Wicks vs. Shopify Ecommerce Comparison – Forbes Advisor

Comparing Wix vs Shopify pits two e-commerce friendly website builders against each other. Both Shopify and Wix allow you to create a website relatively easily and quickly and sell your products and services online. So which platform is best for your website or online store? It depends on your exact business requirements.

Forbes Advisor analyzed Wix and Shopify, looking at key features such as cost, e-commerce features, customer support, ease of use, and scalability. Each platform has its pros and cons, which we will discuss in detail in this review.

Featured partners

starting price

$16/month

E-commerce (low price plan)

yes

starting price

$9.95 per month

Storage and bandwidth

Depends on plan

E-commerce (low price plan)

yes

starting price

$23/month

E-commerce (low price plan)

yes

Wix and Shopify: Overview

wicks

length of period

Monthly, Yearly, Biennially

Monthly, Yearly, Biennially

Advantages and disadvantages

• very easy to use
• Free plan available
• Rich plan
• 800+ design templates
• Large Wix App Market

• There is no live phone support.callback only
• Only basic e-commerce integration available
• limited storage
• Not suitable for large online stores

Shopify

Pricing

$29 to $299

Monthly (annual payment)

length of period

Monthly, annual, and 2-year plans

$29 to $299

Monthly (annual payment)

Monthly, annual, and 2-year plans

Advantages and disadvantages

• Powerful scalability
• excellent customer support
• 6,000+ integrations
• Complete e-commerce functions
• Powerful reporting/sales analysis

• Higher plans are expensive
• Limited number of free templates available
• Not as intuitive as more basic website builders
• E-commerce functionality is limited on the lowest plan.

How Wix and Shopify work together

There are some differences between the two website builders. Wix offers a free plan. Shopify isn't like that. Shopify doesn't offer a free custom domain, but Wix does. Shopify's gift card functionality is built into the platform, but you need a third-party app to offer gift cards on your Wix site.

You can sell digital products on both platforms, but Wix has a 1 GB file size limit, while Shopify allows files up to 5 GB. Shopify offers more real-time shipping options than Wix, but Wix offers more product options and variations. Wix does not charge transaction fees. Shopify also doesn't charge you if you use Shopify Payments, but other payment gateways charge 0.5% to 2%.

ease of use

Wix and Shopify are both built with ease of use in mind. However, that doesn't mean either of them are very easy to use. To understand which website builder is right for you, it helps to know how each evolved.

Wix is ​​built for people who need a professional online presence but have limited coding and design skills. The Wix platform has a wealth of features to help you create website content such as About Us business descriptions, blogs, articles, and more. Although Wix offers e-commerce functionality, it was not originally designed to host online stores.

Shopify was and still is a tool for creating online stores. While content features such as blogs and business description pages are available on Shopify, they are not the primary focus of the platform.

The truth is, building a basic business website is much easier than building a full-fledged online store. That's because there are fewer options to choose from. Online stores need to make decisions about payment gateways, tax calculations, product variations, shopping cart features, shipping options, return policies and procedures. It's just up and running.

Both Wix and Shopify are relatively easy to use. If you're building an online store, Shopify is easier, especially if you plan on scaling it. If you want to build a content-rich website that also provides basic e-commerce functionality, such as collecting payment for services or selling a limited number of items, Wix is ​​easier.

Pricing

Wix offers a free plan, seven paid plans, and a customized enterprise plan. The free plan has limited features, includes Wix branding, and does not support e-commerce.

Wix's four basic website plans are designed for people who want a professional website but don't plan on accepting online payments. All of these plans include a free custom domain, SSL certificate, and 3GB to 35GB of storage. VIP and Pro plans also come with a professional logo and event calendar app. Here's a breakdown of the prices for these basic website plans:

• combo: $16/month
• Unlimited: $22/month
• Professional: $27 per month
• VIP: $45 per month

To accept online payments on your Wix website, you must choose one of three Wix ecommerce and business plans. The prices for these plans are as follows:

• Business basics: $27 per month
• Business Unlimited: $32/month
• Business VIP: $59/month

All Wix eCommerce plans come with the following features:

• Accept secure online payments (one-time and recurring payments)
• customer account
• free custom domain
• 20GB to 50GB storage
• unlimited products
• Abandoned Cart Recovery

Wix Business Unlimited and Business VIP plans also come with 100 to 500 automated sales transactions, subscription sales, marketplace sales, dropshipping with Modalyst, and product reviews with KudoBuzz. The Business VIP plan includes priority custom care, customized reporting, and a loyalty program powered by Smile.io.

Shopify has a low-cost plan called Shopify Lite that lets you add e-commerce functionality to your existing website for $9 per month. Through Shopify Lite, you can add buy buttons to your Squarespace, Weebly, WordPress, and even Wix websites. You can also use Shopify Lite to accept credit card payments directly through point-of-sale (POS) apps that you can add to your iOS or Android device.

If you want to build a fully functional, e-commerce enabled website using Shopify, there are three plans to choose from. All Shopify plans include unlimited products, 24/7 support, the ability to sell on online marketplaces and social media, discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, shipping labels, fraud analysis, and more. Comes with Shopify POS Lite.

The table below shows some of the key differences between the three Shopify plans.

design options

With over 800 design templates, Wix offers much more design flexibility than Shopify. Wix comes with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor so you can customize your site to suit your business needs. If you prefer, you can use the Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) editor instead. With ADI, you just answer a few questions about your site's purpose and basic visual settings (like your preferred font options and colors), and Wix ADI will design your website for you.

Shopify only has 10 free design templates, but each template comes with 2-3 variations for more design flexibility. There are over 70 other Shopify themes available, but you'll need to pay a one-time fee ranging from $150 to $350 (or more) to access these premium themes.

Featured partners

starting price

$16/month

E-commerce (low price plan)

yes

starting price

$9.95 per month

Storage and bandwidth

Depends on plan

E-commerce (low price plan)

yes

starting price

$23/month

E-commerce (low price plan)

yes

integration

The Wix App Market lists over 300 third-party integrations that let you add advanced functionality to your Wix website. Many of these apps are free, but some come with a hefty price tag.

Integrations help you perform several business functions, such as collecting leads, analyzing traffic, increasing visitor engagement, increasing online sales, and enhancing the design of your website. Popular third-party apps that sync with Wix include Privy, Overtok Call Conversion, MarketPush Cart Recovery, Shippo, SKU IQ Inventory Sync, Printful, Birthday Club, Low Stock Alerts, Gifts, Etsy Shop, and Compare Ninja.

Shopify has far more third-party integrations than Wix. All of his 6,000+ Shopify integrations are related to online store marketing and operations. Here are just a few of the most popular apps available on Shopify.

customer support

The Wix Help Center features an extensive knowledge base to find answers to frequently asked questions and address common technical issues. Wix provides callback and email support for all paid plan customers. Support is available Monday through Friday from 5 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. We typically respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours, excluding weekends. Wix VIP plan customers receive priority support.

Shopify offers true live support 24/7 via email, chat, and phone. Shopify also gives you access to an extensive online help center with guides, FAQs, and tutorials. Additionally, he has nearly 900,000 members on Shopify's online forum, where you can also ask for support. The battle for best customer support between Wix and Shopify is not even close. Shopify wins.

conclusion

In the Wix vs. Shopify battle, the best solution for you comes down to what you plan to do with your website. Without a doubt, Shopify is one of the best e-commerce platforms if you want a feature-rich and scalable online store. Shopify's plans are expensive, but considering all the built-in e-commerce features and over 6,000 third-party integrations, it's money well spent.

If you want a content-centric website builder that only requires basic e-commerce functionality, Wix is ​​the right choice. Wix offers affordable website plans, more flexible designs, and extremely easy-to-use services.

References: Key Wix Competitors in 2024.

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