Is it time to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify?

The challenge of operating a successful and scaleable eCommerce store is ever-increasing, so it’s important for vendors to ensure their store is on the most suitable platform for their business.

The idea of migrating from one platform to another can be daunting but could be the key to unlocking the growth of your brand and increasing operational efficiency.

If your store is already on WooCommerce and you’re running into the roadblocks commonly associated with the platform (difficulty of use, lack of flexibility, poor data analytics, clunky integrations), it might be time to consider migrating to Shopify.

Shopify hosts over 1.75million stores on its platform and is built specifically for eCommerce merchants.

Let’s take a look at the key considerations merchants need to make when deciding whether to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify:

Usability

Shopify is renowned for being more user-friendly for the typical storeowner than WooCommerce.

Day-to-day changes to your site such as promotions, managing products, and even simple text and image changes are eminently easier to handle on Shopify.

WooCommerce merchants often find a large amount of their ongoing website costs are spent on asking their developers to make changes that their in-house team either have no control over or lacks the confidence to execute.

Shopify’s straightforward CMS and product handling system make it much more efficient for internal teams to manage the day-to-day operations of their own store; responding to data, trends, and their own marketing calendar more responsively.

Our team of developers and marketers are adept at handling the front and back end of your store, so you can be safe in the knowledge you’ll always have support with managing and developing your store.

Theme Design

Shopify’s off-the-shelf themes are optimised for eCommerce performance and require less technical input than a typical WooCommerce or WordPress theme.

Customising your store to match your brand is more straightforward in Shopify and can comfortably be managed by in-house teams once set up.

Mugo’s design and development teams are UI and UX experts and use data and eCommerce best practices to inform the best possible design for your brand’s store.

Sales Features

Shopify includes as standard many more sales features than its counterpart. Strategies that are imperative for eCommerce performance, such as abandoned cart recovery, are built in to the platform rather than requiring a plugin.

Shopify also integrates with other sales channels such as Facebook, Instagram, eBay and Amazon at no additional cost whereas this is a paid service on WooCommerce.

Other eCommerce fundamentals such as shipping integrations, discount codes, payment options, international markets, and wholesale are more user-friendly on Shopify and Shopify Plus.

We can offer expert advice on how to get the most value from all of your sales channels and how to make use of Shopify’s extensive features.

Plugins, integrations and marketing tools

One major plus for WooCommerce is the fact that it is an open-source platform. This means it has a seemingly unlimited supply of plugins and integrations. That being said, these individual plugins often require close management to keep them up-to-date and can impact on the performance of the rest of your store.

Marketing tools native to Shopify such as Klaviyo and Okendo are game changers for your store in terms of conversions and customer loyalty.

Our team can provide you with a blueprint for your eCommerce ecosystem that will drive up revenue and help take your store to the next level.

Customer Support

Shopify outscores WooCommerce for its customer support offering thanks to its 24/7 live chat, email and phone support. It also has a huge library of resources merchants can access for advice and best practice.

WooCommerce falls down on its lack of live support and relies on a database of help articles, a user forum and a ticketing system for queries.

As Shopify Partners, Mugo also have access to additional support and are on hand to help you manage your store day to day with our account managers able to field any questions you might have.

Pricing

A primary factor for merchants when deciding whether to migrate from WooCommmerce to Shopify is the cost of operating their store.

Shopify’s pricing model is very clear, with packages starting from $29 per month.

Although WooCommerce’s basic packages are similarly priced, according to eCommerce Platforms, to achieve the same functionality as the equivalent Shopify package could cost a merchant an additional $500 in extra plugins and integrations. There’s also a significantly greater requirement for technical input from a developer.

Conclusion

As a Shopify partner, we’re clearly sold on the benefits the platform can offer to your team and your brand.

We’re experienced in managing the migration process to get merchants set up on Shopify efficiently and painlessly.

We can also train you and your team to manage the new store day-to-day, and offer ongoing support packages to make sure you never stand still.

If you’d like to discuss migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify drop us a line and let’s grow something amazing together.