Shopify vs Zoho Commerce: A Comprehensive Comparison

In this article, we will compare and give the details of the two top e-commerce platforms Shopify and Zoho Commerce. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will have a comprehensive understanding of which platform will be the perfect choice for your business.

Key Takeaways

• Shopify is best for businesses of all sizes with a focus on simplicity and ease of use.
• Zoho Commerce is best for businesses that require a more integrated suite of business applications alongside e-commerce capabilities.

Shopify vs Zoho Commerce: The key difference

The key difference between Shopify and Zoho Commerce lies in their focus and approach. 

Shopify is primarily an e-commerce platform that offers a robust set of features for building and managing online stores. It emphasizes simplicity, scalability, and an extensive app ecosystem for customization. 

On the other hand, Zoho Commerce is part of the broader Zoho suite of business applications, providing an integrated solution that combines e-commerce with other business functions such as CRM, accounting, and inventory management. Zoho Commerce is well-suited for businesses already using Zoho products and seeking a seamless integration between different aspects of their operations. 

Shopify vs Zoho Commerce: Pros and Cons

Pros and Cons of Shopify 

Pros

• User-friendly interface and easy setup process
• Wide range of attractive themes and templates for customization
• Extensive app store with numerous integrations and add-ons
• Excellent customer support and dedicated community
• Robust e-commerce features for selling products online

Cons

• Transaction fees for using third-party payment gateways
• Limited control over the backend code for advanced customization
• Additional costs for premium themes and some advanced features
• Scaling up can become expensive with higher subscription plans
• Limited built-in features for non-e-commerce functionalities

Pros and Cons of Zoho Commerce

Pros

• Seamless integration with other Zoho business applications
• Comprehensive suite of features for e-commerce, CRM, inventory management, etc.
• Flexible pricing options suitable for small to large businesses
• Customizable and responsive templates for creating unique online stores
• Strong security measures to protect customer data.

Cons

• Less extensive app store compared to Shopify’s ecosystem
• Limited theme options compared to Shopify’s vast collection
• Steeper learning curve for beginners and less intuitive interface
• Not exclusively focused on e-commerce, so may lack some specialized features
• Occasional delays in customer support response times

Shopify vs Zoho Commerce: In-depth Comparison

Pricing

Shopify

Subscription fees

Shopify offers multiple pricing plans in the US market, starting with the Shopify Starter plan for $5/month, $39 per month for the Basic plan, and up to $399 per month for the Advanced plan. Specific features and capabilities increase as you increase the price.

You can click here to experience Shopify risk-free for the first 3 days and continue your journey at just $1/month for the initial three months. This is your chance to create, innovate, and expand like never before.

Transaction fees

Shopify charges 0.5-2% transaction fees on each sale made through external payment gateways. The transaction fee percentage varies based on the selected plan, with lower fees for higher-tier plans. You can get rid of this fee by using Shopify’s native payment gateway—Shopify Payments.

Read more: Shopify Pricing Plans: How To Choose The Right Plans

Zoho Commerce

Subscription fees

Zoho Commerce offers three pricing plans in the US market. The Starter plan is priced at $12 per month, the Professional plan at $36 per month, and the Advanced plan at $84 per month. Each plan comes with different features and capabilities to cater to varying business needs.   

Transaction fees

Zoho Commerce charges 0.5-1% per transaction.

Table comparison in terms of overall pricing

The Verdict

In terms of pricing, Shopify emerges as the more optimal choice. 

Sales Features

When comparing Shopify and Zoho Commerce in terms of sales features, let’s explore various aspects:

Shipping And Fulfillment

Both Shopify and Zoho Commerce offer robust shipping and fulfillment features. They provide integrations with popular shipping carriers, allowing merchants to manage shipping rates, print labels, and track packages. However, Shopify’s shipping capabilities are more extensive and flexible, offering advanced features like automatic fulfillment through its own fulfillment network and integration with third-party fulfillment services. Hence, Shopify takes the lead in this category.

Inventory Management

Shopify and Zoho Commerce both provide inventory management functionality to help merchants track and manage their stock levels. However, Shopify offers more advanced inventory management features, including multiple location management, low-stock alerts, and barcode scanning. Shopify’s intuitive interface and integrations with various inventory management apps make it the winner in this category.

Order Management

Both platforms offer order management tools that enable merchants to process and track orders efficiently. However, Shopify’s order management capabilities are more comprehensive, allowing for easy order processing, order status updates, and order history tracking. Shopify’s user-friendly interface and integrations with apps like order management systems give it an advantage over Zoho Commerce.

Payment Gateway

Both Shopify and Zoho Commerce support multiple payment gateways, including popular options like PayPal and Stripe. However, Shopify offers a broader range of payment gateway integrations (100+), providing more options for merchants to choose from. Meanwhile, Zoho only has 14 payment gateways.

Additionally, Shopify has its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments, which offers seamless integration and competitive transaction fees. Hence, Shopify emerges as the winner in this category.

SEO & content marketing 

Shopify is known for its strong focus on SEO and content marketing. It offers built-in SEO features, customizable URL structures, and the ability to edit meta tags, making it easier for merchants to optimize their online stores for search engines. Shopify also provides a basic blogging feature and content management features to support content marketing efforts. 

While Zoho Commerce offers basic SEO capabilities, Shopify’s comprehensive SEO and content marketing tools give it the edge in this category.

Customer Management

Both platforms provide customer management features, allowing merchants to capture customer information, manage customer profiles, and track customer orders. 

However, Shopify offers more advanced customer management capabilities, including customer groups, customer segmentation, and customer tagging. Shopify’s extensive integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) systems also enhance its customer management capabilities, making it the winner in this category.

Reporting and Analytics

Shopify and Zoho Commerce both offer reporting and analytics tools to help merchants gain insights into their business performance. However, Shopify’s reporting and analytics capabilities are more robust and customizable. It provides a wide range of pre-built reports, as well as the ability to create custom reports using various metrics and dimensions. 

Shopify’s integration with popular analytics platforms like Google Analytics further strengthens its reporting capabilities.

Zoho’s analytics tools, while less robust than Shopify’s, are also helpful in boosting your sales performance. 

Automated Email Marketing

Shopify provides built-in email marketing features through its Shopify Email tool. It allows merchants to create and send email campaigns directly from the platform, including abandoned cart recovery emails and promotional campaigns. 

Zoho Commerce also offers email marketing capabilities through integrations with popular email marketing platforms. 

The Verdict

Shopify emerges as the winner in the sales features category. 

Apps and Integrations

Shopify 

Shopify provides a vast ecosystem of apps (8,000+) through the Shopify App Store. Merchants have access to thousands of third-party apps that can enhance their store’s functionality and integrate with various services. 

Zoho Commerce

In fact, Zoho Commerce may have limitations on the number and variety of apps and third-party integrations compared to Shopify. While supporting essential integrations, Zoho Commerce’s overall app ecosystem may not be as extensive as Shopify’s. Merchants with specific integration requirements should evaluate the availability of required integrations and applications within the Zoho Commerce ecosystem.

The Verdict

Shopify is the winner as it offers a wider range and larger quantity of apps and integrations compared to Zoho Commerce.

Ease of Use

Shopify 

Shopify is widely recognized for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design. The platform offers a straightforward setup process, making it easy for merchants to create and customize their online stores. 

With a user-friendly dashboard, managing products, orders, and inventory is simple and efficient. Shopify provides comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and customer support, ensuring that users can navigate the platform with ease. Its user-friendly nature makes it accessible to both beginners and experienced users.

Zoho Commerce

Zoho Commerce aims to provide users with a user-friendly interface and intuitive tools to build and manage their online stores. With a focus on simplicity, Zoho Commerce offers a streamlined setup process, allowing users to quickly get their store up and running. 

The platform provides easy-to-use customization options, enabling users to customize their store’s design and layout without extensive technical knowledge. Additionally, Zoho Commerce offers comprehensive documentation and support resources to assist users in navigating the platform effectively.

The Verdict

Zoho is the winner in terms of ease of use.

Scalability

Shopify 

As a business scales up, Shopify offers various features and capabilities to help merchants handle increased capacity. Firstly, Shopify allows merchants to upgrade their pricing package to higher tiers, which provide additional resources, features, and support tailored to larger businesses. 

This ensures that the platform can accommodate increased traffic, product listings, and order volumes. Moreover, Shopify’s cloud-based infrastructure ensures scalability and reliability, automatically adjusting resources based on demand.

Additionally, Shopify offers numerous integrations with third-party apps and services that specialize in scalability, such as inventory management systems, order fulfillment solutions, and enterprise-level analytics tools. These integrations enable merchants to leverage specialized tools as their business grows, supporting efficient operations and enhanced scalability.

Zoho Commerce

As a business scales up, Zoho Commerce provides several elements to support the growth. Firstly, Zoho Commerce allows businesses to upgrade their subscription plan to higher tiers, which offer increased resources, features, and support suitable for larger enterprises. 

This ensures that the platform can handle higher levels of traffic, product catalogs, and order volumes. Additionally, Zoho Commerce offers robust API capabilities, allowing businesses to integrate with external systems, customize workflows, and build scalable solutions. This flexibility enables businesses to leverage third-party integrations and extend the platform’s functionality as they grow.

 Furthermore, Zoho Commerce provides advanced inventory management features, enabling businesses to efficiently manage and track their growing inventory. With these elements, Zoho Commerce aims to support businesses in scaling up their operations smoothly.

The Verdict

In terms of scalability, Shopify emerges as the winner due to its comprehensive set of features and resources designed to support businesses as they scale up. 

Help and Support 

Shopify 

Shopify provides multiple support channels to assist users with their inquiries and technical issues. Users can access support through various channels, including live chat, email, and phone support.

Shopify offers 24/7 customer support, ensuring assistance is available at any time. This extensive support infrastructure allows users to quickly reach out for help and receive timely responses to their queries.

Zoho Commerce

Zoho Commerce also offers support channels to assist users with their needs. Users can access support through channels such as live chat, email, and phone during Mon – Fri ( 9:00 – 18:00 GST).

However, the specific support time may vary depending on the user’s location and the plan they are subscribed to. Users can reach out to the support team during the designated support hours to seek assistance.

The Verdict

In terms of help and support, Shopify takes the lead due to its 24/7 customer support availability. 

Security

Shopify 

Shopify takes security seriously and implements several measures to ensure the safety of its platform and users’ data. Some of the security measures adopted by Shopify include data encryption to protect sensitive information, regular security audits and monitoring to identify and address potential vulnerabilities, and compliance with industry standards such as PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). Additionally, Shopify provides users with tools and features to enhance their store’s security, such as two-factor authentication and SSL certificates. 

Zoho Commerce

Zoho Commerce also prioritizes security and employs various measures to safeguard its platform and users’ data. This includes data encryption, regular security assessments, and compliance with industry standards. 

The Verdict

Shopify is the winner in terms of security.

Themes and Templates

Shopify 

Shopify offers a wide range of professionally designed themes and templates (120+) for users to choose from. These themes are visually appealing, customizable, and responsive, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers across different devices. 

Shopify’s theme store provides a diverse selection of options suitable for various industries and business types. Additionally, users can further customize their chosen theme to match their brand identity and design preferences.

Zoho Commerce

Zoho Commerce also provides a collection of themes and templates for users to create their online stores. However, the overall range and variety of themes available in Zoho Commerce may be comparatively limited compared to Shopify.

The Verdict

Shopify emerges as the winner in terms of themes and templates. 

Shopify vs Zoho Commerce: Table Comparison

Overall, Shopify emerges as the winner in this comparison. It excels in various aspects, including pricing, sales features, app integrations, ease of use, scalability, help and support, security, and themes/templates. 

Who should use Shopify? And who should use Zoho Commerce?

Who should use Shopify? :

Shopify is ideal for a wide range of businesses and professionals, including but not limited to:

• Online retailers and e-commerce stores of all sizes.
• Small and medium-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use and comprehensive e-commerce solution.
• Entrepreneurs and startups seeking a platform to quickly set up and launch their online stores.
• Creative individuals, artisans, and artists wanting to sell their products online.
• Dropshippers and businesses utilizing the dropshipping business model.
• Brick-and-mortar stores looking to expand their sales channels and establish an online presence.
• Fashion and apparel brands requiring robust inventory management and multichannel selling capabilities.
• Digital marketers and agencies managing multiple client stores.
• Boutique gyms, fitness studios, and wellness businesses selling merchandise and online services.
• Restaurants and food businesses offering online ordering and delivery services.

And who should use Zoho Commerce?

Zoho Commerce is ideal for various businesses and professionals, including:

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking for an affordable e-commerce platform.
• B2B (business-to-business) companies aiming to streamline their online sales processes.
• Service-based businesses such as consultants, agencies, and professional service providers.
• Retailers and wholesalers requiring integrated inventory and order management.
• Manufacturers and distributors seeking a scalable e-commerce solution.
• Startups and entrepreneurs with limited budgets but needing an online store.
• Businesses are already using other Zoho software products, leveraging the integration capabilities.
• Local businesses and service providers targeting specific geographic regions.
• Niche and specialty stores catering to specific product categories or industries.
• Non-profit organizations and educational institutions looking to sell merchandise or digital products.

FAQs

Shopify vs Zoho Commerce: Conclusion

Overall, Shopify excels in its extensive app ecosystem, user-friendly interface, and scalability, making it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. But the ultimate choice depends on your business needs.