Know It All Nev

On Demand Reviews – 2021

Category: Design and branding

Easy methods to Construct a Model: An 8-Step Information for 2021

Nifty Nev
Design and branding |

Imagine that you have to buy a gift for your chocolate-loving friend. Do you go with Reese’s, or a lower-priced generic product? For me, Reese’s is a no-brainer due to its higher perceived worth as a consumer brand.
A brand is the heart and soul of your company, responsible for influencing audience perception, driving advocates to your organization, and differentiating you from your competition. Unfortunately, many ecommerce entrepreneurs don’t know how to build a brand that attracts people. 
After all, building a brand isn’t just choosing a logo or pickling the perfect name. The right brand is the product of various interconnected factors, all designed to change how people think and feel about your business. 
Today, we’re going to show you how to create a brand that keeps people coming back, purchase after purchase.

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What Is a Brand, Anyway?
A brand is a culmination of all the things you use to differentiate your company and gain the attention of a specific target market. This includes not just visual assets, like your website design, logo, brand colors, and business cards, but also your tone of voice, your company mission, values, and more. 
If something contributes to how your customers perceive your organization, it’s likely a part of your brand. Let’s look at Apple, for instance. Apple sells computers and technology, just like many other brands. So, what is it about the company that causes customers to line up around the block for a chance of getting one of their latest products? It’s the brand.

Apple’s brand is all about simplicity, innovation, and modernity. The company sets itself apart with a minimalist approach to aesthetics, from the crisp white stores in the real world to the ultra-sleek Apple website. 
Apple also builds its brand by:

Constantly innovating and releasing new products to make customer lives easier.
Using phrases like “Think Different” to highlight its creativity
Collaborating with market leaders on influential marketing campaigns 

The forward-thinking and creative nature of Apple’s brand is what gets customers excited about the company.
How to Brand Your Business: 8-Step Checklist
Now you know what a brand is, let’s look at how to build one from scratch.
1. Identify Your Audience
When it comes to brand building, it’s important to know who you’re trying to reach.
Think about what kind of products you’ll be selling and who they’ll serve. Try to be specific with your choice of the customer. For instance, instead of targeting “dog owners,” a pet accessories company can focus on new dog owners with younger canine companions or people who train dogs for shows. Choosing a specific niche will mean you have less competition to worry about. 
Identifying your audience will help you choose a brand voice, design, and even the right marketing strategy to connect with potential buyers. You can build your knowledge of your audience by:

Examining existing customers: Do you have any existing buyers, and what do you know about them? What is their age range, where do they come from, and what do they love about your business?
Looking at your competition: What kind of customers are other companies like you targeting? Are there any underserved portions of the market you can help with your products?
Creating buyer personas: Imagine what your ideal customer might look like, and create a profile outlining their age, gender, demographics, likes, dislikes, and even their behaviors (such as how they prefer to shop online).

As you begin to build your ecommerce brand, you’ll have new opportunities to learn more about your audience from analytics tools and customer surveys. Adding to your customer personas as you go will help to keep them accurate.
2. Develop Your Brand Position
Developing a certain depth of knowledge about your target audience will also give you an insight into your brand position. You can’t be a high-end luxury fashion company and a budget-friendly business at the same time. You need to decide where you’re going to enter the market. 
The easiest way to do this is to build a positioning statement. This is one or two lines you can use to help establish who you are and what you’re doing. For instance, your brand position statement might be: “We’re a home accessories company selling unique hand-made products to customers in [region].”
When establishing your brand position, think about how you will differentiate your business from others. In the example above, the main differentiator is the “hand-made” aspect of the products. When you know your position and selling points, you can begin creating marketing campaigns and branded content that speaks to your target audience in the right voice.
For instance, a company selling hand-made products is more likely to have a warm, welcoming voice. Here’s an example:

In contrast, a company selling high-end luxury products should use a more artistic and sophisticated voice.
3. Pick a Business Name
You know your target audience and how you want to position your brand. Now it’s time to pick that all-important brand name. 
This is one of the most important defining features of your brand. The right name should distill everything your customer needs to know about you into a single word. 
For example, if you’re a clothing business committed to designing something new for your customers, you might make up a word, like “Vision Clothing.” The key to success will be picking a memorable word with sounds that convey the right emotions or ideas to your audience. 
Other kinds of names include:

Descriptive names: Titles that describe the business, like “Florist.”
Emotive names: Names that inspire emotional responses, like “Innocent Drinks.”
Origin names: Names chosen for where the business began or who made it, like “Ford.”
Compound names: Titles that combine words, like “Facebook” or “FedEx.”
Initials and acronyms: Easy to remember versions of longer names, like “BMW.”

As your brand name will also define the URL/domain of your online store, be sure to do some research to see what’s available before deciding on a name. Check out our guide to choosing a perfect name for your store or use these business name generators to get some brand name ideas.
4. Outline Your Brand’s Story
Your brand’s story is essentially the “why” behind your organization. All businesses need to have a purpose (beyond simply making money). Think about why you set up a business and how your products can positively impact people’s lives. 
For instance, eyewear brand Warby Parker is built on the desire to deliver high-quality eyeglasses to customers worldwide for a reasonable price. 
The company tells its story on its website about how it found a new way to serve customers by avoiding conventional channels. Engaging with customers via direct online channels allowed it to offer good quality eyewear at a fraction of the going costs.

The narrative identifies Warby Parker as a customer-first brand while outlining its commitment to providing customers with affordable fashion.
A good story can prompt customers to fall in love with your business and generate respect for your brand. 
5. Establish Your Brand’s Look
Establishing your brand’s look means deciding how you’re going to help customers identify your company at a glance. For instance, what kind of packaging are you going to be using for your products? How will your customers identify your parcel when they order items from your ecommerce store? What will they see when they navigate your website and look for products?
Some of the most important elements of your brand look include:

Brand colors: Your brand colors are a handful of shades you’ll use on all of your branded assets, including your website, emails, and product packaging. Colors can have a psychological impact on customers. For instance, red is bold and passionate, while blue is trustworthy and relaxing.
Fonts: Like your brand colors, your chosen fonts can make a huge impact on how your customers see your brand. Sans-serif fonts are often more modern and friendly, while serif fonts are traditional and authoritative. 
Imagery: What kind of images, illustrations, and pictures do you use on your products, website, and advertisements? 

Once you have the various elements you need to build your brand image, create a set of visual guidelines to help inform your team and any designers you work with. 
6. Create a Logo
Your logo is another major element in learning how to start your own brand. Alongside your name, your logo will be one of the first things your customers recognize in your brand. 
An excellent logo should be meaningful and easy to understand. Apple’s iconic apple image with the bite taken out of it doesn’t require any explanation. The best way to ensure your logo has the right impact is to work with a professional designer to help capture your visual essence. 
A designer will be able to talk you through the different kinds of logos you can consider, such as:

Brand emblems: A brand emblem is an image placed in a circle or shield in most cases. A great example is the Starbucks logo. Emblems have a sophisticated and traditional look.
Mascot logos: Mascot logos often center around a specific character, like Wendy’s logo. They can help to humanize a business with a unique face. 
Letter marks: Letter marks transform an acronym name into a visual logo. The IBM logo is an excellent example of this.
Icon: Icon logos use a simple image as an identifier, like the Twitter bird. They’re great for bringing a memorable visual to your brand image. 
Wordmarks: Wordmarks use a stylistic font to transform your brand name into your logo. These logos are excellent for making your name more memorable. 
Combination marks: Combination logos bring the name of the company and an image together, like the Taco Bell logo, for instance.

Check out our post on the best free logo makers as you consider creating your brand’s logo.
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7. Write Your Slogan
While a slogan is an optional part of the brand-building process, it’s one well worth considering if you want to improve your brand reach and recognition. A slogan helps your customers understand your company and what it does. 
The kind of slogan you use will depend on what you want to accomplish. Redbull uses the metaphor “Redbull gives you wings” to tell people they can enhance their energy with the drink. Nike uses “Just do it” to show off its motivational brand attitude. The best slogan will tell your audience something they need to know about your business while giving you another unique element to add to your identity. 
When learning how to build your brand with a slogan, remember to use your unique brand voice to make your statement stand out. 
8. Integrate Your Brand Everywhere
Now that you’ve built your brand, you need to share it. 
Businesses need to show their brand in everything they do to make them memorable. The easiest way to do this is to start by building a style guide for your employees and contractors. Make sure everyone on your team knows what your brand should look and sound like. 
Next, think about how you can draw attention to your brand on various channels. For instance, your brand should be evident on your:

Ecommerce store: Choose a store theme that’s perfect for your brand identity and implement your company colors. Remember to showcase your logo on every page and highlight your brand voice in your website content. 
Social media: Social media is an excellent tool for building awareness for your brand. You can share posts that highlight your personality, post pictures and graphics representing your brand, and even encourage people to share your brand with their friends and colleagues. 
Marketing campaigns: Your brand should be clearly visible in every marketing campaign, whether you’re sending out email newsletters or connecting with customers via podcasts. Make sure every advertising effort demonstrates your brand image and voice consistently. 

Consistency is crucial when developing a strong brand. The more consistent you can be with your brand identity online and offline, the more familiar your company will feel to your audience. Consistency also helps your brand appear more stable and reliable.

Conclusion
A strong brand is a must-have for any business in today’s competitive world.
Without the right branding, you can’t connect with your customers on an emotional level. This means that any customer will abandon your organization as soon as they find another ecommerce store they can resonate with. 
Building your brand identity gives your customers something to truly connect with. It’s what keeps people coming back for more, sets you apart from the competition, and turns one-time clients into dedicated brand advocates. 
Never underestimate the importance of building a brand. 
Summary: How to Build a Brand from Scratch in 2021

Identify your target audience
Develop your brand position
Choose a business name
Share your brand’s story
Establish your brand’s look
Create a logo
Write your slogan
Integrate your brand everywhere

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The Final Information to Product Packaging

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding |

There are so many different factors that influence how customers perceive your brand, and the product packaging you choose and design is definitely one of them.
Product packaging all comes down to how the product is presented, and it is closely tied in with customer perception. It can tell a story and set the stage for how you want to represent your entire organization. Choosing a look that’s clean and modern for your product package will leave a different impression than one that uses a beachy design, or one focused on a rustic, natural look. 
Product packaging says a lot about your brand in a fraction of a second, with customers sometimes judging the value or quality of a product just at a glance. The right packaging can also help you to sell more by standing out, which is another big asset. 
Packaging may seem like a minor detail, and too many merchants overlook it until the last possible moment. However, packaging is an important component of your marketing and service strategy, and it isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly. In this post, we’ll walk you through the process of selecting a strong packaging design that will represent you well and help you maximize sales. 

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Packaging for products: What you need to know before you design 
There’s a lot that goes into product packaging design: colors, visuals, size, shape, boxes vs. bags vs. wrapping, materials, and more. Before you start making any of those decisions, it’s crucial to do some research first.
You’ll want to understand four key things, which will impact your package design significantly. These include: 

Who your audience is. You need to understand who your target audience is and what they want from a product in your industry to design packaging that will appeal specifically to them. Many men, for example, aren’t naturally going to reach for something in a flowery pink bottle. 
Connotations you want to evoke. What do you want people to think of when they see your brand? Think about the audience here. Natural, rustic packaging works great for organic skin care products when the brand is stressing natural ingredients, but wouldn’t necessarily work well if you’re trying to represent your products as clinically-crafted instead.   
The visual branding you already have established. Do you already have a website, brand name, and/or logo? It’s important to choose packaging that will work well with what you’re already working with, supporting your brand instead of working against it. 
What else is happening in the market. You want to look at what your competitors are doing. It’s good to understand what’s standard, so you can look for a design that will stand out. That being said, sometimes it’s good to stick with the status quo; if consumers expect shampoo to be sold in bottles instead of laminated envelopes, you may want to think twice about going against that. 

Product packaging types to consider
There are three main types of product packaging that you may need, depending on what sort of products you sell and how they’re getting them to the consumer. Let’s take a look at each one. 
Product Packaging 
You need to package up the product itself. This will immediately protect whatever you’re selling. Think the bottle for the shampoo, or the wrapper for the candy bar, or the box for the jewelry that you’re selling. The product packaging also includes the labels and/or hanging tags that will go on those products, if applicable. 

The immediate product packaging is likely going to be the central focus, so this is where you should start. If customers are seeing it on a shelf, what will make them want to grab it? Functionality and aesthetics are both important here. 
Outer Product Packaging 
If you’re shipping products to clients, how are you doing that? Envelopes, boxes, or something else? Or maybe you’re distributing shelving boxes to sell those candy bars to boutiques or small local merchants, too; what do those boxes look like?

Outer product packaging is the box or packaging that your products will be delivered in, which is particularly important for shipping purposes. They often include branded mailing boxes, envelopes, and stickers. This gives you the chance to leave a stronger impression the second the customer sees the package in the mail. 

Inner Product Packaging 
If you need outer product packaging, you may need inner product packaging, too. This includes everything that goes inside that outer box or envelope that isn’t the product itself. It may include shredded paper or packing peanuts, mailer inserts to keep everything in place, instructional booklets or pamphlets, and more.

The big thing to focus on here is practicality. How can you ship that glass bottle of lotion and ensure that it isn’t breaking? Wrapping the item in a cloth bag or paper and then sticking in shredded paper, for example, can help protect it. 
All of this can be branded, giving your packaging a more uniform appearance, which makes your brand look established and professional. It also gives you control over the full customer experience when it comes to how they’re receiving your product. 
How to package a product: 6 things you need to place on your boxes
When you’re designing your product packaging, there are going to be six things you need to keep in mind every single time. These include:

Product titles. What is the name of the product? It needs to appear on the packaging.
Copy explaining what the product is. This may be a simple tagline, or it could be a small section somewhere on the label detailing exactly what it does.
Instructions for how to use it and care for it. Clothing may be handwash only, for example, or you may be selling camping gear that’s only suitable for certain weather conditions. Detail this on the product directly. 
Imagery. This includes brand logos and anything specific to the product itself that your designer has come up with.
Required information like safety labels, nutrition labels, or bar codes. Some industries and locations have requirements for information like this, depending on what you’re selling. Double check and see what you need to be placing on your packaging.
As-needed information like batch numbers. Even if the numbers are obviously changing, you’ll need to make sure that there’s a space somewhere on the packaging for this to be placed. 

How to design ecommerce packaging: 6 key steps
There are six key steps involved in the brand packaging process. Let’s take a look at each one. 
1. Do your research 
Do your research up front. We covered this earlier in the post. You need to know who your audience is, what’s currently happening in the marketplace, and what you want your packaging to say about the product you’re selling. Competitor and market research is going to be big here, and  developing buyer personas for each individual product if you haven’t yet will also be useful.  
Branding and packaging go hand in hand. Keep this in mind. 
2. Choose your product container type 
Before you make any further decisions, it’s important to decide what type of product container you may need. Different options for product packaging include:

Boxes
Cans
Bottles
Glass jars
Laminated envelopes
Wrappers 
Cartons
Cardboard tubes 

Remember to choose something that meets all the following criteria:

It looks great
It aligns with what users would expect if there’s an industry standard 
It’s functional
It will ship well 

3. Decide what you need 
Once you’ve chosen the exact types of product containers you want to go with, it’s time to look at everything else that you may need.  
Think about how your product will get from your store to the customer on a practical and aesthetic level. You’ll need a shipping container, like a mailer envelope or box. But what else will you need to ensure that everything arrives looking great and with the product protected so that the customer has the best experience possible?

In addition to that branded shipping box, you may also want to purchase branded packing tape. And maybe you have standard product kits that could easily benefit from a custom mailer insert, or you realize that you need packing peanuts or shredded paper to make sure that your products reach the customer safely.
Consider all of this, and make a list of everything that you need. It will be important moving forward. 
4. Design the packaging 
This may be a one-time cost, where you hire someone to design the packaging that you need, including the outer and inner packaging, too. 
During this stage, make it clear what color scheme, imagery, and overall aesthetic that you’re going for. It’s important to make sure that it’s clear what exactly your product is, so that if someone were to ever see it on a shelf they wouldn’t be left scratching their heads. Remember to include everything on the packaging that’s needed, including the batch numbers and/or safety information. If you forget it the first time around, you’ll have to start from scratch (and pay for a do-over). 
Many printing companies offer packaging design services, streamlining the process for you. You just need to tell them what you want, and they can handle the more technical logistics for you. It’s also a good idea to explore graphic design packaging services on marketplaces like Fiverr. There’s no shortage of talented designers out there who can make visually appealing package designs.
5. Get feedback 
Once the design is complete, it will be shot back to you for approval. Review it carefully. Double check all the copy and make sure that it’s exactly how you want, and ensure that it looks how you envisioned (or better!). 
Once you get the final designs, get feedback. Ask peers who are experienced in the ecommerce or retail industry who want you to succeed, or friends whose taste in design that you trust. If possible, you can even ask members of your target audience, whose opinions will matter greatly when it comes time for the product to actually be purchased.
This can be a big decision, so you want to get it right before you start ordering. 
6. Start the printing process
Once you’re ready to have your packaging created, all that’s left to do is find a printer and get things moving. The following options are all good choices for having your products packaged:

Sticker mule for product packaging labels to go on external packaging like boxes or jars
UPrinting and Packlane for custom designs that include product boxes, mailer boxes, and shipping boxes
PrintingForLess for everything from custom candy wrappers, gift card holders, belly bands, hang tags, folding cartons, and inserts
Lumi for tape, tissue paper, mailer bags, laminated pouches, cotton bags, and envelope sleeves. 

Many printers allow you to have a prototype made before ordering a full batch. Take advantage of this to make sure everything is perfect. 
Best product packaging designs for inspiration
Looking for a few packaging design ideas to give you some inspiration? Take a look at these incredible ecommerce packaging examples, all of which are versatile and could easily be adapted for your brand and at a low cost.
1. Skinfood by AB 
Skinfood by AB is a shop on Etsy that sells organic, handmade, natural beauty products. Their packaging layout is exceptional, which is partially what helped them get a deal with a big-name company like Whole Foods.
This small brand has gorgeous packaging that gives the shop an established feel. Clean white labels are still distinct with the branded name and the name of the product underneath. 

This shop also uses branded tape around the outside of their shipping boxes and brown shredded paper to keep everything safe and protected, while still using “natural” ingredients that best aligns with the brand (as opposed to styrofoam or plastic).  

2. Rockin’ Green 
Laundry detergent comes in a bottle, right? Not necessarily.
Rockin’ Green’s detergent is powder form instead of liquid, so it only makes sense that their packaging would look different than expected, too. They’re using plastic bags with a small scoop inside.

In addition to doing something a little different (which can also be neater than messy detergent bottles), their product packaging is also clean and tells customers exactly what it each item is. They’ve got “Active Wear” listed in big bold letters, and feature “90 loads” in bright green text in the top right corner. They also explain right there why the product is great, and how it contains “none of the bad stuff.” This is strong retail packaging, whether you’re selling it online or in stores. 
3. Who Gives a Crap 
If you want an example of creative packaging for your products, look no further than Who Gives a Crap. The brand sells recycled paper products, including toilet paper, paper towels, and tissue paper. Their copy is on point and highly entertaining (as you may be able to guess from the brand name), and this is reflected in their packaging.
Each product is wrapped in bright tissue paper with bold, fun prints, but it’s their innovative packaging for their shipping containers that’s so noteworthy. They add that same fun copy that possibly got customers to purchase in the first place all across the box, all the way down to their description of what the batch number on the box is and why you need it. It’s entertaining, and it makes the “unboxing” an active part of the sales and customer engagement process. 

Conclusion
The product packaging design process is obviously an involved one, and it’s not something that should be taken lightly. It can help make or break your brand, so it’s important to make the decision strategically. The best packaging will strike a balance between cost-effective and visually stunning, and will stay true to your brand and what your audience wants to see. 
Summary: How do I Design Packaging For My Product?

Do your research
Pick a product container
Get other essentials (branded packing tape, shredded paper, etc.)
Design the packaging
Get feedback
Start the printing process 

Want To Learn More?
There’s a lot that goes into product packaging and design, as you can see here. Want to learn more about what we’ve talked about here? Take a look at these posts that go more into detail about different things to consider when working on product packaging:

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Shopify vs. Etsy: Which Is Higher in 2021 (Comparability)

Nifty Nev
Design and branding |

Shopify vs. Etsy: which is right for you?
As a small business owner looking to sell products online, you’re sure to encounter these two platforms. 
Both Shopify and Etsy allow you to sell handmade goods, but they work in different ways. You need to know that Shopify is an ecommerce platform while Etsy is an online marketplace. As such, there are differences in their features, pricing, and user experience. 
In this Shopify vs. Etsy comparison, we’re going to look at all the essential aspects of both platforms, so you can make an informed choice and start selling online quickly.
(Disclaimer: Oberlo is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. We aim to publish objective, factual, and accurate information, but may be biased in certain assessments).

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Shopify vs. Etsy: An Overview
Before we compare Shopify and Etsy head-to-head, let’s do a quick overview of both platforms.
Shopify is one of the world’s most popular ecommerce platforms. Individuals and businesses can use it to build a custom online store without requiring any knowledge of code. Shopify allows you to sell most physical goods, including handmade or vintage items and craft supplies.

You can even sell digital products and create a download link for your customers. Moreover, you can use one of Shopify’s excellent themes (and its intuitive theme editor) to customize the look and feel of your store. 
Etsy, on the other hand, is an online marketplace for creative professionals. You can sell everything from custom-made art to vintage items on this platform.

However, Etsy brings challenges in that it doesn’t offer a way to brand your marketplace store. Every Etsy store has the same design and layout, making it difficult to stand out from other businesses. 
That said, millions of people visit Etsy each month to find unique supplies, so it could potentially increase your sales faster.
Shopify vs. Etsy: How They Stack Up
Now that you have some idea of both platforms, let’s look at how they compare in terms of features, pricing, and more.
Ease of Use
You don’t need years of experience building websites or coding checkout pages to succeed with Etsy or Shopify. Both platforms are simple to use for beginner entrepreneurs. 
Shopify has everything you need built-in, so you can start attracting buyers from day one. You can design an attractive website with access to beautiful themes, customize your store with plugins, and even access helpful content to guide you. 
Shopify will hold your hand through most of the building process, with tips on using the drag-and-drop builder and access to customer service when you need it. The interface is wonderfully clean and intuitive too. 

Etsy takes a slightly different approach to Shopify for your online store. Rather than building a new website from scratch, you’ll use Esty to create a storefront on an existing marketplace. This means many business leaders will be able to get started a lot faster with Etsy. However, you don’t have quite as many options for designing and branding.
Etsy will guide you through each stage of setup, so you can start selling as fast as possible. The catered suggestions offered as you move through the building experience are great for beginners.
Plus, the Pattern by Etsy solution will allow you to design a complete website that syncs with your website, although this service has a slightly higher learning curve than the standard Etsy experience.
Both solutions offer an equal level of ease of use for new store owners.
Branding and Design
Part of building a successful business online is creating a memorable brand image. You want your customers to recognize you and your products instantly. 
Shopify users will have no problem building a wonderful website. There are dozens of beautiful themes to choose from, so you can start designing immediately, even if you don’t have much coding knowledge.

Alternatively, users can skip the themes and design from the ground up if they prefer. You get a convenient drag-and-drop builder, making it extremely simple to add new functionality to your website and implement your branding. You can adjust colors to suit your business, add your own logo, and adjust the appearance of various segments of your site. 
The great thing about the themes available from Etsy is many are designed to suit specific industries. This means you get highly relevant designs, as well as extra features to suit your niche.
But Etsy doesn’t have nearly as many options for brand development and customization. If you’re building a standard Etsy storefront, you will be able to add your custom logo to the page, but that’s about it. Etsy supports things like product descriptions and images, but you don’t have the option to change your domain name, change site colors, or anything else.

The only way to get more branding options with Etsy is to use the Pattern by Etsy builder. However, this relatively new service still only allows for a handful of customization options. You can access a handful of templates here, but not as many as you’d get with Shopify. 
Ultimately, Shopify is the best choice for customization and branding.
Domains and URL
Your domain name is how your customers remember you. A good URL can work wonders for your site’s SEO.
Shopify allows business owners to purchase their domain name along with their store, and you get free, unlimited configuration and control as standard. You can choose the name that’s right for you and pay for hosting with an annual fee. Shopify combines domain hosting with free unlimited subdirectories and subdomains. You’ll even be able to create an email address for your new domain. 
Etsy, unfortunately, doesn’t allow for a domain of your own. The only way to get a domain with Etsy is to purchase the Pattern by Etsy product to build your own website. Unfortunately, this means you won’t access the marketplace benefits Etsy has to offer.
Shopify is easily the top choice for those looking to get a custom domain and clean URL for their storefront.
Ecommerce Features
Probably the most important consideration for anyone choosing between Etsy and Shopify. The right solution needs to make it easier to sell to your target audience. 
Shopify is a versatile platform renowned for its huge range of sales features. From the moment you set up your store, you’ll be able to create custom product pages, unique checkout experiences and even offer your customers a range of payment options. Free SSL certificates are offered as a standard to keep stores safe too. 
Shopify enables quick and convenient online selling, with an inventory and sales section to help you track your company’s growth. You can also link third-party sales solutions to your Shopify store. For instance, you might link your store to a Facebook or Instagram page or connect to an eBay store.

All Shopify plans also provide access to:

Discount codes and gift cards
Automatic carrier shipping rate calculations
Support for all major credit cards
Free SSL certificate
Abandoned cart recovery
Fraud analysis and customer protection
Shopify POS access
Multi-channel selling tools
Social media connections
Blogging for content marketing
Flexible shipping rates
Multiple language options (50+)
Customer profiles
Dropshipping
Customer accounts
Google Ads credits

Moreover, Shopify offers inventory management tools, bulk import/export, and a host of product organization options. 
So, how does Etsy compare? Etsy makes it quick and easy for business leaders to start selling straight away from a pre-made marketplace. You can use the Etsy app to manage sales and store requests on the move and track your inventory within the Etsy user interface. 
The platform also offers plenty of tools to boost your chances of sales, like gift cards and discount codes. You can also print discounted postage labels to help with fulfilling orders. Upgrading to Etsy Plus gives you more options for store customization, advertising credits, and email alerts.

If you’re planning to use Pattern by Etsy, you’ll also have access to things like Facebook Pixel advertising. 
Ecommerce tools from Etsy include:

Access to an existing audience
Shipping labels 
Discount codes and vouchers
Advertising opportunities
Email alerts to notify customers when items are in stock
Discounts on marketing materials (like business cards)

The biggest benefit of selling with Etsy is that you already have an audience on the marketplace to connect with. Alternatively, Shopify allows you to sell all kinds of products in various ways, including offline. You can also add integrations with other channels and services to boost your number of sales avenues.
Marketing Your Store
One of the biggest challenges business owners face today is attracting customers to their store. Fortunately, both Shopify and Etsy have tools to help you grow. 
Shopify offers content marketing and SEO tools out of the box. You can start a blog on Shopify and help people find your products with SEO features to optimize meta descriptions, title tags, and item details. 
Shopify also lets you integrate your store with a host of marketing tools. You can build cross-channel promotion strategies for social media and convince customers to sign up for email newsletters. 

Moreover, you’ll get $100 towards Google advertising, access to product reviews, site map generation, and more when you sign up for Shopify. 
Other marketing features include:

Product reviews
Generated sitemap.xml
Discounts
Sell on Facebook
Gift cards
Social media integration
Built-in email marketing
Analytics to guide your marketing strategies

Etsy, on the other hand, doesn’t offer any such tools for extending your reach. Etsy has many guides to assist you with SEO and marketing, but you’ll have to build your campaigns on your own. There aren’t any built-in marketing tools unless you use the Pattern by Etsy solution. 
Pattern by Etsy comes with access to social selling and email marketing tools. There’s also a “Plus” Etsy service which helps you stand out with new ways to customize your shop, tell shoppers when items are in stock, and more. You can even get credits towards Etsy Ads from the Plus package.
Overall, Shopify has a wider range of marketing features, but Etsy may help you sell products faster due to the many visitors it attracts monthly.
Customer Support
Customer support is an important consideration when building your online store. You need to ensure you have help on hand if something goes wrong. 
Shopify offers 24/7 live chat and phone support, so it’s easy to get answers to your questions. You can reach out over social media and email. If you want to opt for self-help support, you can also access a range of resources like the Shopify community forums, help articles, and video tutorials. 

Etsy offers a decent level of support too. Like Shopify, you get 24/7 live chat with guidance from a human advisor. However, there aren’t as many ways to get in touch with Etsy support advisors as there are with Shopify.
For sheer flexibility and range of contact options, we’d recommend Shopify for running your ecommerce business.
Shopify vs. Etsy Fees
As an online business, the less you spend on transaction fees and other costs, the better. 
Shopify requires you to pay a monthly subscription fee plus a transaction fee for processing payments (unless you use Shopify Payments). 
Transaction fees start at around 2.9% plus 30 cents. More expensive packages do come with a small discount on transactions, however. Monthly packages include:

Basic Shopify: $29 per month for basic features, like unlimited product listings, 24/7 supports, multiple sales channels, and your SSL certificate.
Shopify: $29 per month for all the features of Basic, plus up to 5 staff accounts, inventory locations, a discount on your transaction fees, and standard reports.
Advanced Shopify: $299 per month for Shopify features, plus up to 15 staff accounts, advanced reports, and third-party calculated shipping rates.

You can also use “Shopify Lite” to add a shopping button to an existing store for $9 per month. Alternatively, Shopify Plus is available at a custom price for businesses selling high volumes.
Etsy doesn’t charge anything for setting up your account, but you will have costs to manage when you stock your store and begin selling. For instance, costs include:

Processing fees: 3% of the total transaction plus $0.25 for each purchase
Transaction fees: 5% of the total charge, including shipping fees
Listing fees: $0.20 for each item listed.

So Etsy could quickly get expensive if you’re making high volume sales each month. While the initial startup costs are lower for Etsy stores, Shopify may be more cost-effective as your sales volume grows.
Selling on Shopify vs. Etsy
Both Shopify and Etsy have various options for online sales.
Shopify is one of the most versatile solutions on the market for ecommerce. You can sell everything from cosmetics to foods and services. Once you create your store, you can add as many goods and services as you like and set up payments for your customers. 
Etsy is intended entirely for selling physical products – often handmade or creative items like custom jewelry. Though you can sell services through Pattern by Etsy, it’s not possible to do this on the official Etsy marketplace.
So if you plan to offer various kinds of products to your customers, you should go with Shopify as it is more flexible in terms of what you can sell.
Summary: Shopify vs. Etsy Comparison for 2021
As you can see, Shopify and Etsy both have features to help you sell online.
Shopify is the better choice if you want to have the most control over your brand image. A lot of merchants trust Shopify for creating an online brand. You can apply a custom theme and even personalize the checkout page, which isn’t possible on Etsy at this time.
But Etsy can’t be ruled out due to the instant access to a large audience. You can get your first sale early by listing your products on the online marketplace. If immediate customers sound like just what you need right now, Etsy lets you tap into a visitor pool as soon as you publish a listing.
Ideally, you can combine both platforms to boost the reach of your business. If you create a Shopify store, you can install an Etsy app from the Shopify App Store to sync order tracking and product details. If you have an Etsy shop and want more control over your branding, you can migrate it to Shopify, brand your storefront, and then add Etsy as a sales channel to get the best of both worlds.
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The best way to Create a Nice Product Web page

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding, Marketing |

Your product page is one of the most important pages on your website. So it’s only natural that you’d want to create a great product page.Good product pages help convert browsers into buyers. Also, they help give your customers the information they need to make an informed purchase. 
There are many ways to build ecommerce product pages. In this article, we’ll share some best practices for product page design that you can use to improve your own pages .
You’ll also see examples of different product pages so you can better understand what works well and what doesn’t.Let’s jump in.

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Product Page Design: 8 Tips for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
Your product pages can make or break your ecommerce business. So it’s crucial to design them well. Below are all the elements you need to include in your product pages design to make them more inviting for online shoppers.
The Perfect Product Description
According to Nielsen Norman Group, the most effective product descriptions are scannable, concise, and objective. This type of content was shown to improve usability by 124%.
To create scannable content, you should include short bullet points in your product descriptions for easy reading. Concise content is 1-4 sentences describing the product. Objective content describes the product honestly rather than exaggerating benefits.
In the example below, there’s too much unnecessary information. Also, as colors and sizes run out of inventory, you’d have to keep manually changing the product descriptions for all products accordingly.

In the next example, there are three sentences. The first sentence describes the product in a neutral way using some of the bullet points supplied by Oberlo. Feminine replaced the ‘Gender: Women’ point. Next, two sentences were written to describe outfit pairings. This allows the potential customer to envision an outfit for the blouse they’re looking at.

Like the second example, you can choose to remove several bullet points if they seem redundant. Also, if you want to create a consistent brand you might choose to organize all product page bullet points in the same way. In fashion, you might always have the fabric first and so forth.

The Perfect Product Images
The best product pages feature high quality images showcasing the products in all their glory. You should never compromise on image quality as it can have a negative impact on your sales. If a picture is low quality or doesn’t represent the product well, consumers aren’t going to move forward with the purchase. 
People want a clear idea of what the product might look like in real life. Learning product photography can help you capture images that shoppers envision their appearance. 
 You should also note that some product sourcing platforms allow you to import product images. For example, you can import item images from Oberlo to use on your product pages. Once imported, make sure to remove logos from product images in PhotoShop. If your product was shot on a grey background, remove the background to make it white. Try to create a consistent look for the products on your website.

Next, consider including 360-degree images in your product page designs to enhance the visitor experience. Customers enjoy being able to see all angles of a product. For example, knowing what the front and back of a top looks like helps customers see what they’re buying.
It’s also great to allow customers to add their own product images in the review section. It allows everyone to see what they’ll get without the glitz and glam of professional photography.
Also, if you sell fashion items such as dresses or shirts, don’t forget to import a size chart image. This allows customers to see measurements and sizes to help them decide on which is the best fit. If you’re sourcing from Asia and selling in the US, use our guide to convert Asian sizes to US sizes. 
In addition, having a product image zoom feature allows customers to get a better view of your product image. It allows your customers to look at a product’s fine details.

Lastly, having a product video can increase conversion rates. According to Kissmetrics, site visitors are 64-85% more likely to buy after watching a video on a website.

A Sense of Urgency
According to Conversion XL, you can increase sales by as much as 332% by creating scarcity and a sense of urgency. You can also increase your conversion rate by doing this.

Urgency helps turn the casual browser into a buyer, fast. When your customers browse your store, a great product will seduce the browser. However, having a sale countdown timer can help encourage the browser to buy right now.
Using countdown timer apps like Hurrify can help create a sense of urgency. You can write your own text or choose from a list of examples. Having text that indicates limited quantities can help create scarcity which may help drive sales. However, you can choose to test various different texts to see which increases conversions the most.

Intuitive Layout
Your customer should be able to know how to use your website even if they don’t understand the language. There’s a general product page layout that your online store should integrate. Don’t use funky, impractical layouts as it can confuse customers or frustrate them. Keep it simple.
Most of the time, the product image is on the left. The product copy is on the right with the Add to Cart button close by and prominent. Make sure your ‘Add to Cart’ button can be clearly seen.
When choosing a theme for your store, you should make sure it looks similar to other popular websites in your niche. While many will say ‘stand out from the competition,’ this is generally bad advice when it comes to product page layouts.
The free Minimal Theme on the Shopify Theme Store is a good example of a product page layout that’s not only familiar to most customers, but also includes other essentials of product page design. Shopify also has many free themes with intuitive layouts that can help enhance the look of your product pages.

Social Sharing Buttons
Social sharing buttons are great for promoting your product page, especially when you have a popular product. Unfortunately, they can also have a negative effect on your conversions. Doing A/B testing on your store will help you determine whether or not social sharing will work for you.

According to VWO, an ecommerce business split tested social sharing buttons and found an 11.9% increase in call-to-action click throughs when removed. They outlined that the social sharing buttons likely don’t convert well when you have no shares on them.
In a test by Kuno Creative, when social sharing had over 500 conversions they had a conversion rate of 9% instead of 2%.
Thus, if you’re a new store, it might be a good idea to remove social sharing buttons. Consider adding them back to your store once you’ve built an audience and send large amounts of traffic to product pages. You can also test to see if having the icons without specific numbers mentioned works well for your store.

Shipping Information
Mentioning or having an icon indicating ‘free shipping on orders over $75’ or ‘free shipping within the US’ helps customers get a snapshot of shipping information.
By having this succinct information on the product page, you prevent the customer from moving off the page to read your shipping information, as the essential point is clarified on the page itself.
Highlighting the requirements of free shipping allows your customer to add more products to their cart if they choose to.

Customer Reviews
Having customer reviews on your product page is essential. If you’re driving traffic to a product page, the reviews on your store can give browsers the extra push towards closing that sale without you doing much work.
According to eMarketer, customer reviews are 12x more trusted than manufacturer descriptions. Thus, having customer reviews can always help boost your sales and convert the customer if they’re generally positive.

You can use an app like Product Reviews Addon to automatically contact customers after their purchase for reviews. This will allow you to grow your reviews quickly and with minimal work.

Recommended Products
While you might want to a/b test whether this will help with conversions, having recommended products encourage customers to stay on your site a little longer.
Oftentimes, you’ll have models wearing more than just the top you’re selling. If you sell the matching skirt or the earrings the model is wearing, having it in your recommended products will help customers complete their look.
When it comes to recommended products, avoid having products that look too identical. This can cause a customer to become confused and may result in fewer sales. This is because more choices requires more thinking.

For example, you can still cross-sell an item with a similar type of product such as a blouse. However, the blouses need to look different enough from one another to help encourage the sale. Recommending a skirt as a cross-sell that complements that specific blouse can also work really well. It also simplifies the decision as you’re creating an outfit for your customer.
How to Build a Product Page with Shopify
You don’t need to know code to create product pages for your website. With Shopify, you can build pages that have a balance of both good aesthetics and functionality. To customize product pages in Shopify, take the following the steps:

Go to your Shopify admin.
Choose ‘Online Store’ > ‘Themes’
Click ‘Customize’ and then wait for Shopify to take you to Theme editing.
Pick ‘Product Pages’ from the drop-down menu. 
Start customizing your product page layout.

Best Product Page Examples + What Makes Them Great

Aldo

Why we love it: This product page is very intuitive and clean. The product images are high res and there are different angles so a customer can make an informed decision. It also showcases which sizes they have right off the bat in their ‘Size’ section. The ‘Add to Bag’ is a vibrant blue which pops well against their crisp white background.They showcase free shipping and free returns icons directly on their product page for easy access. Their product description is short and to the point with 3 bullet points and one sentence describing the product. It also features a recommended products section with a mix of products that look quite different from the one showcased to prevent customer confusion. Lastly, there’s a reviews section with customer feedback.
Kate Spade

Why we love it: There are several product images showing different angles. There are also images showing a person using the product. The ‘Add to Bag’ pops against the white background and suits the company branding. Shipping and return information is listed on the product page. The social sharing buttons don’t mention how many people have used it which is great if they have low shares. The product description is succinct and there are many bullet points used for easy reading. They also have a selection of recommended products, though a few seem too similar and may cause confusion.
Urban Outfitters

Why we love it: The product image pops against a plain white background. The image is unique and has an uncommon style which makes it attention grabbing. The black ‘Add to Bag’ pops against the crisp white background. The social sharing buttons are visible but not the focus, they also don’t detail any specific numbers. The copy is relatively short with bullet points available. There are also reviews available on the page. The recommended images would’ve worked best if there weren’t as many with the similar style photography. However, the one on the far right pops well against the similar styles of the other products.
Disney Store

Why we love it: The Disney Store’s product page is clean. It features shipping information in the header. There are different angles shown for the product. There’s a review section. The product copy is short, it also features bullet points below the product image. The ‘Add to Bag’ contrasts against the white background while staying consistent with the product branding. However, a different color may convert better. Delivery information is also available within the product page. The similar products features a similar style of products but with different characters which would pop to someone familiar with the Disney brand.

Guess

Why we love it: The product page features a very large zoom feature that allows customers to see the fine details of the product image. There are also several pictures showcasing different angles. The recommended products below feature different styles and colors to avoid confusing the customer with their choice. A size chart is available on the product page. Shipping information is also made clear. The product description is short and features two bullet points. The social sharing icons are small, those not distracting the customer. They also don’t detail how many shares there are. The ‘Add to Bag’ button is small but it’s all black color contrasts well against the white background.
Ready to Make High-Converting Product Pages?
Effective product pages instantly convey the value of your items. They tell potential customers what the product feels like, which gives them confidence to move ahead with the purchase.
So if you haven’t given much attention to your product page designs, now is the time to do so. With some changes, you can significantly improve the conversions they bring. Follow the advice in this article to ensure your product pages answer people’s questions and get them ready to check out. 
Summary: Product Page Design Best Practices for 2021

Include an epic product description
Post the perfect product images
Add a sense of urgency
Ensure the layout is intuitive 
Test social sharing buttons
Include shipping information
Feature customer reviews
Include recommended products

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11 Greatest Inventory Pictures Websites for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding, Marketing |

An integral part of creating your online store is sourcing high-quality images which are related to your ecommerce business. If you don’t currently have the resources to source your own images, then you’ll need to rely on stock images to build brand authority and showcase professionalism.
We’ve created this article to highlight the best stock photo sites which you can use to source royalty free images for your ecommerce store. We’ve also included free image sites on our list to make life easier if you’re starting your ecommerce store on a budget.
What is a Stock Image Website?
Stock images are photos that are already captured, edited, and available for use. There are two types of stock images: photos that require you to pay a licensing fee and images that are free to use (aka. royalty free images). 
The majority of images which you can source from stock image websites are royalty free, which means that you can use them anywhere without having to credit anybody. When you use stock images, you can also edit them to your liking and even distribute them in marketing campaigns — they’re perfect for ecommerce entrepreneurs.
When you’re searching for stock images, you’ll need to choose between two different options; free stock image websites and premium stock image websites. Both premium and free stock image websites have advantages and disadvantages which you’ll need to take into consideration when you’re sourcing images for your business. 
We’ve highlighted the key points to consider when you’re choosing which option is the best fit for your brand.

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Best Free Stock Photo Sites
If you’re an ecommerce entrepreneur who is running your online store with a relatively low budget, then it’s critical that you avoid unnecessary expenses. If you’re faced with the choice between spending some of your budget on stock images or growing your business with marketing campaigns, you’ll need to prioritize the latter.
Free stock photo sites offer a wide range of images and graphics which you can use without any charge– they’re invaluable for ecommerce entrepreneurs who are working with a tight budget. They don’t have a colossal library of images, like premium stock image websites do, but you’ll certainly be able to find high-quality, copyright free images which fit your ecommerce store’s design. 
We’ve listed the top 6 free stock photo sites for ecommerce entrepreneurs below:
Shopify Burst

Shopify Burst is a free stock image website that is primarily aimed at entrepreneurs. The website is clean, with a modern design, making it easy to find free high resolution images. 
Shopify Burst’s best feature for ecommerce entrepreneurs is their ‘Business Ideas’ section. In this section, you’ll be able to view categories of images which are dedicated towards specific types of ecommerce stores, like yoga products, or enamel pins.
This free stock image website will give you plenty of choices for images related to your niche and even give you ideas for new products.
Pexels

Pexels offers a wealth of stock photos for free. These cover a wide spectrum of topics, so you’re sure to find something suitable for your business.. 
Pexels’  search function is what really makes it stand out from the crowd– it’s simple to use and has multiple useful parameters, which make it one of the easiest stock photography websites to use. 
Pexels’ library of images contains plenty of aesthetically pleasing images, most of which are stunning landscape photos, so they could be ideal for the backdrop of your ecommerce store.
Unsplash

Unsplash is another essential free stock image site for ecommerce entrepreneurs. The site is constantly updating its database, adding 10 royalty-free photographs every 10 days.
The images which you can find on the site are of the highest-quality and would fit into any part of an ecommerce store, or any marketing campaigns which you create. 
The downside to Unsplash is that their search function is relatively limited, meaning that it can be difficult at times to find what you’re searching for.
StockSnap.io

If you’re an ecommerce entrepreneur with a strong eye for design, then you’ll find that StockSnap.io is one of the best free stock image sites on our list. 
StockSnap.io’s content library includes an extensive bank of photos which cover most aspects of design. We recommend this free stock image website specifically for ecommerce entrepreneurs who are selling clothes, as it features lots of aspirational images which will attest to your target audience. 
You’ll also find free stock images for commercial use on StockSnap.
Gratisography

Gratisography is a free stock image website which was created by Ryan McGuire, an artist and designer.
This free stock image site has plenty of royalty-free images which were all taken by Ryan, so the images are truly unique. You can use the content from this website to make your online store stand out from the crowd.
Ecommerce entrepreneurs can also use Gratisography to find free stock images for commercial use.
Picjumbo 

Launched in 2013 by designer and photographer Viktor Hanacek, Picjumbo offers a vast range of copyright-free images for personal and commercial use.
What’s unique about this free stock photo site is that it displays the images as collections. This is when you can see the same image from different angles and pick the best shot for your project. 
There are several collections to view, and Picjumbo daily adds new photos in a wide variety of categories. Rest assured, you’ll have plenty of high-quality images to choose from.

Premium Stock Image Websites
Premium stock image websites generally offer images which are of a higher quality than those which you can find on a free stock image website. 
However, these higher quality images come at a price. If you find an image which you’d like to source on a premium stock image website, then you’ll need to purchase the image, or the license for the image, for a substantial amount of money. 
As these images cost money, they’re much more exclusive, which means that you’ll be able to make your ecommerce store stand out from the crowd. 
Here’s an overview of the best premium stock image websites which you can use to source images from:
EyeEm

EyeEm is a unique premium stock photography website– they’ve built a strong community around people buying and selling photographs. On the EyeEm marketplace you’ll find photographs which have been uploaded by other users.
If you find an image which you’re interested in using, then you can easily buy the full rights, which means you now own the image. Once you’re in possession of the rights, you can use the images for your ecommerce business however you want. 
This premium stock image website excels because it was founded by entrepreneurs who are passionate about design and is fueled by a community of like-minded people working together.
Shutterstock

Shutterstock is one of the most successful premium stock image websites. Their image library boasts millions of royalty free stock photos, illustrations, and graphics. They’re constantly working to ensure that their library is filled with the highest quality content possible.
Every day, Shutterstock adds ten thousand new high-resolution images, which means that you’ll be spoilt for choice if you use this platform. Shutterstock’s images can be expensive if you purchase them individually, but they’re more affordable if you purchase any of their bundles. 
Shutterstock’s built-in photo editing tool is what makes this premium stock image website stand out from the crowd. You can purchase an image, edit, and resize the image all without leaving their website– it’s perfect for ecommerce entrepreneurs who aren’t proficient with photo editing.
iStockPhoto

iStockPhoto is one of the longest running premium stock image sites. It was originally founded in 1999 and has been at the forefront of design ever since. 
iStockPhoto has an intuitive search function which enables users to find images quickly and easily. Even if you aren’t technically proficient, you’ll be able to access iStockPhoto’s wealth of images, graphics, video, and audio. 
This stock image website’s pricing plan is amongst the most expensive on this list, but you’ll be paying for high-quality images which you can use for your store. They also have a unique reverse search function, which enables you to check if any of the images you’re interested in have been used by other ecommerce businesses.
Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock (formerly Fotolia) has one of the largest libraries of content out of the premium stock image websites on our list. You’ll find millions of royalty-free images which you can gain access to for a relatively cheap price. The website has an intuitive design which is easy to navigate around. 
Adobe Stock has also incorporated a ‘collections’ system into their website, which is great for ecommerce entrepreneurs. The collections which are available are named core, infinite, and instant. Their core and infinite collections include images which are tailored to desktop use, whereas their instant collection features images which are tailored to mobile users. 
This is a great feature for ecommerce entrepreneurs who are optimizing their store for mobile.
BigStockPhoto

BigStockPhoto provides users with an easy and enjoyable experience when they’re browsing the website. 
There are simple drop down menus and clearly defined categories which allow you to find the images you’re looking for. 
Although these premium stock images are on the more expensive side, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth in high-quality visual content.
Summary: The 11 Best Websites to Source Stock Images in 2021
Now you know various different stock image websites, it’s time to nail the design of your ecommerce store. Remember, you aren’t limited to using just one of these stock images platforms, you should take advantage of all of them.
In summary, here are the 11 best stock image websites to use in 2021:

Shopify Burst
Pexels
Unsplash
StockSnap.io
Gratisography
Picjumbo
EyeEm
Shutterstock
iStockPhoto
Adobe Stock
BigStockPhoto

If you have any questions related to stock image websites, or designing your store in general, let us know in the comments section– we’re happy to help!

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Wix vs . Shopify: That may very well be Greatest For Your Wants? (2021)

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Business ideas, Design and branding, dropshipping, Marketing |

Wix vs. Shopify: which is best for your needs?
Undoubtedly, Wix and Shopify are two of the best options available when it comes to building a website for your business or project. And at first glance, they might seem to offer pretty much all the same features and tools. However, there are plenty of crucial differences between these two platforms.
So, before you sign up and begin building your online business, it’s worth taking some time to understand which is better: Wix or Shopify? And what’s more, which platform is best for your specific needs? In this guide, we’ll compare Wix vs. Shopify in 9 key areas:

General overview
Pricing and value
Payment gateways and transaction fees
Ecommerce
Themes and design
Apps
POS
Customer support and guidance
Dropshipping

Let’s jump in!
(Disclosure: This website is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. Although we strive to publish objective, accurate, and factual content, this article may contain biased opinions.)

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Wix vs. Shopify: General Overview
Wix started its journey as a website-builder for people who want to build content-based websites. As such, it was used to build brochure websites, blogs, and news sites. For this reason, it was a good choice for freelancers and small service-based businesses.
In contrast, Shopify was explicitly built to enable businesses to create and manage online stores. As a result, it was favored by entrepreneurs, ecommerce businesses, and dropshippers.
Both platforms have since extended their feature sets to offer an enormous amount of tools today. Wix and Shopify both allow you to build a website without coding skills, sell products online, and provide an integrated point-of-sale (POS) solution to sell products in person. And you can use either platform to build a content-based or ecommerce website.
Still, Shopify is still entirely focused on business tools, whereas Wix casts a wider net as a website builder that also has ecommerce features. 
This can be seen clearly in their homepage headlines — Shopify writes, “Anyone, anywhere, can start a business.”

On the other hand, Wix writes, “Create a Website You’re Proud Of.”

Wix vs. Shopify: Pricing and Value
Now, let’s compare Wix vs. Shopify’s pricing plans.
Wix has plenty of pricing plans to choose from. There are 5 plans for building a website:

Free (with limited features and Wix advertisements)
Combo: $14 per month
Unlimited: $18 per month
Pro: $23 per month
VIP: $39 per month

And there are 4 Business and Ecommerce plans:

Business Basic: $23 per month
Business Unlimited: $27 per month
Business VIP: $49 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing

Shopify has 5 pricing plans, but there are 3 core plans to choose from:

Basic Shopify: $29 per month
Shopify: $79 per month
Shopify Advanced: $299 per month

The 2 other plans are Shopify Plus — the platform’s enterprise solution — and Shopify Lite, which allows you to take payments online but doesn’t provide an ecommerce website.

It’s worth noting that Wix’s plans contain significant limitations. For example, the 3 business plans limit the amount of storage you can use to 25GB, 35GB, and 50GB, respectively. The 2 cheaper business plans also limit the number of video hours you can upload to 5 hours and 10 hours, respectively. Also, Wix allows users up to 100 pages per website.
In contrast, Shopify provides unlimited storage, bandwidth, and website pages on every plan.
Ultimately, Wix’s free plan may seem like a winner at first. But it’s important to know that this option has very limited features. For example, you can’t connect a domain name, so your site address will be “mywebsite.wixsite.com” and Wix ads will be shown on every page. That said, it’s a great way to learn more about the platform. 
In comparison, Shopify offers a free 14-day trial for you to experience the platform first-hand before committing.
So, what’s the takeaway?
Well, if you want to build a ‘general’ content-based website, Wix is cheaper. And if you’re going to make a business website, Wix has slightly more affordable plans than Shopify. 
However, to determine whether Wix or Shopify offers more value, you’ll need to evaluate the ecommerce features each platform provides. And in this arena, Shopify has some incredibly powerful tools.
Wix vs. Shopify: Payment Gateways and Transaction Fees
When considering pricing, it’s also important to understand each platform’s transaction fees which can have a significant impact on your website’s overall monthly cost.
Wix integrates with more than 50 payment gateways, including Stripe and PayPal Powered by Braintree. It also has its own payment gateway, Wix Payments, which charges 2.9% of the transaction amount, plus a fixed charge of $0.30.

On the other hand, Shopify integrates with more than 100 payment gateways and has its own, called Shopify Payments.

Notably, Wix Payments is only available in 14 countries worldwide, whereas Shopify Payments is available in 17.
On the Basic Shopify plan, transaction fees are the same as Wix — 2.9%, plus $0.30 per transaction. However, this fee decreases when you upgrade to the Shopify and Shopify Advanced plans as your business grows, becoming 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively.
Although you could integrate one of the third-party gateways, Wix Payments and Shopify Payments are the easiest ways to start accepting payments through these platforms. 
So, it seems that Shopify has the edge here — the money saved from a decrease in transaction fees as your business grows will add up.
Wix vs. Shopify for Ecommerce
If you want to start a business, take your business online, or earn money through your website at some point, this section is particularly important for you. 
So, what’s the deal?
Well, ecommerce features are only available on Wix’s Business and Ecommerce plans, whereas every Shopify plan comes with ecommerce functionality out-of-the-box.
Wix provides virtually everything you need to sell online. However, in general, it’s fair to say that Shopify provides more advanced ecommerce functionality, as the platform is entirely dedicated to ecommerce.

For example, selling to consumers in other countries has become increasingly easier in recent years. As a result, cross-border ecommerce is an exciting opportunity for online businesses.
To help, Wix allows users to display prices in the shopper’s local currency. However, website visitors aren’t able to checkout in their local currency — which is an important part of selling online. On the other hand, Shopify’s multi-currency features allow shoppers to view prices and checkout in their local currency.
For reasons like these, Shopify is the platform of choice for successful brands like Gymshark, Fitbit, KKW Beauty, and Wholefoods.
All in all, Shopify provides ecommerce features that enable you to start small and grow into an enterprise brand.
Wix vs. Shopify: Themes and Design
Design is an important part of building a website.
Wix provides more than 800 templates, which is considerably more than Shopify’s 9 free themes and 72 paid themes. That said, there are also more than 1,200 Shopify themes available on Theme Forest from third-parties.

Still, Wix’s 800 free templates offer more choice out-of-the-box than Shopify. 
It’s wise to note that Shopify’s themes are all responsive — this means they automatically adapt to whatever screen they’re viewed on. In contrast, Wix’s themes use ‘absolute positioning,’ which means the elements are arranged by pixel. As a result, you’ll need to configure 3 versions of your design for desktops, mobiles, and tablets — this means a lot more time is required to create new pages or make changes
Additionally, Shopify allows you to change your theme in just a few clicks. If you want to redesign your Wix website, you’ll need to rebuild your entire website.
So, Shopify is the clear winner in terms of design flexibility.

Shopify’s themes are understandably more geared to ecommerce, too. So, if you’re looking for an optimized ecommerce website, Shopify may be the better choice.
Wix vs. Shopify: Apps
Both Wix and Shopify have app stores featuring additional tools and features that you can add to your store.
Wix’s AppMarket provides over 250 apps and integrations. 

Shopify’s App Store has more than 6,000 apps and integrations that you can use to improve your website and POS.

Wix vs. Shopify: POS
Now, let’s explore Wix vs. Shopify’s point of sale (POS) solutions.
These systems allow you to sell in-person through integrated hardware that syncs your online and offline inventory, sales management, and customer data.
Shopify provides an all-in-one solution through Shopify POS and a range of POS hardware.

Wix also has its own system — Wix POS.

However, Wix POS just launched in June 2021 and is “currently available to select U.S.-based merchants only.” So, most Wix users will need to set up a POS integration with a service like Square or SumUp.
On the other hand, Shopify POS is a key feature of the platform that’s been around for a while. This is why Shopify POS is available on every pricing plan — including Shopify Lite for $9 per month. Shopify also offers dedicated POS reporting and support.
As a result, Shopify POS is more streamlined and integrated into Shopify than Wix’s offerings are.
Wix vs. Shopify: Customer Support and Guidance
Wix and Shopify have learning curves that new users will need to overcome to get the most from the platforms. So, it’s essential to consider the resources and customer support that each service has on hand to help.
Wix has a help center, blog posts, and a forum. It also provides customer support via email and phone.
Shopify also provides a comprehensive help center and countless blog resources. And unlike Wix, Shopify offers 3 methods of customer support: email, phone, and live chat.
Both platforms provide 24/7 support. However, it’s worth mentioning that Wix only provides customer support in 9 languages, whereas Shopify offers 21 languages.
In addition, Shopify provides a wealth of free online courses from experts and influencers, such as Daymond John and Tim Ferris. The Shopify Masters podcast is also jam-packed with actionable strategies and marketing advice. There’s also a highly active Shopify forum which is a great place to connect with others and learn.

The community and support that surrounds Shopify make it the clear winner here.
Wix vs. Shopify: Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a method of sourcing products and fulfilling orders without purchasing inventory upfront or managing logistics. Consequently, it’s a fantastic way to start a business or extend product lines fast.
The image below illustrates how dropshipping works:

You can dropship all kinds of products online or use print-on-demand services like Printify and Printful to sell products featuring your brand or designs.
Both platforms enable users to dropship — but which is better, Wix or Shopify?
Wix provides dropshipping capabilities via third-party apps like Modalyst, Spocket, and Printify. However, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business Unlimited plan to dropship — and, confusingly, this plan limits the amount of dropshipping products you can sell to 250. This isn’t ideal for budding entrepreneurs looking to scale while keeping overheads to a minimum.

Shopify has a host of dropshipping apps available on all its plans with no product limits, including Modalyst, Spocket, Printify, and Printful.

Shopify also provides its own dedicated dropshipping app: Oberlo (that’s us!). Oberlo enables you to add thousands of dropshipping products to your store quickly and start selling them online.
Ultimately, Shopify provides more dropshipping options and no product limits. Not only that, but  Oberlo also offers a highly streamlined approach to dropshipping.
Final Thoughts: Is Wix or Shopify Better? 
Shopify and Wix are both fantastic platforms for building a website and growing a business.
So, what’s our verdict? If you want to sell anything online, start a business, or grow a business, you can’t beat Shopify’s focus on all things commerce. Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind:

Shopify provides unlimited storage and bandwidth on every plan — Wix has limits.
Shopify Payments’ transaction fees are reduced as your business grows and you move to higher plans.
Shoppers can check out in multiple currencies with Shopify — this feature isn’t available on Wix.
Shopify allows you to switch templates easily without redesigning — Wix requires you to redesign your site if you want to change templates.
Shopify’s website templates are responsive — Wix’s aren’t.
Shopify’s POS solution is available to every user and is a more streamlined approach than using Wix’s third-party integrations.
Wix doesn’t provide as many educational resources as Shopify.
Shopify provides access to 6,000 apps and integrations, offering far more than Wix — including more dropshipping options.
Shopify provides live chat support — Wix doesn’t.

Which platform do you like most? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Shopify vs . Squarespace: That’s the Finest Possibility for You?

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding, dropshipping, Marketing |

Shopify vs. Squarespace: Which is better?
Choosing a website platform is an important decision. Whichever platform you pick will heavily affect many aspects of your project or business’s marketing and operations. Plus, switching platforms in the future can cost a lot of time and money.
But deciding which platform to use isn’t easy.
At first glance, Shopify and Squarespace look like similar products — both allow you to build a website and sell online without coding skills. So, what sets Shopify and Squarespace apart? And which platform is best for your needs?
In this article, we’ll compare Shopify vs. Squarespace in 9 key areas:

General Overview
Pricing and Value
Ecommerce
Payment Gateways and Transaction Fees
Themes and Design
Apps
Dropshipping
Customer Support and Guidance
POS

Let’s dive in!
(Disclosure: This website is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. Although we strive to publish objective, accurate, and factual content, this article may contain biased opinions.)

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Shopify vs. Squarespace: General Overview
Before we explore the details, let’s get a general feel for both Shopify and Squarespace.
Shopify was made to enable businesses to set up and manage online stores. In contrast, Squarespace was built as a more general website builder for content-based websites, such as portfolios, brochure websites, and service-based business websites.
Over the years, Shopify’s ability to handle content has increased dramatically — especially with the help of third-party apps. And Squarespace has added ecommerce functionality to the platform to enable users to sell online.
As a result, you can use either platform to build an online store or a content-based website.
However, although Shopify and Squarespace have extended their functionality over the years, it’s fair to say their focus has remained the same.
Shopify is still focused on providing an integrated suite of business tools to help “anyone, anywhere” start a business.

And Squarespace still positions itself as a more general set of “simple tools for your big ideas.”

You’ll see this theme play out in the rest of this article. 
So, it’s important to ask yourself an essential question from the outset: Do you want a content-based website, or would you also like to sell through your website at some point?
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Pricing and Value
Cost is a vital consideration when weighing Shopify vs. Squarespace. So, which platform is cheaper, and which one provides more value? Let’s take a look.
Shopify has 5 different pricing plans to choose from:

Shopify Lite: $9 per month
Basic Shopify: $29 per month
Shopify: $79 per month
Shopify Advanced: $299 per month
Shopify Plus: $2,000+ per month

It’s important to note that Shopify Lite doesn’t come with a website. Instead, it provides access to Shopify’s basic commerce features, including a point-of-sale (POS) solution and online ‘Buy Now’ buttons (more on this later).
Shopify Plus is the platform’s enterprise solution, used by the likes of Gymshark, KKW Beauty, Wholefoods, and Fitbit.

Shopify also provides a free 14-day trial so you can check out the platform for yourself before signing up. 
Squarespace offers 4 pricing plans:

Personal: $12 per month
Business: $18 per month
Basic Commerce: $26 per month
Advanced Commerce $40 per month

It’s worth pointing out that Squarespace’s ‘Personal’ plan is fairly limited. For example, you:

Can’t use MailChimp to capture website visitor’s email addresses
Don’t get access to promotional popups and announcement bar features
Can’t customize your website with CSS or javascript (which is important when the extensions available are so limited — more on this later)

Consequently, most users will likely want to upgrade to the ‘Business’ plan fairly quickly. This plan is a little cheaper than the ‘Basic Shopify’ plan. 
However, when you consider that Squarespace charges a 3% fee on every transaction on the ‘Business plan,’ the ‘Basic Shopify’ plan seems to offer more value — especially as Shopify offers far more out-of-the-box ecommerce features.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Ecommerce
Even if you’re not interested in selling right now, there may come a point when it makes sense to start earning money online. So, it’s worth considering Shopify vs. Squarespace for ecommerce.
Of course, if you plan to start a business or take an existing business online, this section is especially significant for you.
So, what’s the deal?
Unsurprisingly, every single Shopify plan allows you to sell via your website and other online sales channels like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.

In comparison, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business, Basic Commerce, or Advanced Commerce plans to sell via Squarespace. Squarespace also enables you to sell via Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.

Squarespace’s ecommerce features are arguably a little easier to use than Shopify’s at first — but this is probably because Shopify has far more ecommerce features available than Squarespace.
For example, Shopify provides a “Buy Now” button feature. 
This allows you to embed products anywhere online where you can add a snippet of code, such as in blog posts. So, if you were to partner with influencers to promote your products, you could give them the option to embed products within the post itself.

Shopify also offers more advanced ecommerce features that Squarespace doesn’t.
For example, cross-border ecommerce is an attractive opportunity for many online businesses. Unfortunately, Squarespace doesn’t offer a multi-currency option. In contrast, Shopify provides a multi-currency tool that allows users in other countries to view prices and checkout in their local currency. With the ability to source products from all over the world, functionality like cross-border ecommerce is vital in today’s interconnected economy.
It’s also worth noting that Shopify’s extensive app store provides virtually limitless ecommerce potential (more on this soon).
All in all, Shopify wins the ecommerce battle, hands down.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Payment Gateways and Transaction Fees
To sell online, you need a payment gateway to facilitate transactions.
You can use more than 100 payment gateways with Shopify, including all the big ones, like Amazon Pay, Stripe, and PayPal. Plus, the platform has its own gateway, Shopify Payments.
That said, Shopify charges an additional 2% if you use any service other than Shopify Payments. But unless you have a strong attachment to another payment gateway, Shopify Payments is the way to go anyway, thanks to its seamless integration with the platform. 

Alternatively, Squarespace integrates with just 4 online payment gateways — Stripe, Paypal, Afterpay, and Apple Pay.
So, what about transaction fees?
Shopify Payments charges 2.9%, plus $0.30 per transaction on the ‘Basic Shopify’ plan, and the charges decrease as you upgrade to the ‘Shopify’ and ‘Shopify Advanced’ plans to 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively.
With Squarespace, transaction fees vary depending on which payment gateway you use, although the rates will likely be similar.
Bottom line, Shopify takes the lead thanks to its streamlined process and ability to integrate with so many payment gateways worldwide.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Themes and Design
When it comes to building a website, appearance matters — a lot. So, let’s compare Shopify vs. Squarespace on design.
Shopify offers 9 free website themes and 72 paid themes that cost between $100 and $180. Each of these themes offers multiple variables, too — so there are more options available than you can see at first glance.

Still, in the very unlikely scenario that you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can always purchase one of the 1,200 Shopify themes available on Theme Forest from third-party developers.
On the other hand, Squarespace provides 127 templates that are free to use.

Shopify and Squarespace both offer stunning, professional responsive designs — this means they adapt automatically to different screen sizes.
However, most of Squarespace’s templates seem to be geared toward users who want to showcase a portfolio or other content. And Shopify’s appear to be better equipped to manage ecommerce.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Apps
With the vast ocean of digital tools available online, no website builder or ecommerce platform can create and manage everything in-house. For this reason, both Shopify and Squarespace provide a library of apps and extensions.
You can use apps and extensions to:

Change the appearance of your website
Increase sales with specialized tools for things like email marketing
Improve the shipping experience for customers
Add widgets for media, social media, and more
Source products

Shopify’s App Store plays host to more than 6,000 apps and integrations — simply put, there’s an app for basically everything you can think of.

Squarespace offers just 24 extensions — although this number is likely to grow over time.

Understandably, this is a huge win for Shopify.
Practically speaking, this means that if you sign up to Squarespace and you discover that it doesn’t provide a feature you’d like, you’re stuck. Whereas with Shopify, it’s very likely there’ll be an app to fill the gap.
Bottom line, Shopify’s app store provides users with virtually unlimited customization potential without the need for coding.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a popular way to start selling products online without purchasing inventory upfront, storing products, or shipping orders to customers. Instead, a third-party dropshipping supplier will handle all of those things for you! 
Check out the image below to see dropshipping in action:

Thanks to Shopify’s colossal app store, the platform has an abundance of dropshipping apps — including print-on-demand services that enable you to sell products with your own designs on them.

Also, Shopify has Oberlo — we empower entrepreneurs to kickstart their dream business with a streamlined Shopify dropshipping app and dedicated dropshipping resources.
In comparison, Squarespace provides one dropshipping app and 2 print-on-demand apps.

Again, Shopify’s huge app store means it wins the dropshipping category.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: Customer Support and Guidance
To get the most out of Shopify and Squarespace, you’ll need to learn about the platforms’ features and functions. You may also run into problems that you need help to solve. So, it’s worth considering what resources and customer support are available to help you.
Shopify has an enormous amount of resources to help users get started with the platform and grow a profitable business online.
For example, there’s an extensive help center, an active forum, and 24/7 customer support. Plus, you can get support in 21 languages via email, phone, or live chat.

If that’s not enough, Shopify also provides a wealth of blog resources, free online courses, and the Shopify Masters podcast, which are all jam-packed with actionable insights and tips.
Squarespace offers support via email and live chat. And like Shopify, there’s also a help center, forum, blog, and series of educational webinars.

In short, Shopify and Squarespace both offer a good amount of support and resources. However, Shopify has the edge here as it offers free phone support on every plan.
Shopify vs. Squarespace: POS
If you plan to sell in person — or think you might want to in the future — it’s worth considering Shopify vs. Squarespace’s point of sale (POS) solutions.
POS systems enable you to take payments via hardware that’s integrated with your online store, unifying your online and offline inventory management, sales data, and customer data.
Shopify has its own POS (called Shopify POS) and a comprehensive range of POS hardware that you can purchase in bundles or individually, depending on your needs. This POS system is tightly integrated with Shopify and it’s available on all plans — including Shopify Lite.

Squarespace has partnered with POS solution Square to offer users a way to take payments in person — although it’s only available to users based in the United States. Also, Squarespace only allows you to integrate a card reader and doesn’t offer other hardware.

Shopify is the clear winner here with a more powerful, streamlined, and flexible POS system. Plus, it offers far more hardware options.
Final Thoughts: Which Is Better, Shopify or Squarespace?
Shopify and Squarespace are both brilliant website builders with stunning themes and plenty of features.
So, which one should you use? 
Here’s our take: If you want to create an inexpensive and simple content-based website only, consider Squarespace’s ‘Personal’ plan. However, if you want access to more features than Squarespace’s personal plan or you want to start selling online or in person, use Shopify.
Shopify provides more features out-of-the-box than Squarespace, especially in the ecommerce department. For example, Shopify offers more payment gateway options, phone support, and a superior POS system. 
Plus, Shopify’s vast app store dwarfs Squarespace’s collection of extensions and integrations, providing ample room for growth and customizations.
Sign up for Shopify’s free 14-day trial to check it out firsthand.
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18 Private Branding Key factors That’ll Elevate Your Sector in 2021

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding |

Personal branding is about taking responsibility over how you present yourself. If you strive to position yourself as an expert or become an influencer within your niche, self-branding can help increase your reputation as a leader. By showcasing unique character traits and having an active presence online, you can work towards building a personal brand that resonates with people all over the world. This article will guide you through the steps towards branding yourself with ten personal branding tips.Post Contents

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What is Personal Branding?Personal branding is the practice of creating a brand around a person rather than a business entity. Personal branding is used to help further people’s careers by positioning them as an expert within an industry. By developing a personal brand, a person can grow their social following to help them secure a better job, sell more products in their business, and increase better opportunities in their career. Building a personal brand is not something that happens overnight, it can take lots of planning and months of hard work to start seeing the results; sometimes you need to improve your personal brand after receiving feedback. This type of branding can also be called self-branding, and these will be used interchangeably in this article to mean the same thing.To grow your own personal brand, you can write a personal brand statement. A personal brand statement sets out who your audience will be, the value you want to give to your audience, and why people should follow you (your USP). While building your personal brand, you should pull from this 1-2 sentence statement to ensure that you are remaining true to it. Why is Personal Branding ImportantPersonal branding is important because it helps give a person more credibility. It’s never been more competitive to land a new job or earn a paycheque. With more people building personal brands, you need to put yourself out there to get noticed. Personal branding can let recruiters find experts like you with ease, especially if you’ve been blogging brand yourself. If you’re trying to land a higher position at a new company, you can showcase key data such as the number of followers you have, how much traffic your website gets or other vital metrics which can give you a competitive advantage over other candidates. Think of it almost like an online portfolio about yourself. Branding yourself allows more people to get to know who you are and how you bring value.It can also help you land new opportunities like business deals or marketing partnerships that you wouldn’t otherwise have, especially if you’re a person of influence. Self-branding instills trust and credibility in your knowledge and your abilities, so companies know that partnering with you will improve their brand awareness. Branding yourself in an authentic way by showing your personality is an excellent way of differentiating yourself from others in your field and developing your personal brand. We will talk more about this later.How to Improve Your Personal BrandOnce you have started to work on your personal branding, feedback and ensuring your self-brand is aligned with your personal branding statement will help you improve on your progress. Personal Branding has been hugely successful for many different people, but without your personal branding statement, it can be hard to know when you have achieved success in your endeavors. It is essential to know what progress looks like to improve your personal branding. Follow these steps to improve your personal brand.Research and create your personal branding statement: Define your audience at this stage and audit competitor that may exist for you. Build a personal branding strategy: Plan how to engage with your target audience and define what success will look like for you in two months, nine months, two years. Monitor your personal brand engagement: Promote positive participation and have a plan of action for negative remarks.Develop your personal brand: Aim to share your personal brand through social media, networking, outreach, and speaking opportunities. Consider blogging, vBlogging, Podcasts and other ways that you could promote your personal brand in a way that your audience will consume the content quickly.Have a communication plan: Controlling your presence online can be time-consuming so this plan will help you with negative backlash and help you to easily provide information to partners that you will work with down the line.Measure your success regularly: Set some KPIs for personal brand success so that you know you are heading in the right direction. Celebrate even small wins to remain motivated to achieve more.So after doing all this how do you know if you have been successful in building a personal brand? A few valuable KPIs include:When a sale converts through your blogWhen you are asked to speak at an event or on a podcastWhen someone refers you to a potential clientWhen a publication reaches out to invite you to guest blogWhen people start mentioning you online, on social media, their blog or other important mediaWhere Personal Branding Has Not Been SuccessfulBranding yourself is not an easy feat. It is time-consuming, slow and sometimes hard to stomach. Receiving negative feedback online can knock you even if you have a great communication plan, and sometimes you don’t feel like being the brand you have built. We highlight a few things to consider when branding yourself so that you can improve your self-brand quickly. Ignoring Other Influencers: Chances are you are not the only person in your industry building their personal brand, and others have been there longer. Do your research to make sure what you aim to achieve has not been done before. List your competitors, monitor them often to know what they are doing and see if you can borrow an idea or two off of them. Identify potential partners who you can reach out to and ask advice, so you don’t waste time on worthless ventures.Ignoring Your Followers: Once you have built even a small following, make sure you listen to what they are saying. If you promote a product and they don’t like it, find out why and decide if it is the best product to partner with. Read the comments after your social media posts to get a good idea of what your following enjoys and use a search engine to search your name online. You might uncover something about yourself that you didn’t know about before. Generating Subpar Content: Slacking off is never the right choice, especially when you are trying to build a brand around your knowledge in the area. Keep yourself in tune with your industry and if you are not a great writer, choose a different medium to promote yourself or hire a freelancer to help you up your game.Branding Yourself Wrong: Without the right research you can end up creating a personal brand that nobody wants to get behind. If your industry is old fashioned and you want to breathe life into it, make sure to research if this will be met with positivity. Go out into the industry and ask the hard questions first before diving into branding yourself the utterly wrong way. It is important to mention here that your personal brand should be your true self and not something that you create. The more natural you are, the easier it is to remain consistent over time. Not Being Consistent: Being consistent is the most critical element of self-branding. People who change their belief system at the drop of a hat cannot be trusted in what they say in their content. Trust is ultimately what followers want. Followers identify with specific thought structures, and they follow people who think similarly to them. If you change these fundamental beliefs, followers will not trust in your personal brand any longer.Forgetting The Longer Term: For a personal brand, long-term is essential so you know where your brand is going. If you plan to provide how-to videos for makeup with your audience being beginners or young people interested in improving the makeup abilities do you want to advance these videos long term as your followers advance, or will you be happy to remain at the same level, always providing beginner tutorials? These things should be thought about in the early stages of your planning process so you can slowly move in the right direction.Branding Yourself: 10 Personal Branding TipsBe Authentic: Personal Branding Tips When it comes to self-branding, being authentic is essential. But what the heck does that mean? It means be yourself. Everyone’s got their own quirk. Maybe you randomly burst into song in the middle of a conversation. Or maybe you have a really different way of dressing yourself. There’s something about you that makes you an original. And if you’re serious about branding yourself, now’s the time to come to terms with your quirkiness. Truth is, that special trait is what will make you stand out on a planet of 7 billion. Celebrate your differences and let your true self show.Personal Brand Examples: Gary Vaynerchuk

Who’s the most authentic person that comes to mind when you think of individual branding? Yeah, none other than Gary Vaynerchuk. I met him a few years ago at the Traffic and Conversion Conference in the hotel’s lobby and he’s about as real as it gets. The most noticeable thing about him is that he just doesn’t censor himself. He’s probably more likely to turn down a speaking gig that asks him to tone down the swearing than he is to actually tone it down. But that’s what we love about him. He talks to you the way you talk to your friends. He doesn’t walk around in an expensive suit reminding you that he’s more successful than you. Even though he is. He’s a down to earth kind of guy. I once messaged him on Instagram and he responded to me within 10 minutes. Who does that? Nobody. Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal branding journey started on YouTube when he was promoting his online store Wine Library. Have you ever seen the videos? Here’s his first video. It basically looked like a home video from the 90s despite being from 2006. He just sat in front of a camera and drank wine. Why am I mentioning this? Because even Gary Vaynerchuk started building a personal brand in the most low budget way possible. So you can too.Blogging for Personal Branding: Personal Branding Tips Blogging for personal branding is one strategy used by many of the top influencers. Why does it work? Well today, you might be a nobody with no voice. But if you consistently create content within your niche for at least one to two years, eventually you’ll be building an audience around yourself. There’s two ways to approach blogging for personal branding. First, you can build your own blog. This personal branding strategy will require the most upfront work but will ultimately be the most rewarding. Or you can write guest posts on top blogs within your niche. This will allow you to build an audience faster but you don’t own any of the virtual properties.Personal Brand Examples: Rachel Parcell

Rachel Parcell started building her personal brand with her blog Pink Peonies. On her blog, she writes about fashion, beauty and lifestyle. She’s been in the fashion blogging space for years and has built up a reputation as an influencer. As a result, she currently has amassed over 973,000 followers on Instagram alone. She decided to monetize her blog by creating an online store under her name Rachel Parcell. What does she sell? Fashion. And she models her own clothing line too. Her self branding has paid off. How can you get a similar result? Your online store has a blog section. Use it. Blogging for personal branding is a great way to build an audience around you while monetizing it through your store’s sales.Provide Value: Personal Branding Tips When people say provide value it usually sounds like fluff. Here’s what it means: Say you’re selling makeup products. You could either be the brand that solely runs ads. Or you could build the personal brand where you create makeup tutorial videos, write articles about common makeup questions, host a stream of makeup inspiration ideas for different seasons or events. While a customer could very well buy from a brand that solely runs ads, they’ll be more likely to buy from an ad run by an influencer who provides value. Why? Because that influencer helped them and taught them something new even before they were ready to buy. That brand is at top of mind.Personal Brand Examples: Mimi Ikonn

Mimi Ikonn’s personal branding strategy is all about providing value. She rose to fame with her YouTube channel for her Luxy Hair brand. In her videos, she’d create hair tutorials that people can follow along with. She’s subtly show her hair extensions in her videos without making them the focus of it. Occasionally, she’d create videos about hair extensions but even then the focus centered on value based content like how to pick the right color and how to clip them in. It’s unsurprising that she’s currently built a following of 3.1 million subscribers. Now that’s how you build an effective personal brand. Step out of the spotlight: Personal Branding Tips I know it seems counterintuitive but being in the spotlight all the time can take a toll on your life. Plus, sometimes people need to miss you for a bit to realize how much they need you in your life. Think of Taylor Swift. Before she launched her latest album Reputation she hadn’t posted on social media for nearly a year. She completely stepped out of the spotlight as she started recognizing the toxic side of fame. When building a personal brand, you’ll realize that there is a downside to too much attention. It’s okay to step out of the spotlight every now and then to build yourself back up.Personal Brand Examples: Kylie Jenner

Kylie Jenner being apart of the Kardashian clan is always going to be a public figure. Whether it’s her family’s reality show or the cover of a tabloid or the success of her Kylie Cosmetics brand, there’s no escape from the spotlight for her. However, she shocked everyone by keeping her pregnancy private. She avoided going out in public, never mentioned her pregnancy on social media. She took an important moment in her life and kept it out of the spotlight until she was ready. Once her daughter was born, she explained to her fans why it was important she kept it private.Be consistent: Personal Branding Tips Consistency is the secret sauce that winning personal brands have in common. Consistency isn’t only about posting on social media every day. It’s about unifying the brand look and messaging. Do all your social media posts look different or do they look the same? Some will tell you that you need to have variety with your content but truth is the more consistent you are the easier it is to grow a following. If your favorite pop singer suddenly created a jazz album you’d probably lose interest because you prefer the original music they created. Same with personal branding. Your audience will fall in love with the way you present content. If you change tunes, they’ll jump ship.Personal Brand Examples: Manny Gutierrez

Manny Gutierrez’ personal branding is fairly consistent. He’s a beauty influencer on YouTube who creates makeup tutorials on his channel. If you check out his Instagram account, you’ll see that most pictures are of upclose makeup looks. Noticeably, most of the makeup is more dramatic with vibrant colors that have that extra pop. So makeup lovers who are looking for a more dramatic look would likely follow his Instagram account and subscribe to his YouTube channel to try out a similar style. He also has an online store called Manny Mua allowing him to better monetize his YouTube channel. You’ll notice that a couple of t-shirts and a pop socket has some vulgar language on it. That’s likely because he often swears on his YouTube videos which maintains the consistency of how he communicates even throughout his products. Network: Personal Branding TipsIt’s hard to master branding yourself if you never put yourself out there. Start that blog, hit up that Meetup event, mingle with people at conferences, grab that cup of coffee with a stranger, post on social media every day. The more you interact with people, the larger your network becomes. While you may be tempted to stick to a niche focused network, the smartest thing to do is to expand into other categories. You never know when you’ll meet someone who offers a different perspective or who’s expertise is in an area that you’ll need to know more about down the road. Personal Brand Examples: Doug the Pug

I know it can be a little weird to add an adorable pug to this list, but when you have 6.1 million fans on Facebook and 3.2 million fans on Instagram, it’s pretty safe to say you’re the King of Personal Branding or as Doug the Pug would say King of Pop Culture. Doug the Pug is one of the most networked dogs in the world. He’ll regularly attend dog events, media interviews, concerts and more. When his social media posts don’t include pictures of him surrounded by pizza, they often include photos of him with other influencers. Why is this effective? Because those influencers share the picture on their social media tagging him which helps boost his social following. And by growing his followers, he can sell more products on his Doug the Pug Store. So when you hang out with other influencers, take a quick photo and post it on social as it could help you strengthen your personal brand.Become a Creator: Personal Branding Tips Some build a personal brand by being controversial. This can sometimes backfire and result in a lot of negative publicity. The safer way to create a great personal brand is to become a creator. Whether you create your own online store, a unique product, or content, don’t underestimate how important creation is. The best influencers are creators and doers. So start that online store, create that YouTube channel and actually commit to posting each week or write guest articles on notable blogs. Hiding behind your computer and spending your weekends watching Netflix isn’t going to help with self branding. Personal Brand Examples: Carli Bybel

Carli Bybel’s personal branding story started out on YouTube. She constantly creates beautiful makeup looks on her channel. To better monetize her influence, she also created a makeup kit which she often uses on her channel. While she doesn’t have her own beauty store, she does sell her product on the popular BH Cosmetics website. The product is so popular that customers are restricted from ordering more than four of it. Thus, showing how a personal brand can help drive stronger sales growth. Aside from creating YouTube videos and her own beauty product, she also created her own blog where she has covered fashion, beauty and hair. She’ll post pictures of herself modelling different looks with some written content in between.Be an Expert: Personal Branding Tips Branding yourself can be hard when you don’t have an area of expertise. Every influencer has his or her own niche. If you have an online store selling tools you might want to make sure you’re an expert in carpentry, furniture design or some sort of relevant niche. If you sell car parts, you should probably build up your expertise in the automotive industry so you can provide value. Another way to look at it is to build a brand around your own area of expertise. Say you worked at a hair salon for five years, you might build a personal brand where you share your expertise on hair issues while selling hair products.Personal Brand Examples: Michelle Phan

Before Michelle Phan started self branding on YouTube, she was an art major at an arts school. She applied her degree to makeup artistry and quickly built up a loyal following on YouTube where she’d host makeup tutorials. Eventually, she stopped creating YouTube videos and focused on her brands. She cofounded and created two brands: Ipsy and EM Cosmetics. Considering her experience with makeup tutorials moving into creating makeup brands made sense for her career. Her personal brand helped elevate her business as in 2015 her business was valued at $500 million.Amplify Yourself: Personal Branding Tips Earlier in this article, we talked about being authentic. Amplifying yourself is the second step. In a crowded world, it can be hard to stand out. Amplifying yourself is where you take the essence of who you are and run wild with it. For example, say you’re a risk taker. If you want to build a personal brand around how you love taking risks, you might create content of you doing a bunch of daredevil activities. Kind of like how Nik Wallenda tightroped across Niagara Falls or Felix Baumgartner did a supersonic fall from the edge of space. You might not do something as extreme but you’d do more extreme activities that the average person wouldn’t do.Personal Brand Examples: Simeon Panda

Simeon Panda is created a personal brand around his physical appearance. After all, it’s hard to be taken seriously as a fitness expert if you aren’t fit. He’s been featured on the cover of magazines for his impressive physique. It’s not just that he’s in great shape, his muscles are massive compared to the average person. He amplified his physical appearance to stand out in the fitness niche. On his online store, Simeon Panda, he sells online training content and fitness equipment. If he hadn’t amplified his physical appearance his online training videos wouldn’t be as compelling. However, those who’d love to have bigger muscles and stronger bodies may choose to buy products he sells to help get a similar body.Be Social: Personal Branding Tips Personal brands can’t be built without human interaction. Of course, many influencers eventually reach a point where they interact a little less with their fans. But if you’re just starting your self branding, you probably want to respond to messages from your followers. It’s just good for business. Take the time each day to interact with your followers on social media. Did someone tag you in a post? Respond to it. Was one of your articles shared on social media? Thank them. Does a customer have a question about your product? Answer them. People want fast responses. It’s important to humanize your personal brand.Personal Brand Examples: Eric Bandholz

Eric Bandholz, founder of Beard Brand, actually engages with his followers on social media. While he doesn’t respond to DMs on Instagram, he does respond to public comments despite having over 26k followers. You’ll also occasionally find messages from him on his brand’s YouTube channel.ConclusionBuilding a personal brand can help elevate your business to new heights. By following a combination of the personal branding tips such as being authentic, consistent and social you help increase your chances of success in your career. I know it can be scary to put yourself out there but the reward is much greater than the risk. You can have the power to really make an impact in the world. Your legacy lies in your hands.Are you considering building a personal brand? Let us know in the comments!Want to Learn More?

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Shopify vs . WordPress: Which one Higher for Web? (2021)

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding, Marketing |

Shopify vs. WordPress: Which should you use?
These are two of the largest and most popular website solutions in the world. And each of them offers an abundance of features and tools to help you build and manage a website. But that’s kinda the problem: when trying to decide between them, where do you even start?
If that’s not confusing enough, Shopify and WordPress have very different approaches: one is a closed source hosted platform, and the other is an open-source self-hosted platform. As a result, how they operate is fundamentally different.
So, it’s vital that you choose the right solution for your needs — especially as virtually every aspect of your online business will be affected by your choice.
No pressure then…!
That’s why we’ve created this simple guide. In it, you’ll learn about the differences between Shopify and WordPress so you can choose the best platform for your needs. Specifically, we’ll compare Shopify vs. WordPress in 10 categories:

Overview
Set up and ease of use
Ecommerce
Payment gateways
Themes and design
Apps and plugins
Pricing and value
Customer support and guidance
Apps for on-the-go management
Dropshipping

Let’s dive in.
(Disclosure: This website is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. Although we strive to publish objective, accurate, and factual content, this article may contain biased opinions.)

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Shopify vs. WordPress: Overview
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s learn about the key differences between Shopify and WordPress.
As mentioned, Shopify is a closed source hosted website builder and ecommerce platform. What does this mean? Well, ‘closed source’ means that Shopify handles all the coding and maintenance of the platform. 
In other words, you don’t need to purchase, download, and host Shopify’s software on a server. Instead, it’s a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool that you pay a monthly subscription to access.

WordPress, on the other hand, has 2 core offerings: WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
WordPress.com is a SaaS tool like Shopify. It offers a simple website builder for a monthly fee.

On the other hand, WordPress.org is an open-source, self-hosted software solution. This means the software is free, but you’ll need to purchase hosting from a third-party provider. You’ll then need to install WordPress and manage it yourself.

When most people talk about WordPress, they’re referring to WordPress.org — the open-source software. So, for this article, we’re going to focus on this self-hosted solution.
Now, let’s explore what it’s like to use these platforms.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Set Up and Ease of Use
To get started with Shopify, simply sign up for the free trial and follow the instructions to create an account. Within a couple of minutes, you’ll have a new mission control that you can use to manage your business.

As you can see from the image above, the user interface is intuitive and straightforward. From the get-go, you can start adding products, customize your website’s theme, set up payments, and more. You can also purchase a domain name through Shopify to keep things super simple and straightforward.
WordPress is a whole different ball game. First, you’ll need to purchase a domain and web hosting from a third-party provider like GoDaddy or SiteGround. You’ll then need to install WordPress on your web hosting and set up login details.
Once you log in, things look fairly similar to Shopify’s dashboard:

However, Shopify’s dashboard comes with many features as standard, such as security, search engine optimization (SEO), and analytics tools. Whereas WordPress is more like a blank canvas that you can use to build whatever type of website you want.
Consequently, you’ll need to install third-party plugins for virtually everything, including security, SEO, analytics, and ecommerce.
This brings me to our next point:
Shopify vs. WordPress: Ecommerce
Shopify vs. WordPress for ecommerce — which is better?
For starters, Shopify is entirely dedicated to commerce — I mean, it’s in the name, right?
Every aspect of this all-in-one, out-of-the-box commerce solution is geared to providing tools to help businesses grow and prosper. This includes an ecommerce website builder, inventory and order management tools, and integrations with online sales channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay.

Shopify even has its own point-of-sale (POS) solution for businesses that want to unite their online and in-person sales in one simple-to-use dashboard.
Unlike Shopify’s out-of-the-box commerce solution, WordPress doesn’t come with ecommerce functionality, so you’ll need to install and manage an ecommerce plugin. WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress ecommerce plugin. 

WooCommerce is a highly flexible open-source tool that provides all of the features you need to sell online. 
However, like WordPress, WooCommerce’s flexibility comes with enormous responsibilities. For example, it doesn’t include legal texts, such as general terms and conditions, shipping regulations, or data protection declarations. So, you’ll need to install and manage plugins to take care of these things.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Payment Gateways
To sell online, you need a payment gateway to facilitate transactions. Popular payment gateways include Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon Pay.
Shopify integrates seamlessly with over 100 payment gateways. It also has its own gateway called Shopify Payments which makes setting up and managing online payments easy.
To take payments on WordPress, you’ll need to set up a payment gateway through your WooCommerce plugin. WooCommerce integrates with more than 75 payment gateways, including its own: WooCommerce Payments.

Both platforms provide flexibility here, however, Shopify’s all-in-one solution is arguably easier to set up than WooCommerce’s offerings.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Themes and Design
Shopify comes with 8 free themes and 64 premium themes that cost between $120 and $180. You can also find 1,200 Shopify themes from third-party developers on Theme Forest.

Shopify’s themes are sales-ready out-of-the-box. These themes are mobile-optimized and responsive, meaning they automatically adapt to the screen they’re being viewed on. Plus, Shopify’s theme editor is very straightforward and intuitive. So, you don’t need any coding or technical knowledge to make it look exactly how you want.
Plus, if you ever get stuck, Shopify’s support is on-hand to help 24/7.
WordPress has more than 8,000 themes to choose from — half of which include ecommerce functionality. 
WordPress themes typically require a lot of tweaking and editing to get them working the way you want. For this reason, you’ll need either some basic coding skills to manage them yourself or the budget to hire a web designer.
It’s also worth noting that most of WordPress’s themes are made by third-party developers, so if you get stuck, you’ll need to reach out to the theme developer for help.

Shopify vs. WordPress: Apps and Plugins
Shopify and WordPress have their own app stores, and users on both platforms rely on third-party apps to build out the functionality they require.
The Shopify App Store features more than 6,000 apps that you can use to improve your website’s functionality.

In contrast, there are more than 50,000 WordPress plugins to choose from.

It’s fair to say that Shopify users require far less help from third-party apps than WordPress. This is because the platform has built-in ecommerce features and handles all the programming, security, and technical maintenance needed.
WordPress users are more reliant on plugins to get the features they need. And many of these plugins can be difficult to manage if you can’t code. Also, some plugins won’t work well together and require technical tweaking to get them to play nice together.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Pricing and Value
You’re probably wondering which is better value for money: Shopify or WordPress. So, let’s explore each platform’s pricing.
Shopify’s pricing is pretty straightforward. The service has 3 main plans to choose from:

Basic Shopify: $29/month
Shopify: $79/month
Shopify Advanced: $299/month

For new businesses, the Basic Shopify plan provides everything you need to start selling, including an ecommerce website, inventory and order management features, and a POS system.

You can also get a 10% discount if you pay for 1 year upfront and a 20% discount if you pay for 2 years upfront. Plus, Shopify offers a free 14-day trial.
So, what about WordPress?
The cost of a WordPress ecommerce website varies dramatically depending on your custom setup. Here are some cost estimates for a typical small business website on WordPress:

Domain name: $10–$50 per year
Hosting: $3–$200 per month
Theme: $0–$200 (According to codeinwp, the average theme costs $59)
Plugins: $0–$1,000 (Many plugins charge monthly fees, some charge a one-off fee)
Security: $50–$500 per month
Developer fees: $0–$1,000 (one-off cost)

Depending on your needs, it’s likely that Shopify provides a far cheaper and more streamlined offer.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Customer Support
Ecommerce websites aren’t the easiest things to build and manage, so support is essential.
Thankfully, Shopify provides unlimited 24/7 customer support via chat, email, and phone. There’s also an extensive help center and active community forums.

As an open-source solution, WordPress doesn’t offer support directly. Instead, you’ll need to find help on community forums, specialist websites, and YouTube. As a result, unless you’re an experienced web developer, you’ll likely need to pay for support from a specialist WordPress developer.
That said, you may be able to get direct support for plugin issues from the tool’s makers.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Apps for On-The-Go Management 
If you need to manage your business on-the-go, Shopify offers 3 apps to help: Shopify, Shopify POS, and Ping.

Shopify’s main app allows you to do things like:

Track and manage orders
Manage products and collections
Implement marketing campaigns
Communicate with customers
Create discounts
Track store performance
Customize your website’s theme
And more

WordPress also has a mobile app that allows you to manage your website’s content. And you can use WooCommerce’s app to manage your business.

Once you’re set up with WordPress and WooCommerce, the 2 apps are comparable to Shopify’s main app.
Shopify vs. WordPress: Dropshipping
Dropshipping is the act of selling products online that are stored, packaged, and shipped by a third-party seller — this means you don’t need to purchase inventory upfront. The image below shows how it works:

Both Shopify and WordPress provide a host of dropshipping apps like AliExpress Dropshipping and print-on-demand dropshipping apps, such as Printful and Printify.

However, Shopify also comes with Oberlo (that’s us!). Oberlo is a specialist Shopify dropshipping integration that makes finding and importing products to your Shopify website easy.

Final Thoughts: Shopify or WordPress? 
Shopify and WordPress are both incredible platforms — but which one should you use for your business?
Here’s our verdict: If you want to focus your resources on building and growing a business, use Shopify. This dedicated commerce solution has everything you need to start and scale a business out-of-the-box. 
Plus, you won’t have to spend valuable time and energy managing hosting, security, and essential ecommerce integrations. You can simply focus on your business and let Shopify take care of the technical side of things. What’s more, if you ever get stuck, help is on hand 24/7.
That said, if you’re an experienced web developer who wants complete control over every aspect of your website, opt for WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin. 
Although you’ll be responsible for every aspect of your site’s hosting, maintenance, and security, you’ll also be able to tweak and optimize everything to your heart’s content.
Which platform are you leaning toward? Let us know your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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BigCommerce vs . Shopify (2021): Which is Greatest for Your retailer?

Nifty Nev
Build your business, Design and branding, dropshipping, Marketing |

BigCommerce vs. Shopify: Which is better?
Choosing between these two ecommerce platforms isn’t easy. Undoubtedly, they’re two of the best platforms out there and they have much in common. However, there are plenty of differences between BigCommerce and Shopify that are worth evaluating before you make a decision.
And it’s best to choose carefully.
Committing to an ecommerce platform is a huge decision. Whichever one you pick will become your business’s mission control — virtually every aspect of your business will need to be managed from the platform.
So, what do you need to know to make an informed choice?
In this article, you’ll get a blow-by-blow comparison of BigCommerce and Shopify. By the end of this article, you should be ready to sign up for your chosen platform and start building your business with confidence.
Disclosure: This website is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. Although we strive to publish objective, accurate, and factual content, this article may contain biased opinions.

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BigCommerce vs. Shopify: The Basics
BigCommerce was founded in 2009 and today it supports more than 60,000 stores, 2,000+ mid-market businesses, and 30 Fortune 1000 companies. The company has more than 800 employees working to provide a brilliant ecommerce platform.

Shopify was founded way back in 2006 and powers more than 1 million merchants around the world. The company also has a whopping 7,000 employees working to develop a complete ecommerce and retail technology business solution.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify allow merchants to build ecommerce websites, process payments, sell products via multiple online sales channels, manage inventory, and more.
But right off the bat, it’s clear that Shopify is the larger company, by far. This size allows it to build and manage more tools and features. This is a theme you’ll see play out throughout the rest of this article.
Still, bigger isn’t always better, so let’s take a closer look!
Shopify vs. BigCommerce: Which One is Best for Your Business?
We’re going to compare Shopify and BigCommerce in 9 key areas:

Pricing plans
Payment gateways
Sales limits
Themes and templates
App stores
Reporting and analytics
Mobile apps
Point of sale (POS)
Dropshipping

First up?
1. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Pricing
Costs are often one of the most important considerations for new businesses. So, how much do these platforms charge? Here’s a quick rundown of BigCommerce versus Shopify pricing.
BigCommerce has four pricing plans:

Bigcommerce Standard: $29.95 per month
Bigcommerce Plus: $79.95 per month
Bigcommerce Pro: $299.95 per month
Bigcommerce Enterprise: Custom plans for large businesses.

You can save 10% on the Plus and Pro plans by purchasing a one-year subscription upfront.

Shopify has 4 equivalent pricing plans:

Basic Shopify Plan: $29 per month
Shopify: $79 per month
Advanced Shopify: $299 per month
Shopify Plus: Custom plans for enterprises.

Shopify also offers an additional plan called ‘Shopify Lite’ for just $9 per month — but it doesn’t come with an ecommerce website. Instead, this plan gives merchants access to all of Shopify’s sales channels, enabling you to sell online via a buy button that you can embed on social media platforms and your existing website.
Like BigCommerce, Shopify provides a 10% discount on annual plans and a 20% discount when purchasing a two-year subscription upfront.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer a two-week free trial (15 days and 14 days, respectively).
All in all, BigCommerce and Shopify have very similar pricing.
2. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Payment Gateways
To sell online, you need a gateway to process payments, such as Stripe or PayPal. 
BigCommerce integrates with 65 popular payment gateways, whereas Shopify integrates with more than 100 payment gateways — including its own, which is called Shopify Payments.
However, Shopify charges transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments and opt to use a third-party payment gateway. These fees depend on your plan:

Basic Shopify – 2%
Shopify (regular) – 1%
Shopify Advanced – 0.5%

On the other hand, BigCommerce doesn’t charge any transaction fees regardless of which gateway you use.

This is a clear win for BigCommerce. However, it’s worth noting that it can be challenging to integrate and manage third-party gateways — especially if you’re not super tech-savvy. Shopify Payments was designed to make this process easier for merchants and involves far less setup.
BigCommerce does provide a streamlined, recommended gateway: PayPal powered by BrainTree. But it’s still an integration, which makes it arguably less streamlined than Shopify’s proprietary offering.
Shopify Payments allows your customers to pay you via all the major methods, too. So unless you have a strong preference for another payment gateway, there’s really no reason not to use the service.

Ultimately, this comes down to preference. 
If you want to use a particular third-party payment gateway, BigCommerce allows you to avoid additional fees. However, if you want to keep things as simple as possible, Shopify Payments is the way to go. 
3. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Sales Limits
Let’s cut to the chase: BigCommerce has annual sales limits for each of its plans:

Bigcommerce Standard: $50,000
Bigcommerce Plus: $180,000
Bigcommerce Pro: $400,000
Bigcommerce Enterprise: Negotiable

In short, if you hit these limits, you’ll be forced to upgrade to the next plan.

Shopify has no sales limits on any of its plans — which means you can stick to your preferred plan forever or upgrade when it suits you.
4. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Themes
Both BigCommerce and Shopify provide free and paid website themes that you can customize to get your store looking the way you want. Here’s how the platforms compare:

BigCommerce: 12 free themes and 130 premium themes (that cost between $165 and $250).
Shopify: 8 free themes and 64 paid themes (that cost between $120 and $180).

BigCommerce wins in terms of volume here, however many of the themes are simply variations and not standalone themes. For example, in the image below you can see different versions of the Clariss theme that are very similar.

Although Shopify has fewer themes available, they’re more varied. 

Overall, both platforms provide a range of professional themes, but Shopify seems to offer more variety in terms of layouts.
5. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Apps
Shopify and BigCommerce have their own app stores. These app stores play host to a range of proprietary and third-party applications that allow you to extend the functionality of your site.
For example, you can use apps to add popups, live chat, bundled products, or social media feeds to your site.
The Shopify app store contains more than 6,000 Shopify apps and integrations, whereas BigCommerce’s app store has around 850.
Shopify’s size makes it the clear winner here. The platform has a much larger user base and so third-party developers are more likely to create tools for the platform. 
In fact, Shopify’s app store is so large, there’s an app for virtually everything and anything you can think of.

6. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Reporting and Analytics
In an ultra-competitive environment like ecommerce, data is more important than ever — after all, knowledge is power. 
For example, you may want to track your customer retention rate and average order value. And as your business grows, you’ll likely want to produce financial reports to track things like revenue, profit, and taxes.
So, let’s compare Shopify and BigCommerce reporting and analytics tools.

Both platforms provide a robust set of tools that allow in-depth analysis.
However, BigCommerce’s professional reporting tools are available on all plans. On the other hand, Shopify staggers its reporting tools to encourage you to upgrade as you grow. As a result, the Basic Shopify plan has simple to follow, but fairly basic analytics capabilities.

That said, both platforms come with Google Analytics integrations to create custom reports and track key performance indicators (KPIs).
7. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Point of Sale (POS)
Point of sale (POS) solutions allow you to process payments and manage your business when selling in-person. Plus, integrating your ecommerce store with a POS solution is the best way to maintain accurate and up-to-date inventory, sales, and customer data records.
Shopify has an out-of-the-box solution aptly named “Shopify POS” that comes with every Shopify plan — including the Lite plan, for just $9 per month. Shopify also provides a range of POS hardware.

The Lite Plan offers a great way to get started with POS, but if you’d like to access Shopify POS’s full range of features, you’ll need to upgrade to Shopify POS Pro for $89 per month.
If you want to sell in-person with BigCommerce, you’ll need to integrate a third-party POS service, such as Vend, Square, or Clover. Each of these services comes with its own strengths, weaknesses, and pricing.
Simply put, BigCommerce offers flexibility without additional fees, but Shopify provides a more streamlined approach that means merchants don’t have to worry about integrating two different systems.
8. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Mobile Apps
Shopify and BigCommerce provide apps to help you manage your business on the go. Let’s take a closer look.
BigCommerce provides a mobile app that allows you to do things like get push notifications for new orders, manage orders, view basic analytics, and contact customers.

Shopify offers three apps to manage your business: Shopify, Shopify POS, and Ping.
Shopify’s main app allows you to do much more than BigCommerce’s app. Here are some of the features:

Manage orders
Manage products and collections
Run marketing campaigns
Follow up with customers
Create discounts
Review store performance
Customize your store’s theme
Extend your store’s features with apps

The Shopify POS app allows you to take and manage in-store sales, refunds, and exchanges. You can also add apps to help grow your business, such as customer loyalty apps.
Of course, if you opt to use BigCommerce, most leading third-party POS solutions will provide a mobile app.
Finally, Shopify also offers Ping. This messaging app allows you to connect with customers via Shopify Chat, Apple Business Chat, and Messenger, all in one place — this is a game changer when it comes to improving customer satisfaction.

To summarize, it’s fair to say that Shopify makes it far easier to manage your business from your smartphone.
9. BigCommerce vs. Shopify Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a product sourcing and fulfillment method that allows virtually anyone to start selling online in minutes.
Instead of purchasing products upfront to sell, you can partner with a dropshipping supplier who will store, manage, and ship products to customers on your behalf.

You can also dropship print-on-demand products — these are generic products featuring your original designs and branding, such as clothing, accessories, or homeware.
Dropshipping is a fantastic way to start an online business as you don’t need to invest money in inventory. It’s also a great way to extend existing product lines quickly and easily.
So, which is better for dropshipping: Shopify or BigCommerce?
Both platforms offer a range of dropshipping apps, including popular services like AliExpress Dropshipping and print-on-demand apps like Printful and Spocket.
However, as mentioned above, Shopify’s app store is significantly larger than BigCommerce’s app store. Consequently, it also has many more dropshipping apps available — including Oberlo. (That’s us!)

Executive Summary: Shopify or BigCommerce?
Undoubtedly, Shopify and BigCommerce are both incredible commerce platforms, offering a vast range of features to help you manage and grow your business.
If you’re looking for advanced reporting and analytics straight out the gate, then BigCommerce may be for you.
However, Shopify is arguably the better solution thanks to its lack of sales limits, varied themes, mobile apps, out-of-the-box POS system, and the massive amount of apps available. Check it out for yourself by signing up for Shopify’s 14-day free trial.
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