Want to set up an eCommerce site? Here are 2 of my favorite plans!

Are you interested in whether Squarespace or Shopify is cheaper? The pricing and support are pretty comparable, but beyond that they are very different! You can find more information for them here:

Ease of use

Squarespace is a drag-and-drop platform, meaning it’s super easy for anyone to create a design. Shopify is more hands-on in terms of getting what you want (you have to use add-ins/ plug-ins whereas Squarespace has everything IN THE PLATFORM).

Design

SQUARESPACE. All the way. Squarespace has over 100 templates to choose from, whereas Shopify has a measly 11. You can always purchase templates (on either platform), but overall the templates on Squarespace are more compelling and eye-catching.

Support

You know you will have questions! Both have forums with tons of help and chat boxes to directly ask employees. I love them BOTH for support!

Shop features

And this is where Shopify wins out. Both platforms allow you to import products, however I find that it is far easier to import on Shopify (here is a tutorial for importing a lot of products on Shopify). They both have reporting and analytics for your shop, although with Shopify you may need to pay extra. Shopify has drop shipping options and the point-of-sale app. So if you have a physical store front, you can check people out and do inventory right there!

Product Creation & Variant Set-Up (i.e., options for different sizes and colors)

Both are fairly easy to use, but with Shopify you can do a lot more because of the additional plugins and also you can edit the variants in the CSV that you upload to your site. Just make sure the images are the same proportion (Squarespace will uniform your photos even if you upload them and they are different sizes).

Shipping

Shopify has a built-in shipping with discounts and Squarespace has no built-in shipping feature so you would have to purchase an additional plugin for that like Ship Station (about $9 a month). On both platforms you can create pre-paid labels, but Shopify is better all-around with a great area for shipping where you can enter in the types of box you want, determine weight-based shipping, etc.

Taxes

Depending on in which state you live you may have a ton of taxes (state tax, county tax, district tax, oh my)! Squarespace doesn’t have anything like this built-in so you have to manually enter every city’s/ county’s tax from where you are shipping. With Shiopify just figure out which tax region you are in, choose that, and it will do the rest of the work for you. YEEESSSSS!!! Taxes are not something to mess up!

Email marketing

Both support email marketing systems, although Squarespace is privy to Google Drive, Zapeir, and Mailchimp, however you can use code to enter any other email marketing system.

Policies

Yes, you do need them on your website, and yes they are a LOT of work if you want to manually create them. Multiple entrepreneurs sell them (like my girl The Legal Paige), however if you decide to use Shopify they have templates for the privacy policy, terms of service, shipping policy, return policy and you can just enter in your information. Newer Squarespace site has pages titled privacy policy, but you still need to fill the Squarespace page in.

Pricing

https://www.shopify.com/pricing

http://squarespace.com/pricing

In conclusion, Squarespace wins by a landslide in terms of design, but if you are looking for shop features, Shopify is the clear winner! If products are the whole point of your business, I would go with Shopify. If they are just a portion of your business and you want to do blogging or have a portfolio, Squarespace is a better option.

While you’re here…

I build both Squarespace and Shopify websites. Please contact me today for more information on how we can get your Squarespace or Shopify website off the ground quickly and looking great!