The mom and pop retail shops have been replaced by online stores that offer faster delivery and better customer support. We present to you a comparison between two online retail titans – Shopify vs. Squarespace.
Did You Know?
Shopify launched Shopify Plus to handle large volume businesses in February 2015.
In today’s world, E-commerce has occupied a special corner of the marketplace, and is a buzzing hub for entrepreneurs selling their wares online. It draws on technologies such as electronic money transfer and inventory management systems to promote its goods. It provides good opportunities to create new business relationships, by promoting business-to-business websites, as well as a good platform for budding entrepreneurs. And the only way to get your online presence noticed is through a website. The main contenders leading the race for hosting websites are Shopify and Squarespace.
Shopify was launched in 2004, and was originally launched for small to medium businesses. Since its popularity, it has grown to envelop website hosting inside its domain. In 2010, it started the Built-a-Business competition to encourage budding entrepreneurs. The winner of this competition received a cash prize, as well as mentoring from renowned businessmen such as Richard Branson and Timothy Ferriss. It launched an iPad-centric application to accept payment from credit cards, as well as send items to faraway locations, without physically being there. Other than this, it supports many payment outlet apps to make transactions simple and secure.
Squarespace is a website building as well as a blogging platform for novice users. It has a very intuitive interface, and makes website creation easy with drag and drop features. It makes editing of the website easy without switching between the site manager and the preview mode. It has additional features of free Typekit fonts and discounted Getty images, so as to make the website more presentable.
Without further ado, we present a comparison of Shopify and Squarespace in E-commerce.
Shopify Vs. Squarespace
| Interface | |
| ◼ Setting up a website in Shopify is not as simple as one would like, with filling up link lists and metadata tags, that are too complicated for the average user to handle. | ◼ The interface of Squarespace is far easier to use, and you can create your website by choosing a template of your choice, and enhancing your page with predesigned logos. |
| Browser Compatibility | |
| ◼ Shopify has support for older versions of Internet Explorer (IE) as well as the new ones. | ◼ Squarespace won’t be available for anyone browsing on IE 8 and below. |
| HTML and CSS Support | |
| ◼ Shopify lets you have extensive control over the HTML and CSS coding. | ◼ Squarespace only lets you modify bits of CSS, without any tech support from the Squarespace team. |
| Payment Gateway | |
| ◼ Shopify has integrated with third-party payment gateways like Paypal and Bitcoin to make online transactions easier. | ◼ Squarespace has only one payment gateway, Stripe, which means that you can conduct transactions only in a handful of countries. |
| Pricing | |
| ◼ There is a basic package starting at USD 29 per month. The features are 1GB storage, unlimited products, and 24/7 chat, email, and phone support. ◼ There is a professional package starting at USD 79 per month. The features are the same as the basic one, except for an increased storage of 5GB. ◼ It has an unlimited package starting at USD 179 per month, which includes unlimited storage, 24/7 support, and fraud analysis tools. |
◼ It has a basic plan with unlimited storage, but can sell only one product. It costs USD 8 per month for the annual plan, or USD 10 for the monthly plan. ◼ There is a professional package that has the same structure as the basic plan, but can sell up to 20 products. It costs USD 16 per month for the annual plan, or USD 20 on a monthly basis. ◼ The business package has all the features of the professional plan, and has real-time carrier shipping information too. It can sell unlimited products. The owner can also keep a track of the costs due to its integration with Xero accounting software. It costs USD 24 per month for the annual plan, or USD 30 per month. |
Both websites offer a 14-day trial period, after which you have to choose a plan that suits your needs. Shopify is for those who wish to maintain an online business store, while Squarespace is for novice users who are still new to the process. As of 2012, E-commerce sales topped $1 trillion. With the above information, you can now join the booming online trade by making an informed decision.