Selling Products: Shopify or Squarespace?
It seems like one of the big debates in the web design industry at the moment is choosing between Shopify and Squarespace for SELLING.
Both are great platforms and have their pros and cons. Here are my thoughts on when you should use Shopify and when you should go through Squarespace!
Selling Products: Shopify or Squarespace?
IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO SELL A DIGITAL PRODUCT…
I would recommend Squarespace because the platform is so intuitive to use and you can automatically deliver files once payment has been made.
Your ongoing subscription would also be much more affordable than that of Shopify.
Even if you hire a web designer to build the Squarespace shop for you, it will still be comparatively MUCH easier to maintain and update than Shopify.
IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO SELL A PHYSICAL PRODUCT…
If you're only selling a few products with simple shipping tiers or selling it locally (within a country), Squarespace would be great value! Especially because it's very intuitive and simple for you to update product images and descriptions.
HOWEVER, if you have lots of products - all with varying shipping costs, PLUS international shipping and complex tax calculations AND require integration ... then Shopify might be the better option because it just has a lot more advanced settings.
Shopify is also much more complex to customise (design-wise) than Squarespace. So if having a nice website with a blog that's easy to maintain is important for you (and you have the investment for it) - then you could consider having the main Website on Squarespace, while having just the SHOP on Shopfiy. This would be a powerhouse machine with literally, the best of both worlds!
IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO SELL A MEMBERSHIP OR COURSE…
I actually wouldn't recommend Shopify at all for this, as it caters more towards physical product businesses. So by default, Squarespace becomes the better choice and you can actually host your entire course or membership on Squarespace Membership!
So I would say that building your site, membership or course on Squarespace would be both cost efficient and easy for you to update in the future.
However, other alternatives you could also consider are Teachable (for checkout and course platform) or Thrivecart (for the checkout only).
Selling a membership or course actually requires a few moving parts and I would always advise doing more research into the BEST platform for you - or to chat to a web designer who has experience with e-commerce sites!
If you're still unsure which platform is best for you or if you have questions, just hit reply and ask away! I'd be happy to advise you on the how to best set up your membership/course!
And if you're ready to create an online shop with a designer who loves to teach you how to update and maintain your site confidently - then hit me up at @arohavisuals
