Squarespace Ecommerce VS Shopify

Shopify vs Squarespace Ecommerce 🥊

With over two billion consumers shopping online, it makes more sense than ever for businesses to launch an ecommerce store. However, it’s simply not enough to build a site and expect your ideal customers to follow.

The world of ecommerce can be tough and as an ecommerce agency, we know what it takes for a business to thrive within this industry.

Throughout the process, merchants will need to take advantage of; top-notch designs, easy-to-navigate layouts, maximised SEO and eye-pleasing aesthetics and as we’re sure you are aware, many ecommerce platforms offer their customers these options when it comes to website integrations.

Website integrations are like a one-stop service to run a business that both Shopify and Squarespace employ.

If you haven’t acquainted yourself with these two platforms before, Squarespace is a general website builder that possesses several ecommerce functionalities, while Shopify is an entire ecommerce platform that is geared towards helping merchants to sell their goods online.

While both are solid options, it will come as no surprise to you that they both have their distinct advantages judging by the title of this article.

So, stick with us as we take a closer look at these popular platforms to help you choose the right fit for your business. Let the battle of Squarespace ecommerce VS Shopify commence:

Squarespace Ecommerce VS Shopify 🥊

To kick things off it should be noted that Squarespace is a beginner-friendly website builder which has been designed for users who want to be able to manage everything in one place.

Subscriptions offer a range of; pricing plans, templates, site management and plugins alongside offering website integrations at three different levels.

However, Shopify has specifically been created to be an online store solution and subsequently has added on a website building component to its multiple tiers of power.

Each Shopify plan offers many ways for merchants to grow their ecommerce business with unlimited products and various sales channels at their fingertips.

Currently, users can choose from a variety of templates and themes so that their online store can be customised to their liking. So, it's no wonder why over one million of the world's most successful brands trust Shopify to sell, ship and process their payments.

Both Shopify and Squarespace offer merchants the chance to; start, maintain and grow an online store, as each solution allows its users to create exactly what they want.

As a Shopify design agency, we know that merchants on the platform have a plethora of available designs, tools and integrations to choose from and the best part is that neither platform requires the use of coding or programming expertise.

So, making the right choice for your business will be a personal decision, based on the features that are required by your business.

Plan Costs

Squarespace

• Personal Plan - $12 per month.
• Business Plan - $18 per month.
• Basic Commerce - $26 per month.
• Advanced Commerce - $40 per month.

Shopify

• Basic Plan - $29 per month.
• Shopify Plan - $79 per month.
• Advanced Shopify Plan - $299 per month.

SEO Tools 🛠️

Squarespace

When it comes to search engine optimisation, store owners can edit meta descriptions and customised URLs for all of their site’s pages on Squarespace.

Additionally, the platform offers built-in SEO best practices and Google Analytics for every plan.

Shopify

Shopify generates page titles and meta descriptions for its merchants automatically based upon the page content displayed.

As you can probably imagine, this setup makes it extremely easy for merchants to meet Google’s Core Web Vitals, allowing each business on the platform to get to market faster in a smarter and more SEO-friendly capacity.

Blogging

Squarespace

As you’d expect, Squarespace has a built-in analytics feature and tools such as; categories, comment moderation, tags and post scheduling for online businesses to take advantage of.

Shopify

Similarly, Shopify offers its customers the opportunity to utilise its collection of tools that have been designed to assist with; product categories, comment moderation, tags and scheduling. Additionally, bulk post removal is an available option here.

Customer Support 💬

Squarespace

24/7 customer support is offered by the Squarespace team via; email, social media and live chat, but no phone option is available.

Shopify

With Shopify’s customer support being offered 24/7 via; email, live chat and phone, the team is on hand to assist merchants and answer any questions that they may have.

Templates and Design

Squarespace

With Squarespace, a wide variety of templates are included at no additional cost to the customer whilst themes are suggested for various industry types.

Shopify

On Shopify, users may select a theme from an existing collection of ten free templates or over 50 premium templates for a fee.

Each Shopify template includes industry-specific features that merchants can employ for their store’s website design.

Backup and Storage 💾

Squarespace

If you didn’t already know, Squarespace offers its customers unlimited storage, but users must back their website content up manually.

Shopify

Shopify also offers its users unlimited storage space and just like Squarespace, users must back their website content up manually.

Products and Sales

When it comes to the battle between Squarespace ecommerce VS Shopify, both platforms permit users to create an online store that offers both physical and digital products, alongside any other services that they'd like to offer.

However, the platforms do differ when it comes to how shoppable products are organised and displayed. Furthermore, the ease of transition to an in-person, physical point of sale (POS) does have its differences.

So, let’s take a look at the battle between Shopify VS Squarespace in further detail below:

Squarespace has a stylish system in place in which merchants can begin to; sell products, manage orders and process transactions online.

Store pages are beautifully designed and can be customised to match the brand at hand. Additionally, an express checkout feature is available for brands to benefit from.

Additionally, Squarespace offers a 360-degree zoom feature, which allows for a close-up product viewing experience.

Users have the option to take advantage of the platform’s in-person sales feature, which utilises a Square card reader to take in-person cash or card payments that integrate with any online store.

Naturally, Shopify’s store pages have a vast array of attractive templates and design options for merchants to choose from, but the focus for Shopify lies with supercharging and enhancing the functionality, growth and scalability of each business that it welcomes into its ranks.

After all, any business that means business will be looking to the future, excited to see what’s in store. With Shopify online brands can be sure that the platform presents every tool and technique to ensure that its users can reach more, do more and be more with their online store(s).

Shopify has offered in-person sales options from the very beginning, which means that sellers can purchase a point-of-sale kit that includes a; barcode scanner, card reader, cash drawer and receipt printer. In addition, POS transactions are permitted for use outside of the U.S.

SEO Tools 💻

When it comes to SEO tools, the battle between Shopify VS Squarespace continues, as both platforms have unique approaches to this marketing strategy.

For instance, Squarespace makes use of keywords and high-quality content to enable online stores to reach a larger audience.

As we’re sure you'll all know, fully maximised SEO is essential for online businesses to succeed, but search engine optimisation can be a challenge to undertake without the help of supportive tools in place.

Nonetheless, both Shopify and Squarespace present their users with integrated SEO support, but as we mentioned above, the two solutions are unparalleled in their approaches:

Shopify is set up to meet the objectives of Google’s Core Web Vitals requirements which indicate the three metrics of; page loading time, responsiveness and visual stability.

In addition, Shopify takes the content of a page and generates suggested titles and meta descriptions based on what it sees, saving the team a lot of time.

Blogging for Business

Creating a blog can help to boost a brand's online presence, whilst driving more traffic to the website, potentially serving as another source of revenue.

While adding one to your website does tick another item off of the to-do list, a blog made in conjunction with an ecommerce site can be extremely effective for marketing.

If blogging is something you have decided to pursue, Squarespace does make the process simple, as the platform has blogging features and capabilities that include; analytics, post scheduling and the ability to archive content.

However, Shopify also offers blogging functionalities within its vast service, building, publishing and managing blog works in a very similar fashion to Squarespace.

This feature would be super useful for the merchants who are looking to supplement an online store with written content to inform their audience about the products that their store has on offer.

Business blogs are also a great way for store owners to provide top tips and tricks for getting the most out of the brand’s products.

Shopify VS Squarespace - The Bottom Line 🥇

So, who’s the winner in this Shopify VS Squarespace battle? Well, the bottom line is that when it comes to the majority of ecommerce categories, such as; POS, customer support and SEO tools, Shopify is ahead and this is mainly due to the platform's design that has been curated to power online stores.

Shopify has also been in the game long enough to have perfected a whole armoury of ecommerce elements and business tools that merchants on the web thrive with. Considering this, we're naming Shopify as the clear winner.

However, we will give praise and credit where it's due as Squarespace is an ideal option for the stores that are looking for a general website building platform that incorporates some ecommerce functionality when it comes to selling goods online.

Of course, the best choice for your business will ultimately come down to what you want for your brand’s online presence and future.

So, that’s it for today’s article. We hope that you have found our breakdown between Squarespace ecommerce and Shopify useful.

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to get started!