eCommerce has become the trend in the modern world. In that regard, Wix and Shopify are among the most-used eCommerce website builders. Wix vs. Shopify, which builder should you settle for?
With an eCommerce builder, you don’t have to create everything from scratch. You can use customizable themes/ templates and various integrations to build a functional store. Website builders are designed to help users launch shops and other websites without coding.
Selecting the right eCommerce builder will save you a lot of trouble when building your next online shop. The ideal platform should allow you to manage orders and process payments easily. A platform’s flexibility and scalability are other features you should consider before you pick an eCommerce website builder.
In this article, I will compare Wix and Shopify, their features, pros, and cons to help you make an informed decision.
What is Wix?
Wix is a cloud-based website builder that allows users to build and launch websites through its easy-to-use editor. The platform has over 900 professionally designed templates that can be used across different industries and niches. Using this website builder, you can opt for a blank canvas and design everything from scratch.
The platform features full-stack web development tools that you can utilize to create a fully functional website. Wix allows you to import custom logos and create a custom domain to reflect your brand identity.
What are the advantages of using Wix?
- All-in-one platform: Wix allows you to build a website and purchase a domain name and hosting from its platform. Thus, you don’t have to deal with many configurations to launch an eCommerce platform.
- User-friendly interface: The drag-and-drop editor takes care of most of the things you need to build a shop. You don’t have to write code to enable various functionalities on your eCommerce shop.
- Extensive app market: The Wix app market allows users to add functionalities like eCommerce features and linking to mailing apps.
- SEO features: Wix has built-in SEO features to ensure that your eCommerce is discoverable and crawlable by search engines.
What is Wix used for?
Even though we are comparing Wix and Shopify based on the eCommerce features, you can also use Wix to create other websites. Actually, Wix and WordPress share various features and have been competitors for many years. You can use it to build:
- Blogs
- Portfolio websites
- Social platforms
- Forums
- Membership sites
- Booking platforms
- Event websites
What is Shopify?
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that allows users to build, launch, and manage online stores. The platform allows shop owners to sell in different places like on mobile, web, brick-and-mortar shops, or even pop-up shops. Shopify does not limit how you can sell your products, as you can push your products on online marketplaces or even social media platforms.
What are the advantages of using Shopify?
- User-friendly interface: This platform has an awesome wizard that you can use to set up your shop quickly. Shopify also has great resources that you can always refer to when stuck.
- Supports the entire eCommerce community: Shopify can be used by offline and online entrepreneurs.
- A big app place: You can extend the functionality of your Shopify store using third-party apps hosted on the marketplace.
- Scalable: Shopify is designed to grow with you as your application grows. The platform is also flexible, allowing you to add or delete items without affecting the functionality of your store.
- Highly customizable: Shopify allows you to customize your store to match your unique brand needs and voice. You can import a logo and change fonts to your liking.
Wix vs. Shopify: Deep-Dive Comparison
#1. Ease of use
Website builders are designed to help even non-coders build sites. These platforms offer the following:
Wix caters to those with limited design and coding skills but still needs professional websites. I found the drag-and-drop editor is easy to use as you create different page sections.
You can add new pages with a single click when using Wix. We also found the ‘What You See Is What You Get’ (WYSIWYG) builder on this platform exciting, as it lets you see the changes as you build your store in real-time.
Shopify was designed specifically for creating online stores. As such, this platform has various built-in tools to help launch a store fast. Creating an online store can be tasking as you must deal with product variations, shopping cart management, pricing, order fulfillment…etc. However, we found adding all these features on Shopify is straightforward.
The winner
We found it hard to determine the winner as Wix’s editor is easy to use. On the other hand, Shopify’s editor has amazing features to make online store creation a breeze.
#2. Themes and templates
An eCommerce builder will feature various themes and templates that you can customize to suit your brand needs.
Wix has over 800 templates, but only about 120 of them target e-commerce users. The drop-and-drag editor offered us flexibility in customization. This platform also allows you to use the Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) editor, where you answer a few questions, and the editor creates a design for you. We experimented with it and were impressed with the results.
Shopify has over 160 free and premium themes for your online store. The platform also has 10+ design templates with more than one variation. You can also opt for paid templates ranging from $180-$360. This platform has a block and section-based editor, which we found a little bit complicated compared to a drag-and-drop editor.
The winner
Shopify wins regarding themes and templates as they are suited for eCommerce. Wix has many templates, but our analysis shows that the eCommerce feature was an afterthought.
#3. Pricing
How much you are likely to spend to set up and run a shop is an important consideration. The ideal platform should offer competitive pricing based on the features.
Wix has a free plan. However, this plan gives your shop a wix.com extension on the domain name. It will cost you US$ 17/month to set up an eCommerce store on Wix. The platform also has custom plans for those who want to launch big stores. With the business plans, you can accept online payments and process orders.
Shopify has different plans to cater to different needs. If you decide to pay yearly, it will cost from $24/month to operate on this platform. It even gets better as you can get your first 3 months for $1/mo on the yearly plans. The prices might go higher if you opt for premium themes.
The winner
It is cheaper to start an eCommerce shop on Wix than on Shopify. However, we found the first 3 months for $1/mo on the yearly plans offer on Shopify a good deal.
#4. Integrations
Integrations and plugins allow users to connect their stores with third-party tools. You can use such tools for functions like order processing, management, and communication.
Wix has over 300 apps on its market. We discovered that most of the apps are free, while others are paid. You can narrow down the apps you seek using the search button. You can do different things with these apps, from analyzing traffic to processing orders.
Shopify has over 6000 apps that you can use to run and operate an online store. Most apps are free, while others offer a combination of free and paid plans. The choice of an app will depend on the nature of the store you want to operate.
The winner
Shopify was our ultimate winner on the integrations. The presence of over 6000 apps offers everything you need to manage an online store.
#5. Marketing
Marketing is an integral part of driving traffic to an online store. Both platforms have unique features/ tools as follows:
Wix has various features, such as email marketing, ad campaigns, a blog section, and social media integration for marketing purposes. We loved the built-in SEO tools like customizable URLs, server-side rendering, and structured data.
Shopify users can utilize the built-in blog section, email marketing, and social media integration to market their shops. We also checked out the Shopify app store, which has hundreds of apps users can use to market their brands and products. You can also bank on organic traffic, as Shopify allows you to edit header tags, alt tags, and meta descriptions to boost SEO.
The winner
Our analysis gives the two eCommerce builders a tie in marketing. Both platforms have amazing marketing features.
#6. Shipping
Wix and Shopify allow shop owners to list physical and digital products. If you deal with physical products, you need a shipping avenue to get your goods delivered to your clients.
Wix offers various shipping options based on location and type of product. For instance, you can have Local Delivery, Standard Shipping, Express Shipping, or Curbside Shipping. The platform allows you to ship to different countries at different rates.
Shopify has all the shipping features built-in to ease the fulfillment of orders. We particularly loved the feature that lets you buy and print shipping labels to add to your products. You can set different rates for your products based on region or weight.
The winner
The shipping labels made us rate Shopify as the winner on this front.
#7. Payments Processing
A good eCommerce website should allow you to process payments from your clients. These two platforms offer similar options but differ in some ways:
Wix processes customer payments using over 70 platforms like PayPal, Stripe, and Square. However, the availability of a payment processor varies depending on location. Most of these platforms pay from their account balance or the attached card. We also found the Buy Now Pay Later option a game changer if you want customers to pay in installments.
Shopify has a wider range of payment processors than Wix. The platform has 100+ payment processors that you can filter based on location. These payment processors are categorized into Hosted, Self-hosted, and Non-hosted.
The winner
Shopify is our ultimate winner as it has more payment processors than Wix.
Here is a quick summary of Wix vs. Shopify.
| Feature | Wix | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| eCommerce focus | Basic eCommerce features | Designed for eCommerce |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Available but with limited capabilities | Advanced |
| Analytics and reports | Basic sales reports and analytics | Advanced reporting |
| Free plan | Yes | No, but has a free trial |
| Drag-and-drop | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | 300+ | 6000+ |
| Shipping options | Limited | Advanced |
| Product management | Limited | Advanced |
Limitations of Wix
Even though Wix offers awesome eCommerce features, we discovered it also has shortcomings in the following areas:
- Transaction fees: The low-tier plans on Wix will charge a commission for every sale you make.
- Limited scalability: Wix is most suited for small stores.
- Limited payment processors: Although this platform supports several payment gateways, there may not be as many as most buyers would like.
- Limited third-party integrations: Wix has an app marketplace but might not provide everything you need to run a successful online store.
Limitations of Shopify
Shopify was specifically built for eCommerce. However, our analysis shows it fails on the following fronts:
- Recurring costs: Shopify has a monthly payment scheme, which can be expensive for small business owners yet to break even.
- Customization complexity: Shopify can be hard to customize if you want complex functionalities. You may end up hiring coding experts to implement some features.
- Theme costs: Shopify has free themes. However, they have limited functionalities, and you may opt for premium themes.
- Inventory limitations: This platform limits the number of variants on a single product in your shop.
When to use Wix
- When you are looking for an easy-to-use website builder.
- When you want to run a small shop on a budget.
- When you want to build a content-centric website with eCommerce functionalities.
- If you want to enjoy high customization levels as you build your shop.
When to use Shopify
- When you want to launch a big store with all the eCommerce features.
- If you want a scalable platform that will allow your shop to grow.
- When looking for a platform that gives you total control over your shop and allows custom code.
- When looking for a platform that has thousands of third-party integrations.
Conclusion
The ultimate pick between Wix and Shopify will depend on the nature of the shop you want to build and your expertise. I found Wix a perfect fit for those who want to set up their shops fast. On the other hand, Shopify suits users looking for more control over their shops and those who want to scale up.
Check out our article on Wix vs. GoDaddy website builders.