A quick Google search on the best ecommerce website builders will offer you an overwhelming array of options. There’s no shortage of options with companies making slick marketing promises on what their tool can do for your ecommerce business. So, how do you pick one to build your online store?
You have come to the right place as this guide talks in-depth about two of the top ecommerce platforms for building an online store website. Wix and Shopify emerge as the top two options among ecommerce businesses. While it’s a close race between the two, there are distinct differences that you must consider for your business.
At the end of this guide, you should be able to distinctively pick one platform over another to set up your online store.
Keep reading to learn more about the best choice for your online business.
Article Overview
Wix Overview
Shopify Overview
Set Up
Ease of Use
Features
Scalability
Flexibility
Support
Security
Pricing
Which Should You Choose?
FAQs
Wix Overview
Wix ecommerce website builder is one of the top-rated tools in the market for an online business. It’s an ideal website builder for anyone who’s new to building their own online store because it is easy to use and has an extensive suite of ecommerce features and functionalities you can use for your website.
Wix features drag-and-drop functionality, which makes it easy to customize the Wix templates even if you’re a beginner. You will also find an extensive lineup of ecommerce functionality that makes it suitable for an online business website. And you can easily tweak your Wix template since the Wix app store provides numerous tools and upgrades you can incorporate when building your website to suit your design and functionality idea.
According to ecommerce experts, the Wix website builder is ideal for small businesses and beginners. It is also a great tool for creatives because of its feature-rich ecommerce suite. You can choose up to 800 Wix templates, thus making it easy to customize to fit your website vision and branding.
The Wix pricing plans offer variety to ensure you can find the right fit for your needs, the size of your business, and your budget. Here are the Wix pricing options for the Website Plans:
- VIP – $24.50 per month with a free custom domain for one year, custom branding, a free SSL certificate and up to 35 GB of storage space
- Unlimited – $12.50 per month with a free custom domain for one year, custom branding, and free SSL certificate and up to 10 GB of storage space
- Combo – $8.50 per month and is suitable for personal websites with a free custom domain for a year and up to 3 GB of storage space
- Connect Domain – $4.50 per month with a custom domain and free SSL certificate and 500 MB storage space
Here are the Wix pricing options for the Business and eCommerce Plans.
- Business VIP – $35 per month
- Business Unlimited – $25 per month
- Business Basic – $17 per month
The ecommerce website plans available via Wix enable you to upload up to 50,000 products to your online store, abandoned cart recovery, and accept multiple currencies (for select plans). There are also Enterprise plans available on Wix, which are suited for large-scale businesses and enterprises.
Shopify Overview
Shopify is another one of the fastest-growing ecommerce platforms on the web. It’s another website builder, like Wix, that enables online business owners to set up their custom online store using a paid or free domain. You can sign up for a free trial account before you commit to building a Shopify store to test out the features and functionalities of this ecommerce business tool.
Shopify pricing offers different plans to choose from, depending on where you are in your eCommerce journey. Here is an overview of the Shopify pricing plans to find one that suits your budget.
- Basic – It costs $25 per month, which has everything you need to set up a Shopify store, ship products, and process payments. You can also access basic reporting with up to two staff accounts. This plan is suited for individuals or those who are starting an online store.
- Shopify Plus -It costs $65 per month with professional reporting and up to five staff accounts. It is ideal for small businesses.
- Shopify Advanced – It costs $399 per month with a custom report builder and up to 15 staff accounts. It is ideal for medium to large businesses.
Wix vs Shopify: Detailed Comparison
Now that you know the basic information about each website builder, let’s inspect them more closely to compare the right tool for your ecommerce site.
Wix vs Shopify: Set Up
The ease of set up is a primary factor to consider in your comparison of both Wix and Shopify. Several factors impact how easy it is to set up an eCommerce website, such as the number of products you have and your customization goals.
With a basic template, you can set up your Shopify store in a few hours. The set-up time will take longer if you require a more complex design.
Wix has a slight edge in this department. Wix’s drag-and-drop feature makes building your website so simple, that even a beginner can do it.
Wix vs Shopify: Ease of Use
If you can’t decide between Wix vs Shopify, the ease of use is one area to look into. Thankfully, both websites score high in this department. Wix features a drag-and-drop functionality for building and customizing your website themes. It also has a user-friendly interface.
On the other hand, Shopify is easy to use but they do require a bit of coding knowledge if you want to achieve advanced customization.
Wix vs Shopify: Features
For this purpose, we will be looking into two categories of features for Wix and Shopify: marketing and sales features.
Shopify clearly wins this department, whether you are looking for sales or marketing features for your website. But Wix has recently stepped up its eCommerce marketing game to offer new features that would facilitate your digital marketing efforts.
First, Shopify offers several options for payment gateways, making it an ideal eCommerce solution for online entrepreneurs. The current payment gateways accepted on Shopify include Paypal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Klarna, and its in-house payment solution, Shopify Payments. Meanwhile, Wix only accepts Paypal, Stripe, Square, and Klarna.
The shipping options are another area wherein Shopify reigns supreme. Shopify provides various shipping options, including contact-free shipping options and local delivery (for local businesses). It eliminates the complications associated with setting up shipping for your orders and offers more shipping options to suit your customers’ needs. With Wix, it recently launched Wix Shipping wherein they partnered with Shippo to facilitate a smooth order fulfillment and shipping process.
When it comes to marketing, Shopify is integrated with in-house tools to facilitate the marketing of your store. You can use Shopify apps and third-party apps to optimize your promotional campaigns, such as social media integration, email marketing, and newsletters.
Recently, Wix introduced Wix Ascend, which is a comprehensive marketing solution that requires a separate subscription. They also partnered with Semrush to make it easier to perform keyword research from within your Wix dashboard, making it easier to optimize your store’s SEO performance.
Wix vs Shopify: Scalability
Shopify wins when it comes to scalability. Shopify is an ecommerce platform that was built and developed for online selling. Therefore, the Shopify ecommerce site is equipped with tools that enable you to launch and expand your online business with ease.
For example, Shopify offers shipping and fulfillment tools that are not available to many other website builders and CMS platforms. If your product meets a certain criterion, Shopify can handle the fulfillment and returns of the product. It’s a good option for growing businesses since order fulfillment is one of the greatest sources of headaches involved with running an ecommerce business.
In addition, Shopify is partnered with various logistic carriers. You can leverage that partnership to earn major discounts on shipping costs. These logistic partners include DHL, USPS, Canada Post, and Sendle. Meanwhile, Shopify offers numerous eCommerce integrations that give you added functionality on your eCommerce website, such as inventory management and international shipping.
Shopify positions itself as an eCommerce-centric solution, which is supported by its feature-rich approach to helping you build a store. It’s a smart choice if you have a growing eCommerce business with a large inventory because the Shopify functionalities enable you to list as many products as you can and target an international customer base.
Wix vs Shopify: Flexibility
Flexibility is another important factor when doing Wix vs Shopify comparison. Both Wix and Shopify provide free templates and access to various design features, enabling you to create an aesthetically appealing website. However, Wix offers more flexibility with its extensive array of eCommerce templates. The entire library of Wix templates totals over 800, so you have every option available to suit your specific business or industry.
The best part about the Wix templates is that they are free templates! It is truly leaps and bounds ahead of what Shopify offers, which are only 122 themes overall. Some of the Shopify templates even cost as high as $300!
However, Shopify themes are more responsive and can be easily optimized for mobile users. With Wix, you need to set it up yourself to tweak the individual elements that match your vision of what your website should look like. Even without a web design background, the tools available on Wix would make it easier to explore and customize to your liking.
Wix vs Shopify: Support
Access to support is critical when choosing a platform for your online store. When you run into technical issues, you want to access the platform’s technical support team to help troubleshoot the issue.
Both Shopify and Wix offer good customer support for eCommerce businesses. You can get a swift response to queries and troubleshooting needs. The websites for Wix and Shopify provide users access to community forums, knowledge bases, tutorials and guides, and helpful articles to resolve any issues. When all else fails, the support team are available via email or chat to provide real-time assistance. They can even offer phone support for more pressing issues.
Wix vs Shopify: Security
When it comes to security, you can rest assured that building a website using either Wix or Shopify can keep your store secure. They use SSL encryption to protect sensitive data on your website, especially when managing payment gateways for eCommerce transactions.
Security is a primary concern for consumers online, which is why it is crucial for eCommerce business owners to choose a platform they can rely on and trust.
Wix and Shopify both have Level 1 PCI DSS-compliant certificates. Therefore, setting up your online store through these platforms means you are also compliant with this security standard.
Wix and Shopify take security seriously, ensuring that their clients can build their business in a secure platform.
Wix vs Shopify: Pricing
Shopify pricing plans are slightly more expensive than Wix’s. These costs refer to the pricing plans for setting up the store and the running costs of the website.
However, both websites offer flexible pricing plans from basic to advanced plans. Affordability is relative for many eCommerce store owners. Therefore, you can pick a plan that fits your needs and budget, especially with the size of your inventory. More advanced stores that have more products require advanced eCommerce solutions. You must be willing to pay higher to meet the needs of your business.
Aside from the subscription plans, you must consider the transaction and other fees when running your online store. These costs can add up to your business expenses over time. Shopify charges transaction fees while Wix does not.
Thankfully, both websites offer a free trial, which gives you an opportunity to test out their services before you commit to a paid plan. Shopify offers a free trial for three days, which does not require you to provide your credit card information. Once the free trial period is over, you must pay $1 per month for up to three months.
With Wix, you can set up a free account and test out the features with no time constraints. It gives you the opportunity to try out the website’s features before upgrading your plan.
Take note that the free trial version for each website has limitations, which might not give you access to the features you intend to use for building your website.
Wix vs Shopify: Which Should You Choose?
The decision between Wix vs Shopify ultimately comes down to your business needs and goals. Shopify wins if you want to run a large ecommerce site because it offers the best sales and marketing tools. It is also easily scalable, so you can access advanced eCommerce features if you want to grow your business. Shopify offers additional features for ecommerce businesses, such as various payment gateways, tax options, and built-in shipping tools, making it easy to launch or expand your business.
On the other hand, Wix is ideal for small businesses or those starting out with an online venture. It is affordable and easy to use. Therefore, you can start with a relatively low upfront cost. The website builder tools are also beginner-friendly, so you won’t need to hire a website designer to set up your eCommerce site from scratch. Even the free plans at Wix are quite generous!
Use the detailed comparison of Wix vs Shopify to help you make an informed decision, based on where you are in your ecommerce journey and where you foresee going in the near future.
Wix vs Shopify FAQs
Which is cheaper: Wix vs Shopify?
Both Wix and Shopify are pretty even when it comes to pricing. When you look at the Wix and Shopify comparison on pricing, Wix pricing offers cheaper plan options. But you must examine those pricing plans not just on the upfront cost, but also on what each plan offers. Again, it’s impossible to pinpoint one as being a better option than the other since you must weigh out your options according to what you need for your eCommerce website.
Is Wix better than Shopify?
It depends. Each website builder offers their pros and cons for your business. Shopify has more eCommerce functionality and features and a more extensive inventory option. But Wix is cheaper and beginner-friendly. Your choice depends on what you’re looking for and which platform can offer what you need.
Why Shopify is best for small business?
Shopify is the ideal ecommerce platform for small businesses because of its built-in SEO and ecommerce features. It also offers various shipping options and payment gateways, which makes it easier to set up an online store.
Can I sell products on Wix for free?
You can create an account on Wix on a free plan, but you must upgrade to a premium plan if you want to sell through your website. Wix pricing plans are divided into website plans for personal and eCommerce plans. You must upgrade your free account to the eCommerce plans if you want to accept payments and unlock built-in eCommerce tools.
Can I switch from Wix to Shopify?
If you purchased your custom domain outside of Wix, it is possible to transfer your Wix store to a Shopify site. You can easily import your Wix store and data (such as products, sales, and contacts) to Shopify.
Why use Wix over Shopify?
Shopify wins over Wix when it comes to its built-in sales and marketing tools. However, Wix’s eCommerce plans and features offer variety. Wix also does not charge transaction fees unlike Shopify; they only charge the standard processing fees.
