If you want to start an online store, then you are probably looking into different ecommerce solutions. There are many options, two of which are Shopify and Joomla . While each solution enables you to build an online store, they are very different frameworks. That said, let's dig into the Shopify vs Joomla review.
Hopefully by the end, we'll help you find what works best for you, if any...
Joomla VS Shopify: About Shopify
shopify webpage
In conclusion, Shopify is a SaaS that enables users to design and launch an online store using their full-featured content management system . You can host your entire website on Shopify, so there's no need to research and buy your own web hosting.
Shopify also comes with a POS that allows you to use Shopify's point-of-sale app . The software syncs inventory between your online and offline points of sale, allowing you to view and manage your inventory conveniently from the Shopify dashboard. As such, Shopify is a great choice for entrepreneurs running both online and brick-and-mortar businesses.
👉 Read our full Shopify review .
Joomla VS Shopify: About Joomla
Joomla Homepage
Simply put, Joomla is a free and open source content management system that can be used to create and publish web content.
You can write blogs, business websites, intranets, community websites, and more. No matter the complexity of your web development project; Joomla's framework can handle it.
On top of that, Joomla also has a view-controller web application framework that you can use separately from Joomla's CMS to build powerful online applications.
Joomla has won several awards over the decades, including Best Free CMS at the 2020 CMS Critic People's Choice Awards, Best Open Source Application 2012 at the Infoworld Bossie Awards, and Packt's 2-year Hall of Fame CMS Runner-Up Open Source Award.
Joomla VS Shopify: Website Templates
Joomla Templates
Using a professional-looking template can make the process of web design easier. With that in mind, let's take a look at what Joomla and Shopify have to offer in this arena:
Joomla
Technically, Joomla does not provide a dedicated website template directory. However, many third-party developers have created Joomla themes that you can download and use - some for free and some for a fee.
Since there is no official review process for these templates, you'll need to do your own research to determine quality, customizability, code cleanliness, etc.
Shopify
Joomla VS Shopify
Instead, Shopify offers users its own dedicated theme store with a ton of options to choose from. There are 71 free themes and seven paid options. All are mobile friendly, have clean code, and can use Shopify's website editing . If you have some knowledge of the programming language "Liquid", you will enjoy more freedom of customization.
Shopify vs Joomla: User friendliness and ease of use
In this part of the review, we'll take a quick look at what Joomla and Shopify will use:
Joomla
Joomla's backend is very clean, making it relatively intuitive to create and publish web pages and blog posts. Just select a section, write your content, and hit publish.
However, to benefit from more advanced functionality, you need to know how to write the desired design/function. Alternatively, you need to be prepared to research, download and use several Joomla extensions. However, sometimes these plugins are reported to be outdated and buggy. This makes it even more important to research potential add-ons before downloading.
Shopify
shopify website example
Conversely, Shopify is easier to get started with. You don't need any technical knowledge to take advantage of Shopify's out-of-the-box features. Instead, you just need to create a Shopify account and choose your preferred pricing plan; after that, you're free to start running. From there, Shopify's admin area is very user-friendly.
If you're new to ecommerce, there's a good email list chance you won't need any plugins, first of all. However, as you start to grow and expand your business, there are tons of add-ons available on Shopify's app marketplace.
Shopify's Core Features
As we just mentioned, Shopify's suite of built-in features is so extensive that we don't have time to cover them all here.
Try - Shopify
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However, since there's a good chance you're reading this comparison to help you decide which ecommerce platform is best for you; we'll focus on Shopify's storefront, marketing, and SEO features:
First, there are over 70 professional and customizable themes to choose from, created by world-renowned designers including Happy Cog, Clearleft, and Pixel Union. Combined with Shopify's easy-to-use website editor, it's easy to modify the theme's settings and aesthetics to bring your vision to life. Best of all, if you have some coding skills, you can access your store's HTML and CSS to fine-tune every aspect of your website.
Shopify also provides users with a powerful blogging engine. From here, you can write, publish and categorize your articles. You can also allow readers to comment on blog posts, encourage discussion, and, of course, moderate those comments. You can also use Shopify's blogging platform for creating lookbooks - which is especially handy if you run a fashion brand.
You'll also be happy to hear that Shopify comes with a mobile commerce shopping cart, allowing website visitors to peruse your store on desktop and mobile.
When it comes to SEO, Shopify supports a ton of SEO best practices. For example, you can edit meta titles, tags and customers can leave product reviews. Not to mention, Shopify also generates sitemap.xml for your products, web pages and blog posts - making it easier for search engines to scan your site and rank your site accordingly.
While we're talking about expanding your reach, Shopify also gives you $25 worth of Google Ads credits when you spend $100 on Google.
Also, all Shopify sites integrate with various social media platforms, including Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. More specifically, on Facebook, shoppers can browse and buy products without leaving Facebook.
Finally, if you want to increase your sales, Shopify makes it easy to generate discount codes and sell gift cards to attract deals.
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Core Features of Joomla
Now that we've covered Shopify's most notable features, let's take a look at Joomla's:
Third-party developers have created thousands of high-quality templates, many of which are free and come with a graphical user interface (GUI). This allows you to change its colors, fonts, layout and functionality without writing any code.
You can also use a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. This style of website builder makes it easier to write and edit text, images, and formatting. Plus, there are several pre-installed modules for you to showcase trending articles, new articles, news flashes, related articles, and more. This makes Joomla a great choice for bloggers!
Speaking of which, bloggers can organize their content into categories and tags,
Create an RSS feed from their content and display an external news feed on your website. You can also provide your visitors with a search bar to help them navigate your site.
You also get access to out-of-the-box SEO and SEF functionality. For example, you can edit metadata and optimize pages for keywords. It also provides the infrastructure needed to create a clear and consistent sitemap. Joomla also reportedly makes it easy to redirect URLs when needed, and can speed up website load times through caching.
Another major feature of Joomla is that it is multilingual - in fact, it supports up to 70 languages.
If you wish to monetize your Joomla website, you can add banners and other website advertisements.
If you have a small team, you can register multiple users and manage their permissions. From there, you can also send messages between administrators.
Finally, if you want to extend the functionality of Joomla (and can't/don't want to code), Joomla's Extensions Directory – there are over 8,000 extensions at extensions.joomla.org. So you're sure to find an add-on that suits your needs!
Pros and cons of Shopify and Joomla
Now that we've covered the basics, let's take a look at the pros and cons of Shopify and Joomla:
Advantages of Shopify:
Shopify's platform is easy to use.
Shopify's themes are beautiful and mobile-friendly
You can send abandoned cart activity on all plans, which is rare among platforms that charge similar price points.
Shopify can automatically calculate US, Canada, EU, and UK taxes.
Shopify comes with free built-in email marketing that lets you store up to 2,500 subscribers.
Shopify's point-of-sale offers are pretty comprehensive.
You can easily extend the functionality of Shopify thanks to its wide range of plugins available
If you use Shopify Payments, you will not be charged additional transaction fees.
Shopify supports many third-party payment gateways, including popular names like PayPal.
The first revamped version of the site is live, and you can try Shopify for free for 14 days .
Disadvantages of Shopify:
While you can create 100 product variations, these only cover three product options - namely size, color, style, and more.
You can only access professional reporting features on Shopify's more expensive plans.
Shopify no longer supports native Mailchimp integration.
As convenient as Shopify's built-in email marketing feature is, it's still pretty basic.
Advantages of Joomla:
Joomla is an open source platform , so if you have coding savvy, you can easily modify and distribute your website's code.
Joomla is free to download and use
Creating blog content is easy - writing a blog post feels more like creating a document with a traditional word processor than coding software.
There is a lot of self-help support available. Joomla's online community forum is very active, so there is a lot of support tutorials and materials available.
You can collaborate with team members by granting them user access.
Joomla is a multilingual platform.