Squarespace VS Shopify for eCommerce, Online Retail, Point of Sale : Which is best for your business?
Wanting to level up your eCommerce or online shop?
As a designer who’s been working for online retailers for 13 years, who also specializes in Squarespace and Shopify, here are a few opinions I review on an almost weekly basis with prospective clients considering both.
Foreward ~ both of these platforms are wonderful. I love them both for similar and unique reasons, they’re both secure, easy to manage, offer in-person, pick-up, and/or shipping to all over the world, and have superior customer support. For me - it’s ALL about what you need from your eCommerce configuration. A few important notes I’d like to make…
For an illustrative reference, Shopify could be considered the pinnacle of and easy-to-use eCommerce platform.
Read also, SHOPIFY PRICING | SHOPIFY SUPPORT CENTER | SHOPIFY APPS | SHOPIFY THEMES (Free to $$$)
Do you want the best of the online retail best? It may cost you (although you can start small & affordable for sure!), but if retail is the core of your business and you are scaling fast with a large product catalog, SHOPIFY is your winner. Here are a few notes to consider for Shopify before diving in, it’s a very large and powerful platform:
Shopify is all-in on the e-commerce front - they revel in providing a seamless, fully functioning, gorgeous, user-friendly e-commerce experience and focus 100% in online retail environments. In my experience, with a FREE, out of the box theme, a tech-savvy client can achieve a clean, beautiful online presence. Although, as my clients grow, there are usually apps we will inevitably install to achieve higher functionality and conversions.
Each feature or next-level addition may require a paid APP or custom development to integrate with your store, which can be free — $1,000+++ a month, based on % of sales. For example, if you’re on a subscription-based model, an app like Recharge could cost more than $300 a month +1% + 19¢ per transaction. It sincerely comes down to all the features you need to determine the monthly pricing.
Customizations on Shopify for apps, pages, and themes most always require a developer, a designer and can even cause a little havoc for other apps in your tech stack (Shopify is a powerful platform. If you are fighting with your out-of-box theme, you’ll need to learn or hire help with CSS, Liquid Code, and beyond - also certain apps like Mailchimp will not integrate).
If you have a large product catalog, with several categories, seasons, and other ways of collectively merchandising your variety of products, Shopify offers a beautiful experience for product organization - but it may take a little getting used to. The good news, is just like Squarespace, the customer service is excellent and there are a BAZILLION YouTube videos and support articles that will help you figure almost anything out - OR, you can hire an expert : )
Squarespace is (in my eyes) more like the intermediate pro of eCommerce.
Read also, SQUARESPACE PRICING | SQUARESPACE COMMERCE SUPPORT CENTER
It works hard, looks beautiful, is super-functional, more affordable overall, EASY to customize most items without code or developers, and grows as you need it for the all-in, go anywhere with content, events, scheduling, multiple blogs — whatever you need. It is well-rounded, functional, gorgeous. The great news here is that templates and most apps you need to configure the site are already built-in or easy to integrate AND built-in components auto-update. But! You may not experience the highest level of luxurious bells and whistles, app integrations, and merchandising you’d get from Shopify — that being said, you won’t have the larger bill for all the features it’s missing either.
Want more of an audit for the two platforms? Here are two important questions you can answer for your particular business model and needs as a retailer and beyond…
Q: What do you need from your overall site?
A: 100% to make sales, and GROW YOUR ONLINE RETAIL to BIG BUSINESS
Shopify is your winner
A: You want a site that does all the things! It definitely includes retail, but it also focuses on content, online service bookings, blog(s), portfolios, galleries, easy to edit additional info pages, etceteras.
Squarespace is the champ!
Q: What are your monthly sales so far, and projected for the next year?
A: Over $2,000 in sales a month & growing / MAJORITY of profits are from retail
I’d recommend Shopify here.
A: Still growing, ~$100–$2,000ish sales a month / MAJORITY of profits still come from services or other revenue streams
You’re a beautiful fit for Squarespace!
Other options to consider:
Payment gateways and their costs
Shipping costs and discounts on each platform
Point of sale (in-person sales) costs and equipment
Apps needed to support your business model or customer demands
Your bottom-line profit margins & the costs of the hosting, development, design, and apps you need
And 100% - YES! Sometimes it simply all comes down to your unique deal breakers. Hello : “I have some products I want for in-store pickup, some products are digital, some are subscriptions, and some are for shipping to only three states in my area.” — Shopify is great for these complicated fringe cases.
And to make things even more interesting, we can totally host your content-forward and service-based site on Squarespace, then use a sub-URL for your online store on Shopify and connect the two - it is ALL up to your business’ needs.
More articles to help your decision:
Site builder report : squarespace vs Shopify : Which is better?
Lit Extension : Squarespace vs Shopify
SHOPIFY’S SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISON
TOPTAL’S 5 considerations for a strong e-commerce product strategy
Woo!
