Shopify or Wix, which is the better E-Commerce platform for your business?

E-commerce is the vast world of trade, creativity and innovations. This world of e-Commerce is experiencing a new trend with every passing day and developing constantly. To trade in this ever-changing world is both challenging and rewarding. The challenge begins with choosing the right platform to trade to get a merchant closer to the reward. Whilst you could set up your own online shop, there are numerous payment gateway options that can make the process confusing. So, as you work out which is the best to use, you might want to set up shop on an existing platform, but even selecting the right e-commerce platform is critical and arduous. The e-commerce platforms are the tactical means to skyrocket your business and hence should be chosen cautiously.
The difficulties do not lie in not the paucity of available options. On the contrary, it is the plethora of the same. There are a bunch of e-commerce platforms to choose from, such as Shopify, Wix, Big Commerce, Magento and more. If you’re thinking of opting Megento, you may want to get in touch with some magento website development services. And each one of them claims to be the best that makes it challenging for a business owner to choose one. To talk about Wix and Shopify in particular, a layperson might think of them as synonyms, but they are as different as day and night.
Continue reading to know the difference between both the platforms and their pros and cons to make a wiser decision.

Let’s compare.

The inception and improvements

Wix
Wix started as a creative solution of building content-based websites for those who intend to build portfolio websites, blogs and news sites and other websites which aim to convey information or display content.
Wix made considerable improvements in its selling features which in turn has widened its scope and audience. However, it is recommended for content-based websites.

Shopify

Unlike Wix, Shopify was started with the intention to facilitate e-commerce merchants by developing an e-commerce platform to create online stores. All the features of Shopify, from the traditional time, have been focused on selling effectively. The aim was to serve merchants globally with easy to use platforms for merchants to build their online stores.
Shopify has made considerable improvements in its content management tools and has introduced several latest tools to make selling easier.

The pricing

Wix

Wix offers an entirely free plan as a great option to try a platform out. Nevertheless, the free plan does not support selling or even connecting a domain to it. If you use a free plan, you can not avoid the Wix advertising on your site.
Wix paid-for plans have two categories in the USA. It can vary from country to country. For instance, for the Indian audience, they offer two base categories named Website plan and Business and E-Commerce plans Whereas, for Americans, there is one additional plan called Enterprise. The names can be different for audiences from different countries, but the services and the prices are almost the same.

The website plan is divided into four subcategories, i.e.Combo, Unlimited Pro and VIP. The pricing may range from $14 to $39 a month. The business and E-Commerce plan has three subcategories called Business basic, Business Unlimited, and Business VIP that can range between $23 to $49 a month, and the Enterprise plan can cost a company $500 a month.
The detailed list of plans are:

1. Website plan

2. Business and E-Commerce plan

Consider following factors also:

1. Storage: The storage increases with the cost of the plan.
2. E-Commerce features: The facilities to trade comes with Business and E-Commerce plans only.
3. Video and certain apps: The option to upload more video content on your website is directly proportional to the money you pay.
4. Support: The Enterprise plan or the VIP plans only offer the priority support feature, and for other plans, there is a 24/7 Customer Care option available.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify brags the easy to use subscription-based software that allows anyone to start out an online business. Shopify’s pricing plans are way simpler than that of Wix. There are not many categories and subcategories to choose from. Instead, it has five categories. Each with unique features and functionalities ranging from $9 a month to $299 a month.
Unlike Wix, Shopify does not have a free plan. However, to get to know the platform better, Shopify offers a free trial of 14 days. Shopify Lite is the cheapest plan Shopify offers. However, this plan does not let you construct a full-fledged online store. Instead, it allows you to sell via your Facebook store and use the Shopify shop now button on your existing website.

The pricing plans of Shopify stores:

Mobile Responsiveness

Wix
Wix elements are positioned using Pixels, which means it does not offer an automatic mobile responsive website. Instead, you would have two versions of a website, one for desktop and the other for mobile devices. It multiplies the work at the back end. However, if you intend to give a personalized experience to mobile device users and desktop users, Wix is the platform for you.
Shopify
Shopify’s template and themes are 100% responsive. That means the images, text, videos, and every other element used in your website can automatically resize themselves based on the device types. It leads to decreased technical difficulties at your end.While both Wix and Shopify may have a secure payment gateway, you can also incorporate additional security measures, which can provide you a PCI compliance solution along with creating a secured tokenized channel for your business to accept money through any customer or payment card. Moreover, you can look at this now to learn more about tokenization and protected payment methods.

Switching templates

Wix
Wix has no chance to stand in front of Shopify when offering liberty to change the template is concerned. In case you have made up your mind to change the template anyhow, you will have to rebuild the whole website. It is not a one-time thing. You will have to build your website from scratch every time you choose to change the templates.
Shopify
Shopify gives you full access to the CSS and HTML code of your template. It means you are at full liberty to make desired changes to the templates, which Wis has failed to offer. Shopify’s design flexibility is the most attractive feature Shopify offers.

Migrating data

Both Shopify and Wix have made it easy to migrate your store and store data from another platform to itself, though you may also wish to invest in extra security with the help of something like this hola vpn, if you don’t already have a VPN in place, in order to protect the data that you do have on your system. However, there are a few differences between the offerings. Let’s explore it thoroughly.

Wix
You can use a CSV file to migrate or import your store content from any other platform to Wix. But, it is not all pink. You cannot import more than 5000 products to your Wix store.
Shopify
Shopify has made it even easier to migrate your data and other content on your website from any e-commerce platform to Shopify. Shopify has a competitive edge in importing content effectively. But to do that, you will have to use a third-party app. All the apps are available on the Shopify App Store.

Payment Gateways

Wix
Wix offers its own in-built payment gateway to accept payment on your site. Unfortunately, not all countries support the payment gateway, and for that, Wix has integrated with 70 third party payment gateways to simplify the payment acceptance process. Wix does not charge any payment processing fees and hence is comparatively cheaper.
Shopify
Shopify also offers its built-in payment gateway, i.e., Shopify gateway, to ease the process of accepting payments on your site. Also, its integration with 100 payment gateways makes it most efficient for merchants to accept payments.

The bottom Line

Wix is the choice for those who want to build a website for general purposes. However, Shopify is the better and professional choice for e-commerce websites. Apart from being cost-effective and customizable, Shopify handles payment processing, POS to administer in-person sales, dropshipping features, multi-currency selling functionality, and Shopify Fulfillment can help you get products into customers’ hands. Shopify powerful apps and tools work seamlessly as part of the Shopify ecosystem. With little technical know-how and less investment, you can get your store built from scratch and scale to an international online brand.

Let’s Build Together!
Want to build your online store from scratch without getting your head into the troubling technicalities? Shake hands with it-geeks, the most prominent Shopify experts. We are famous for building full-fledged, top-notched and highly customizable online stores to deliver our clients the best possible experience.
From your idea to a fully functional digital store, we can create your brand the way you want. Contact Us and allow us to know your requirements and we promise to deliver more than your expectations.