Struggling to decide between the three leading e-commerce platforms? Take a look at our pros and cons to work out which one is the most suitable for you!

Shopify

Pros:

  • User and beginner friendly
  • Friendly interface
  • Ability to sell across multiple channels such as Facebook and Amazon
  • Third-party app support to help increase the functionality of the platform
  • Works “out of the box” with minimal setup to get functioning as an e-commerce platform
  • Easy to setup API connector to OneTimePIM

Cons:

  • Limited customisation without the use of additional applications
  • Inputting products without a PIM can take a considerable amount of time
  • There is a monthly fee to use the platform with additional transaction fees for transaction processes used outside of “Shopify Payments”
  • Need to pay more if expecting to have a large number of products (over 50,000 variants)
  • Shopify allows for manual data/ product entry but is clunky and inefficient for large sets of data or a high volume of products

Shopify is a good platform for smaller businesses without the budget, access or the need to have a dedicated development team needed for other platforms.

The simplicity and ease of the platform make it intuitive to use. It’s possible to set up a small store in a short amount of time.

As a store gets larger due to increasing catalogue sizes, it can get harder to manage product data within Shopify. The time it takes to update and add a large number of products can halt workflow, and it can be difficult to ensure that all products are correctly updated. Adding media can also be tedious when you have large quantities of products, especially when products share files, as each image has to be added manually.

Magento

Pros:

  • Limitless customisation options for users who can navigate the platform
  • A large community knowledge base is available to help with any issues that may occur
  • An ideal platform for larger corporations because of its expansive functionality and in-depth customisation options

Cons:

  • Need to have some programming knowledge/ proficiency to get the most from this platform
  • Available extensions can be costly and sometimes complex to implement on your store page
  • Not good for smaller companies without the means to set up a hosting service that has support for Magento

Magento is a robust platform best suited to larger organisations with the budget to hire developers to create a platform for their business and products. Magento is a good platform for storing large quantities of product data and has brilliant scalability for e-commerce.

Like Shopify, when you have large quantities of products it can become an arduous task to update everything.

WooCommerce

Pros

  • Similar to Magento in terms of being open source and fully customisable
  • Programming knowledge is not essential for setting up through the WooCommerce wizard

Cons

  • Reliant on WordPress to run
  • Very limited functionality without the use of third-party applications or plugins
  • The reliance on plugins can result in compatibility issues between those plugins
  • Simplistic database architecture limits the number of products that can be efficiently stored. Not recommended for large product catalogues/ order volumes

WooCommerce is a cheap alternative to Shopify that runs off WordPress. This is the best alternative for a small company wanting a very basic store to sell online. It should be noted, however, that WordPress is not an e-commerce site and was not designed to be one. This flaw means a heavy reliance upon third-party plugins to be able to gain the desired functionality needed for an e-commerce platform.

If you are willing to work with that technical compromise, then WooCommerce can be a good store for a smaller business.

WooCommerce shares the same shortfalls as the other platforms, including the difficulty in editing/ adding/ updating large quantities of products.

How a PIM can help

  • OneTimePIM has custom-built connectors with Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce
  • The connectors allow for instant uploading/ updating of products on connected stores with the ability to easily change and edit items
  • The PIM helps you manage a high volume of products in an easy and efficient way. When you update a product on the PIM, all you need to do is run the connector and your e-commerce site will be updated
  • Straightforward to set up products with the correct attributes for each connector
  • Close technical support from OneTimePIM to ensure everything works as intended with the chosen store connector

Problems with the volume of product data can be easily solved with the use of a PIM system. OneTimePIM has been built to allow businesses to have greater control over their product data and be able to push it through various channels to a plethora of different e-commerce sites.

Check out our videos on our e-commerce connectors! Here's a quick intro:

 

These three videos show you how easy it is to add, edit and remove items from Shopify using OneTimePIM: