When I started my business, Instantly Unique Gifts, I didn’t want to spend money on something like Shopify for my website, I wanted to keep my costs as low as possible because I wasn’t really making any money in the beginning but I wanted an online presence that was professional looking. So, I chose Square because it was free and they still have a free plan to this day. You may know Square as a the popular card reader a lot of businesses and vendors use to accept debit and credit cards for their business. But, did you know they also have an online store function? They sure do! And you can get started for free! If you don’t have a card reader for our and about but want to get started, Square is a great place to start. You can get a some huge start up benefits credits on processing fees up to $1,000 in sales over the next 180 days (6 months) or $20 off the purchase of a Square Reader for contactless and chip from Square Shop by using my sign up link here: https://squareup.com/i/RYANMAKEIT
Here is a list of Square Online plans as of the writing of this post:
I personally don’t use Square anymore for my website because it lacked some of the functions and integrations I quickly realized I wanted and needed. I wanted to add special things to my products, like letting customers upload photos or add personalization. But Square just couldn’t do that for me at the time.
That’s when I decided to give Shopify a try. And let me tell you, it was a game-changer. Shopify is an amazing platform for building your online store. But even Shopify has its limits. If you want to do cool stuff like adding personalization or extra features to your products, you need to use apps.
Apps are like little helpers for your website. They add extra features and functionality that Shopify doesn’t have built-in. Some apps are free, and some cost money. I use a mix of both, depending on what I need.
Shopify also has a huge selection of themes that are optimized for conversion. A conversion is the amount of visitors that actually come to your website and then complete a purchase. Shopify also integrated with almost everything including other marketplaces like TikTok Shop and your social media. There’s a huge amount of support for Shopify users including support from Shopify itself. The biggest thing I like though, is the apps I can add to my website to allow my customers to customize their purchase and allow me to connect with them through online chat and more. There’s also a huge amount of back end apps that do a lot for me such as manage my order flow and send emails to customers. I hope to go over my favorite apps with you soon.
You might be wondering: if Square is known for taking card payments in person and Shopify is known as a website service, do I need both if I sell in person? The answer: nope! Shopify has POS (Point-of-Sale) as well and you can get a card reader from Shopify so, you can take cards in person as well!
But what about the price difference?
The annual plan of Shopify which is what I use and most other business use is just $29/mo or if you pay monthly, it’s $39/month.
So, which platform is better?
If you’re just looking for a online store and no bells or whistles and don’t plan on needing anything other than basic features in the future, Square might be the choice for you. But, if you’re going to need anything else to elevate your business like I did, I would use Shopify. It’s better to start off with the best and industry standard for ecommerce then to switch later because what you chose didn’t have all the features and integrations you need later.
Affiliate Disclosure: Ryan Can Make It is a participant in Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate programs. I earn a small commission from Amazon links and some other links posted on this website.
