Whether you are just starting your online store or have been in the business for a while, eCommerce websites are an excellent way to sell your products and services at a reasonable price. Unlike brick-and-mortar stores that require a hefty initial capital investment, dedicated websites like Shopify, Wix, and Shoplazza will get your store up and running in no time and at the most affordable fee.
You don't need crazy tech skills, a limitless budget, or to hire anyone to design your website. All you need is a good internet connection and a couple of dollars on your credit card, and your store can be live in a day.
However, choosing the best eCommerce solution that meets the needs of your business can be difficult and time-consuming. So, in this article, we will look at two excellent choices: Shopify and Shoplazza.
First, let us get some background on both platforms.
Shoplazza
Shoplazza, which debuted in 2017, successfully established itself as a marketing and eCommerce SaaS that gives you everything you need to build scalable DTC brands and B2C eCommerce businesses.
Its website supports a variety of customers who sell a variety of products with over 360,000 online stores powered by Shoplazza in over 150 countries.
Shopify
Shopify is a Canadian multi-national full-service commerce platform that enables you to launch, grow, and manage a business. Anyone can set up an online store and sell their products using subscription-based software. Shopify powers millions of online companies in over 175 countries.
1. User-friendliness
When trying out a website builder, you should consider how simple it is to use for the everyday person.
● Shoplazza
Compared to Shopify, Shoplazza is much easier to use. This is mainly for online stores who want to migrate their catalog from another platform like Amazon, Facebook or Instagram directly onto Shoplazza. In addition, Shoplazza's dashboard guides you through the process of designing our eCommerce website, providing straightforward prompts to demonstrate what to do next.
However, some users who first interacted with Shoplazza reported that its interface could be pretty confusing at the start.
● Shopify
Overall, Shopify has a straightforward and smooth interface. Once you have interacted with it a couple of times, its use comes naturally to a client.
However, Shopify isn't as user-friendly and intuitive as it could be, and it takes some time to get used to. Although Shopify's interface is simple to use in the long run, initial interactions with it are pretty frustrating, especially when transitioning between the frontend editor to make stylistic changes and the backend to tweak the visual merchandising.
2. Themes
Looks are everything when it comes to eCommerce stores. You want your website to stand out and entice customers to browse our catalog, fill their cart and make a purchase.
● Shoplazza
Shoplazza offers a selection of 26 free, sophisticated, modern, and customizable themes. After choosing a template, you can personalize it by modifying the color theme and layout and adding your logo and photos. You can also use Shoplazza's drag-and-drop builder to create product collections and checkout pages.
It also offers free stock photos if you don't have an extensive collection of high-quality images. In addition, you can use a custom domain name to link your Shoplazza store.
With Shoplazza's CMS, you can execute the following:
- Make and maintain blog posts
- Optimize your content for search engines.
- Design email templates.
- Keep track of your mailing list.
- Manage your mailing list and email campaigns.
● Shopify
There are ten free themes and over 60 paid themes available on Shopify. All of the themes are mobile-friendly, which means they will automatically resize to fit mobile and tablet screens. They are expertly designed and appear fresh, sleek, and attractive. Every theme is available in various styles and color schemes, so uniqueness is guaranteed.
Shopify themes are jam-packed with useful features like
- Customizable home page content sections
- Search Engine Optimization
- Drop-down navigation support
- Free theme updates
- Design for mobile devices
- Social media icons
- Pre-installed style and color palettes
- Free stock photos
3. Sales tools and features
eCommerce sites come with tons of helpful tools that make running your online store easier and more efficient. These range from tax calculations, payment, shipping and inventory to dropshipping and multi-channel integration.
● Shoplazza
I. ERP
Everything from accounting, order management, inventory levels and billing to exports and shipping information can be automated with Shoplazza's ERP. This is especially handy if you manage multiple stores.
II. Manufacturing and distribution
The backend of your eCommerce website allows you to track orders, shipments, and sales data. You can also monitor inventory levels, SKUs and replenish stock. In addition, you can handle payment disputes.
III. Multi-channel integration and migration
You can use Shoplazza to sync your product catalog with your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns. So, you can directly pull products from your website into your Facebook when you are running an ad. You can also migrate products, blogs, and reviews from your store on Facebook, Instagram, AliExpress, and even Shopify.
Shoplazza integrates with email marketing platforms such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and Stream. You can also use Shoplazza's emailing tool to manage your mailing list properly. In addition, Shoplazza offers a range of customizable templates for discounts, subscription invites, and abandoned carts.
IV. Drop-shipping and POD
With Shoplazza, you can run your store with zero inventory. With their drop-shipping suppliers, your clients can place an order, and it is packaged, shipped and delivered to your client without you lifting a finger. You can even add your logo and customize your merchandise and packaging. All this can be done on-demand, so you aren't left with merch collecting dust on the shelf.
● Shopify
Shopify boasts a multitude of tools to make your online fully efficient and stand out from the rest. These features include:
I. Apps
Shopify has over 1000 apps on the Shopify store that enable users to scale up their sites. In addition, if a theme you've picked doesn't have a feature you want, you can download it from the store.
II. Shipping
You can choose where to ship, modify shipping rates based on weight, order value, location, and print shipping labels and tags.
III. Drop-shipping
With drop-shipping, you don't need to have any inventory that your store sells. Shopify provides drop-shippers that handle your merchandise's sales, packaging, and shipping directly to your customers. As a result, you don't need to worry about storage or being stuck with stock.
IV. Abandoned cart recovery
Buyers don’t always make a purchase every time they browse your catalog. Some customers will fill their cart, see the total and abandon it. With Shopify, you can send automated emails to your customers about their abandoned carts and even entice them with discounts.
V. Product management
Shopify offers a comprehensive set of product management solutions like inventory management, which allows you to track orders and update product listings. You can even monitor your stock levels and mark products as sold out when your stock is exhausted.
VI. Payment options
Shopify supports more than 100 payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay. It also has a payment gateway called Shopify Payments. Shopify Payments is a great option because it lets your customers pay in their currency and adjust prices per the exchange rate.
However, if you use any payment option that isn't Shopify Payments, you and your customers will incur hefty transactional fees.
VII. Multi-channel integration
Shopify lets you sell your merchandise across different channels like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Amazon, eBay and Etsy, increasing your reach and customer base.
VIII. Taxes
Taxes can become particularly complex when you run an online store and ship to different states, regions, and countries.
Luckily, Shopify has an automatic tax calculation feature that considers your location, product type, and government regulations, making tax calculations straightforward and accurate.
4. Payment options
● Shoplazza
Shoplazza accepts payments from customers in 150 countries and territories via PayPal, World Pay, Stripe, credit cards, and debit cards.
You can also use niche payment options specific to different countries to ensure your brand is accessible to global consumers. Your website will even identify your visitors' local IP addresses and convert your prices into their currency.
● Shopify
Shopify offers more than 100 different payment gateways like PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay. It also has its own payment gateway called Shopify Payments. Except for Shopify Payments, all payment gateways charge a significant transaction fee.
5. Pricing
● Shoplazza
Shoplazza offers a 7-day free trial for those just testing the waters. After that, subscription ranges from $28 to $218 for the basic, advanced, premier, enterprise and pro packages. Currently, there is a 15% discount on subscriptions.
Note
All plans come with commission fees on your sales.
● Shopify
Shopify offers a 14-day free trial – no payment information is required, just an email address, so there is no risk of charges for a site you did not find suitable. Once you’ve made up your mind, you can enjoy a variety of paid options like Shopify Lite, Basic Shopify, Shopify, Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus, ranging from $9 to $300.
Note
All these options come with transactional fees
6. Outstanding cons
● Shoplazza
Shoplazza, while being an excellent option, has limited themes, and several of them are outdated.
● Shopify
Shopify is an excellent tool for anyone looking for a comprehensive set of tools and features. However, many are not in-built and have to be downloaded from the Shopify Store.
Final verdict
Overall, Shoplazza and Shopify are great eCommerce website builders with different strengths.
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