Webflow vs Shopify (2023)

If you're new to online selling and want to start on the right foot, picking the right software to launch your eCommerce store is critical.

There are so many different platforms on the market these days that choosing the one that best matches your needs might be challenging. That's why we're going to evaluate two industry titans. Both offer everything you need to start a professional-looking online business.

Bring in Shopify vs Webflow.

Both platforms provide a one-stop-shop for online design, management, and expansion. As a result, you'll be able to manage your entire eCommerce website from a single dashboard.

Let's dive right in.

Webflow Ecommerce

Webflow Web design is a design tool, content management system, and hosting platform all in one. Their visual editor is unrivaled, allowing users to design, construct, and launch websites with little to no coding knowledge.

Since adding eCommerce functionality to their platform in February 2019, Webflow has added new features every week, keeping up with other eCommerce systems.

Price

From $29 per month plus a 2% transaction fee (in addition to Stripe transaction fees)

Design

Webflow's powerful visual website editor gives you unlimited design freedom. Although there is a learning curve, Webflow University provides free training resources to assist you in getting started. They also offer a large selection of free and paid templates.

SEO and Marketing

Webflow includes extensive SEO tools such as dynamically setting meta tags and generating sitemaps. They don't have any built-in marketing tools, but they do have a lot of integrations.

Buyer Experience

You can customize the checkout experience with Webflow or use their conversion-optimized default template.

Store Owner Experience

You will have access to a simple management dashboard that will provide you with all the information you require to handle orders. What's the drawback? Webflow lacks necessary operational functionality, which can cause eCommerce stores' day-to-day operations to lag. Webflow exclusively accepts Stripe payments. This means you cannot use another payment processor.

PRO

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Design flexibility

Webflow was created expressly for building websites, so it's only natural that they'd be the most excellent option for creating a unique look for your store.

Webflow's visual editor is genuinely best-in-class and straightforward to use.

Webflow's interface and animation technologies are among the best.

Through system interactions, you can integrate AfterEffects and Lottie systems to control the playback of vector animations.

In short, Webflow gives you complete creative control.

Compared to your competitors, your online store will certainly appear more engaging, interactive, and professional.

Shopify is less customizable than Webflow when it comes to design.

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CON

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Managing Membership Websites

Webflow presently does not have a native mechanism for managing membership websites. However, there is speculation that one is in the works. Thankfully, there are three existing software programs you may use with Webflow: Memberstack, Outseta, and Memberspace, making it an excellent choice for developing your web page.

Shopify

Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake founded Shopify in 2004 after creating an online snowboarding equipment company. He was dissatisfied with existing eCommerce platforms and decided to create his own.

The Shopify Web design platform is designed with store owners in mind, with various features that make day-to-day operations a breeze.

Price

When using Shopify Payments, prices start at $29 per month with a 2.2 percent transaction fee.

Design

Shopify has a lot of free and premium templates that you may edit to fit your brand. If you wish to change the layout, you'll need to hire a developer because templates are written in Liquid templating language.

SEO and Marketing

Shopify has a few SEO features, but they're enough to automatically ensure that best practices are followed. This past year, Facebook Ads integration, email marketing, and other marketing automation tools were added. The blogging service, on the other hand, is limited, as it only supports simple blogs.

Buyer Experience

Shopify offers a visually appealing and well-optimized checkout process that includes Apple and Google Pay integration. You can modify the colors and add your logo, but the layout will remain the same.

Store Owner Experience

Shopify outperforms Webflow in this area, with in-depth data and technologies that make order fulfillment a breeze. With only a few clicks, you can print mailing labels and perform automatic shipment calculations, for example.

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PRO

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SEO marketing

Anyone familiar with online marketing would recognize the term SEO (search engine optimization). Effective SEO is the only internet marketing technique that may pay off in the long run.

As a result, SEO marketing is becoming increasingly vital.

Shopify has the advantage of automatically creating page titles and meta descriptions.

Furthermore, Shopify refers to the fundamental aspects of SEO by their proper names. This will prevent technical terms from being mixed up with words used for other purposes.

Overall, both Webflow and Shopify are excellent for SEO marketing, but Shopify's SEO tools provide more intricate SEO.

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CON

Giant Reliance On Apps & Can Be Quite Expensive

The app store on Shopify is a plus, but it also means that many functions aren't built-in, so you'll need to invest in additional plugins to fill in the gaps.

In addition, you'll have to pay a 2% transaction fee on top of other payment gateway fees unless you use Shopify Payments.

You will be surprised at how much running your store will cost you if you add up the cost of apps and transaction fees.

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Which Is Better: Shopify and Webflow Comparison

Each online store is distinct, with its own set of requirements and business approaches. In a nutshell, you'll have to determine which platform you want to use.

The most significant distinction between the platforms is their emphasis on operations rather than design:

Choose Webflow if your online store needs a distinct look and feel to match your brand and you don't have access to ongoing development help.

Choose Shopify if you want to get started quickly and favor the convenience of day-to-day operations over aesthetics.