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Looking to build an online business? Often the choice between platforms comes down to Shopify and Wix, two of the most popular website builders you can choose from. Shopify and Wix both have individual strengths they can boast, but one may be more suited to ecommerce than the other.

In 2024, Shopify is powering over 4.8 million ecommerce businesses worldwide, holding about 32% of the global ecommerce platform market. Wix, on the other hand, is a general website builder in the “Simple Website Builder” category, has over 254 million registered users worldwide—a substantial presence. It’s important to note from the start that Shopify is a dedicated ecommerce solution, designed and developed for commerce, whereas Wix is a general website builder that can be made to have ecommerce functions. Because of this, Shopify is often the top choice for ecommerce.

In this article by Ecommerce Pro, we explore the key differences between Shopify and Wix to help you make the choice between these two popular platforms, and also help you decide on why you should migrate your online business to Shopify for a better ecommerce experience.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce platform designed to help businesses of all sizes build, run, manage, and grow their online businesses. Founded in 2006, Shopify has since grown to power millions of online businesses, holding the majority market share in North America.

Shopify has always been known for having a user-friendly interface that requires little technical knowledge to get around. It’s so user and beginner-friendly, that it puts the platform ahead of other more complicated ecommerce website builders, allowing it to surge ahead of the competition. Additionally, Shopify provides a robust ecosystem of apps and integrations, enabling businesses to extend their ecommerce store’s functionality so brands get their functional needs met.

What is Wix?

Wix, one of the most popular site builders on the market, is a versatile website builder that allows users to create websites with drag-and-drop, no-code simplicity. Founded in 2006 also, Wix has since evolved to include a variety of features, able to help you build everything from a personal blog to an ecommerce store. While Wix is primarily known for its ease of use and flexibility in website design, its ecommerce capabilities have been developed to cater to small to enterprise-grade businesses that want to sell online. The Wix platform provides users with a range of templates and customization options, making it an easy choice for those who prioritize design, ease, and creative control.

Comparing Shopify and Wix

1. Ecommerce Capabilities:

Shopify: 
When it comes to ecommerce capabilities, Shopify takes the cake, being an ecommerce-centric platform. Shopify excels with powerful features like multi-channel selling, cross border ecommerce, marketing, abandoned cart recovery, and comprehensive inventory management. It also has a vast app store that further enhances its ecommerce capabilities.
Shopify is continuously improving its platform to put it on the cutting edge of ecommerce capabilities, supporting its merchants and always keeping them ahead of ecommerce trends.

Wix:
Wix, on the other hand, offers basic ecommerce functionalities. As it is not fully dedicated to ecommerce, it’s more suitable for websites whose primary function is not ecommerce sales but who would like some ecommerce function. Wix doesn’t match Shopify’s depth in specialized ecommerce tools, which can limit scalability for growing businesses. For instance, Wix has limited multi-channel capabilities, while Shopify lets you sell in more places including in-person, and on more social media platforms like TikTok, whereas Wix is more limited.

2. Pricing:

Shopify:
Shopify’s plans are more expensive than Wix at first glance, although value for money is perhaps the more pressing concern when choosing an ecommerce platform, especially when considering the margin in pricing and what a plan can get you. Here is the breakdown of Shopify’s fixed monthly pricing plans:

Shopify Pricing Plans:

• Basic Shopify: $39 per month. Ideal for new businesses with all essential ecommerce features.

• Shopify: $105 per month. Best for growing businesses with professional reporting and more advanced features.
• Advanced Shopify: $399 per month. Great for scaling businesses requiring advanced reporting and lower transaction fees.

• Shopify Plus: A custom pricing enterprise solution for high-volume businesses.

Wix Pricing Plans:

While Wix Plans are generally cheaper, not all Wix plans are suited to ecommerce. Below are the Wix plans that can support your online business:

• Core: $29 per month. For small online stores with basic e-commerce needs.
• Business: $36 per month. For established online businesses that are growing.
• Business Elite: $ 159 per month. For larger businesses with advanced needs and functionality.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for enterprise-level brands and industry leaders.

3. Ease of Use:

Shopify:
Designed specifically for ecommerce, Shopify makes setting up and managing your online store easy. The platform has an intuitive interface that simplifies store setup and management. When it comes to setting up and designing your site, Shopify guides you along the way and uses an intuitive drag-and-drop function as you design your website. Its dashboard is clean and very straightforward, providing easy access to all the essential tools you need to run an online shop.

Wix:
Wix is well known for its simplistic approach to building websites, with its own drag-and-drop editor being one of its main selling points. Creating a website on Wix is simple and visual. However, when it comes to ecommerce specifically, the learning curve can be steeper as users need to navigate its various features that are not solely designed for online retail.

4. Design and Customization:

Shopify: 
Shopify offers a wide range of professionally designed themes optimized for ecommerce. Themes are website templates that serve as the foundation for your website design, they are highly customizable and help you achieve a sleek, professional look.

Shopify themes are all specifically designed and powered for ecommerce. These Shopify themes are responsive, highly customizable, and built to enhance user experience and optimize your conversion rates, ensuring you have a website that is built for generating sales.

Wix:
Wix provides a vast selection of templates with significant design flexibility. While this is great for general websites, Wix themes may lack the specialized design optimizations crucial for online stores compared to Shopify’s collection of extremely specialized ecommerce website themes.

5. SEO and Marketing:

Shopify:
Shopify offers robust SEO tools and marketing features, including blogging, email marketing, and social media integration. Shopify also offers in-page SEO so that you can optimize meta titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and more quite easily. Moreover, you can download Shopify apps to up your marketing strategy. Its platform is designed to enhance online visibility and drive traffic to stores.

Wix:
Wix provides solid SEO capabilities and marketing tools, but its offerings are more generalized to promoting websites. For dedicated ecommerce SEO and marketing, Shopify’s tools are more comprehensive and powerful, aimed directly at ecommerce.

6. Scalability:

Shopify:
Shopify’s infrastructure is built to support businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprise-level stores. Its scalable solutions ensure that as your business grows, your online store can seamlessly handle increased traffic and sales volume.
As your business grows, you can upgrade your plan to access more features and support when your business is ready. For enterprise-level ecommerce businesses, you can look into Shopify Plus, a powerful enterprise-level ecommerce solution powering some of the world’s top brands.

Wix:
While Wix is excellent for small to medium-sized businesses, some larger businesses may find that it does not scale as well. Wix’s ecommerce plans are designed with smaller stores in mind, which can lead to limitations in handling large inventories, high traffic volumes, and complex ecommerce needs. For instance, the Wix platform can only hand 50,000 products, whereas Shopify places no limits on your products. Additionally, Wix lacks some advanced features required for large-scale operations, such as extensive integrations, which are limited to 500+ while Shopify has up to 6000  ecommerce integrations, making Wix less suitable for rapidly growing or large businesses.

Conclusion

While both Shopify and Wix have their strong points when it comes to ecommerce, Shopify has dedicated its entire platform to becoming an ecommerce powerhouse. Wix, a popular website builder, is a powerful platform in its right but has more generalized capabilities that cater to website building in general.

Shopify’s dedicated focus on ecommerce makes it the superior choice for businesses that are serious about online retail, want to grow an online brand, and scaling in the future.

With its powerful e-commerce-dedicated features, ease of use, extensive customization options, and scalability, Shopify provides a robust foundation for managing and growing an online store. If you’re looking to elevate your ecommerce business, choosing Shopify or migrating to Shopify can offer you all of the specialized tools and support needed to succeed in ecommerce, in 2024 and beyond.

Shopify Migration Partners: Ecommerce Pro

Struggling with your current ecommerce platform? Migrate to Shopify with the help of Ecommerce Pro—Shopify Migration Agency.
We specialize in ecommerce migration to Shopify and Shopify Plus, having helped hundreds of clients worldwide migrate their businesses to the Shopify platforms. Our full team of Shopify Experts will ensure your online business receives the intuitive solutions necessary to get settled into your new ecommerce platform of choice.

With our team of certified Shopify migration experts overseeing and guiding your website’s migration, we guarantee a smooth and efficient migration from your old ecommerce platform to Shopify. With Ecommerce Pro managing the transition, you’ll be up and running in record time.  

Get in Touch

At Ecommerce Pro – Shopify Migration Agency, we help entrepreneurs and business owners build better and more successful Shopify businesses. Have a question or a project in mind? Get in touch with us today!