The Game of E-Commerce Platforms: Magento Vs Shopify

Taking a “leap of faith” in choosing the eCommerce platform for your online business at the cost of potential success is not advisable. Did someone just mention the word eCommerce platform?

The only two power-pact platforms that are often pitted against each other and are the first names that come to our mind are Magento and Shopify.

Both the platforms in their own way empower future growth and success but choose them wisely. Don’t fall into the traps extended by the marketers.

One has to perform thorough research and take into consideration every factor before choosing the platform. The two biggest contenders are on neck-to-neck race and here to provide an excellent service for eCommerce development.

They are the key platforms in making your business successful or unsuccessful. Both the platforms weave a completely different story from each other but aim only at delivering the best user experience.

Let’s have a look at the insights and figure out which one is best suitable for your business needs.

• The Number Game

Numbers are a great way to define the credibility of the platform. Magento was released on 31st March’2008 and Shopify on June’2006.

The number of sites powered by Magento is 250,000 and that on Shopify is 600,000.  Apps and Add-ons number on Magento are 3000 and on Shopify is 2400.

Both the platforms allow to purchase themes externally but the inbuilt number of themes with Magento is 12 and with Shopify is 100+. The theme prices are in the range of $0-499 for Magento stores and that with Shopify is $0-180. For more details, you can connect to Shopify Experts or any company offering professional Magento Services.

• The Coding Game

The base of every eCommerce platform is differently built. Magento base relies on PHP coding and Shopify’s on coding language named Liquid. Magento is an open source, the code can be modified easily where else, Shopify is a proprietary whose code cannot be modified.

So, if you aim in delivering a more customized and complex store, Magento is a better option.

• The Popularity Game

As we know, a single platform can not be the jack of all trades. The same scenario goes with the popularity of both platforms. The users always keep their business first and make the decision later.

Magento is highly popular among the top eCommerce sites. It almost claims 14% of the top million sites and Shopify only 6%. Magento empowers some big Giants like Nike, Rosetta Stone, Olympus, and Ghiradelli.

Shopify also covers big names but limited to Tesla and the Los Angeles Laker’s. Shopify eCommerce development company prefers this platform for startups and small businesses.

But Magento is an excellent choice for medium and large-sized online stores.

• The Money Game

Magento offers two editions, Magento Open source, and Magento Commerce. The open source is free and you can almost start at $0.00. On the other hand, Shopify offers a 14 days free trial after which you will have to pay for the service.

Shopify is a Software-as-a-service(SAAS) where you have to pay monthly payments which starts at $29/month and goes up to $179/month.

Once registered, it allows having access to more features including abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, and advanced reporting.

If you integrate any external payment gateways like PayPal, Braintree, and Authorize.net with Shopify, you will have to pay transaction fees. The fee range from 2.0% to 5.0%.

But the scenario is different when it comes to  Magento. It is a self-hosted platform and so the users do not have to pay for the hosting service.

Investing with Magento is a long term investment for the medium to large sized businesses and small companies can go with Shopify.

• The User-friendly Game

Shopify stores offers easiness and user-friendliness to a great extent for the eTailer merchants. The drag and drop interface allows for easy customization and the platform also allows modifying some basic attributes.

Magento is a bit steep to learn and is designed to inculcate flexibility and a wide range of customizations. With both the platforms, we can manage products, customers, orders, CMs pages and more.

• The Speed and Performance Game

The speed and performance of the eCommerce store define the success story. If a user has to wait unnecessarily due to loading speed, there are less chances of converting and returning to the site for the next purchase.

Since Shopify is a hosted solution, you can not control the hosting environment and server adjustments.

We can only say, do not worry about the loading speed for your eCommerce store while you are with Shopify.

Magento is flexible and is well known for a robust & unique performance. The best part is, you have the power to choose the server and adjust the levels to boost performance.

• The SEO and Marketing Game

Both the platforms allow you to optimize the store to improve rankings and increase the ROI. they have basic functionalities that can optimize the store level content and assure you a good SERP position.

Shopify only allows to edit the basic meta tags and optimize the inventory but doesn’t allow any server-level configurations.

On the other hand, Magento offers out-of-the-box tools and has the ability to integrate and implement custom SEO and digital marketing strategies. With a few tweaks, you can quickly maximize the output.

With Magento, you can refine the permalinks for inventory items and also the meta content. This customization makes it easier for the search engines to crawl and understand the store structure.

• The Customer Support Game

Shopify has dedicated team for customer service and support, but Magento has a plethora of certified Magento developers and experts community.

In fact, Magento is widely known for the huge and helpful community which are always on toes to help, grow and thrive.

• The Decision Game

This article highlights some of the key similarities and benefits that both the platforms offer, but the decision about choosing the Magento 2 development service or Shopify is completely dependent on your business needs.