Before setting up an online business, it is incredibly imperative to choose the right e-commerce platform. Success and failure of online stores depend largely on the choice of the best platform.
As there are too many options for both new and existing businesses, the choice is usually difficult. However, the two biggest contenders of all times – Shopify and Magento, are still doing great. Pitted against each other in the league of the best online store platform, both Shopify and Magento have certain pros and cons. Whilst Magento is a popular choice, Shopify is relatively new yet very attractive. And with Magento 2, there are reasons to take a second glance. Let’s take a sneak peek into these two existing platforms to choose the best.
How is Magento Different from Shopify and Vice Versa?
Magento is More Popular
In terms of popularity, Magento acquires 14% of the millions of sites, while Shopify acquires 6% only. Google Trends also reveals that Magento has more search interest while Shopify deals with small or medium-sized businesses, but successful ones.
Magento Offers Ease of Coding – Open Source
There’s a remarkable difference in the coding structure of Shopify and Magento. While Magento uses PHP, Shopify uses Liquid, for coding. Magento uses open source code, whole Shopify uses propriety code.
Open source codes are freely available for modification, which is an added advantage for Magento. However, you cannot modify propriety code. In fact, Magento also allows template codes to be altered to suit store needs, which Shopify does not. So, Shopify is definitely a wonderful solution for simple e-commerce stores, but it is not meant for the complex stores having advanced features.
Expenses Vary
Magento is self-hosted, while Shopify is hosted by a third-party. So, that automatically increases the cost. Now good hosting is a crucial part of a successful online store. Hosting affects storage, site speed, and products that a store can manage. Magento users have the leverage to choose their hosting solution best for the price and need of the hour, rather than through Shopify.
Shopify is basically SAAS (software-as-a-service) – it means users have to incur a monthly subscription charge to access Shopify software. Though there’s a free trial offer, but you have to pay monthly thereafter.
How Magento 2 is Picking Up?
There are good reasons Magento 2 is picking up. It offers several plus points as noted below:
Better Scalability: Reports reveal that Magento ranks higher in scalability than Shopify across large-scale stores with the large volume of products. However, if you wish to start a small online store without hassles, Shopify can be a great choice. But if you want your business to evolve and grow with greater flexibility, always settle for Magento.
Greater Potential: Magento has evolved as a robust business tool with more than 5000 add-on extensions, both paid and free, which is advantageous. Comparatively, Shopify has only 100 apps. The affordable extensions of Magento allow quick extension integration, thus offering endless possibilities. However, Shopify does not offer this leverage. Likewise, Magento also offers frontend features for users like gift cards, coupon codes, dashboards, order status modules etc.
A variety of Design and Branding: To create a successful e-commerce store, businesses must forge a unique brand which customers respect and recognize. Branding is, thus, a vital part of design. Both Shopify and Magento offer plenty of free and premium design themes, equally responsive and functional. Nowadays, it’s best to have a mobile-friendly support too, as more and more customers are going mobile for online shopping. Magento 2 offers drag and drop visual editing that allows coders and non-coders to create amazing sites. However, because Shopify is propriety, it doesn’t have such tweaking features besides changing font and colors.
Better User Experience: Users have reported that Shopify is much user-friendlier than Magento, which makes it a preferred choice. In fact, it offers quick set up feature immediately after singing up for the platform. Shopify also includes website building tools for customizing in-house store features. Magento 2, on the other hand, comes with a lot of easier tools to work with. It offers better user experience than Magento 1 with add-ons and ready-made extensions. Also, Magento has a dedicated admin panel that is helpful.
Loading Speed: Website loading speed determines SEO ranking. Shopify ensures quicker loading time compared to Magento, which makes it a clear winner.
New SEO: An estimated 44% of all online purchases start with online search. So, it makes finding an online store through Google incredibly important. Magento is a sheer winner in this respect, scoring high in SEO while Shopify stands as a close second.
User-friendly Checkout: Quicker check-out facility is really important to choose an e-commerce platform. The new improved Magento 2 offers exceptional checkout feature. It has features like automatic guest checkout, two-step checkout, and one-click account creation. However, does not provide so many add-ons.
Active Community: Magento boasts a large and active community of developers creating amazing solutions. Shopify is yet to grow.
Defined Marketplace: Having a multi-vendor marketplace where there are plenty of vendors selling their products through a shopping cart is necessary. Both Magento 2 and Shopify offer a multi-vendor system.
Both Magento 2 and Shopify are unique platforms with extraordinary features. What works well for your business, depends on your goals, expertise, and budget.
Choose wisely my friends or Contact us for E-commerce development.
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