You'll live with your store platform for years. Moving products, descriptions and order history to a new one later can cost more than the original build. So before you commit to Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop or BigCommerce, run an ecommerce platform comparison against hard criteria. Count your SKUs, set a monthly budget, list the shipping and accounting tools you need to connect, and picture where you want to be in two or three years.
Free, no obligation. A senior project manager walks you through the analysis.
Free analysis in 24 hours
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your marketing with your competitors'.
Free marketing analysis
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Key takeaways
Before you read on
How it works
A store platform is much more than a theme. It rolls hosting, your product database, payment connections, inventory, billing documents and SEO settings into one system. Shopify and BigCommerce are hosted subscriptions. The vendor takes care of updates and security, and you pay a monthly fee plus charges on some features or transactions.
Open-source options flip that around. WooCommerce, a WordPress plugin, and PrestaShop give you full control of the code with no license fees. In exchange, you need your own hosting, you run the updates, and you'll call on technical help more often. Teams already on WordPress often start here, because woocommerce web design builds on the site they already have.
Three things decide which platform fits. First, catalog size. WooCommerce handles up to about 500 SKUs without strain, while past 5,000 SKUs you should look at Shopify Plus or PrestaShop on a server of its own. Second, how fast you expect traffic to grow. Third, the connections you need: an order hub for selling on Amazon and other channels, carriers like UPS, FedEx and USPS, and accounting software such as QuickBooks.
Get this wrong and you'll usually pay for it later with three to six months of migration work. Rather than guess, talk to someone who's already launched stores in your industry. Your first consultation with us is free, and it'll tell you whether a given platform even suits the way you sell.
Side by side
Weeks of trial and error with payment and shipping integrations. A specialist from us usually gets the store, payments and delivery running in two to four weeks, on a schedule of stages you agree on in writing.
Your store often goes to whoever has open hours that week, and you only ever talk to an account manager. We pick a specialist for your platform and store size and review their past launches before they join us.
Nobody looked at your SKU count or integrations before deciding. A consultation with someone who knows WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Shopify and BigCommerce fits the platform to the size of your business.
You judge every stage of the build yourself, from the theme to the payment setup. With us, a senior manager with 15+ years of experience agrees the rollout plan with you at kickoff and keeps reviewing each stage with you.
Step by step
Step 1
Your specialist looks at product count, sales channels (your own store, Amazon, Walmart or eBay) and budget. Then they recommend Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop or BigCommerce, backed by a 12-month cost estimate.
Step 2
Your specialist installs the platform, connects a payment gateway like Stripe, PayPal or Shopify Payments, and links up carriers like UPS, FedEx or USPS plus a shipping tool such as ShipStation. That usually takes 5 to 10 business days, depending on how many connections you need.
Step 3
Your specialist moves product pages over or builds them with descriptions, photos and structured data. They also set up URLs, meta tags and the sitemap so Google can find your store from day one.
Step 4
Your specialist tests checkout on phones and desktops, checks returns and email notifications, and gives your team a quick tour of the admin panel. Then you and the project manager approve the final stage.
What to know
$2,500 to $10,000 to set up WooCommerce or Shopify with a theme, payments, shipping and basic SEO. Two to three weeks of work.
$10,000 to $30,000, including an inventory or order management integration, a product import from a spreadsheet or another system, and CRM and newsletter setup. Three to five weeks.
$30,000 to $100,000 or more, covering a separate server, ERP integration, multiple languages and custom price tiers for business buyers. Six to ten weeks, with you and the project manager approving each stage.
Checklist
Run through these before you say yes to an offer. They'll save you from surprise charges and arguments over what was included.
Checklist
Who it's for
What you need from platform selection and rollout depends on where your business is right now.
You need a platform that fits a starter budget and a simple launch, without integrations you won't use for months.
In an ecommerce platform migration, the priority is bringing over customers, order history and search rankings without losing Google traffic.
Your store has to sync with Amazon, Walmart and eBay through one inventory hub, so stock counts never drift apart.
You need a platform that handles price tiers, special pricing for regular buyers and repeat orders.
Visual freedom comes first, which usually means Shopify with a custom theme or PrestaShop.
What you can count on
We've set things up so the whole project doesn't rest on your shoulders.
An ecommerce specialist chosen for your store is ready to meet you within 24 hours of your request.
Every ecommerce specialist we work with has passed a review of past store launches, a reference check and a conversation about real projects.
Every project has a senior manager with more than 15 years in ecommerce and marketing who reviews each stage and keeps scope and deadlines on track.
We pick someone who knows your kind of products and integrations, not whoever has free time.
In short
24 hours
to match you with an ecommerce specialist
15+ years
of experience for the manager overseeing your rollout
Portfolio
of past launches, reviewed before a specialist joins
Industry
experience your ecommerce specialist brings
Before you start
The right platform supports your growth for years. The wrong one leads to migration bills nobody budgeted for. Before you approve a rollout, make sure your specialist understands the size of your business and isn't just selling you a canned package. Want a second opinion first? Order a free marketing analysis and the PDF arrives within 24 hours, or see how our ecommerce development projects work.
FAQ
Short answers. The free analysis call covers anything specific to your company.
For a store with up to 100 or 200 products, WooCommerce (low startup cost, very flexible) or Shopify (easy upkeep, round-the-clock support) usually does the job. The final call depends on whether you already have a WordPress site and how much you want to edit the code yourself.
Shopify is for owners who want the vendor to handle hosting, security and updates, and who are fine with a monthly fee and less control over the code. WooCommerce is for teams already on WordPress who want full control and can manage hosting and updates. If it's still close, let your catalog size and planned integrations decide.
A simple store with up to 100 products usually takes two to three weeks. A store with inventory integrations and 500 to 1,000 products to import needs three to five weeks. Business projects with ERP and multiple languages can take six to ten weeks.
They can, if 301 redirects from your old URLs aren't set up correctly. An experienced specialist maps every old address to its new one before launch. That keeps any dip in visibility small, or avoids it entirely.
We're not an agency. Within 24 hours we pair you with one ecommerce specialist who fits your industry, and we checked their past launches before they joined. A senior project manager with 15+ years of experience then reviews every stage with you. An agency hands the build to whoever has free hours, and you talk to them through an account manager.
Yes. Hosted platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce offer a free trial or a low-cost intro period, and WooCommerce and PrestaShop cost nothing to install on a test server. Use it with a specialist who sets up sample products and integrations, so you're judging the platform under close to real conditions.
A senior manager with more than 15 years of experience oversees every project and reviews each stage before it reaches you. No stage closes until you accept the result. The manager keeps the rollout plan and all the rollout documentation in one place and reports on progress every month.
Not always. Shopify's basic plan runs about $29 to $39 a month, depending on whether you pay annually or monthly. On top of the platform fee, plan for hosting if you're on an open-source system, plus paid plugins or themes and, on some plans, transaction fees.
Free analysis
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your channels with your competitors', plus a call with a senior project manager who has run marketing for 15+ years.
Free marketing analysis
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Are you a marketer with experience in a specific industry? Join the team
Your website, full name, email and phone. A PDF with specifics within 24 hours.
Within 24 hours you get an audit by email with an analysis and a proposal: which marketer or team your business needs and where to start.