Custom ecommerce website vs Shopify: which is right for you?
If you're looking to build an ecommerce site for your business, you might be wondering where to start. Should you use a well known and popular platform like Shopify? Or build a fully custom ecommerce site tailored to your specific needs?
The right choice depends on your business type, goals, budget and long-term plans. Shopify often offers a faster route to launch with less initial development, while a custom build gives you more control over the experience and functionality. Here's how they compare.
Shopify vs custom ecommerce website costs
Cost can be the most important factor to many businesses when creating an ecommerce website.
As an established ecommerce platform, Shopify often needs less initial investment and has a shorter build time. Its subscription costs are clear, but apps, payment fees and development can add to the total.
A custom website typically requires a larger upfront investment alongside ongoing hosting, maintenance, security and development costs.
Design and user experience
A custom built website also means a fully custom design. You can have complete control over the design and user experience. Page layouts can be fully tailored to your brand/product needs and customer journeys aren't restricted by a platform or theme.
Shopify does have some of these restrictions, but it is highly flexible. There is a wide range of themes which can be easily customised through either the theme editor or with some bespoke development. More complex user experiences may require custom development or third-party app integration.
Ecommerce features and CMS
Shopify provides most of the functionality an ecommerce business needs straight out of the box, with more complex features often easily available with the use of third party apps. Managing products, pages, promotions and orders is easy with the Shopify CMS. Out of the box functionality includes: product management, payments, orders, discounts, shipping and customer accounts.
With a custom build, some ecommerce features may need to be developed or integrated separately, which can add time. The admin experience depends on the CMS that has been built or integrated, so ease of use can vary.
Performance and SEO
A custom developed site provides greater control over technical SEO, site architecture, URLs and performance optimisation.
Shopify provides hosting and built-in SEO tools, although the level of control may not suit every store.
Maintenance and support
Shopify removes most of the technical maintenance required when running a website. Hosting and platform security updates are handled as part of the Shopify subscription. However, this may need to be monitored as Shopify have deprecated and then removed features in the past. Any third party apps integrated into your Shopify site may require additional maintenance.
With a custom ecommerce website, these responsibilities fall to your internal team or development partner. This means ongoing costs and management.
Ownership and future growth
A custom ecommerce site gives you greater control over the technology, codebase, hosting environment and future development roadmap.
Shopify provides a powerful ecosystem, but you're ultimately building on someone else's platform and are therefore subject to its pricing, functionality, APIs and product roadmap.
Which option is right for your business?
Ultimately, the decision between a custom built solution and Shopify comes down to what your business needs from its website.
If cost, speed and ease of use are the priority, then Shopify will likely be the best solution. If control and bespoke functionality are more important, then a custom ecommerce site might be better for your business.
At Evoluted we understand the importance of building the right ecommerce solution for your business needs. If you want to build a successful ecommerce site that can grow with your business, contact us today to learn more about our Shopify and bespoke ecommerce development solutions.
Creative Director Will has been with Evoluted since 2011. In his role leading the design team, he continues put his extensive experience to use on an impressively-diverse array of websites. Will’s core skills include UX design, creative direction and responsive web design; whilst he’s also earned a renowned reputation as Evoluted’s chief provider of internal, novelty animated gifs.
