Buying and selling as we know it today is a lot different from the old days. While local stores still get visitors daily, a lot of people have begun switching sides. Online brands are now taking the spotlight by providing goods and services to a global market-base.
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Digital commerce which is also known as e-commerce is basically buying and selling online. It cuts off the stressful commute and allows store owners to reach more people across the world. Basically, e-commerce sets up the whole world as one big marketplace without borders.
But, there’s still the traditional challenge of how to set up a store for success. For physical stores, the challenge typically requires looking for a secure yet easily accessible spot to set up shop. But for online stores, the challenge gets a bit more confusing with several e-commerce platforms offering the same promise.
For the average online store owner, WordPress is the default website builder. Thanks to its drag and drop web building and design features, brands can easily customize their website to look unique. And with so many useful digital marketing plugins, marketing, sales conversion, and keeping track of inventory is pretty easy.
WooCommerce vs Headless e-Commerce
In a bid to provide store owners with a dedicated e-commerce platform, WordPress offers two primary options; WooCommerce and Headless e-Commerce.
WooCommerce
On one hand, WooCommerce is a free open-source software for creating e-commerce websites using WordPress. It’s a one-size-fits-all platform that provides all the necessary features for setting up an e-commerce website. With WooCommerce, users can create a single fully functional e-commerce website.
Some of WooCommerce special features include;
- Account creation
- Product management
- Shopping cart
- Multiple payment gateways
- Shipping options
- Sales report
Thanks to it being free and easy to use, WooCommerce is ideal for first-timers in e-commerce. With it being paired with WordPress, it’s one of the leading e-commerce platforms with over 3.5 million stores powered by it.
Headless E-commerce
On the other hand, there’s the headless e-commerce setup using WordPress. It’s a bit more technical than WooCommerce, but for good reason. Basically, headless e-commerce separates the frontend from the backend in setting up an e-commerce store.
What this means is that the frontend part of the website that visitors interact with, is separated from the backend that’s responsible for background processing. This way, each part can be updated without necessarily affecting the functionality of the other. Issues like uploading or browsing through a product catalog, filtering search results, and customizing the shop’s outlook, work independently from background processes like payment, inventory management, and website security.
With headless e-commerce, online store owners get the following;
- Better customization
- Website function optimization
- Stronger website security and stability
- Easier integration and web expansion
Basically, headless e-commerce offers all that WooCommerce offers, but with premium features.
Choosing The Right Platform For You
Looking at the features of WooCommerce and headless e-commerce, it’s easy to want it all. On one hand, WooCommerce gives you a fast and free setup, while headless e-commerce plugins allow you to explore more customization and website optimization. But, you can’t exactly use both at once. Think about it this way, once you begin adding independent plugins to your WooCommerce store, you’re already tuning to headless e-commerce.
While a headless e-commerce setup may appear safer with better features, WooCommerce setups are just fine. For instance, upgrading your website security doesn’t necessarily mean that the current one is poor. Ultimately, choosing the right platform for you is more than just thinking about store features.
Five Things To Consider In Choosing Your Platform
Before you decide on the platform to setup your online store with WordPress, you should consider the following:
- Technical Expertise: If you’re a business owner with no in-depth technical experience in building an e-commerce store, you need to opt for something less technical. WooCommerce isn’t so technical. It allows you to design a website by merely dragging and dropping features, and also using plugins. But with headless e-commerce, you’ll need dedicated teams to build and manage the frontend and backend of your e-commerce website.
- Customization: No doubt, being able to customize your website is important. It ensures that your website reflects your brand identity in colors, fonts, and quality. While WooCommerce is pretty great with customization themes and plugins, it’s quite limited compared to a headless e-commerce setup. Using third-party softwares and APIs gives you greater control over your website’s customization and functionality.
- Performance: Just like customization, your website’s functionality is important. Website functionality must cover issues like dead links, quick processing, and all other background processes that improve user experience. WooCommerce websites are optimized for lesser traffic compared to headless e-commerce setups. And during website maintenance, running a headless e-commerce setup means you won’t necessarily disrupt web traffic or user experience.
- Affordability: Having multiple features and greater customization typically comes at a price. If you’re just starting out, you might need to put a cap on how much you spend on your e-commerce website. WooCommerce is free and has some affordable customization and optimization plugins you can use. But, if funds aren’t scarce, then you can pay the premium to build your website from scratch, and also handle maintenance.
- Business Growth: Your vision for your business is key to choosing your e-commerce platform. If running an online store is your side hustle, and you have no major plans of updating or drawing more traffic, then WooCommerce works perfectly. It’s cheaper, needs little supervision, and can manage medium web traffic. But, if you plan on scaling your online store to a full-scale e-commerce website with lots of traffic, then a headless e-commerce setup is your best bet.
Conclusion
In the end, choosing the right platform for your business boils down to what fits your needs. If you’re a first-timer running a small to medium online store, a WooCommerce website is perfect. But, if you’re a commerce veteran with a goal to scale your business, then you need the funds to build a headless e-commerce website.
Nevertheless, building a business online is a marathon that tests patience and planning. If your eyes are set on a headless e-commerce website, you can build first with WooCommerce, and upgrade later. What matters is that you work with the right platform for the current growth level of your business. Small to medium then large.
