Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce…
How to choose the right e-commerce platform
Providers like Shopify or Squarespace offer some turnkey advantages if you’re planning on taking on a lot of the set-up load yourself. On the other hand, they can be restrictive. You’re locked into a closed system versus a self-hosted one; you’ll have to choose from a limited number of website designs; and you’ll pay additional fees for the e-commerce service.
With WooCommerce, based in WordPress, you own your site and data completely; you can choose the merchant gateway (and fee structure) of your choice, including Stripe, PayPal, or your own bank; and with an experienced WooCommerce developer, you won’t compromise your vision for your store. Plus, WooCommerce itself is free(!)
Let’s start by discussing your needs. I can help you understand the differences and set you up with the best system for you.
Put decades of e-commerce experience to work for your online store
In the spring of 2004, my brother- and sister-in-law bought a farm in Norfolk County, Ontario. Their plan was to grow gourds and sell them to crafters, and they needed an e-commerce website. I’m not even sure e-commerce was a term at the time, but I dove in to build an online shopping website, using copied javascript to handle the cart and payment functions in a built-from-scratch website. A year later, I used pretty much the same system to build an online store with more than a thousand products and multiple brands for Jolley’s Farm Toys.
By 2015, I’d embraced WordPress as my website development system of choice, and a new client asked me to revamp her existing WooCommerce e-commerce store. At the time, WooCommerce was only four years old, but it offered huge advantages over the rustic online shopping sites I’d built in the 2000s. Since then, I’ve worked regularly with WooCommerce for many busy online retailers, including Canadian Pet Connection, Canada’s most trusted online independent pet specialty retailer.
Trust a seasoned WooCommerce developer
Daily experience with both WordPress and WooCommerce means we can help you create the customer experience you want to provide alongside the marketing, sales, and accounting tools you need to run your business effectively.
We’ve customized a plugin to use our own barcode field when tracking stock. We’ve created a seamless custom solution to promote BOGO deals after a customer has added an item to her cart. And we helped a busy store navigate the onerous “GST holiday” when hundreds of products were eligible, and hundreds were not.
