Wix vs. Shopify, two of the most prominent players in the field of website builders that provide robust e-commerce platforms. In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at Wix vs. Shopify, compare these two platforms, and shed light on the reasons why migrating from Wix to Shopify might be the right move for your e-commerce business. Additionally, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to successfully migrate your website from Wix to Shopify.
Wix vs. Shopify – A Comprehensive Comparison
Undoubtedly, Wix vs. Shopify have earned their place as market leaders in their respective niches. Despite their distinct origins and purposes, they share common ground in being user-friendly, offering excellent functionality, and providing versatile design customization options. However, let’s dive deeper into a detailed comparison.
1. Pricing
Price considerations play a crucial role in selecting the right e-commerce platform. On the surface, Wix seems cheaper with a starting price of $28 per month compared to Shopify’s $29 per month. However, there’s more to the pricing equation. Wix comes with hidden costs, including hosting fees, transactions, and other fees that vary depending on your business needs.
Shopify, while appearing slightly more expensive, provides a host of powerful features and greater scalability through its pricing plans. Importantly, there are no hidden costs. Furthermore, Shopify doesn’t charge transaction fees when you use Shopify Payments as your payment processor, although using a third-party processor might incur additional fees per transaction.
Verdict: Wix might seem like a budget-friendly option initially, but the hidden costs can result in higher expenses. Shopify’s more comprehensive plans make it a better choice in the long run.
2. Payment Options
Shopify takes the lead in the realm of payment options. It has partnered with all major payment gateways and digital wallets, ensuring a wide array of choices for your customers to complete their purchases. Shopify also offers its proprietary payment gateway, Shopify Payments, which is ready for immediate use.
Wix supports several payment options, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square, but it does not support Amazon Pay and Apple Pay. Moreover, Wix lacks an in-house payment gateway.
Verdict: Shopify outperforms Wix by offering a broader spectrum of payment options.
3. Ease of Use
When it comes to setting up your online store quickly and effortlessly, Shopify takes the lead. Shopify is designed to expedite the process of building your online store, equipped with an easy-to-use editor tailored for e-commerce needs and pre-existing themes that you can either use as they are or customize to your liking. In contrast, Wix employs a more generic drag-and-drop editor suitable for various types of businesses. This means you’ll need to put in more effort to find the right elements for your e-commerce needs.
The key difference here lies in their intended use cases. Shopify was born as a dedicated e-commerce solution, offering a wide array of tools and features tailored to online sellers. On the other hand, Wix primarily serves as a website builder with the option to sell online. It was created with beginners in mind, focusing on simplicity and quick website creation. However, this simplicity translates into limited e-commerce functionality and site customization options. Consequently, many business owners migrate from Wix to Shopify, seeking more robust support for advanced online stores.
Verdict: Shopify wins this round due to its ease of use and extensive support for setting up a feature-rich online store in just a matter of days.
4. Template Design and Customization Capability
With the surge in mobile shopping, responsive design is imperative. Both Shopify and Wix provide mobile-responsive templates, ensuring a seamless shopping experience across all devices.
Shopify boasts thousands of free and premium themes with diverse design styles tailored to various industries. Each theme is highly customizable, allowing you to adapt it to your specific needs. Paid themes, available from as low as $19, offer even more customization possibilities. Moreover, Shopify allows you to tinker with your site’s code using HTML and CSS, providing flexibility that appeals to medium and large business owners looking to stay on top of design trends.
In contrast, Wix offers over 800 templates, but only 114 are e-commerce-specific. While these templates are free, they don’t offer as much room for customization. Shopify’s ability to let you modify the code in theme files adds an extra layer of flexibility, which can be a significant advantage.
Verdict: Wix might offer free templates, but its options for e-commerce businesses are limited, and the customization flexibility is much lower. Shopify comes out ahead in this category.
5. Product Inventory Support
Shopify stands out for its extensive e-commerce features, including robust inventory management. Instead of managing your inventory externally, you can seamlessly handle it within your Shopify dashboard. This feature offers a comprehensive overview of your available stocks, items sold, and out-of-stock products.
Conversely, Wix requires you to install additional solutions or integrate your store with an external platform for inventory management. This extra step can complicate your online store’s management.
Verdict: Shopify is the preferred choice for businesses of all sizes due to its user-friendly inventory management tools and the availability of various Shopify apps for advanced inventory management.
6. Shipping
Both Shopify and Wix support a variety of shipping options, such as free shipping, flat-rate shipping, and shipping based on weight or product. Shopify goes the extra mile by offering in-built real-time shipping quote functionality in select countries, allowing you to access shipping quotes from providers like DHL Express, UPS, and USPS, often with significant discounts. For stores in other countries, Shopify offers logistics aggregator apps to achieve similar results.
In contrast, Wix necessitates app integration, such as ShipStation, to facilitate global delivery, adding another layer of complexity to setting up your online store.
Verdict: Shopify provides more flexible shipping options with the help of its partners and smart integrations.
7. Marketing Features
Shopify equips its users with a comprehensive marketing package, including powerful promotional tools, design customization options, and robust content management support. Shopify’s suite of e-commerce tools includes statistics tracking and analytics, loyalty programs, and integrations with popular marketing channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon, among others.
In Wix vs. Shopify, Wix offers a subscription-based tool called Wix Ascend, serving as an all-in-one marketing and customer management suite. While Wix does provide support for SEO and marketing, these features are generic and might not cater to the specific needs of an e-commerce store.
Verdict: Shopify allows you to integrate your store with various platforms to reach a broader audience and achieve higher sales. Its flexibility, integrations, and app offerings make it the superior choice for marketing.
8. Security Features
Both Wix and Shopify prioritize security to ensure safe online transactions for you and your customers. Both platforms offer SSL security with all their plans, safeguarding sensitive data such as login and payment details entered on your site. They are also certified as Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, a prerequisite for selling online and accepting credit or debit card payments. This compliance helps protect payment information and prevent online fraud.
“font-weight: 400;”>Wix vs. Shopify have implemented security measures to guard against malware, viruses, and DDoS attacks.
Verdict: Both Wix and Shopify offer a secure environment for your online store, and you can confidently rely on their robust security measures.
9. Customer Support
Shopify and Wix provide comparable customer support, with both offering a range of resources to assist users. Shopify stands out by providing round-the-clock instant support through live chat and 24/7 phone support. Additionally, Shopify maintains an extensive help center that includes step-by-step guides in both text and video formats, covering a wide array of topics. Users can also post questions in the Shopify community to receive expert answers if the desired solution isn’t found.
Wix, on the other hand, offers an in-editor help center to assist users while setting up their store or making changes. However, managing this side by side with actual store operations can be cumbersome.
Verdict: Shopify provides robust support and a well-organized help center, making it the preferred choice for users who prefer hands-on support and comprehensive resources.
10. App Store
Integrating third-party apps with your e-commerce platform can significantly enhance your store’s functionality and capabilities. Shopify’s app store offers a vast selection of targeted e-commerce apps to help scale your online store. Whether you need a customer wishlist, product reviews, currency conversion, or dropshipping setup, there’s an app for virtually every business function or feature.
On the other hand, Wix, while having a reasonable number of third-party apps, doesn’t offer the same variety as Shopify. Many of Wix’s apps cater to general website building and lack options designed specifically for online stores. This means you might need to seek solutions outside of Wix’s ecosystem for your e-commerce needs.
Verdict: The Shopify app store offers a more extensive range of e-commerce app integrations, making it an attractive choice. All apps come with easy one-click installation, many of them have free versions or trials, and you can find a solution for virtually any requirement.
11. Google Vitals
Ensuring search engine visibility is a crucial aspect of online success. It’s essential that your e-commerce website is easily indexable by search engines, which requires proper structuring and optimization. Equally important are your website’s performance metrics, including site speed, which directly impact user experience.
Shopify takes into account both of these aspects with the implementation of Google’s Core Web Vitals. Shopify offers tools and features designed to meet the requirements of modern e-commerce businesses while delivering optimal site performance. This consideration can significantly affect your online visibility and the quality of user experience you provide.
Verdict: Shopify’s implementation of Google Vitals makes it a compelling choice for those who want their e-commerce website to excel in search engine rankings and user experience.</span></i>
<p><h2>Wix vs. Shopify – Which Is the Right Choice for You?
The decision to choose between Wix and Shopify ultimately depends on your specific business needs. Here’s a guide to help you make the right choice:
Choose Wix if you:
- Are starting or running a small online store.
- Want to infuse creativity into your website design.
- Require a simple online store without advanced features.
- Need robust blogging features for maintaining a blog associated with your online store.
- Possess some coding skills for customization.
Choose Shopify if you:
- Are planning to start and scale an online business for your brand.
- Lack extensive coding knowledge and want an easy setup process.
- Want a well-designed website without incurring additional costs.
- Seek a wide range of features and tools for marketing, inventory management, and more.
- Value an exceptional built-in analytics tool.
- Want access to a more comprehensive array of payment gateways.
Final Thoughts
Shopify offers a broader spectrum of payment options and excels in ease of use, making it an ideal choice for setting up a feature-rich online store quickly. Additionally, Shopify’s template design and customization capabilities, robust inventory support, flexible shipping options, and comprehensive marketing features make it a superior choice for businesses seeking scalability and growth. Both platforms prioritize security, and Shopify’s exceptional customer support and extensive app store further solidify its position as a top e-commerce solution. Wix may be suitable for smaller ventures with creative design aspirations, while Shopify is the go-to option for those looking to start, scale, and succeed in the competitive world of online business.
FAQs
How does Wix compare to Shopify?
Wix and Shopify are both e-commerce platforms, but they have distinct differences. Shopify is known for its comprehensive e-commerce features, scalability, and extensive payment options. In contrast, Wix, while user-friendly, was originally designed as a website builder and offers less advanced e-commerce capabilities. Your choice between the two depends on your specific business needs and growth aspirations.
What is easier to use, Shopify or Wix?
Shopify is often considered easier to use for quickly setting up a robust online store. It provides an intuitive, e-commerce-focused interface, pre-designed themes, and a wide range of tools tailored to online sellers. Wix, while user-friendly, offers a more generic website-building experience and may require more effort to achieve advanced e-commerce functionality.
Does Wix work well with Shopify?
Wix and Shopify are separate platforms and are not typically used together. They serve different purposes, with Wix primarily for website building and Shopify for e-commerce. Integrating them would not be a common or straightforward solution for running an online store.
Is Wix good for e-commerce?
Wix can be suitable for smaller e-commerce ventures or businesses looking for a simple online store setup. It offers user-friendly tools for basic e-commerce needs. However, for businesses seeking scalability, advanced features, and a wider range of payment options, Shopify is often the preferred choice.
