Adding an e-commerce store to your website will help your business thrive during times of crisis. There are many ways it can help your business. By having a store, you can clearly outline your services to users and allow them to purchase at that point in time. This allows you to “strike while the iron is hot!” 

During times like these many people go into a state of shock, which makes their decision-making processes go into overload. Users who visit your site will be more stressed and perhaps may ‘react-buy’ and by having an e-shop attached to your website this will certainly help with attracting sales.

The shop doesn’t need to be complex, all it needs to be able to do is show products and allow users to checkout easily and quickly, using PayPal as a minimum, but ideally, as many options to make payment as possible.

The most popular e-commerce store for small to medium businesses is WooCommerce. If you already have a WordPress website it makes sense to use WooCommerce. If you do not have a website or a shop then there are other options that you can consider. We would recommend Shopify, which is a pay monthly, all-in-one platform. Some of the biggest brands in the world are switching to Shopify as it is completely geared up for e-commerce and has become an e-commerce powerhouse. There is a huge App Store available that allows you to use approved Shopify apps that are easily installed to help customise your store. This can be as simple or as complex as you wish, the sky’s the limit with Shopify.

WooCommerce vs Shopify

 The primary difference between WooCommerce and Shopify is that WooCommerce is open source code (free for anyone to use) and Shopify is a licensed platform.

 You may be thinking which one is best? Well, there are pros and cons to both.

  • WooCommerce is the most commonly used and has been around for many years. As it’s been around for many years this means there are a lot of resources and developers that can be utilised.
  •  Shopify is one of the new kids on the block but has been picked up and is currently being used by many huge brands such as Gymshark.

Image: Shopify

  • WooCommerce and Shopify both come with plug-ins (there are some free but most are additional costs) available to install in your theme. The main difference with these plug-ins is the authenticity and quality of the plug-ins.
  • WooCommerce/WordPress does not have an approved App Store. Therefore running a risk that any plug-ins used are not well supported or bug-free. On the other hand, Shopify is similar to the Chrome App Store where there are many approved plug-ins built purely for Shopify stores where the developers building these apps are known to Shopify.
  • When it comes to cost for both options, there is a clear winner if you do not want ongoing fees and that is WooCommerce.
  • Shopify offers all in one cost that covers hosting and the license for your theme, but the fees are ongoing. Shopify also charges a percentage for each transaction. The fees are quite competitive but nevertheless are there so it would make sense for you to look into these fees and make sure you are happy with them before making your choice.

We’d like to help you get your store live

If you feel an e-commerce store can help your business, please do get in touch as we can guide you to the best solution for you and your business.

Giving a little back during times of need…

During times of need, we have put together some COVID-19 offers which we hope will help business.