November 6, 2024
Ramin Popal
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You want to start a Shopify store to boost sales but are still deciding whether to choose BigCommerce or Shopify. Both platforms are solid choices, but they have distinct differences that may affect your online store's performance. This guide will help you learn the differences between BigCommerce vs Shopify to how to open a Shopify store with the right tool.
AI store builder can help you make this decision quickly and easily. Using AI Store Builder’s AI store builder, you can create a fully functional Shopify store in minutes. Then, you can explore your store and see if this platform meets your business needs.
Shopify and Magento are two leading eCommerce platforms used globally by online businesses, ranging from small startups to large enterprise-level brands. According to BuiltWith, Shopify powers 24% of the top one million eCommerce stores, while Magento powers just 8%. Comparing these two platforms is essential for anyone considering launching or migrating their eCommerce store to a new solution.
Shopify has grown from being a small-business solution to an enterprise-level powerhouse. Shopify initially catered to small businesses and individuals looking to set up an online store quickly. However, with the introduction of Shopify Plus, a premium version of the platform for enterprise-level companies, Shopify now serves as a significant player for high-growth brands like Gymshark, SKIMS, and Allbirds. Shopify handles all the backend operations, including hosting, security, and payment processing, making it a plug-and-play option for businesses that prioritize simplicity, scalability, and ease of use.
Magento, in contrast, has always been a platform for businesses that require deep customization and scalability. Magento offers an open-source version and a paid Magento Commerce version. It’s highly flexible, allowing companies to create unique, feature-rich online stores. Magento has long been the go-to choice for companies with extensive catalogs, complex product options, and those requiring high technical customization. However, its complexity makes it less user-friendly, especially for businesses without dedicated technical resources.
Both platforms offer various features to help businesses grow and scale, but their approaches differ. Shopify is ideal for users seeking an easy-to-use solution with all-in-one support. In contrast, Magento is better for those with specific, often more complex requirements who can invest in technical expertise.
Regarding your eCommerce store’s user experience, it’s crucial to consider both your experience as the store owner and your customers' experience while browsing your store. Both Shopify and Magento have unique qualities that appeal to different audiences. For instance, while Shopify is known for its beginner-friendly interface, Magento is preferred by developers who want to build highly customized stores and have complete control over their online presence.
With enough time and technical know-how, anyone can run a store on Magento. However, Magento's steep learning curve makes it a poor choice for first-time store owners or anyone looking to launch a store quickly. Even if you have prior experience building websites, navigating Magento can be overwhelming. On the other hand, Shopify is built for people who just want to sell online without dealing with the complexities of website management. The platform offers a straightforward setup process that allows you to create a fully functional eCommerce store in days (or even hours).
Shopify operates on a subscription-based pricing model, which means you pay a recurring fee based on the plan you choose to run your online store. Shopify has three main pricing plans for small to mid-sized businesses.
Each pricing plan has features to help you build your store, including web hosting, SSL security, and payment processing tools. Higher-tier plans unlock more advanced reporting features, additional user accounts, and lower transaction fees.
For larger businesses or enterprises, Shopify offers Shopify Plus, which starts at $2,000/month and can go higher depending on the features required. Shopify Plus offers advanced customization, dedicated support, and the ability to handle higher traffic and more complex business needs.
Shopify transaction fees range from 2.9% + 30¢ for online credit card payments (for Basic Shopify) to 2.6% + 30¢ (for Advanced Shopify) unless merchants use Shopify Payments, in which case they are waived.
When budgeting for your Shopify store, keep in mind that there are additional costs to consider that can affect your bottom line.
While Shopify offers free themes, premium themes cost between $140 and $180.
Shopify has an App Store with thousands of plugins and apps, many of which have recurring costs.
You may need to hire a Shopify Expert for additional design or functionality, which adds to the cost.
Magento’s Open Source software is free to download and install, but it has numerous hidden costs. While the software is free, businesses must pay for web hosting, SSL certificates, security patches, and developer costs. These can quickly add up for small businesses or entrepreneurs with limited budgets, especially if they need a developer to help with installation and customization.
For enterprise-level businesses, Magento offers Magento Commerce (formerly Magento Enterprise). The pricing for this service is custom and typically starts at around $22,000 per year. Magento Commerce comes with dedicated support, hosting (cloud-based), advanced security, and additional features tailored to large, complex businesses.
Regarding pricing, Shopify is more predictable and budget-friendly, particularly for starting businesses. With its more customizable pricing structure, Magento is ideal for larger companies with the resources to handle its complexity.
Shopify makes it easy to customize your online store. You can start quickly with a pre-built theme and customize it to fit your needs. You can also create a highly customized store using apps and APIs to add functionality and integrations.
Shopify offers free, paid themes to customize your store's look and feel. While these themes are visually appealing, you can only customize them deeply by editing the underlying code.
Shopify’s App Store is filled with thousands of apps that can add new features to your store, including things like advanced analytics, custom shipping solutions, and integrations with other tools.
Shopify customizes its templates using Liquid, its templating language. While it’s relatively easy to work with compared to other programming languages, there is still a learning curve if you want to create highly customized features. For businesses that don’t have technical expertise, the Shopify app ecosystem provides pre-built integrations for many commonly used tools, saving time and effort. However, companies may need to hire a developer for more advanced functionality.
Magento excels in customization and is known for its flexibility. The platform offers almost complete control over every aspect of your store, from the design and layout to the back-end functionality and integrations.
Magento offers a wide range of themes (both free and paid) that can be customized using HTML, CSS, and PHP. You can entirely change the design of your store to meet your branding needs.
Magento’s marketplace offers thousands of extensions for payment gateways, SEO, analytics, and more. Many extensions are open-source and can be modified to suit your needs.
Magento is built for developers and can be customized to meet any requirement. This allows businesses to create unique experiences that are not possible with Shopify. However, this level of flexibility requires ongoing developer support.
Magento’s customization comes at the cost of complexity. Magento is better if you require particular features or want to make your store unique. It allows businesses to tailor the platform to their needs, but this comes with a steep learning curve and often higher costs for ongoing development.
Shopify’s app ecosystem is one of the most vital aspects of the platform. The Shopify App Store contains over 7,000 apps spanning various categories like marketing, sales, customer support, shipping, accounting, and more. Shopify’s ease of use and popularity have attracted many developers to create plug-and-play apps, making it simple for store owners to extend their store’s functionality without coding knowledge.
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s native payment gateway that integrates smoothly with the platform, eliminating the need for third-party payment processors. It supports a variety of payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and local payment options, depending on the region.
Shopify offers various integrations with Google Analytics, Google Shopping, Facebook Ads, and email marketing tools like Klaviyo and Mailchimp. These integrations help businesses track performance, run marketing campaigns, and analyze customer behavior.
Shopify integrates with major carriers like UPS, FedEx, DHL, and third-party shipping apps to calculate shipping costs and manage fulfillment processes automatically. It also supports dropshipping integrations with platforms like Oberlo and Sprocket.
Shopify integrates with Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Tidio for customer support, making managing inquiries, returns, and customer communication easy.
Shopify integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, and many other accounting and tax tools to streamline financial reporting and tax compliance.
The Shopify API provides even more flexibility for custom integrations, allowing businesses to connect third-party services, build custom apps, and automate workflows. Shopify is widely known for being easy to use, with most apps requiring little to no technical setup.
Magento’s extensibility is one reason businesses with complex needs prefer it. Unlike Shopify, which relies heavily on its app ecosystem, Magento allows for deeper custom integrations and has a vast marketplace for extensions.
The Magento Marketplace offers thousands of extensions that can be integrated into your store. These extensions cover everything from payments to shipping to CRM, ERP, inventory management, SEO, and more. Magento extensions can be free or paid, and their customization level is significantly more advanced than Shopify’s plug-and-play apps.
Magento integrates with PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, and Worldpay, among many others. You can also create custom integrations with specific payment systems or set up multiple payment gateways based on region or customer group.
Magento integrates with UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, and custom shipping solutions like Shipstation. It also supports dropshipping, third-party logistics (3PL), and advanced fulfillment options that can be customized based on the business’s needs.
Magento integrates smoothly with enterprise-level systems like Salesforce, SAP, and Oracle. Magento allows custom-built integrations that sync with these tools for businesses requiring advanced customer relationship management or enterprise resource planning.
Magento integrates with Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and many other SEO tools to optimize your site and track performance. Magento also allows you to build custom marketing automation systems to drive engagement.
The critical difference with Magento is that custom integrations and extensions require high technical expertise to install, configure, and maintain. Magento's flexibility is a major advantage for businesses that need highly tailored solutions or have complex workflows.
In terms of integrations, Shopify shines for ease of use and speed. With its app ecosystem, store owners can quickly add features to their stores, whether it's an email marketing solution, payment processor, or shipping provider. Shopify’s integration process is also less technical, making it ideal for businesses that lack dedicated IT resources.
Magento, however, is a better fit for businesses that need tailored solutions and complex integrations with enterprise-level software like ERP systems. Magento’s customizability means you can integrate almost any system into your store, but this comes at the cost of requiring development expertise.
AI Store Builder offers a speedy store setup process, allowing you to launch your Shopify store in less than 10 minutes. This game-changer is for individuals who want to get their store up and running without spending days or weeks on technical aspects like design, development, and configuration. The setup speed lets you focus on growing your business and marketing your products immediately.
AI Store Builder takes the guesswork out of product selection by providing you with 20 trending products that are handpicked based on current market trends and consumer demand. Using AI to analyze popular products, the platform ensures that your store is stocked with high sales potential, reducing the time spent researching products that will sell well.
AI Store Builder provides trusted suppliers for your dropshipping business. Dropshipping allows you to sell products without holding inventory, making it an excellent choice for entrepreneurs with limited capital. By partnering with reliable suppliers, AI Store Builder ensures you offer quality products with consistent stock levels and reliable shipping times. This minimizes risks associated with product sourcing and supplier reliability.
One of the standout features of AI Store Builder is the entire dropshipping course that is included with your purchase. While many dropshipping courses cost thousands of dollars, AI Store Builder offers this educational resource for free as part of their service. This course covers everything you need to know to succeed in dropshipping, from setting up your store and finding the best products to marketing strategies and scaling your business. It is an invaluable resource for beginners who are just starting and want to avoid common pitfalls.
AI Store Builder offers live support calls, so you’re not alone when you need help. Whether you have technical questions about your store setup, need advice on marketing strategies, or have issues with product listings, you can quickly contact experts who can guide you through any challenges. Additionally, you get access to a supportive community of like-minded entrepreneurs who can provide insights, tips, and encouragement as you grow your business.
AI Store Builder removes the technical barriers that often overwhelm new e-commerce entrepreneurs. With their service, there is no need for coding, website design, or complex configurations. Everything is handled for you, and the setup is completely automated. This makes it an excellent choice for people with little to no technical expertise, allowing them to start a business without worrying about learning complex software or processes.
The key benefit of AI Store Builder is that it allows you to skip the headaches of store setup, product research, and supplier hunting. Instead of getting bogged down in the logistics of launching an e-commerce store, you can focus on what truly matters: growing your business. With a fully set up Shopify store, a curated product list, and reliable suppliers, you can jump straight into marketing, customer acquisition, and building brand awareness.
Setting up an e-commerce store on Shopify can sometimes involve additional costs for store design, product research, and supplier sourcing. AI Store Builder consolidates all these costs into one affordable package. You’re getting access to trending products, trusted suppliers, a dropshipping course, and live support – all for a fraction of the cost of hiring a developer or purchasing individual resources.
Once your store is set up, AI Store Builder ensures your platform is scalable. Shopify is known for being a highly scalable e-commerce platform, and with AI Store Builder’s service, your business can quickly grow as your product range and customer base increase. The platform is designed to handle traffic spikes and large-scale operations, making it an ideal long-term solution for entrepreneurs who want to scale their businesses in the future.
Time is one of the most valuable resources for any entrepreneur. AI Store Builder significantly reduces the time it takes to get your e-commerce store live and ready for business. Instead of spending weeks setting up the technical aspects of your store, you can launch quickly and start focusing on marketing and sales. The ability to launch in less than 10 minutes frees up valuable time to optimize your operations and grow your business.
Consider creating a complete Shopify store in under 10 minutes. With AI Store Builder, you can skip the headaches of store setup, product research, and supplier hunting. We handle it all for you so you can focus on growing your business. At AI Store Builder, we create an entire Shopify store for you, with 20 trending products, trusted suppliers, and a dropshipping course that others charge thousands for. You even get live support calls and community access. Get your store built for you in less than 10 minutes today!
Get your free store in less than 10 minutes today
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