The Pros and Cons of Using Shopify in 2024
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows users to create online shops and retail point-of-sale systems. It's considered one of the best e-commerce setup platforms available, but it won’t be a perfect solution for every business owner with e-commerce needs. So let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using Shopify and help you decide whether or not it fits with your business.
This blog is part of a series comparing the advantages and disadvantages of website builders Shopify, Squarespace, and WordPress. To read the other installments, visit the links listed below:
Shopify Pros & Cons Overview
Pros:
Payment Processor & Shipping Options
Built-In Hosting
Advanced Features
Cons:
High Subscription & Processing Fees
Narrow Focus
Reliant on Plug-Ins
Who Should Use Shopify
Anyone who doesn’t need a full website and simply needs an online store, or anyone prioritizing their customer’s online shopping experience over anything else, should use Shopify over platforms like Squarespace or WordPress. While Squarespace has some built-in e-commerce features available as add-ons, and WordPress is compatible with a selection of e-commerce plug-ins, no other platform provides the depth Shopify does with its shop designer.
Shopify also offers plug-ins for features that aren’t even available on Squarespace. One prime example is how Shopify allows for kitting and bundling while Squarespace’s e-commerce setup only lets shop admins sell individual items.
Kitting is a function that lets you sell complete kits of products in one package (for example, a furniture kit with all the tools and pieces required to assemble the furniture in one order). Similarly, bundling is an e-commerce function that lets shoppers package several related items into one bundle for a discount. Both functions are reliable methods for offering enticing discounts or moving slow-selling items, and neither is available on Squarespace’s more limited e-commerce platform.
These functions are all examples of what you can accomplish with Shopify that you can’t with Squarespace and would be more demanding on WordPress.
Pros of Using Shopify
Better Payment and Shipping Options
If you want options for how your customers can purchase products from your shop and how you can ship those goods, Shopify is the best place to go. For starters, Shopify has a ton of payment processors available to link to your checkout page. That way, your customers can purchase your products with more flexibility than is available on other platforms.
In contrast, Squarespace offers a handful of payment processors with their e-commerce platform - with one of their unique ones being Squarespace Payments, a newer tool without many bells and whistles. WordPress can technically match Shopify’s impressive list of payment gateways, but you have to download most of them individually as plug-ins.
It’s a similar story for shipping options. While Squarespace offers a small handful of shipping service plug-ins (such as EasyShip, ShipStation, and Shippo), Shopify and WordPress provide far more options. Additionally, Shopify provides carrier-calculated shipping (allowing the shipping service to set the shipping costs based on the exact order details, allowing for more accurate pricing) for more carriers than Squarespace, including DHL and other international companies.
Provided Hosting
Shopify provides domain hosting directly from their platform when you sign up for a subscription. That way, you don’t have to go through a third-party registry like GoDaddy or Bluehost and pay their fees to set up your shop.
Not only does Shopify’s in-house hosting mean you’ll receive transparent pricing when you subscribe, having to pay only their subscription fees, but it also means you have the added benefit of Shopify’s top-notch security. Purchasing a domain through a third-party registry is less secure than doing it directly through Shopify or Squarespace since some domains (and some registries) don’t have the security of these large website builder platforms. But since Shopify keeps everything in-house, that’s not a problem you’ll need to worry about.
Advanced Features
One of the best things you can do on Shopify is let your shoppers generate product mockups and live customized designs while shopping. For example, if you sell wall art from your store, you can add an option for shoppers to view an auto-generated image of what it would look like on a wall to provide them a stronger sense of how the design will look when displayed.
Of course, that’s just one example of what you can do on Shopify. You can learn about the other advanced features and perks Shopify brings to the table on their website.
To be clear, while Shopify does have some great e-commerce features available in their base editor, a lot of these more advanced features are available as at-cost plug-ins rather than as free or cheap add-ons. Most of the plug-ins you’ll want are available through Shopify’s app store, so you can browse through them fairly easily. But those extra expenses can inflate your monthly bill by quite a bit, which will drive some users away from Shopify.
Cons of Using Shopify
Narrow Focus
Shopify might be the best way to build an e-commerce site, but it can’t accomplish much more than that. And while that narrow focus allows Shopify to create an optimized, unrivaled online shop builder, many business owners want their website to be more than just a place to sell products.
If you’re looking for a full website with different types of pages and a small shop, Squarespace and WordPress are the best ways to realize your vision. Shopify simply isn’t built for well-rounded websites like those other content management systems.
High Cost
The average Shopify website costs more to build and run than the average Squarespace or WordPress competitor. As we discussed in our WordPress comparison blog, the average price to set up a WordPress website is pretty variable depending on what plug-ins and features you want. But if you’re budgeting your WordPress build wisely, you’ll likely pay less than you would for a Shopify subscription with a few optional plug-ins and features.
Shopify subscriptions start at $39 monthly and range to $399 monthly for their highest-priced package. Compared to Squarespace, which has subscriptions ranging from $16 to $49 a month, you’ll pay more on Shopify than you would for a more fleshed-out Squarespace website.
Shopify’s monthly expenses are quite a bit higher than Squarespace’s, and that’s before you even tally plug-in costs into the equation. You can accomplish some basic design set-up without additional features with Shopify’s basic editor, but the platform is still much more similar to WordPress than it is to Squarespace. You will need plug-ins to access Shopify’s full functionality, and those added expenses are bound to inflate your monthly bill.
Shopify Platform Overview
If you need to build an online store, you won’t find a better platform than Shopify. On the other hand, if you need a website with a small, simple store attached, Squarespace is your best bet, with WordPress being another great candidate.
Shopify is for business owners looking to create the best shopping experience for their customers and nothing more. Between its shipping and payment options and optimized and advanced shopping features, Shopify is the leader in e-commerce platforms. Even if it costs slightly more than the more shallow alternatives, it will be worth it for many people.
Still not sure if Shopify is right for you? Book a consultation with our team to discuss your goals with a professional.
