You have an online store or want to build one. Then you feel completely overwhelmed by the many web builders out there that provide commerce features.

In this article, we’ll be answering these questions.

What is the best option for you? My business has a commerce branch, but the shop isn’t my only offering, which web builder can accommodate all that I need? What are the pros and cons of using Squarespace for my online store? What are the pros and cons or using Shopify as my online store?

In a nutshell..

Shopify is an extremely robust commerce web builder. Designed and developed to run very large online stores, with many advanced features already built into the platform. If there is a “feature” not found on the platform, you can guarantee there is an app out there built to be integrated into Shopify that will provide the functionality you need.

Squarespace is a “design-first” platform and also a bit of a “jack of all trades.” You can easily showcase your work, run a blog, run a course, and run an online store. But how intuitive is their commerce offering, and will it be enough to serve my commerce business model?

Let’s delve into the commerce capabilities of Squarespace currently:

pros:

• More affordable than Shopify

• Very easy user interface for the client to use

• Simple to maintain and set up

• Is design focused, very easy to add other pages like galleries, sales pages and blogging.

cons:

• Has very limited shipping and payment options: No automatic shipping rate calculations (which are only done on the weight of the product and don’t take into consideration the price of the order or where you are shipping to). No automatic sales tax calculation is built in. Only supports Paypal & Stripe.

• Lacks advanced features you would usually find on an commerce store, for example:

• Advanced filtering

• Multi-currency options

• Advanced Variants

• Product customiser and more.

• No bulk editing options. Can get quite tiresome to maintain your inventory when you have a large store.

What are the pros and cons of using Shopify for my online store

pros:

• Extremely robust commerce platform. Shopify is the mecka of commerce platforms, it has many advanced applications available to ensure you can create a scalable and intuitive online store that’s built with user commerce behaviours and needs in mind.

• Bulk editing, advanced shipping, advanced payment options and tax calculations.

cons:

• Time consuming to set up. You’ll need to hire a Shopify web developer to really get the most out of the platform.

• Costly, on top of your monthly subscription, you may need additional apps for funtionalities like a loyalty scheme. Some of these apps incur a monthly cost.

• Inside pages like ‘galleries’ and ‘blogging’ are less flexible in their layouts. You’ll need to hire a Shopify designer to customise these pages so they are unique and in line with your brand.

So how do I know if Shopify or Squarespace is the best option for my online store?

Begin by asking yourself, "What are the absolute essential features I will need on my store?” Create a list of deal breakers. Consider payments, how many products you have, the design you want to achieve, the budget you have for the creation of the store, and the on-going monthly costs.

My 2 cents..

If you have a large amount of products, you are shipping across the globe, and plan on scaling your commerce store down the line… SHOPIFY is your gal.

If your store is an additional branch of your business and you are also running a blog and selling services, et cetera, then SQUARESPACE is the way to go.

If you’re nodding your head at both scenarios mentioned above, then consider a SHOPIFY & SQUARESPACE hybrid website. The bulk of your site is housed on Squarespace, but when someone clicks on the shop, they are directed to a shop page that is housed on Shopify (worth noting, the user would never know!). This way you get best of both worlds, the flexibility and ease of use of Squarespace with the robust power & content management of Shopify. Keep in mind, this is a costly option as you need to pay 2 monthly subscriptions.

Still not sure what the best option is for you? Get in touch with me and let me know your website's requirements and deal breakers. I’ll let you know what direction I would recommend you go in.