Every online shop we have built started with this decision, and it is worth taking seriously, because moving a store that already has customers and order history in it is a genuinely painful job. Here is how we think about it.
Shopify
Shopify does the hard parts for you. Payments, tax, fraud checks, hosting, security updates and PCI compliance are all handled, and none of them are things you want to be responsible for if you do not have to be. For a normal product catalogue it is quick to launch and quick to run.
The costs are the monthly fee, the transaction fee if you are not using Shopify Payments, and the apps. That last one creeps. A store running six or seven apps at £15 to £40 a month each is spending more than most people budgeted for, and the apps are how you get anything the platform does not do natively.
Shopify is the right answer for most people selling physical products with a normal checkout. We say that even though it is not the option that makes us the most money, because it is true.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce makes sense when you already have a WordPress site you are happy with and want to add a shop to it. You get more control than Shopify and no per-transaction cut beyond what your payment provider charges.
What you take on is responsibility. You own the hosting, the updates, the backups and the security, and an online shop is a more attractive target than a brochure site. It also inherits the plugin problem: a WooCommerce store of any complexity ends up running a stack of extensions that all need to keep working with each other through every update.
It works, but budget for someone to look after it. A neglected shop is worse than no shop.
A bespoke build
The case for building comes up when what you sell does not behave like a normal product. Programmes with a subscription and a login. Configurable items where the price depends on choices the customer makes. Anything where the checkout is tied into a booking, a membership, or a system you already run.
We built the store and community for Owsey, and the platform Tom Morrison uses to sell mobility programmes to members worldwide. Neither of those is a shop in the Shopify sense. Both would have been a permanent fight against a platform that assumed a different model.
You pay more up front and you take on maintenance. In return the checkout does exactly what your business needs, there is no per-sale commission, and nobody can change the terms on you.
The questions that actually settle it
How many products, and do they behave like normal products with a price and a stock level? Are you selling one-off purchases or something ongoing? Does the sale need to talk to anything else you run? And how much monthly cost are you willing to carry against how much build cost you can fund now?
If the answers are "a few dozen normal products, one-off purchases, nothing else to talk to", use Shopify and spend the difference on getting found. If your products come with rules, the maths changes.
One thing worth doing whichever you choose
Own your customer list and your product data somewhere you control. Export it regularly. Platforms change pricing, change terms, and occasionally close accounts, and the businesses that come through that fine are the ones who could rebuild elsewhere from their own records.
If you want a second opinion on which of the three suits what you are selling, tell us what it is. More on how we approach it on our e-commerce page.
