Magento vs Shopify:
Which eCommerce Platform Should you Choose for Your Business?
Are you in a dilemma of choosing the right eCommerce platform for you? Fret not, you are not alone!
Selecting and deciding the most appropriate eCommerce platform for an online store is significant as it involves creating, managing, and maintaining the same, and it could be the relevant factor determining either success or failure of your online store. This is explicitly crucial for small businesses as they must make it possible with limited resources and budget.
We outline Magento and Shopify both, and the two of them are significantly renowned in the market.
Shopify possesses the grip-holding knack of being the “hosted, all-in-one” eCommerce platform, while Magento is perceived as the biggest player when it comes to handling gigantic businesses, and more complex eCommerce sites.
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While Magento has been enjoying this good fame for a long time, Shopify by stepping into the game has grown into one of its current biggest competitors on the market. However, Magento might slope higher with its latest release- Magento 2, making itself an ideal option for businesses of all kinds and sizes.
These two are not poles apart, but they are different, and we would like to help you pitch the right platform for your business. However, before getting into choosing which one might work for you, introduce yourself to the two of them quickly:
Shopify is an easily operated solution to build online stores. The users pay a certain amount of monthly fee on its subscription and take the burden off their shoulders since Shopify can support both fledgling and high-volume businesses.
Magento is an open-source platform that, like WordPress, you can be installed onto your computer with zero installation costs. The users will, nonetheless, be required to pay for different purposes including security, web hosting, security, extensions (they are like apps), and a lot more.
Shopify vs Magento: Pros & Cons
Shopify and Magento, both are excellent eCommerce platforms, listed as the top ones in the eCommerce world, and ruling the same by setting up digital businesses from scratch, as well as helping in the game of selling goods and services. The users can tweak and customize the platform until their heart is not satisfied with the result.
However, keeping everything aside for a while, everything contains pros and cons, and so do these eCommerce platforms. Read them below, and check which one is ideal for you based on their specifications and your needs
Shopify:
| Shopify Pros | Shopify Cons |
| Faster Page Loading | Cost Factor |
| SEO friendly | Customizable with certain limitations |
| Flexible Content Management System |
Magento:
| Magento Pros | Magento Cons |
| Rich in SEO: You can target your audience easily and quickly | Requires Technical Support |
| Easy to Customize | Cost Factor |
| Built-in specifications & functionalities |
Key Differences
1. Ease of use:
Picking an eCommerce platform that has complexities and difficulties to get the work done is impossible to see success with, and consequently, this could be defecating for the brand’s image.
In terms of ease, Shopify is preferred over Magento, and it is also a proven fact! The former one is a one-stop-shop, with easy drag and drop features to build the website.
Magento on the other hand has a steep learning curve. The user will be required to interpret jargon or learn coding for the same.
In short, users prefer Shopify over Magento when it comes to ease of use it does not have any technical difficulties. As per the research also, Shopify scores 4.1/5 while Magento 2.5 in the ease-of-use category.
2. Themes
A website theme is the first indicator of the success of your business! An impressive, responsive, fast-loaded, aesthetically-eye pleasing theme is something that produces impressive results.
Shopify in that case offers 10 free and 65 premium themes which are comparatively inexpensive when seen with Magento. Shopify scores 3.7/5 in the research category while the latter scores 3.5, offering ready-made themes that require no coding customization, however, the deal here is expensive to get the ready-made theme.
3. Sales tools
If you are running an eCommerce website, having sales tools with them is also mandatory. It is not a written rule, but think it yourself, do they not go hand in hand? Would you be able to generate sales if the platform does not have any sales tools?
Shopify has an impressive result of 4.7/5 under this category while Magento scored 4 for the same. While working on Shopify, the user will get features that include abandoned cart recovery, multi-channel selling, get to sell digital as well as physical products, and be in partnerships with great courier services to avoid hassle for the same.
While for Magento, the sales tools are almost identical to Shopify as it also offers abandoned cart recovery features, multi-channel selling, checkout customization, as well as the user getting a set percentage and fixed price discounts.
4. Marketing features
Having access to powerful marketing tools should help your business reach new customers and improve your bottom line. What is not to love?
We do not want to be partial, but Shopify wins the game here.
Both Magento and Shopify rely on their respective app markets for the most important marketing features, such as the ability to create email campaigns, but Shopify enables you to advertise on social media as a built-in feature.
5. Help & Support
Shopify gauges the knack to beat others in the game when it comes to help and support. It has a professional team that is available round the clock over phone, email, or calls or solve the issues being faced by its users. It ensures maximum resolution of problems as well as a flawless business operation.
Magento, on the other corner, is a self-hosted platform and thus offers no professional help including live chat, phone, or email support. The users, however, can benefit from its excellent user community that is accessible across the globe.
Which eCommerce Platform is Right for your Online Store?
Either of them can ensure success for your eCommerce store, as they both have great functionalities. It all comes down to, “which eCommerce platform is right for your business.” A range of factors defines that decision including the business type, goals, scale, etc. The answer to choosing one depends on your needs and goals, the scope of your operation, your estimated budget, and how large the scale and complex of your business is.
If you decide to design the entire website completely, from the user journey to the checkout, put complex functionality and support B2B capabilities into action, then Magento may be your partner in business.
Shopify, as a hosted solution, is taken into consideration for small-scale businesses and start-ups looking to get going on a snap. On its cons’ side, however, when it is about customization, the user would not be able to customize the checkout process with Shopify.
Magento may work as a great option only if you can afford to hire a technician or if you are familiar with the coding language. In short, you will be required to expand your budget while going will Magento. Rest, you would not be required to pay for the installation of the store, nor any regular-based transactions. Besides that, it also promises creative freedom to you that is permanently absent on the other side.
Magento is incredibly powerful and offers complete creative freedom and bags of potential growth. Without a doubt, Shopify is one of the best eCommerce platforms for a smaller business on a smaller budget.
But one of the most appealing factors about Magento is the potential future growth of your store on a robust platform. Both platforms offer an enterprise level, so there is plenty of opportunity for growth. However, it is often found that once businesses grow a certain size on Shopify they typically migrate over to Magento. Rarely do you see Magento merchants move down to Shopify.
Bottom yet some Significant Words:
Considering all the facts, the decision of selecting the best eCommerce platform for your online store is subjective, and it depends on your business essence and the needs!
A comparison review such as this one is there to help make your decision easier, but at the end of the day, it is all about what your business requires. It is potentially a business life-altering decision, so be wise and take your time.
Keeping that in mind, we recommend with great trust that you find out which one, Magento or Shopify, is highly likely to work better for your by listing the priorities and then come to the final decision, since then you will be aware which features are crucial and which ones not as per your business goals! Furthermore, the subscription to Shopify also offers a 14-day free trial to help you get its sight and catch a ball to understand how things work.
That being the case, is not it a great deal to make your decision process smooth? Try that out, then see if it performs a fruitful result for you?
Last but not the least, if you feel unsatisfied with your current eCommerce platform, you can always migrate to the other. For example, migrating from Shopify to Magento, Magento to Shopify migration.
Our team at FutureSoft is skilled in eCommerce projects with years of experience in the same field. If you have any questions as to which platform, should you be appointed, the migration process, or anything eCommerce related, let us know and our experts would be happy to help you out.
