Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify : Which one to choose ?

Choosing the right platform for your e-commerce site is a crucial choice. Indeed, depending on your needs, one platform will be more suitable than another and vice versa. However, there is a multitude of software on the market that allows you to create your e-commerce. This varied offer makes it difficult for merchants to make decisions. Studying all of these tools can make your head spin with the amount of information available.

Today, we will try to decipher all this with you. To do this, we will take 2 of the most well-known e-commerce website creation platforms and compare them. This comparison will be based on different criteria. For each criterion, we will select the software that we think is the best. This will give you an overview of who to choose according to your own criteria and needs. As you can see from the title, we will compare the offerings of Webflow Ecommerce and Shopify.

Design and customisation : Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify

In this section, we will look at the customisation possibilities of both tools. We will determine which platform offers the most freedom regarding the design of its online shop.

Customise your website on Webflow Ecommerce

Webflow offers unique customisation possibilities without coding skills. Indeed, thanks to its interface, you can freely create and place the elements you want in the places you want. Creating a site on Webflow consists in associating and stacking blocks between them. Webflow is a real tool for web designers as it allows you to modify absolutely everything you want. The e-commerce version of Webflow offers the possibility to add products in a dynamic way and thus to completely customize your product sheets. In addition to the graphic aspect, you can also create animations quite quickly. Moreover, the cascade construction system allows you to customise your site according to the devices used. This way, you ensure that your site is completely responsive and "Mobile Friendly".

Besides that, there is also a community on Webflow where you can find, like and clone projects from other designers. The Webflow showcase is a marketplace where you can copy templates from other Webflow projects and reuse them for yours. If you are lacking inspiration or if web design is not your cup of tea, you can customize your site.

Customise your site on Shopify

On Shopify, the freedom to create is a little less present. To start designing your e-commerce site, you will need to choose a Theme (template). This theme will serve as the basis for you to make your own changes and customise your site. Shopify themes are considered by many to be high quality and attractive. There are a variety of Shopify themes with unique customisations. Of course, these are responsive and look as good on mobile as they do on desktop. The main problem with Shopify is that most of these templates are paid. They are not free, and their prices can go up quickly ($180 for some).

There is another problem with customisation in Shopify. Since themes are offered and there are many merchant sites, one can find e-commerce businesses that are quite identical in design. Theme customisation is simple, but there are limited elements of differentiation (styles, colours, etc.). To go further in customisation, you need to master code languages.

What is the best platform for customising your website design?

Advantage : Webflow

Even if Shopify stands out from other competitors such as Wordpress vs Woocommerce vs Prestashop vs Wix, etc., this platform cannot compete with Webflow in terms of design. Indeed, Webflow is designed for web designers. A site created from Webflow can be really unique. Moreover, customization is "free" in Webflow, there is no need to pay for themes.

Simplicity: Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify

For this point, we will see which of Webflow or Shopify allows a fast and intuitive handling. We will also see to whom these solutions are addressed?

The learning curve on Webflow Ecommerce

When you see the Webflow interface for the first time, you can be scared. The number of functionalities allowing you to create your site are such, that you can lose your head quickly. In fact, you don't need to know how to code to develop your site on Webflow, but you shouldn't build it any old way. Indeed, there is a rigour to have to build and stack your blocks to not get lost afterwards. When you start on Webflow, you can see all the possibilities that there are, but from there to implement them, there is a big step. Many people can be confused and then discouraged because they do not understand how to develop in Webflow. Creating your collections and managing your CMS is not as intuitive as a platform / CMS like Wordpress for example. On top of that, in the e-commerce part, you have to manage the products and organize your collections for your dynamic pages. The editor mode is still present to simplify the management of the site.

Fortunately, to overcome all this, there are: Webflow University & Webflow Community. These two resources allow you to learn Webflow step by step through courses or to share your problems and solutions with the community to grow together.

The learning curve on Shopify

Learning about Shopify is quite simple. Shopify is for everyone: entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, large companies, etc. The interface is already much more streamlined to allow anyone to easily understand the construction of his electronic shop. The different tabs "Products", "Marketing", "Orders" allow to have an intuitive home interface. You can then create your e-commerce site in a few hours. Numerous resources are also available (notably on YouTube) to learn how to manage the tool.

Webflow vs Shopify: Which is the simplest and most intuitive solution?

Advantage: Shopify

The considerable advantage that Webflow has over Shopify in terms of design is somewhat lost here. In fact, Shopify differentiates itself mainly through its "General public" offer. The creation of an e-commerce site becomes accessible to all and without necessarily knowing anything about it. The very visual interface allows you to see in real time what you are doing on your shop. So in terms of simplicity, Shopify has a good advantage.

Quality/Price ratio: Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify?

For this criterion, we will present and compare the different pricing systems of the two platforms. In this way, we will be able to deduce the most advantageous offer.

The different pricing plans of Webflow Ecommerce

Webflow Ecommerce offers different types of packages. The advantage of Webflow is that you can create 2 projects for free and test the different functionalities (you do not have access to all the options). If you want to start directly with your own domain name, you can subscribe to one of these packages:

• Standard: $29/month
• 500 items
• You are entitled to 3 employee accounts
• Transaction fees: 2%.
• Annual sales volume: $50,000
• Plus: $74/month
• 1000 items
• You are entitled to 10 employee accounts
• Transaction fees: 0%.
• Annual sales volume: $200,000
• Advanced: 212$/month
• 3000 items
• You are entitled to 15 employee accounts
• Transaction fees: 0%.
• Annual sales volume : No limit
• Enterprise: Fully customized offer

Shopify's different pricing plans

Shopify offers a number of pricing plans that are ready to go. Once you sign up, you can start building your site straight away and everything is included (unless you want to pay for a premium theme first). In addition, Shopify offers a 14-day free trial to familiarise yourself with the platform.

There are 4 types of packages/prices:

• Basic Shopify: $29/month
• You are entitled to 2 employee accounts
• No reports
• Transaction fees: 2%.
• Shopify: $79/month
• You are entitled to 5 employee accounts
• Standard reports
• Transaction fees: 1%.
• Advanced Shopify: $299/month
• You are entitled to 15 employee accounts
• Advanced reports
• Shipping costs calculated by a third party service
• Transaction fee: 0.5%.
• Shopify Plus: Fully customized offer

What is the best choice between Webflow Ecommerce and Shopify in terms of price?

Advantage: Webflow & Shopify

To summarise, the offerings of the two e-commerce website building platforms are fairly similar. Shopify is a little more expensive, but does not offer product limits. To help you, here is a comparison table of the offers:

SEO : Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify

Having an e-commerce site is good, but being visible is better! In this section, we will therefore focus on the aspect of SEO.

Managing your SEO in Webflow

Webflow allows you to manage the referencing of your e-commerce site with ease. You can natively include for each page its Title and its Meta-description. You can easily include an Alt tag for each image. The CMS is built in such a way that it respects the best SEO practices (page speed, web accessibility settings, security, performance, etc.). It is possible to create 301 redirects from its project. Webflow automatically generates a sitemap that can be added to Google Search Console. You can directly optimize URLs or blog posts from the editor mode. In fact, Webflow is also known for its "clean" code which allows the indexing robots to crawl your site efficiently. In addition to all this, as far as e-commerce is concerned, you can optimise your product sheets natively.

Managing SEO in Shopify

This tool is also cleanly designed to allow your e-businesses to be listed. However, it lacks some native features to properly optimize your pages for SEO. It is almost mandatory to use plugins to get your pages listed. Shopify also automatically generates a sitemap.

Which allows for better search engine optimization between Webflow Ecommerce and Shopify?

Advantage: Webflow

Although both platforms allow for search engine optimisation, Webflow has a head start in this respect. Indeed, Shopify offers a lower level of technical SEO than Webflow Ecommerce. Thus, Webflow Ecommerce, thanks to its SEO friendly practices, may allow you to be better ranked.

Features : Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify

For this last comparison criterion, we will study the different possibilities offered by Webflow Ecommerce and Shopify in a more global way.

Webflow Ecommerce Features and Integrations

Webflow Ecommerce has many features. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

• Advanced filtering system
• Web Accessibility Report
• Customizable basket
• Customisable checkout page
• Transactional emails
• Editor's mode
• Powerful CMS (Collection and Content Management)
• 100% customisation
• API
• Code Editor
• Customer support
• Personalized domain name
• Etc.

In addition to these aspects, Webflow Ecommerce allows the integration of a multitude of applications such as

• Airtable (Database)
• Stripe / Paypal (Payment management)
• Integromat / Zapier (Automation)
• Mailchimp / Sedinblue (Newsletter)
• Many, many other possible integrations

Shopify Features and Integrations

For its part, Shopify also offers many features:

• Customisable themes
• Code Editor
• Access to reports
• Recovery of abandoned cart
• Simplified management of the discount system
• Management of customer reviews and comments
• Installation of plugins
• Sales and integrations on social networks
• Automation of the payment system
• Customer support
• Personalized domain name
• Etc.

Shopify also allows for application integration, but the range of possibilities is smaller.

Which e-commerce platform has the best features?

Advantage: Webflow and Shopify

On this part, there is not really a big winner since there are features that Webflow Ecommerce has compared to Shopify and vice versa.

The only advantage to be given is for Webflow Ecommerce concerning the possible integrations.

Overall comparison between Shopify and Webflow Ecommerce

In conclusion, here is a small infographic to summarise the differences between Shopify and Webflow Ecommerce. You will find out who has an advantage over who based on the different criteria we have mentioned so far.

Digidop X Webflow Ecommerce

If you want to create an e-commerce website on Webflow and you need help, we have the solution for you. Indeed, Digidop is a web agency specialized in the development of Webflow website. We can create a fully customized, automated and SEO friendly online store to boost your sales. If you have any question, don't hesitate !