What does your online store actually need to do?
That’s the first question you should be asking yourself. Shopify, WooCommerce and custom ecommerce builds can all produce excellent online stores. They can also all become expensive mistakes when the platform doesn’t fit the business behind it. Here’s a quick version of what actually matters:
Choose Shopify if: you want a plug and play, templated, ecommerce platform. Store management and much of the technical infrastructure are handled for you – but you lose any custom functionality you may need. You wont necessarily stand out in a crowd, so you’ll likely need to be an established brand/business already.
Choose WooCommerce if: you want more control over your website design, content, hosting, functionality and the way your store develops over time. Stores can be built with stronger SEO foundations, paving the way for the business to establish itself and grow.
Choose a more custom ecommerce solution if: your products, customer journey, integrations or business processes can’t comfortably fit inside a standard ecommerce setup of selling a catalogue of products online.
There isn’t a “best” platform. There is a platform that’s best for your business. And that’s the bit worth getting right before you start building.
Shopify: great when you want ecommerce handled for you
Shopify is built specifically for selling. Hosting, security, checkout, product management, payments, inventory and a large ecosystem of apps are all available within one platform. That makes it particularly attractive to businesses that want to concentrate on running the store rather than managing the technology underneath it. Shopify makes sense when:
- You primarily want to “just” sell online
- You want simple day-to-day product and order management
- You don’t want to manage hosting separately
- You want access to a large app ecosystem
- You may sell through multiple channels
For plenty of ecommerce businesses, that’s exactly what they need. The mistake is assuming that choosing Shopify means your store should simply be a Shopify theme with your logo and products dropped into it. It still needs proper structure.
Navigation, product categories, product pages, search, mobile usability, checkout journeys, SEO and conversion points all need to be considered around how your customers actually shop. A platform gives you the tools, it won’t built the product for you.
WooCommerce: more ownership and flexibility
A different approach. First and foremost, it’s built with WordPress – the software of choice for most of the professional web developers in the world. You’re not locked in to anything, can choose your hosting, extend the functionality and have far greater control over the underlying website. That’s particularly useful when ecommerce is only one part of a larger website. Imagine a business that needs:
- A substantial content or SEO strategy – to get found online
- Service pages alongside products
- Detailed landing pages
- Custom product types
- Quote requests
- Bespoke delivery rules
- Memberships or subscriptions
- Integrations with other business systems
WooCommerce gives developers considerable freedom to shape the website around those requirements. WooCommerce makes sense when:
- Content and SEO are a major part of your growth strategy
- You want strong ownership and control of the website
- You already use WordPress
- You need greater flexibility around functionality
- Your website needs to do more than simply sell products
- You want the ability to change hosting or development partners later
The trade-off is that with control comes responsibility. Hosting quality, updates, security, backups, plugin compatibility and performance all need to be managed properly by you or your developer.
What about a custom ecommerce website?
This doesn’t necessarily mean throwing away the idea of WooCommerce and coding an entirely new platform from scratch. It means starting with your business requirements and deciding what technology should sit underneath them — rather than forcing the business into a pre-selected template. A custom approach becomes valuable when you need things such as:
- Complex product configuration
- Bespoke pricing rules
- Trade or B2B purchasing
- Customer-specific pricing
- Advanced filtering
- Custom checkout logic
- ERP, CRM or stock integrations
- Subscription functionality
- Unusual delivery calculations
- Bespoke account areas
- Functionality that standard plugins and apps don’t handle well
If you find yourself saying “We need the store to work slightly differently because of how our business operates…”, chances are the custom solution is more suited to you.
Which is better for ecommerce SEO?
Shopify allows basic SEO implementation. WooCommerce/custom stores built with WordPress often allow for better SEo design and implementation. What matters far more though is how the store is built and structured. An ecommerce website needs more than product pages. You need search engines — and customers — to clearly understand:
- What you sell
- How your products are categorised
- Which pages are most important
- How products and categories relate to each other
- Why someone should buy from you rather than another store
That means thinking about category architecture, URLs, internal linking, product content, metadata, performance, mobile experience and structured data from the beginning. Bolting “SEO” onto the store once it’s finished is the wrong way round. With Develoroo Ecommerce Website Development, SEO and conversion structure are considered as part of the build, not treated as an optional extra once the website looks pretty.
Choosing based on the cheapest starting price
This catches businesses out constantly. The cheapest way to get a store online isn’t necessarily the cheapest way to run one successfully. Your actual ecommerce cost can include:
- Website design and development
- Platform subscriptions
- Hosting
- Payment processing
- Premium plugins or apps
- Integrations
- Maintenance
- Ongoing development
- Transaction costs
- Future redesign or migration work
A cheap theme might get products online quickly. But if customers struggle to find products, the mobile experience is poor or every new feature requires another monthly app subscription, you’ve saved money on the wrong part of the project.
Look at total cost and business value, not simply the cheapest route to launch. Want a better idea of what a properly built ecommerce website costs? Read our guide on Ecommerce Website Development Pricing for more info.
Your store needs to be designed for buying — not just browsing
This is where an ecommerce build becomes a commercial project rather than simply a website project. Every important page should help somebody move towards a purchase. That includes:
Product discovery
Can people quickly understand what you sell and find the right product?
Product pages
Do they answer the questions someone needs answered before buying?
Mobile experience
Can customers comfortably browse variants, compare options and checkout on a phone?
Trust
Are delivery, returns, payment methods and important purchasing information clear?
Checkout
Are you making buying easy, or adding unnecessary steps between “I want this” and payment?
Performance
Does the store remain quick when products, imagery, scripts and ecommerce functionality are added?
Pretty isn’t enough, good ecommerce design removes friction between you and potential custom.
Want to start selling online properly?
Develoroo builds ecommerce websites for businesses across the UK. We also pay close attention to looking after businesses locally across Taunton, Somerset, Bristol, Devon and Cornwall. We can help you work out the right platform, structure the store properly and build around the way your customers actually buy. You work directly with the person building your project. Pricing is agreed clearly. SEO and conversion structure are included from the start. And every build comes with our 12-month guarantee.
No platform agenda. No mystery quote. And we definitely don’t force your business into whatever template happens to be easiest for us. Explore our Ecommerce Website Development service page for more information.
Or, if you’re already serious about getting the store built, get in touch with us for a chat.
