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This review will interest those:
eCommerce market is expanding every day as well as the technical implementation of software solutions. This review will introduce you to the two most popular platforms.
Shopify is a platform for creating websites, focused on maintaining multi-channel trading through online stores, mobile apps and social networks. A large number of integration(MailChimp, Google Analytics, Wix, Twitter, Facebook, QuickBooks, Zapier, WordPress) significantly expand the functionality of the builder and makes it possible to deeply configure the management, which allows you to create customized solutions for various online stores.
Shopify is focused on online stores, but there is an opportunity to create selling landings, longreads, which make the builder functional not only for business. It will also be of interest to large companies, freelancers as well as to the representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in the sphere of retail trade and services. You can test the capacity of the builder using the Shopify test period. This test period lasts for 14 days. After the expiration of the trial period, Shopify managers will offer you to switch to a paid tariff plan.
Squarespace is an eCommerce builder focused on creating blogs and portfolios. It is also a commercial site for the sales of goods and services, including digital ones. Is Squarespace good for eCommerce? The constructor does not require special knowledge in the building of sites and is intuitively clear for understanding.
On the basis of Squarespace, you can build online stores, landings and visiting websites that will interest freelancers, individual entrepreneurs, representatives of SME in trade and services. There is no Russian version. For more detailed information about the functionality of the system, a trial period of two weeks is provided.
Despite the higher monthly cost of the Shopify builder (from $ 30 to $ 300), you get more functional capacity than Squarespace can demonstrate. The month of using the Squarespace builder will cost you from $ 12 up to $ 40.
eCommerce business requires builder’s non-standard solutions. Often there is a need to use pop-up subscriptions, non-standard blocks for a competitive presentation of the product. In this case, the advanced features of the template, such as premium blocks, customizable code, pop-ups can be helpful.
It should be borne in mind that in Squarespace a number of functions are available only for a business package, which costs from $ 18 per month ($ 6 more than a personal package). Such functions are:
If we compare the Squarespace to the Shopify builder as to these functions, we can notice the following:
Although, in Shopify builder the subscription price does not affect the selected template. The choice of a builder depends less on the price than on what functions you need to make your decisions.
Like any system out there, Shopify has its challenges and issues. Forewarned is forearmed, so you should learn these differences before deciding which e-commerce platform to choose: Shopify or Squarespace.
The most common challenges of Shopify are:
Let’s review each of them in more detail.
With Shopify ERP integration, you can integrate your sales channels and automate processes to fulfill orders and create flawless customer experiences on various touchpoints. Recently, Shopify has announced its global ERP program. It enables selecting Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) partners to build direct integrations into the Shopify App Store. It provides the following features:
Here are the main challenges you can face when dealing with multi-channel integration in Shopify vs Squarespace
Another challenge in our Squarespace commerce vs Shopify review is managing marketplaces.
Managing the marketplace is a real challenge as you have to deal with different types of platforms, customers, and sellers. When you run a marketplace on Shopify, you need to remember the following:
Shopify or Squarespace? Now it’s time to learn the main challenges of Squarespace.
Let’s dig deeper into them.
Shopify has limited customization options when it comes to web design experience. It allows you to change certain parts of its functionalities, and you have less control over template customization. Editing pages can also be difficult because everything needs to be dragged and dropped into place, but most of the time, all of the other blocks will shift during editing.
SEO optimization is crucial for your website, especially for Shopify vs Squarespace in the e-commerce industry. You need your product categories and products themselves to be visible and easily searched for. That’s why the e-commerce platform you choose should be SEO-optimized.
Unfortunately, the websites built using Shopify versus Squarespace and the likes of this platform are not ranking well, so it may be very difficult to optimize them for search engines. One of the problems is that Squarespace uses the “Site Meta Description” for any page or post where you don't specify a different meta description. In such a way, Site Meta Description is almost always applied to multiple pages of your site. Also, Squarespace does not offer a clear place for image alt text.
There are several Squarespace plugins/integrations you can use to add membership functionality to your website but to keep them secure; you’ll have to keep your content on another site. Squarespace doesn't make for a very good membership and site that is easy to transfer right out of the box.
Now let’s learn more about the difference between Squarespace and Shopify.
Registration on squarespace.com takes place in three simple steps:
For Shopify registration go to shopify.com:
If you want the design of your online Shopify store look more beautiful and individual, then don’t hesitate to go to the admin panel.
First, let us consider what onboarding is. Onboarding is a process of advertising the basic value of your product to the new users. The goal of onboarding is to turn the new customers into loyal users. Well-built onboarding allows you to form a strong relationship with the audience.
Right after the welcome window, highlights such key functions as:
Allows you to specify the correct direction of the setting, starting with:
Our expert did not indicate the differences in onboarding of these two builders, they are both simple and intuitive in use.
Choosing the templates
To choose between Shopify and Squarespace you should know that in Shopify there are 10 free templates.
You can immediately change the fonts and colors, favicon (the icon of the website or web page that is displayed by the browser in the tab before the page name, and as the image next to the bookmark, tabs and other elements of the interface).
Squarespace has a large selection of templates for the free trial. When creating a site, you can add pages and page components. To add a product, you need to create a product page. It is convenient to change the color, font and font size. You can create a logo using https://www.squarespace.com/logo (an icon of a simple image and company name), but you'll have to give $ 10 payment for it.
NOTA BENE: The themes of Shopify are eCommerce oriented, so in free themes, you will find ready-made working structures of product blocks, promo sections, which cannot be provided by Squarespace.
In Shopify there are advanced design settings by the template. The ability to additionally add sections, such as a collection list, a selected collection, a gallery, an image with text, an overlay image, a list of logos, a slide show, a selected product, a newsletter, a map, rich text blocks, reviews, text columns with images, user-generated content.
Squarespace also has advanced design settings by the template. In addition, it is possible to add a video banner. Moreover, it has an ability to add text, image, video, buttons, and audio. The builder offers various solutions for the Image Layout (poster, map, overlay, collage, stack), Galleries (slideshow, carousel, grid, stack), Filters and lists (search, link to content, tag cloud, archive), Graphs (histogram, pie chart, linear chart). In the Premium (paid) mode, there are also code, menu, OpenTable, Amazon.
Squarespace eCommerce vs Shopify have practically no differences. You can add items with the help of a ready-made template.
You can add the following:
Take a look at this table to compare Shopify and Squarespace
To summarize the review about Squarespace eCommerce vs. Shopify, we should note that the Squarespace service is cheaper and easier to use; the settings allow you to integrate this service into all available platforms. Shopify is a platform that provides a store service that hosts 1 to 20,000 products, with an emphasis on server optimization, data protection, and optimization of the eCommerce process, unlike Squarespace, which is a platform for 1-10 products, with an emphasis on blogging.
Shopify or Squarespace for a small business? A distinctive feature of Shopify is that this builder allows you to implement many special solutions and functions that will allow you to fully and flexibly maintain your business. If none of the presented constructors has pleased you, we recommend that you read the review about other existing eCommerce solutions. For example, Shopify vs. Magento: Which eCommerce Platform is the Best Choice?
The MakeBeCool company offers you a group of experts who manage both Shopify and Squarespace eCommerce projects of any complexity. MakeBeCool - Shopify development company provides quality services, the result of which can exceed even your best expectations.
Alexander, our seasoned Project Manager at MakeBeCool since 2021, with four years of eCommerce growth expertise. A planning pro and team wizard, he's our go-to strategist. Outside work, Alexander's an AI fan, language lover (currently at B1 in German), and an adventurous traveler exploring places like Costa Rica. With a passion for coffee, he kicks off his mornings in style!
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