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Are you stuck at home wondering how you’re going to make money?
E-commerce is a booming industry that already accounts for nearly 17% of global retail sales. That figure will rise dramatically in the coming years, as more consumers continue to migrate online.
E-commerce is a $3.5-trillion industry and its growing. What if you could get a slice of that? Does earning money from home with an automated e-commerce business sound exciting?
How Do You Sell Online with Ecwid or Shopify?
When selling online, you have the option of choosing your e-commerce platform. Think of it like buying a car. All cars serve the same purpose of travel, but they offer different experiences to the driver. For instance, taking a drive along the Pacific Highway in a VW Beetle that’s got a busted muffler is a different experience to making the same trip in a Ferrari.
It’s the same with e-commerce; all the platforms available serve the purpose of helping you sell products online. However, each of them offers a very different user experience (UX). As a newcomer to e-commerce, you need an e-commerce platform that’s easy to use, has powerful e-commerce features, and plenty of support on the backend.
Ecwid and Shopify are two of the best entry-level e-commerce platforms suitable for beginners and expert marketers. If you want to sell online, either of these platforms can help you convert sales and make money.
Both Ecwid and Shopify allow you to achieve your goal of e-commerce success, but they offer you very different platforms to achieve your goals. In this article, we’ll unpack the differences between these platforms and give you our recommendation for the best solution.
Comparing Ecwid Vs. Shopify – What’s the Difference?
So, what’s the difference between using these two platforms for your e-commerce store?
Shopify offers users a blend of a website and a web-building service that allows you to sell products, as well as create web pages. Shopify allows you to create contact forms, blog posts, FAQ pages, and much more. With Shopify, you also get access to more than 100 payment gateways, giving your customers plenty of variety.
Shopify works like a “business-in-a-box” platform that provides you with everything you need to start your e-commerce career. You get the platform and the hosting included in your subscription fee. All you do is design the theme of your store form the prebuilt template options, load your products and start selling.
You get all the tools you need to optimize your store and your offering, as well as a comprehensive support service and helpline to put you back on track if you encounter any problems with your store. You pay a monthly subscription fee for using the platform, and that covers all your basic costs.
The subscription fees vary, depending on the plan you end up taking. Shopify offers you four subscription levels, the free plan, the Basic Plan, Shopify Plan, and the Advanced Shopify Plan.
Ecwid is an entirely different e-commerce platform for Shopify. While it performs the same core function as Shopify – allowing you to sell online, it does so in a different manner.
Ecwid is an acronym for “E-commerce widget.” This tool is a plug-in that operates on popular site builders, such as WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and so on. Therefore, you’ll need to download and install the extension into your current website.
This integration with your current site may require a bit of coding knowledge, but its nothing you can’t learn from watching a few YouTube videos. With Ecwid, you have a few limitations on what you can do with this extension. Ecwid only permits you to create one e-commerce page for your site, whereas, with Shopify, you can build out as many as you like.
As a result, the functionality of the widget is nowhere near as good as what you get with Shopify, but it does the job of helping you sell products online. If you’re running a blog on WordPress, the Ecwid makes a great extension to help you sell a couple of products related to your blog’s theme.
As with Shopify, running the Ecwid widget enables users to publish and online product catalog, insert images of products, update product specifications, and alter prices. Set your shipping rates, and then modify the design elements of your sales page.
For improved design control, you’ll need to have a basic understanding of code. The widget requires you to modify CSS stylesheets if you want to make changes to your layout.
How Do I Choose Between Starting with Ecwid or Shopify?
If you already use a website platform, and you’re looking for a plug-in that can turn your site into a money-making e-commerce machine, then Ecwid is a good choice.
You get a functional selling platform but without any of the bells and whistles. Therefore, if you’re focusing on optimizing your site more than your sales pages, or you’re selling a side product to your business, Ecwid is a great way to boost a sales offering to your list or website traffic.
If you’re looking for a purpose-built e-commerce system that comes with everything you need to build your online business – then go with the Shopify subscription. The 90-day free trial will give you plenty of time to set up a site and start selling.
We recommend newcomers to e-commerce to think about signing up with Shopify if they aren’t already running another website platform. With both apps, you get options to customize your setup, although the features are far more comprehensive with Shopify.
You also have the option of downloading mobile versions of Shopify and Ecwid to help you navigate your platform from your mobile device. Ecwid also offers customers a shopping app to download from the Google Play and Apple AppStore.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – The Pros and Cons
What are the pros and cons of using these platforms? Let’s break down the highlights and drawbacks of Shopify and Ecwid.
What are the Pros of Using Shopify?
- Multi-Channel Sales Integration – Sell your products across all your social media channels.
- Manage Your Inventory – The platform comes with a robust inventory management system that keeps your store and stock levels organized.
- Well Recommended – More than 820,000 Shopify merchants believe in this e-commerce model.
- Free Trial Extension – The company is extending its free trial from 14-days to 90-days.
What are the Cons of Using Shopify?
- High Transaction Costs – Shopify charges horrendous fees for using any other payment gateway than its processor, “Shopify Payments.” These costs add up and eat into your margins.
- Inflexible Design – If you want to change the design features of your store after you finish setting it up., you’ll have to do some reformatting on your site.
What are the Pros of Using Ecwid?
- Plug-in functionality – You already have a website, and Ecwid is a simple plug-in extension. There’s no need to start an entire site from scratch.
- Multi-channel selling – Sell to your social channel with tools that spread your offering out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.
- No Coding – There’s no coding required to install the plug-in to your website and start selling.
What are the Cons of Using Ecwid?
- Design Limitations – Ecwid is restrictive on its design options, and customizing your pages is challenging.
- Poor scaling – Ecwid doesn’t have the power to scale very far.
- Worthless Free Plan – The free trial for Ecwid lacks many of the key functionality of the full version.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – What are the Key Differences?
Ecwid and Shopify are two of the better-known e-commerce platforms. As mentioned, there’s a significant difference in how these platforms work, but they both have the same outcome; to help you sell your products online.
The Ecwid plug-in is an excellent choice for an addition to an existing website, allowing you to unlock all the potential benefits of e-commerce functionality on your current platform. Ecwid is the ideal choice for small businesses that have a website and want to make the transition to selling their products online.
Ecwid is a plug-in that you activate on your site, and you can have a new sales page ready to go in a few hours. Shopify also has a remarkably easy setup, and while it’s not as easy as Ecwid, you do get a much more substantial offering compared to the plug-in.
Shopify is a dedicated e-commerce platform that offers you a complete stand-alone solution for online shopping. Shopify scales with your business as you grow, allowing you to migrate through the plans as you start earning more money.
When you sign up for your Shopify Plan, you get a complete business-in-a-virtual-box that contains everything you need to start.
In short, Ecwid is the ideal e-commerce platform for a plug-in solution that suits personal branding websites, and small businesses that are looking for a way to sell products online.
Shopify suits newcomers to the e-commerce space that are looking to start selling products online. If you need a one-size-fits-all solution for selling products online, then Shopify is about the closest thing you get to a complete e-commerce experience in one package.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify: Comparison Categories
- Category 1: Ease of Use
- Category 2: Design
- Category 3: Domains and URLs
- Category 4: E-commerce Features and Tools
- Category 5: Payment Solutions and Fees
- Category 6: Attracting Customers
- Category 7: Merchant Support and Helplines
- Category 8: Pricing Model
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Ease-of-Use
If you have the sudden motivation to start your e-commerce career, then you need to capitalize on that momentum and launch your store as soon as possible.
The build time of the two platforms is very different. With Ecwid, you install the program, manage your settings, and you’re ready to load products and start selling.
With Shopify, the setup takes a bit more time, as you need to spend more effort on design factors. However, it doesn’t require any coding, and you can get your store up and ready in a day. If you want to get selling right away, then both platforms offer a quick time-to-market for your e-commerce store.
Ecwid integrates with your current website, so there’s little you need to do in the setup. With Shopify, you get everything you need to build your site from scratch, as well as free hosting that helps you go live fast.
With both sites, there’s nothing to worry about with hosting, coding, or updating your platform. With Ecwid, you add the widget to the backend of your site, and the program integrates with your current website. Using a website builder like Wix with Ecwid is a great combination to start selling online for free.
Some of the websites and web-builder programs that support Ecwid include the following
- Wix
- Weebly
- Squarespace
- Strikingly
- SITE123
- GoDaddy
- WordPress
Go to your favorite app store, select the Ecwid plug-in, and download your suite of free e-commerce tools, or pay for an upgraded package. Add Ecwid to your other e-commerce platforms such as eBay, Etsy, and Facebook.
If you’re adding Ecwid to a custom-built website, you’ll need to do a bit of coding to the widget to get it to integrate properly, but that’s nothing an expert cant sort out for you in a few minutes, or you could look for a tutorial on YouTube. The help center is also efficient and can send you some free resources.
After hearing About the Ecwid ease of installation and use, Shopify might sound like it’s a bit more intimidating to work with online. However, let us assure you, that’s not the case. Shopify also offers a very user-friendly setup and ease-of-use.
The difference is that with Shopify, it’s a stand-alone platform, not a widget like Ecwid. However, there are Shopify plug-ins available for WordPress and some other website builders.
Shopify offers you a business-in-a-box experience where you get all the e-commerce tools and plenty of website features to help you succeed with selling online. Similarly to Ecwid, there’s no coding involved in the setup, and you could be online selling products on the first day if you put in the time.
With Shopify, you select your free or paid theme, customize the template, add the products you want to sell, and then track your sales with the platform’s analytics. Customizing the platform is easy, and you have hundreds of apps available to you in the Shopify App Store.
Ease of Use – Winner: Ecwid
Ecwid wins the award for the best ease-of-use platform. Don’t get us wrong; Shopify also has an incredibly easy setup. But it still requires a few hours of dedicated work. With Ecwid, it’s as simple as installing the plug-in on your site backend, and then start loading products to sell.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Design
Both Ecwid and Shopify offer excellent user experiences regarding the design of their e-commerce site or page. With Ecwid, the plug-in integrates with your current designs and templates, giving your new e-commerce store the same look and feel like the other pages on your site.
This smooth integration feature allows you to avoid spending time settling on a template to meet the current sign of your site, especially if it’s a custom build. As a result, you get an e-commerce module that seamlessly integrates into your existing WordPress or Web-builder platform.
Shopify is different; you must set up your store and customize it to your requirements. Choose your theme and look through the Shopify App Store to find a few design apps that can spruce up the unique look of your store.
You get ten free template designs with your monthly subscription package, and options to buy 50 other designs for prices ranging between $140 and $180 per template.
With your Shopify e-commerce store, the theme will form the basis of your store. With Ecwid, Your website’s existing theme leads the design, and you make some tweaks after finishing the setup. There is one thing that’s frustrating about the design functionality of the Shopify platform. If you want to make changes, you might have to reformat certain parts of your site, losing your development work.
Best design – Winner: Shopify
There is no competition in this category, Shopify wins hands-down. The level of customization on Shopify can’t compete with sites like WordPress.
However, compared to Ecwid, Shopify has a slew of design themes that can help you customize your store. The Shopify App Store also has a few useful apps to help you enhance the design and features of your e-commerce store.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Domain and URLs
Any internet marketer can tell you that your URL is your company’s brand identity online. Sure, your logo and other design aspects of your site are essential in establishing your brand identity, but your URL is the backbone of your website.
With Ecwid, you don’t have to worry about the URL address, because you’re running it off your website platform. However, with Shopify, you have the option of buying a custom domain and hosting for your site as well.
However, the hosting on the Shopify domain is fantastic, and you’ll find that your site runs faster using the Shopify hosting, than using a shared hosting package from another provider.
Therefore, you can use Shopify hosting until your store starts earning money. As your cash flow improves, add a custom domain and dedicated hosting to your site to enhance your branding.
Best platform for domains and URLs – Winner: Draw
Ecwid is a plug-in that runs off your site’s URL. Therefore, you need a functioning website to install the plug-in. Websites cost money for domains and hosting, and that can eat into your margins, especially when you’re starting your business.
Shopify offers you the best of both worlds. If you’re starting your e-commerce business, and you need to conserve your cash, they offer you a fully hosted solution. The hosting for your Shopify store on the site is excellent. You get fast loading times, which are on par with some e-commerce sites and dedicated hosting packages.
Shopify also has the option of registering a custom domain, allowing you to start building your online brand when your cash flow improves.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Features and E-Commerce Tools
Ecwid might sound like a no-frills platform, but it does some exciting functionality and features that make it a great e-commerce plug-in for your site. When you download Ecwid, you get a platform with store management tools to help you run your online business.
Ecwid
Some of the features of the platform include the following.
- Custom tracking modules for inventory
- Product variants and options
- Promotions and Discount code creation
- Sell digital and physical products
- Shipping rates and options
- Abandoned cart conversion
- Multi-channel sales integration
- Unlimited user bandwidth
Many of these features are basic, and you can expect to find them on other e-commerce platforms as well. We like the inventory management module and think it’s a great tool for newbies to stay organized in their virtual warehouses.
Multi-channel selling capability is a vital component of e-commerce platforms. You need to sell across all your social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Fortunately, both Shopify and Ecwid allow social selling across all your accounts.
Ecwid also provides you with sales features to support the growth of a small business. Making it the ideal choice to help brick-and-mortar retailers make the transition to the digital marketplace.
Shopify
Shopify is a one-stop solution for your e-commerce store. When you register and select your Shopify plan, you get a complete e-commerce solution ready right out of the box.
You set up your site and customize your design. Link your payment processors, load your products, and you’re ready to go live.
Some of the more appealing features of Shopify include the following.
- Unlimited user bandwidth
- Sell digital and physical products
- Inventory manager module
- Sell any amount of product varieties
- Automatic shipping calculator and rates
- Abandoned checkout cart recovery
- Multiple customer shipping options
- Automatic tax applications
- Customer account control
- Multi-channel social selling
Shopify’s inventory module will track stock levels, automatically preventing your site from overselling while you wait for new orders to arrive. You get functionality to notify your customers of reminders for abandoned carts, increasing your conversion.
Another favorite feature is the free shipping calculator and the real-time customer updates on shipping consignments. Even with plenty of orders flowing into your platform, you’ll still find it easy to manage your order flow and keep your business operating smoothly.
Shopify recently introduced a new product in direct competition with Ecwid – Shopify Lite. This plan costs you $9 per month, and you get a plug-in that helps your current website sell online, without the need to build out an entire new webstore.
With Shopify Lite, you can sell through your social media accounts, using a “Buy” button on your Facebook campaign. There’s so much user functionality with Shopify that you can download the Shopify point-of-sale app, link it to your Shopify Lite, and then sell products to people in a face-to-face setting.
The Ecwid App Market
Ecwid offers you an app market where you can download additional tools to your e-commerce store. Some of the recommended apps for Ecwid include the likes of Products Labels, Live Chat, and Advanced Discounts.
Search the Ecwid app market using your filter option in the search bar settings. Look at apps by price or category and try a few to see if they add any value to your e-commerce store.
The Shopify App Store
Shopify is the leader in apps for e-commerce stores. WordPress makes plenty of plug-ins, but Shopify only makes apps for e-commerce and no other online function. Shopify is a dedicated e-commerce site, and all its apps have the potential to upgrade your store in some way.
Therefore, it’s essential to make a list of functions you want to improve on your site, and then spend some time researching the support forums to see what apps other people recommend.
Shopify makes plenty of apps, and many of them are available for free. However, there is an army of private developers out there creating innovative app solutions for Shopify stores. If you find the right combination of apps for your store, it can dramatically improve your e-commerce performance.
Best Features and E-commerce tools – Winner: Shopify
Ecwid is a handy e-commerce tool, but it lacks the features and power of the Shopify platform.
Shopify comes with everything you need to start your business from the ground floor and build it to heights of success you never thought possible. The platform scales with you as your business grows, giving you everything you need to facilitate business online.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Payment Solutions and Fees
Payment gateways are another essential part of your e-commerce website. Shopify offers you the option of using over 100 different payment gateways. You get the choice of all the popular gateways, such as the following.
- Square
- Amazon Pay
- Apple Pay
- PayPal
- Stripe
- WePay
- Credit and debit cards
Shopify supports all these payment gateways, but it will charge you a transaction fee of 2% on the transaction value. If you decide to use the Shopify Payments gateway to process your payments, the Shopify voids your transaction fee. Shopify incentivizes you heavily to keep everything you do locally on the platform.
With Ecwid, you don’t pay for any transaction fees, only the usual merchant fees associated with your payment gateway. Shopify also supports other alternative payment options. Your customers can choose to pay cash-on-delivery or using cryptocurrency.
Transaction Fees
As mentioned, when you use Ecwid, you won’t have to pay any transaction fees for taking payments through your e-commerce store. However, each payment processor has a different set of processing fees that they charge you on their end for processing the transaction.
Therefore, you must check the terms and conditions of your payment processor before you recommend gateways on your site. Some processors can have expensive fees. For example, WePay charges up to 2.9% + $0.30 for every transaction.
If you’re using Shopify, that amplifies the costs of your transaction, as you’ll have to pay Shopify a further 2% for processing with a third-party processor. It’s for this reason that you should try to use the Shopify Payments gateway wherever possible.
Shopify also negotiates with some third-party payment processors, such as PayPal. The Shopify team secured special rates for its members, and you get deeper discounts on your processing fees with the Shopify and Advanced Shopify plans.
Best payment solutions and fees – Winner: Draw
It’s challenging to choose a clear winner in this department. Ecwid doesn’t have any transaction fees, whereas Shopify charges you 2% or more if you want to use another payment processor other than Shopify payments.
However, Shopify has over twice the amount of payment processor options available. If you have a Shopify Plan or Advanced Plan, then you get a cheaper rate on your third-party payment processing and transaction fees.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Attracting Customers
SEO is a vital component of any website. Your SEO strategy helps to drive traffic to your site by improving your sites ranking with search engines. SEO also helps to clear up any on-site errors, helping you optimize its performance.
Google and the other search engines like to recommend optimized sites that offer good content that’s valuable and easy to index. With Shopify, you get an optimized e-commerce site, along with the ability to add optimized SEO descriptions, tags, and titles to product listings.
Ecwid does nothing to boost your site’s SEO capability, but Shopify comes ready to rock straight out of the box. You get an optimized e-commerce site, and plenty of functionality form useful apps available in the Shopify App Store.
Best platform for attracting customers – Winner: Shopify
Shopify comes with a complete range of SEO tools included in the subscription package. However, there are also several useful SEO apps available in the App Store to help you optimize your site and position it for success. Ecwid relies on third-party SEO tools in your current website platform, and there is no built-in SEO functionality in the Ecwid plug-in.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Merchant Support and Helplines
Support is a vital component of your e-commerce platform. When things go wrong, you need to have a team to turn to that want to get your site back online in as short a time as possible. Time is money in the world of e-commerce, and every moment of downtime you have with your website could be costing you sales.
Both Ecwid and Shopify have fantastic merchant support services to ensure you never have to sit with a problem affecting your e-commerce site.
Ecwid
Some of the outstanding support features on offer with your Ecwid product include the following.
- Live support chat (only available on the premium plan)
- Phone-call support (only available on the premium plan)
- Email support
- Help Center
- Video tutorials and guides
- Community support forum
- Priority customer support (custom plans only)
The free plan only offers you email support, but if you upgrade to the higher plans, then you receive the option for live chat and phone support.
Shopify
Shopify also provides a great array of support solutions for its merchants. However, unlike Ecwid, you get access to the phone and live chat support, even if you have a free plan.
Some of the support solutions on offer with your Shopify plan include the following.
- 24/7 phone-call merchant support
- Social media merchant support
- 24/7 live merchant chat support
- Help Centers
- Community support forum
- Email merchant support
- Video guides and tutorials
- Advanced Shopify specialist support (Shopify custom plans only)
Shopify takes an interest in your success. The more business you process through the platform, the more money Shopify makes.
Therefore, it’s in Shopify’s best interests to ensure they do everything they can to help you succeed on the platform. If you register for Shopify Plus, you get a dedicated support agent to help you manage your business.
The live chat is fast and effective, and you get a response from an agent in seconds. So, you can relax in the safety of Shopify’s support solutions for first-time e-commerce owners.
Merchant support and helplines – Winner: Shopify
Shopify wins the award for the best merchant support and helpline. You get the same level of merchant assistance and support at all levels with Shopify. They handle all queries quickly and efficiently, and the live chat support is fantastic.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Pricing Models
With Shopify, you get three different price plans, as well as a free plan.
Shopify Pricing
- The Basic Shopify Plan (cost: $29 per month): The basic kit is a good start, but we feel it lacks some of the functionality you get with the Shopify plan, and if you can afford the extra $50 a month, the next upgrade is worth the money.
- The Shopify Plan (cost: $79 per month): This solution is the best entry-level e-commerce platform around. It’s a great starter kit with everything you need to start an e-commerce business.
- The Advanced Shopify Plan (cost: $299 per month): This scalable solution is suitable for running the largest e-commerce store. It’s a powerful and feature-rich platform that’s the best e-commerce solution available.
- The Shopify Plus Plan: enquire for pricing. You need to sit down with a consultant to design your solution.
The Shopify App Store also has plenty of free and paid apps. However, be careful of the apps you decide to use. Some of them come with recurring monthly subscriptions or one-off payments. Calculate your budget and make sure you don’t overspend on your apps.
Shopify also offers you a range of free and paid themes for your store. Take these costs into account when planning your e-commerce startup.
Ecwid Pricing
With Ecwid You have the choice of four plans available.
- The Free Plan: Easy online store to launch your business for free
- The Venture Plan (cost: £15 per month) – Professional features to grow and manage your online store – Advanced ecommerce solutions to expand your business
- The Business Plan (cost: £35 per month) – Advanced ecommerce solutions to expand your business
- The Unlimited Plan (cost:£99 per month) – Everything you need to sell online, mobile and at retail
The verdict on the best pricing plans – Winner: Shopify
Ecwid does have an excellent pricing structure, but we think that Shopify has the edge in this category. The Ecwid top-tier package is somewhat inline with the mid-tier Shopify offering, but we feel that Shopify has a lot more to offer the aspiring e-commerce entrepreneur.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – The Final Verdict
So, by now, you should have a clear indication of which offer is the better option for your e-commerce store. Overall, we have to say that Shopify provides a better e-commerce experience, especially for new users.
However, if you already run a website, and you’re looking for an e-commerce extension, the Ecwid offers you an attractive alternative. Let’s review our verdicts once again to make sure you have everything you need to make an informed decision on the e-commerce solution that’s right for you.
Ease-of-Use
- Verdict: Ecwid
- When it comes to choosing the platform that offers the best ease of use, Ecwid wins the battle. Ecwid has a very user-friendly setup, and you don’t need to know any code to get the plug-in working on your site. Shopify also has an easy installation, even if it is a little more complicated than Ecwid.
Platform Design
- Winner: Shopify
- Shopify has ten free themes, and 50 other paid versions to help you spruce up the appearance of your e-commerce store. Ecwid comes with no customizable options.
Domains and URLs
- Winner: Shopify
- Shopify offers you a self-hosted solution and the ability to add custom URLs. Ecwid operates off of your current website platform.
E-Commerce Features and Tools
- Winner: Shopify
- Shopify comes with a full package of SEO services available in the app store, and it’s possible to optimize your site with descriptions, tags, and titles.
Payment Solutions and Fees
- Winner: Shopify
- Shopify provides you with over 100 options for payment processors, where Ecwid only offers around 50-options. If you want to use a third-party processor, it’s going to cost you a 2% transaction fee, but you can limit these fees by migrating to a higher plan or using the Shopify Payments gateway. Shopify will process your payments for free if you use its gateway.
Attracting Customers
- Winner: Shopify
- Shopify comes with a suite of SEO tools to help you promote your website. Ecwid comes with no SEO functionality – enough said.
Merchant Support and Helplines
- Winner: Shopify
- Shopify is the standout in the merchant support department. Considering Ecwid is an app, it’s got an excellent customer service department, with support available across multiple communication channels. Still, Shopify has the best option, and we have to give them the edge in this category.
Pricing Models
- Winner: Shopify
- Ecwid and Shopify both offer free plans. However, Shopify has a better deal, with 90-days, instead of the 14-day trial on offer with Ecwid. The other two plans with Ecwid compare with those on offer from Shopify. However, the advanced plan from Shopify is a far better deal and a serious e-commerce platform for those entrepreneurs that want to launch into e-commerce with a bang.
The Verdict
If you want to launch an online store and start your career selling products online, then Shopify is your best option. This complete business system allows you to leverage all the tools you need to succeed, including SEO and design features that make your store stand out.
Ecwid is an excellent plug-in for websites, providing them with e-commerce functionality to sell products and services. Both Ecwid and Shopify have multi-channel selling capability across social media platforms, and they both offer a useful means of selling online.
However, if you’re a newcomer to e-commerce, and you want to give it your best shot at making money online, Shopify is your best solution, and the ideal platform for starting an e-commerce business.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – FAQs
Here are a few frequently asked questions about the Shopify and Ecwid e-commerce platforms. By now, you should understand the characteristics of the right platform for your e-commerce needs, and these FAQs should help you narrow down your decision.
I’m a business owner looking to take my catalog online; what’s the better platform?
If you have a business, then you’ll likely need a website, and want to act as an authority in your niche. In this case, you’ll need a solution like WordPress to manage your site and provide functions like blogs and other landing pages. Adding a plug-in like Ecwid can help you add an e-commerce element to your website.
I have almost no money available to start, which is my best e-commerce option?
Start with Shopify. They have a free 90-day trial of the platform. The CEO recognized that people need to create an income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopify wants to give you every opportunity possible to start and succeed with your e-commerce business.
Do I need to know what I want to sell, or have knowledge of the products I sell?
No, some research around trending products and other hot sellers is all you need. You locate the suppliers through an app like Sprocket and then load the products onto your store to sell, that’s it.
You don’t need to understand the workings of an electric gas heater to sell them online; all you need to know is how to develop a Shopify store.
How long does it take to start earning money with e-commerce?
That depends on how much tie and effort you put into the development and marketing of your store. Any e-commerce store will experience a period of slow growth in the beginning.
However, as your SEO efforts take hold, you can expect to gain traction after around 90-days of hard work. Your experience may vary depending on the type of products you sell and the amount of work you put into your new business.
How much can I earn with a profitable Shopify store?
Some Shopify sellers make up to $150,000 per year selling on Shopify. However, that’s with one store. Nothing is stopping you from having multiple successful Shopify stores, earning you multiple streams of income.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Which Platform Suits Newbies with Small Budgets?
Both Shopify and Ecwid have offers that suit the criteria for entry-level e-commerce platforms. However, With the Ecwid and the Shopify Lite platform, you’ll hit a glass ceiling quickly, and need to upgrade your package.
We think that Shopify’s Basic package offers the best value for newcomers, while Ecwid is a good deal if you’re a website looking to start selling online to experiment with how things pan out.
Ecwid Vs. Shopify – Which Is the Better Choice for Scaling My Business?
Ecwid is a lightweight e-commerce solution for your existing website. It doesn’t have the design features to be a heavy-duty e-commerce plug-in, and if you’re looking for something like that, you’re better off going with something like the WooCommerce Plugin for a WordPress site.
Shopify is the best e-commerce platform of the two when it comes to scaling your business. When you start with Shopify, you can take a free plan for 90-days on trial and use that time to upgrade to your basic plan. When things start moving, you can upgrade to the Shopify, and Shopify Advanced plans.
Shopify also offers a custom e-commerce solution for big businesses. There’s no listing on the site for this service, but you can get in touch, and they’ll run you through the model.
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