There is no doubt that eCommerce has been a massively booming industry for decades. Nowadays, everyone wants to do business online. So if you are looking to start your own store, choosing the right eCommerce platform is always a critical decision. And in case you’re struggling to choose between Shopify vs Storenvy, this article is for you.
With our ultimate comparison of Shopify vs Storenvy, you will definitely have all the information you need to make a decision.
Let the comparison begin. Don’t worry. We will lead the way.
About Shopify vs Storenvy
First thing first, you need to make sure you know some basics about each platform.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a powerful platform with everything you need to create your online store and sell anything.
Currently, it is one of the most popular hosted eCommerce platforms on the market.
With Shopify, you can easily build and manage a professional online store with your chosen domain URL.
What is Storenvy?
Storenvy is a platform for small brands and authentic goods.
They describe themselves as a “social marketplace”. Their interface looks like a social media platform.
On Storenvy, buyers can like or add items to their collections and message sellers directly.
Pros and cons of Shopify vs Storenvy
I assure you that both platforms are excellent. But each has some advantages and disadvantages as well.
To know exactly which is the right platform for you, you need to know their good and bad.
Compare the pros and cons of Shopify vs Storenvy in the table below.
| Pros | Cons | |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | – Easy to set up and manage – Provides beautifully-designed templates – Include extensive features |
– Need to know Liquid template language to make backend changes – Cost extra fees if you’re using third-party payment gateways (instead of Shopify payments) – The lowest-priced doesn’t show you your store’s reports |
| Storenvy | – Access to a large social marketplace. – A fully independent store. – Very cost-effective |
– Need to pay high fees to show your items on the marketplace. – Limited functionality compared to Shopify – The marketplace isn’t as large as Etsy and eBay |
Shopify vs Storenvy – Comparison
The table below is a summarized version of Shopify vs Storenvy comparison for you to take a quick look.
| Shopify | Storenvy | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform type | Webstores | Marketplaces |
| Design | Provides 10 free templates and over 60 premium templates | Provides 20 themes and only 2 free themes |
| Code requirements | No coding knowledge required but you have to work in Liquid template language to customize | No coding knowledge required at all |
| Feature | Mainly centered around web store development and management and exceptional ease of use | Only some basic commerce features |
| Domain URL | Let you choose your unique domain | Provide to you a unique domain |
| Shipping | Advanced shipping abilities | Basic shipping tools |
| Analytic | Provide a powerful analytic tool with detailed statistics | Integrated Google Analytics |
| Free plan | 14-day trial to test with a published store | Has forever-free plan |
| Pricing | Starting at $29 per month | Starting at $15 per month |
| Additional fees | Transaction fees | Commission fees |
And below, we will show you the key differences between Shopify vs Storenvy in detail.
5 key differences between Shopify vs Storenvy
Ease of Use
Easy to use is one of the most important factors to consider when you choose a platform.
Why? Because you wouldn’t want to spend days setting up your store only to realize it is impossible for you to manage, would you?
So how simple is it to run an online store on Shopify vs Storenvy platform?
To Shopify, ease of use is one area where it shines more than most other platforms.
You don’t need to be a web designer or coder to build your store. All orders can be managed from their automatable fulfillment dashboard.
It will save a lot of time and effort for you.
And whether you use the desktop or mobile devices, responsiveness is both taken care of.
Storenvy brings you the same experience. It is one of the easiest-to-use eCommerce platforms.
With no design and technical knowledge needed, you will definitely find it appealing.
They also provide a central dashboard so you can access various areas for managing your store, including orders, marketplace listings, marketing, storefront design, and so on.
However, the initial set-up can be a little complicated and takes more time compared to Shopify.
Shopify vs Storenvy: Ease of Use
Shopify wins!
Design flexibility
As we all know, first impressions are vital. It is always a challenge for you to impress your customer at their first glance at your store.
No matter which platform you choose, you must know that there are already thousands of stores started before you.
The store design is the key to help your store stand-out compared to others.
So, between Shopify vs Storenvy, which provides you the better designing tool?
Shopify offers you a lot of well-designed templates.
Currently, it has an impressively wide array of 10 free and over 60 premium templates to choose from.
So there is no doubt that you will be able to make an attractive looking store.
One downside is that their premium templates will cost you $180 each, and the free templates look kind of basic.
The design features in Shopify are suitable for people with no coding background. You can easily make some changes on colors, images, etc.
But if you want to make more backend changes, you will likely need to work with a developer, because their templates are written in Liquid templating code, which is quite hard to access if you’re not a programmer.
And about Storenvy. They have a website builder along with an HTML and CSS editor.
That means with a little coding experience, their users can make any changes they want.
And like Shopify, non-technical users have more limited control over their storefront. You can only change colors, text, banners, images, and other parts of the layout.
They also provide an extensive range of themes. Some themes have an extra charge, too, but it usually only costs around $30 each.
Shopify vs Storenvy: Design flexibility
It is a tie!
Analytic
Analytics uses data and math to help answer business questions. It’s the key to improve your business.
Therefore, analytic tools are an essential feature of any eCommerce platform.
Shopify provides you an overview dashboard with business insights through analytics.
In this dashboard, you can view stats like sales, top products, landing pages or referrers, returning customer rate, and more.
More than that, Shopify users can create their own custom reports easily.
Not to mention the Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus plans also offer pre-defined reports.
On the other hand, Storenvy, sadly, doesn’t have its own analytic tools.
But they do allow users to directly integrate third-party analytics tools, like Google Analytics, to see some insights.
Other than that, you can also see some insights like:
- Sales counts from your Storenvy Store and on Storenvy Marketplace
- Unique visitors and page view counts
- Top referring URLs
- Top search engine terms
Of course, it will not be as powerful and helpful as Shopify integrated analytics.
Shopify vs Storenvy: Analytic
Shopify wins!
Help and Support
No matter if you are a beginner or an expert in online business, things can always go wrong at some point. And that is when you need someone to be there to help get you back on track.
This is why a great support system is a need.
So let’s take a look at the help and support centers of Shopify vs Storenvy.
Shopify has 24/7 email, phone, and live chat support on all of their plans.
In fact, their customer reviews are full of positive comments about the quality of support.
The supporting email system is also offered in a variety of other languages, not just English.
Other than that, with thousands of online shop owners using the Shopify platform, it has the most active users’ communities.
You can quickly find a Facebook group or a forum to ask for help with your Shopify store.
The customer service for sellers on Storenvy is a little disappointed sometimes.
First of all, they only provide technical support via email or the contact form. There is no phone or live-chat assistance.
Not to mention, it usually takes up to twenty-four hours to receive a response.
There isn’t any premium support on any higher plan either.
By mixing customer reviews on the interacted with the support team, we can say that how quick you get help depends on your luck.
And their user communities aren’t as active as Shopify’s.
Long story short, if you have a problem with Storenvy, it seems like the only way possible is to try to stay calm and wait patiently for their support service.
Shopify vs Storenvy: Help and Support
Shopify wins!
Learn more about Shopify vs eBay.
Pricing and Additional fees
Obviously, the price is the first thing that comes to your mind when you are doing business.
Pricing is everyone’s favorite topic.
It is even more important when you’re first starting out.
Because it may take a little while to get your audience and customer base up and running, and you don’t want to be paying a fortune out of pocket for the platform only.
So let’s dive in and find out Shopify vs Storenvy, which offers better value for money.
Shopify currently offers you four main plans:
- Shopify Lite: $9/month
- Basic Shopify: $29/month
- Shopify: $79/month
- Advanced Shopify: $299/month
For a full list of features per plan, please check out the Shopify website.
There is a 14-day free trial option for you to test it out before upgrading to any plan.
Other than that, they also have Shopify Plus, essentially an upgraded version of Shopify and designed for large enterprise businesses.
Shopify Plus plans start at $2000 per month and are based on your pricing customized plan.
So, based on your Shopify Plus store’s sales volume, here is what you can expect to pay:
- $0 to $800,000 – you will pay $2,000
- $1,000,000 – you will pay $2,500
- $5,000,000 – you will pay $12,500
- $12,000,000 – you will pay $30,000
- $16,000,000 and more – you will pay $40,000
With all of their fantastic features and support, clearly, the price is understandable.
But the downside is that Shopify will charge you an additional fee if you want to use any payment gateway other than Shopify Payments – their own payment solution.
The additional fee costs 0.5% – 2% per payment, depending on your chosen plan.
The best thing about Storenvy is that they provide you an absolutely free plan. Forever.
Overall, Storenvy has 3 plans:
- Hobbyist: free, allows for up to 1000 listings.
- Plus: $14.99/month, has some additional features like discounts.
- Pro”: $29.99/month, includes automation tools.
For a full list of features per plan, please check out the Storenvy website.
Stripe and Paypal is their payment provider, and associated fees apply.
They don’t charge you any additional fees for products sold through your store.
But if your product is sold via a listing on the marketplace, they will charge you 15% of the final sale price ( includes shipping fee).
Shopify vs Storenvy: Pricing and Additional fees
Storenvy wins!
Conclusion
Remember that your online store has different requirements and business models compared to any other store. So it means you have to decide for yourself which platform you should use.
But to make it easier for you, we will once again point out the most significant difference between Shopify vs Storenvy sums up:
Shopify is a shop management system that is very powerful in terms of customization and support, and has more of a commercial feel, suitable for small to large businesses.
Storenvy is a craft marketplace, it costs much less, but you will need to put more effort into making your item display widely, suitable for selling niche or self-making products.
If you are still unsure which one to choose, we recommend you try their free plans to test them out by yourself.
I hope this article is helpful for you to choose between Shopify vs Storenvy.
Best luck to you!
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