Thanks to the amazing power of modern technology, you can take a business idea and launch your business in almost no time. If you want to sell online (have an online store), you would need a website-building platform. However, in 2024, you do not have to spend thousands of dollars on paying a web designer and a developer to get started.

Welcome to the world of low-code website builder platforms and ecommerce tools for creating an online store. 

Given the abundance of website building platforms with great ecommerce functionality, it becomes difficult to assess which is the right one to start an online store. And if you happen to be confused between Shopify and Wix, then this post will certainly help you.

In this article, we will break down both these ecommerce tools, and address important aspects such as key features, ease of use, customer support, pricing, and competition, so you can decide which is a better option in the Wix vs Shopify battle.

By the end of this article, you will be in a much better position to make an informed decision as to which website builder (ecommerce tools) between Wix and Shopify is the right one for you to build an online store.

Given the massive growth of ecommerce, Shopify has been able to grow quickly in the last few years. In fact, Shopify commands close to 11% of the total ecommerce market share.

Woocommerce and Squarespace are the two big ecommerce platforms in this domain. However, if you are in the market for a truly DIY website builder/ecommerce platform, Shopify and Wix might be better options. 

Both Shopify and Wix ecommerce platforms come with features that can help you build an online store in less time. 

Let's dive into Wix vs Shopify in detail.

Key Features: Shopify vs Wix

Before you dive into the features of these platforms, start by questioning whether you want a basic website builder or a full-fledged e-commerce website platform.

Shopify has an edge over Wix when it comes to ecommerce functionality. Their store management features and sleek product pages stand out.

Both Wix and Shopify platforms offer a wide array of free and premium templates to start designing a website or creating an online store.

Ease of Use: Wix vs Shopify

If you are not a developer, and you want a simple, easy-to-understand interface, Wix is a great option.

The drag and drop editor combined with free templates makes Wix an attractive platform for beginners (who have no love for designing or coding).

Shopify, on the other hand, is all about ecommerce and online selling. It was developed to cater to businesses who want to set up their online store without the technical complexities of a platform such as Bigcommerce or Magento.

You'll use themes in Shopify, and if you want to have a page builder, you will need to get a third party app like Shogun.

It is difficult to say which (Shopify or Wix) is easier to use. In my view, Wix is too basic in a sense, whereas Shopify offers more eCommerce features while being user-friendly. Having said that, you can still opt for a Wix website if you do need advanced ecommerce features.

Inventory management: Wix vs Shopify

Both Shopify and Wix have decent inventory management capabilities. Both these website builders offer organized inventory management. Shopify actually made a recent update to its platform, which would make it easier for you to find products.

You will also see a search bar at the top of the dashboard. Type in a keyword (of the product you want to find, for example), and just like Google, you will have the results in front of you. Shopify also allows you to use tools for stock management, and upload multiple product images with ease.

Wix, on the other hand, caters better to smaller online stores. If you are used to the vastness of Shopify's features, Wix might not impress you.

Product types: Wix vs Shopify

You will not have to worry about selling a large number of products on your online store using Shopify or Wix. Both these platforms allow you to create an inventory of both physical products and digital items. In other words, you can easily sell, say, a pair of shoes or consulting services.

However, with Wix, you would need an additional app to be able to sell your service products. This is not the case with Shopify, although it does require third-party integration for selling digital products.

I believe Shopify has an upper hand here, given that you can easily access a wide array of marketing (email marketing, selling, and more) apps using Shopify’s massive ecosystem.

Promotional Codes: Wix vs Shopify

Both Shopify and Wix offer coupons and discount codes without additional charges.

Product Look/Feel: Shopify vs Wix

It is important that your products look appealing in your online store. Thanks to Shopify, you can add unlimited products to your ecommerce store, and even have variations of the same product. However, you might need other apps to enhance the look and feel.

You can visit the Store Design section on Shopify app store to check out apps such as All In One Product Zoom, Magic Zoom Plus, and a host of other apps.

Wix offers similar functionality to improve the user experience. When I checked last, Wix offered more features in this context (out of the box).

Payment Gateway: Wix vs Shopify

As a store owner, you want secure debit and credit card payments. A payment gateway facilitates the secured transmission of payment data.

Shopify Payments

With a Shopify store, you can choose from three types of Shopify payments gateways- hosted, self-hosted, and non-hosted.

A hosted gateway or redirect payment gateway takes the user to a different page for payment processing once they make a purchase.

Upon completion, the user is taken back to the store. Self-hosted payment gateways facilitate the collection of payment data on the Shopify website before processing the payment off-site.

Larger businesses generally use non-hosted gateways to collect and process payments on the ecommerce site. As per Shopify, they offer over 100 credit card payment providers for your Shopify store.

With Shopify, you can choose from Shopify Payments, Paypal, Worldpay, Stripe, Klarna, Amazon Pay, Opayo, Shop Pay Installments, and Square. 

Read: What is Shop Pay? An Introduction To Shopify's Payment Solution

Wix Payments

Wix has payment gateways such as Wix Payments, Affirm, AfterPay, Alipay, Bitpay, Braintree, Klarna, Paypal, Pinwheel, Square, Stripe, and several more. In fact, Wix has close to 50 leading payment providers.

Wix vs Shopify: tax rules & shipping

One aspect of Shopify payments is that you can set tax rules and shipping rates for each product. With Wix, this is not an option. Wix also does not allow global shipping payments. Shopify payments, therefore, has an advantage in terms of advanced ecommerce features such as tax and shipping.

Themes and templates: Wix vs Shopify

It is worth reiterating that Shopify primarily caters to ecommerce businesses. Hence, the themes and templates offered by Shopify are designed for selling products online. The theme editor allows you to customize different sections of the Shopify theme.

In this regard, Shopify has the upper hand (both number of themes and flexibility) over Wix. As of writing this post, Shopify themes for clothing & accessories, followed by health & beauty, had the highest number in the Shopify app store.

Shopify themes are also mobile-friendly, so your users have the best shopping experience on their mobile devices. Shopify does command a premium price to some of its themes. 

Wix store offers over 80 free designer-made website templates. With the drag and drop feature, you can customize these templates with ease.

In terms of responsiveness and ecommerce, Shopify fares better than Wix. Another downside of using Wix is that it does not allow you to rebrand your online store using a new theme. Also, the product pages are more flexible on Shopify than on Wix. In short, the Wix store lacks a little in terms of advanced themes for ecommerce.

Point of Sale (POS) Capabilities: Wix vs Shopify

When talking about Wix vs Shopify, POS is an important aspect to address.

As a store owner, you want to have robust POS solutions that integrate online and offline experiences. With Shopify POS, you can sell in-store using your mobile device.

Users in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland can also use card readers to get receipts. Shopify POS works in all places where Shopify supports credit card payment providers. The POS app allows you to sell products, tweak checkout screens, track product inventory, customize user profiles, accept payments, and more.

The POS Lite plan comes free with all Shopify plans. However, if you want unlimited registers, omnichannel selling capabilities, in-store analytics, and more, you will have to upgrade to the Shopify POS Pro, which costs $89 /month per location on top of your existing Shopify plan.

Wix POS offers features such as unlimited staff accounts, curbside pickup, and local delivery. One of the biggest downsides of Wix is that it is available only to people in the US.

And if you want to purchase compatible hardware, you might have to spend $850 on their Complete Retail POS Package, which comes with a tablet with customer display, Wix POS software, compact card reader, sleek receipt printer, cash drawer, and barcode scanner. 

For merchants outside the US, there is a workaround. They can use the Wix Owner app to sell products on mobile devices, and then use third-party payment gateways such as Paypal or Square to accept payments.

Customer Logins and Checkout Options: Wix vs Shopify

User journey optimization is important for the success of an online store. As a Shopify user, you can set up rules and processes, so a user must register before proceeding to the checkout page, or make it optional.

This flexibility allows you to A/B test, and find out which setup works best for your audience. Your customers can access their order history, order status, and payment information during the checkout process.

You can also associate an order with a customer’s email address. Shopify allows you to manually add users, or import a database of users (CSV file). Wix offers similar features in this regard. 

Pricing & Plans: Wix vs Shopify pricing

A comparison of Shopify and Wix will be incomplete if we do not address the costs associated with them.

Shopify offers three main tiers- Shopify Basic, Shopify, and Advanced.

These cost $29, $79, and $299 per month.

You can easily set up an online store with their lowest-priced plan.

However, some features such as staff accounts (limited to 2) and advanced reporting might be missing with the Shopify basic plan. The $79 Shopify plan has all the features of the BAsic plan plus 5 staff accounts, up to 5 inventory locations, standards reports, up to 88% shipping discount, and 1% transaction fee (for non-Shopify payments).

The $299/month advanced plan is for businesses that require advanced reporting, and more savings. It has 15 staff accounts and up to 8 inventory locations. And you have to pay just a 0.5% transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments.

Wix pricing is a bit more complicated. It has three main packages, and inside of those, there are tires. These three packages are Website Plans, Business and ecommerce plans, and Enterprise plans.

Wix pricing for website plans falls under four tiers- VIP, Pro, Unlimited, and Combo. These range between $14 and $39. The Combo plan, for example, comes with 3GB storage space, and 30-minutes of video hours. All these plans have 24/7 customer support.

For e-commerce, Wix offers three plans- Business VIP ($49.month), Business Unlimited ($27 per month), and Business Basic ($23/month).

The Business Unlimited plan allows you up to 250 products, 1000 reviews, and 100 transactions per month. The business VIP plan offers unlimited products, 3000 reviews, and 500 transactions per month, along with 50GB storage space and unlimited video hours.

The Enterprise plans are for larger businesses and start at $500/month.

You can get a 14-day free trial with both Shopify and Wix. This is, in fact, a good idea to test the product, Ui/UX, before committing to either.

Customer Support: Wix vs Shopify

It is important to understand the level of customer support provided by an ecommerce platform before investing in one. No software is foolproof. Hence, it is not uncommon to run into small issues or glitches. In such a situation, having customer support by your side can make all the difference.

With Shopify, you get 24/7 support (live chat support). Wix does not do this well.

Agreed that Wix’s in-editor help can address a lot of issues. Their in-built help works great for answering generic questions quickly. However, if you want to talk to a human, Shopify is the right ecommerce platform.

Summarizing the Plus and Minuses: Wix vs Shopify

Who wins in the Wix vs Shopify battle? Which is the right ecommerce platform for you?

Shopify offers a wide range of advanced ecommerce features. Features such as abandoned cart recovery are available with all Shopify plans. Shopify is great for users/merchants who need guidance/support instead of a 100% DIY approach.

The community support in Shopify is great, and the platform offers hundreds of payment options; and a wide range of integrations with social media tools and marketing tools. The user interface of Shopify is attractive, and the platform is great for SEO. The only downside I see with Shopify is the cost. Costs add up when you want premium themes or add ons.

Wix, on the other hand, is a great DIY platform for beginners. Wix store offers hundreds of website templates, and it has awesome customer support. The pricing on Wix is quite affordable. Wix offers a good checkout experience for shoppers. Wix falls short in terms of flexibility/customization, and scalability.