Summary

Shopify Plus

Suitable for new and small businesses. Starting is affordable with their beginner plans, but operational costs quickly increase as the e-commerce business grows and requires an upgrade to Shopify Plus.

WooCommerce

Starting with WooCommerce is cost-effective, but as the e-commerce site grows and needs more advanced features, the assistance of an experienced partner becomes necessary.

Qala WooCommerce

With Qala WooCommerce, you avoid spending a lot of money on learning curves and growth challenges. You receive a complete framework with all the smartest solutions you could need for your e-commerce business.

Usability & content

Shopify Plus

Shopify is known for its simplicity, making it a popular choice among new users. However, this simplicity also translates to poorer customization options, limiting businesses that desire full control over their website’s appearance and functionalities.

Shopify offers a basic “pages” feature, allowing the creation of simple pages for information that rarely needs updating, such as “About Us” or “Contact Us” pages. The only way to update customers is by posting articles.

With Shopify, you find yourself in a constrained space when it comes to creating content smoothly.

Qala WooCommerce

The Qala solution offers ready-made modules that not only allow you to get started quickly but also provide the opportunity to customize the site exactly as you want. Even in the smallest Qala package, there are enough modules to make your project a great success. With Qala WooCommerce, you also gain access to the Custom Post Types (CPT) function. This crucial feature significantly eases the creation and structuring of content on your site. Here are the major advantages of CPT:

Organize and structure: The CPT function gives you the ability to structure your content, whether it’s a product catalog, calendar, or some specialized content, and present it in a simple and user-friendly way.

Custom fields: Custom posts allow you to define fields that are specific to your content. This enables you to capture and display additional information relevant to each post, for example, a table of reviews.

Flexible content management: Custom posts offer flexibility in managing your content. You can create templates and archive pages tailored to each post, giving you more control over how your content is displayed and organized on your website.

Higher rankings: With more customized and user-friendly content, your site has a better chance of ranking higher in search engines.

Improved structure: It becomes easier for you to create and structure content on your site, especially if multiple people are publishing content at different times.

Crucial for B2B

The Custom Post Types (CPT) function is important for all types of businesses, but it is crucial for B2B companies where building strong and lasting customer relationships is key.

Even if you’re not selling products directly from your website, it’s essential to optimize it with relationship-building content such as helpful product information, self-service options, insights, and automations. This type of content is easy to create with the CPT function, a crucial function that Shopify doesn’t have.

Internationalizing

Shopify Plus

Shopify’s Market Pro is a feature designed to make the process of setting up your e-commerce for international sales easy. Although it’s a good option for some, it has several significant disadvantages.

To start with, the translation features are limited. You can translate your texts and product descriptions but not the “slugs” in all URLs.

When setting prices in the new currency, you must use Shopify’s conversion tool, which means Shopify charges a conversion fee of 2.5%. In addition to this fee, Shopify also charges 6.5% on every international payment.

Market Pro also does not support B2B orders. As a B2B company, you must act as your own trade agent, which means you need to register and pay taxes, arrange to accept local payment methods, and organize shipping and fulfillment of orders.

Qala WooCommerce

With Qala, you gain access to multisite capabilities that allow you to reach visitors from all around the world, while Geo-IP features guide them correctly.

Unlike several other platforms that can limit users with fixed fees and limited functionality, Qala WooCommerce offers an open and customizable platform designed for global expansion.

Here are the major advantages of Qala when it comes to international sales:

Multiple domains, languages & currencies: Access to multisite enables you to create a large WordPress-based network of individual websites, each tailored to the country in which you are selling.

Support for B2C & B2B sales: Qala WooCommerce is equipped to support both B2C and B2B sales, offering the ability to customize the purchasing experience for business customers. This includes custom pricing, volume discounts, and private stores.

Full control over your website: As an open-source platform, WooCommerce gives you complete control over the appearance and functionality of your site. This means you can tailor your site to meet specific international requirements, including shipping, taxes, and payment methods.

Costs

Shopify Plus

Monthly plan: £1,830/month

Cost for 10 extra sites: £1,850

Fees: Depending on your sales volume, the monthly cost can escalate. If you sell for more than £673.300/month, you will be required to pay a portion of that through a revenue share model.

Costs for apps and themes: Although Shopify offers a selection of free themes and apps, most businesses need to move on to premium themes and apps to customize their store and expand its functionality. These costs can quickly add up, making it challenging for businesses with smaller budgets to make the necessary customizations as their e-commerce grows.

Qala WooCommerce

Although Qala WooCommerce has a higher initial cost, it offers a reasonable operating cost. As you scale your e-commerce, you encounter predictable costs that are also cost-effective compared to competitors.

Monthly plan: £1,355/month

Cost for 10 extra sites: £220

Fees: 1.1% transaction fee, following examples from our customers.

Scalability: As your business grows, Qala WooCommerce grows with you. Even though the costs for hosting, additional sites, and premium features increase as you scale up, these expenses tend to be more predictable and manageable.

Sales features and add-ons

Shopify Plus

While Shopify provides an intuitive setup and easy management for e-commerce stores. Businesses requiring the implementation of advanced features or specific integrations may find themselves constrained.

The platform’s marketplace offers a wide range of apps for extended functionalities, such as advanced reporting tools, marketing tools, and specialized checkout processes.

Qala WooCommerce

Qala WooCommerce equips your website with advanced sales features and flexible add-ons. It offers innovative filtering and intelligent search functionality that makes it easier for customers to find products.

Qala also provides customized modules that tailors your website after your unique needs, along with a wide range of payment options to make smooth transactions.

Support

Shopify Plus

Support: Shopify offers 24/7 support through multiple channels, including phone, email, and live chat, ensuring that help is available whenever you need it.

Community: An online community of both users and developers who share tips and advice. Shopify also has an extensive help center and forum.

Shopify academy: Free educational resources and courses designed to help entrepreneurs grow their online presence and sales.

Qala WooCommerce

Support: We are always on the lookout for potential issues and optimization opportunities. We will also handle the maintenance of your site every month to make sure everything is running smoothly. As a customer, you are encouraged to provide ongoing suggestions for improvements or issues to be addressed.

Constant innovation: We are continuously innovating to make Qala better. As a Qala customer, you will regularly benefit from the innovation that has become our hallmark.

Scalability

Shopify Plus

Shopify offers a scalable platform, but in some cases, it can become limiting depending on needs and budget. The platform provides quick updates and easy addition of new functionalities through a comprehensive system of apps and integrations.

A significant obstacle to scaling with Shopify is the lack of a multisite architecture, which limits the ability to efficiently manage multiple brands or international stores under the same platform. This limitation can make it time-consuming and difficult to manage assortments and campaigns across several stores, which is a disadvantage for companies aiming to grow and expand globally.

Qala WooCommerce

Qala offers a range of features that enable expansion and efficiency, including multisite architecture.

Since the release of WooCommerce 8.2 in 2023, you now also have access to HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage). This feature offers a more efficient database structure optimized for e-commerce needs, making it easier for stores of all sizes to handle an increased volume of customer orders without compromising on performance.

For businesses planning to expand by either increasing their product range, entering new markets, or offering more complex customer experiences, the scalability of Qala WooCommerce is a key factor.

If you’re interested in learning more about Qala and how we can help your business, book a meeting with our expert, Amy Slade!