When trying to choose where to host your online shop, there are quite a few things to consider. First of all, if you plan on having a large store with many items, I would look at Shopify or BigCommerce (I have a blog all about Shopify here). However, if you plan on just a small shop and want to be able to maintain it yourself, I would stick with one of these platforms. Here are the main differences:

Showit Online Store

Showit doesn’t have a store integrated with it, however you can connect a Shopify store. What I suggest is getting Shopify Lite to sell your products and then attaching it to your Showit site. This is very easy and if you need any help the Showit support team is AMAZING.

WHAT’S THE PRICE FOR SHOWIT?

Showit is $24/ month (assuming you want a blog), but then you need to add in Shopify Lite to sell your products which is an additional $9/ month. You also need to purchase a domain (don’t go with GoDaddy – here is what I suggest) which is an additional $5 (or so)/ month). So in total, you are looking at spending $28/ month for your beautiful online website and shop!

Squarespace Online Store

If you plan on going with Squarespace, you will need to get the Squarespace Business plan which is $18/ month. Although this isn’t a full-blown online store plan, you can sell on the Business plan. You can sell unlimited products, but there is a 3% transaction fee on all sales. If you would like to spend a little bit more per month, the Squarespace Basic Ecommerce Plan is $26/ month, however it has 0% transaction fees! With a Squarespace plan, a domain comes with (for the first year) as does the shop.

So which is best for you?

It all depends on if you want everything all in one or on separate platforms. Squarespace is great because you can do EVERYTHING within Squarespace – email marketing, the store, the domain, etc. Squarespace is also easier to design than a Showit website, however if you are looking for a website that is more of a blank canvas that you can design, Showit is the better option.

While you’re here…

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