WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT: SHOPIFY OR YOUR OWN SITE?
Shopify has taken the world by storm. But is it better than opting to develop your own website?
Let’s walk through some of the pros and cons.
Customisation
Designing your site to fit with your brand is vital. Luckily, Shopify has hundreds of themes on offer. Whether you sell candles, clothes, or cutlery, you’ll likely find something suitable for your business. And with Shopify’s advanced plan, you’ll have even more options to choose from.
Now, customising these themes further is possible. But you will need to know Shopify’s ‘Liquid’ coding language or hire someone who does. And even with Shopify’s range of customisation options, you just won’t get the freedom developing your own site offers.
Time
Technically speaking, you can set up a Shopify store in under an hour, while your own site can take weeks to fully develop.
However, even with easy set-up, you will have weeks of planning on your hands:
- Searching for and customising themes
- Learning Liquid or finding a developer who knows it
- Writing product copy
- Taking and uploading product photos
- Testing links and the appearance of listings
The works. So Shopify isn’t necessarily a winner in this category, either.
Cost
Developing a website can generally net you around $2,500, depending on what you want to incorporate into it. It’s a pretty expensive process, but it is a one-time cost.
Shopify, meanwhile, is a subscription service. Their plans start at $29/month and go up to a whopping $299/month. So if you want access to all Shopify has to offer, you’ll end up paying the same as for your own website within a year.
All that said…
Shopify isn’t a bad service. It’s proven to be a great solution for many eCommerce businesses. But in our opinion (and we may be a little biased in this), nothing compares to having your own site.
And should you choose to design and develop one, feel free to get in touch with us.
