Magento happens to be a leading eCommerce platform for online store owners has been in business since 2007 and has grown to be one of the biggest eCommerce platforms. This happens to be an open-source platform that supports eCommerce functionalities.
But on the other hand, a lot of eCommerce businesses are now abandoning Magento and moving onto a greener pasture. With the growth Magento seems to be experiencing, they are now losing customers to another efficient eCommerce platform called Shopify.
Shopify is a complete commerce platform that lets you start, grow, and manage a business. There is no limit when you use the Shopify platform. Shopify is becoming the trend in the eCommerce industry and is providing eCommerce platforms with exactly what they need.
Shopify is becoming a “household” platform in the eCommerce niche and is gradually taking over from Magento, and this is not happening by coincidence. There are reasons why eCommerce owners are now migrating to Shopify and one of those is how easy it is to operate and run an online store on Shopify.
You might wonder why people are migrating to the Shopify platform and abandoning Magento, and that’s what we would be discussing in this article.
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Merchants are selecting Shopify over Magento
The comparison between Shopify and Magento has been going on for a while now and the features they offer can determine which platform is above the other. The Shopify platform provides its users with every necessary feature that is needed for business growth and sales. In this section, we would be highlighting the reasons why eCommerce businesses tend to choose Shopify over Magento.
Why migrate from Magento to Shopify?
Easy to use
When it comes to which platform is easier to operate and work with, Shopify takes the lead.
Quick Start
Shopify allows users to easily install and set up their store in a matter of minutes. There is no technical eCommerce store development skill needed to build a store on Shopify. Unlike Magento, you need to know how to write codes before you develop and design a responsive and beautiful eCommerce store.
Also, you don’t need to pay for any hosting plans or provide your hosting, as Shopify helps you host your online store. On the Magento platform, you are to pay for your hosting and when uploading too many inventories on your store, your website might start becoming slow and irresponsive. On the long run, the slow and irresponsive state of your website can affect sales negatively. The only option here for Magento users is to use a bigger hosting plan that supports a wider bandwidth and this would cost more money.
But with the Shopify platform, there are no limits to the number of inventories you can upload to your store. Also, when you upload too many inventories, you don’t still get any additional charges for that. Isn’t that interesting?
24/7 support
When you opt to use the Magento platform, you are literally on your own. There is no support you get. If you need any support, then you would need to hire a pro-Magento developer which would cost an extra buck. But Shopify is different! It provides its users with top-notch and quality customer care support. While on the Shopify platform, you can get support anytime any day. And the good thing about this support system which Shopify provides is that your challenges are solved and it would not cost anything! So, when faced with any challenge on your Shopify store, you can get it fixed soon by experienced staff.
Low-cost beginning
How about starting a business on a low budget? What if you are a business with a physical store and less capital but wish to go online? Well, you don’t need to have a fat budget to set up and operate a functional online store when using Shopify. This platform provides its users with a range of fee to choose from, and it starts with a low charge. And in case you want to start big, you can still choose to.
While the Magento can cost a little bit more, especially when you have no website development and designing skill. You would have to pay for your hosting, web developer and other additional expenses. Besides money, you would also save an enormous of time from the very start. Shopify makes everything ready and you don’t have to discover alone.
In as much as setting up a more extensive store using the Shopify platform can cost more, Magento would require much more to do so. For instance, if you are on the ‘Shopify’ plan, you get the ability to follow up customers with an abandoned cart. But with Magento, you would have to pay up to $80 for an extension that enables you to do same.
Supportive business development
Lots of training materials and online courses
Every person that set up an online store makes money from it. But a lot of these persons lack the knowledge and skills on how to go about it. Well, that’s what makes the Shopify the number 1 go-to platform. On Shopify, users can get training materials and online courses that would guide them to the pathway of success. These training materials can help grow the store owner’s knowledge of online store marketing and help them grow their sales. Most of Shopify courses are free, store owners are receiving more than just a platform to sell online!
But as stated earlier, when you opt to use the Magento platform, you are on your own. The Magento platform provides limited training materials, and this is one of the main reasons why store owners, even the successful ones are moving to Shopify. Everyone wants to get better. The courses they offer can help both newbies and professionals grow bigger and better.
SEO and marketing features support
Regardless of whether you have a vast knowledge of how SEO works or you are a dummy when it comes to SEO, the Shopify platform still helps your online store with SEO features. You can get to edit meta tags, include the necessary tags, and place collections, products and description in an SEO friendly manner. When doing all this, you would not need to be an expert as they are all laid out and there are courses to guide you through.
While on Magento, you might need to get some premium add-ons in order to make your online store SEO friendly.
Also, Shopify users can get to advertise and promote their online store and experience an increase in sales. Shopify gets to do this by providing its users with the enablement to integrate email providers. Also, social network and other sales channel can be easily integrated into an online store that is built on Shopify. The good thing about all these features that the Shopify platform offers is that they are easy to set up.
Another feature that you can get from the Shopify platform is that it provides its users with direct integration to dropshipping inventory apps like Oberlo.
Helpful community
Having an effective and active online community of persons with the same goal (which is to make sales) is one which Shopify has to offer its users. The Shopify community is more than just a “normal online community”. It’s also a learning ground. Users get to share their knowledge and experiences in the platform, and who knows, maybe a knowledge shared there might transform your online store.
Also, Shopify allows its users to grow their eCommerce network by organising regular meetings for a particular audience (developers/store owners/sales/marketers…). Just like the saying goes, “your network determines your net worth”, Shopify allows you to grow a healthy network. Besides, these meetings also provide the latest platform updates for its audience. Magento also organises meetings for users, but not regular, and they don’t target a particular audience. This would make people interested in Magento feel quite overwhelmed as the meeting topic is too broad.
Lots of payment gateways
With the Shopify platform, online store owners can get to receive their money from their customers without any hassle. The Shopify platform provides online store owners with the option of using almost any payment gateway that suits their customers. On the Shopify platform, there is a wide range of payment gateways to choose from.
Also, it might interest you to know that Shopify platform has its payment processor and are the first eCommerce platform to own a payment processor. This explains further the fact that they are a platform that continuously provides their users with an up-to-date platform.
But on Magento, store owners might have to buy extensions in order to get the payment gateway that suits their customers. In case you need a platform that enables you to set up payments gateway easily and in a less time-consuming way, Shopify is for you!
Data security
When it comes to security and the safety of an online store, the Shopify platform provides its users with an unabridged security level. When you create an online store on Shopify, you get a free SSL certificate that makes your store secured. Also, this SSL certificate shows your customers that your store is safe to use. Still, on how secured a store built on Shopify can be, you get a Fraud analysis and this also makes your store free from hackers.
Online stores when built on the Shopify platform are very secured and safe.
Truth be told, using the Shopify platform is a choice that comes with almost no regrets as you get value for your money. Also, regardless of your knowledge about eCommerce, Shopify still has something to get you going. If you’ve just met Shopify, make sure your store operates well right from the start. HappyPoints offers services that help merchants operate their store smoothly at the beginning.