You are planning to create an e-commerce website, but you are not sure which CMS to use. It's normal! You've heard all the praises about shopify, but now that you've mastered Webflow (or even more, because you've been using it for a few months), the choice is quite difficult: Shopify vs Webflow. Luckily for you, after reading this article, I'm sure you'll have made your choice 😎

🌈Survey

In your opinion, should you stay in your comfort zone and stay on Shopify, or risk new and promising technologies?

I would say: nothing ventured, nothing gained

I'm one of those who are afraid of change, so I think Shopify can do the trick

Other ? Share your thoughts in comments. We want to know everything!!!

Contents

• How much does Shopify vs Webflow cost?
• The main lines of these 2 e-commerce site creators
• Shopify vs Webflow: the easiest to handle
• Shopify vs Webflow design
• Is natural referencing reliable?
• Webflow vs Shopify : Customer Service
• How does the payment system work?
• Marketing integration of Shopify vs Webflow
• Is blogging possible?
• Shopify vs Webflow : RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation)

How much does Shopify vs Webflow cost?

Before choosing a tool, the first thing to consider is its pricing plan. You need to see whether or not there are plans that fit your budget and project.

For Webflow there is a free trial. During this period, you are allowed to modify 2 projects, with the full set of design features. The only catch is that you can't fully use this project. To take full advantage of it, you will have to subscribe to an e-commerce plan. Here are the different plans:

• Standard plan available from $29 per month.
• Plan Plus, at $79 per month.
• Advanced Plan of $212 per month.

For each of these plans, all the features are present. The difference lies in the transaction fees to be paid. For the standard plan, it is 2% while for the other 2, it is zero. The same goes for the sales volume; the more expensive the plan, the higher the volume. Finally, the number of personal accounts that can be added is three, 10 and 15 respectively.

Shopify has pretty much the same offerings, both in terms of pricing and features. Here are the details:

• Basic Shopify: at $29 per month, the full list of features to create an e-commerce site is at your disposal, with no transaction fees. 2 personal accounts are also offered. The number of products that you will integrate in the system is unlimited. Your site is fully secured, as an SSL certificate is given with the subscription.
• Shopify: at $79 per month, all the benefits I mentioned above will be yours. Only, instead of 2 personal accounts, there will be 5.
• Advanced: At $229 per month, you'll get the same things except for the number of personal accounts. There will be 15. For shipping rates, there will be a slight change. It will actually be calculated by third parties.
• Plus: the most expensive plan, at $2,000 per month. For more details, you'll have to check out Shopify. In reality, it's made for big brands.

The main lines of these 2 e-commerce site creators

Needless to say, shopify is the king of the market when it comes to pure e-commerce website creation platforms. It has all the features that will help you build a complete e-commerce site! As for Webflow, it is new on the market since 2019. Sure, it has been around for a long time (in those days, it was meant for web designers), but its e-commerce features are slowly being added.

As I followed their evolution closely, I can say (with pride) that Webflow is on the right track! It has a lot of potential. The quality of the sites created on Webflow is indeed very close to those created on Shopify. In my opinion, Webflow still takes the trophy here, because it offers the possibility to create stunning e-commerce sites (especially in terms of design), and this, easily!

Working on Webflow of course gives you much more creative freedom. You can customize the customer experience from start to finish which is not possible on Shopify unless you get your hands in the code.

Shopify vs. Webflow: easier to handle

For the site creator

Shopify has all the features one could need to make a professional e-commerce site. But are they still valuable if they are both difficult to understand and use? I don't think so. No one would want to go to the trouble of learning all that.

So while Shopify is currently experiencing strong growth, it goes without saying that it's easy to use. Even without prior experience in creating sites, you have every chance of successfully creating one. Its interface is intuitive and orderly. The features are well presented. Best of all, there are keyboard shortcuts you can use, which makes it even easier to use.

In the face of all this, Webflow is not to be outdone. As I said earlier, they are constantly rolling out new features for Webflow e-commerce. So far, the ones that are already working are performing very well. What about the difficulty level of its use?

Actually, it is simpler than Shopify. You don't need to have any skills in HTML, CSS, JavaScript... to create a custom design for your e-commerce site. Moreover, in such a short time, you will get familiar with its interface (neat and modern). If you encounter any problem, you have several alternatives:

• Ask for help from the Webflow community
• Consult the Webflow help documentation

Through this interface, you will easily find out how to :

• Add a product to sell on your sales page
• Add photos
• Select the appropriate model, and possibly modify it to your taste
• Add information about each product for sale
• Have the statistics of the page
• Take care of payments
• Publish the sales page

And many others.

For the site owner

Once you deliver the final project to the client, do you think your site will be easy to manage? Because that counts too. If not, your client may bother you frequently just to ask how the site really works.

From my experience, I find Webflow easier. Via its dashboard, your client can control everything, down to the smallest details. For Shopify, this is also the case; only, on its dashboard, other additional features are present. For some, this is not a problem while for others, it can complicate things.

Here's an example of tasks your clients could easily do, whether for Webflow or Shopify:

- send an automatic email to its customers. Indeed, the creation and personalization of automatic emails are so intuitive. Ready-made templates are even available, so all you have to do is modify the content (text, logo, image...). I think your customers won't even need to be assisted to know how to do it.

Shopify vs Webflow design

In terms of design, I have only one thing to say: Webflow outperforms Shopify. Besides, as I said, it was originally designed for web designers. So the fact that it offers several varieties of website templates, ready to be used, is only natural.

All these templates (and even the ones you create yourself) can be customized easily, thanks to the visual editor. You don't need to ask for the help of a qualified developer.

On the other hand, for Shopify, if you don't have the necessary HTML and CSS skills and you would like to make big changes, you couldn't do it alone.

Is natural referencing reliable?

Some e-commerce site owners are not aware of the added value of an SEO optimized e-commerce site.

Yet, it is. This is precisely why both Shopify and Webflow have implemented different SEO tools on their platforms. However, Webflow differs slightly from Shopify. With it, using these features is easier.

For each page, the SEO elements are easily customizable:

• Meta title
• Meta description
• The definition of keywords
• Hn titles
• ALT tags for images
• Etc.

A 301 URL redirection has also been implemented. For those who don't know, it limits the SEO impacts of Internet users who mistakenly fall on the URL of a page that does not exist. And this page may not exist for various reasons:

• You moved the page
• You changed the URL of a page
• Users simply entered a URL that does not exist...

To set up this redirection system in Webflow, you don't have to do it manually. It is impossible to predict precisely the list of URLs on which visitors will fall. Everything is done automatically.

Webflow vs Shopify : Customer Service

When the time comes that you run into some problems (technical or not) on Webflow, you have nothing to worry about. Webflow has a very large resource library (documents, videos and podcasts) of tutorials and explanations. His blog also contains a lot of very interesting information, not to mention the guides he makes available for free.

And even when you don't need help, but just want to expand your knowledge of Webflow, just go to their site. The information is organized by subject, which only makes it easier for you to find what you are looking for. There is also a forum with several Webflow users, with whom you can easily discuss. Believe me, they are really ready to help you if you need it.

If all this is not enough for you, I invite you to contact the customer support, through the contact form. A ticketing system is obviously in place, which will allow you and the support team to easily find the conversations. But if you want, you can use chat, mail and phone. This team is available Monday to Friday, from 6am to 6pm. They do not outsource their team; this guarantees a good quality.

Shopify also offers almost similar services. So, on that front, it's up to you.

How does the payment system work?

Here again, it all comes down to your preferences. If you choose Shopify, you have the choice between :

• Credit card
• Stripe
• For those in countries where Stripe is not available, there are other payment options

In short, the choice is wide.

However, for Webflow, it will be these 3 ways:

• Google Pay
• Call Pay
• Stripe

And above all, payments from over 200 countries are already possible!

Marketing integration of Shopify vs Webflow

Marketing tools and e-commerce sites always go hand in hand. If an e-commerce site doesn't have these tools, it can't be called one. At least, it can never be called "professional". The good news is that Shopify and Webflow have thought of that! So they have added these integrations among their list.

For Webflow, the integration of :

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Mailchimp
• Google Analytics

can be done, and easily

More details on integrations are available in another webflow guide that I made, if you are interested.

As for Shopify, their bookstore is available on their site.

Is blogging possible?

Certainly, Shopify has a blogging tool. It is extremely important for marketing and SEO. Only, compared to Webflow, it is not as advanced.

Webflow stands out especially for its simplicity of use. I'm sure you've heard of Wordpress, the ultimate blogging CMS. Well, after using Webflow's blogging tools for a while, I noticed that it is just as powerful and intuitive as Wordpress'.

Here is an article that might interest you: Webflow vs Wordpress.

Shopify vs Webflow : RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation)

The implementation of an RGPD policy on an e-commerce site is simply mandatory. It consists in informing the Internet users that we will use the data they provide us. However, the users have the possibility to deactivate this option. And if they have accepted it, but change their mind, it is also possible. In general, this data (especially e-mails) is used to send promotional e-mails, information, newsletters, etc.

But what is the point of all this? Long story short, the GDPR guarantees the security of this harvested data. So the ultimate question is: do Shopify and Webflow offer the implementation of this policy?

• For Shopify, unfortunately, this is not the case. If you want to have this feature, you'll have to install it through the Shopify app store, and it's not free.
• For Webflow, this is the case. It provides RGPD support.

This area requires legal expertise to answer in detail. I invite you to get information from a competent authority.

Conclusion

Very few factors differentiate Webflow e-commerce from Shopify.

My conclusion is this: although very new, Webflow is on the right track since it can currently compete with Shopify. Let's not forget what sets it apart from Shopify and all other e-commerce CMS; it is specialized in webdesign. It is therefore the only one that can provide a design e-commerce site, and this, easily (without having to code).

So here's my advice: choose the website builder you want based on your budget, your needs and convenience. Your experience in web development is also a factor to consider. Can you code or not? Do you need a website builder with a visual and customizable interface or is your experience enough? It's up to you!

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