With Wix easy to use website builder interface , you can do it all without any strong technical support as this platform is made for beginners having zero experience of website building.
No Coding Experience Required
There is no need to have extensive or even basic knowledge of Coding and languages to develop a dynamic and versatile website.
Store of pre-developed beautiful website templates
Wix has a extensive store of 500+ beautiful templates for your online store. This template can easily installed on your website and its very easy to change colors , buttons and images.
Mobile Optimized Store
At the times we are running through the importance of mobile is above any other operating device. Wix built-in feature of mobile optimized store makes it so much handy.
50+ Payment Gateway Options
Wix solves the problem of payment gateway by integrating 50+ payment gateways which makes it super easy for website owners to collect payments from their customers.
SEO tools and analytics
SEO is strongest pillar for successful online marketing. Wix makes it again easy and useful by integrating SEO tools , proper indexing the site , optimizing the content and reporting analytics to help you understand your audience.
Wix owner mobile app
You can easily manage your orders , add new products and track your inventory through their easy to to use mobile app.
Dropshipping
Wix allows you to sell products through dropshipping. This is very amazing feature in wix allowing store owners to enter into world of dropshipping and boost their sales.
Wix ecommerce Pricing
| Package | Price |
| Business Basic Package | 17$ per month |
| Business unlimited Package | 25$ per month |
| Business VIP Package | 35$ per month |
Cons of Wix
Templates are not interchangeable
While choosing template for your wix website , always be cautious as when you applied a template for your store. It will not be easy to change the template again . When you plan to change the template you will need to transfer the content manually to new template. This is limitation of Wix.
Wix Website is not transferable
This is one of top disadvantages of Wix platform . You can not change your website platform from Wix. Websites grow very fast and you need different platforms like Magento or custom e commerce platforms for your needs. If you are on wix and planning to transfer to new platform . You got to spend much higher money to re create your whole website as wix won’t going to help you in getting out.
Premium Plan is limited to single site only
You are paying good money to wix for their premium plan but you can just operate single site on this plan. Yes ! Its correct. Wix allows just 1 website per premium plan. This makes wix a very expensive platform.
SquareSpace
It is one of most Easy to use website builder platform. Squarespace has started getting attention of protentional new users wants t build their website with very less knowledge of programming and coding.
Salient features of Squarespace
High Quality Beautiful Responsive Template Designs
Squarespace has a library of very beautiful and dynamic themes . They can be applied easily with no expertise required. Squarespace allows you to build your online ecommerce store with in minutes and start selling your products online.
Unlimited Products Variants with Inventory Management System
With Squarspace ecommerce platform , you can publish unlimited products with a strong inventory manager. It allows you to control your stock , prices , titles and variants of products.
Sell Digital Products and services on your Squarespace ecommerce store
Aside from physical products , you can sell digital products , services on your website. You can sell eBooks , software’s , music and more. You can also sell online services such as coaching , consulting as well.
Automatic Emails to Customers
Squarespace has a functionality of automated emails. In ecommerce industry , emails works very well. Squarespace sends emails to the customers telling them next steps in their purchase . It can include Delivery time , Cash on delivery etc. These emails can also be used as market tool for the customers who left their cart without purchasing the products. You can use this feature to convert those people into actual buyers.
Integration of offline Point of Sale with Online Squarespace website system
Are you wondering to sale offline on your physical store and integrate those sales with the online website ?. Here comes squarespace , it has introduced a new system which will integrate the offline physical POS to the online website system. You will require Squarespace ecommerce App and a square card reader. This will sync your offline transactions with the online squarespace website.
Watch this video to understand more about the POS introduced by Squarespace :
SEO features
Squarespace has built-in SEO functions and reporting dashboards. These features enabled a user without seo expertise to make basic seo things. It comes with complete Analytics solutions to make assessment about your audience and make your marketing strategy accordingly.
Social Media Integration :
Social media is biggest platform for ecommerce sales . People tend to buy more from social media Ads and content. By integrating your website with social media through social media buttons on your website. You can also post the same content of your website on social media through automatic integration. It will make your content consistency and allows you to sell your content in a quick and efficient manner.
Squarespace Pricing
| Package | Price |
| Personal | 14$ Per month if paid annually or 19$ per month |
| Business | 23$ per month if paid annually or 33$ per month |
| Basic Ecommerce | 27$ per month if paid annually or 36$ per month. |
| Advanced Ecommerce | 49$ per month if paid annually or 65$ per month |
Cons of Squarespace :
High Pricing
Squarespace price is expensive as you can see from their pricing. They have expensive plans when compare to other platforms having same or better features.
No Support for Third Party Apps , Extensions and Plugins
There is no support available for the third party plugins and apps. It becomes difficult for the website builders to customize their website with powerful plugins.
Small App Store
The App store of squarespace is small having less options . Its competitors like Wix has much bigger app store.
Conclusion :
In This Comparison of Shopify Vs Wix Vs Squarespace , I explained their features and Cons. These platforms have plenty of reasons to choose them for your next website. The Question which platform to choose for your online store ? It depends on your business size. If you have a large business then go for shopify and if you have small business having less resources then you can go for Wix and squarespace. It does not means Wix and squarespace are not great platforms but its just they are not grown on bigger level yet as compare to Shopify which is top ecommerce website builder platform. Shopify is best Platform for your online ecommerce store SEO due to its powerful SEO tools and plugins.
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