WordPress or Shopify for Your Online Store in Pakistan?

WordPress vs Shopify is one of the first things sellers ask us about. Both can run a very good store, and plenty of successful Pakistani brands use each of them, so the answer really comes down to your business and how you like to work.

WordPress vs Shopify: the short version

Pick Shopify if you want to start selling quickly and would rather not think about hosting, updates or security. Pick WordPress with WooCommerce if you want more control, plan to publish a lot of content, or need something unusual in how your store works.

What you will pay

Shopify charges a monthly subscription, and that fee is in US dollars, so your cost in rupees moves with the exchange rate. Paid apps add to the bill, and it is easy to end up with several of them.

WooCommerce itself is free, but it still needs hosting, a domain and probably a few paid plugins. Someone also has to look after updates and backups. It often works out cheaper each month, though not always once you count the time or the developer involved.

Taking payments in Pakistan

For many stores here, cash on delivery still makes up a big share of orders, and both platforms handle it without trouble.

Online payments take more thought. Shopify Payments may not be available to you, so you would rely on third-party providers. WooCommerce generally has plugins for local gateways. Availability and approval rules change, so check with the gateway before you commit to a platform. This one question can settle the whole decision.

Day-to-day running

Shopify is hard to break. Adding products, handling orders and viewing reports all happen in one tidy dashboard, and your staff can learn it quickly.

WooCommerce gives you more freedom, and with it more ways for things to go wrong. A plugin update can clash with your theme. That is manageable if you keep backups and test changes, but somebody needs to be responsible for it.

SEO and content

Both can rank well on Google. WordPress has the edge if blogging is part of your plan, simply because it was built for publishing. Shopify has a basic blog that is fine for occasional posts. In our experience, product photos, descriptions and page speed matter far more than the platform.

A few real-world examples

• A clothing brand moving off Instagram: Shopify. They need to launch soon, and their energy should go into marketing.
• A wholesaler with customer-specific prices: WooCommerce or a custom build. The pricing rules will need flexibility.
• A business with a WordPress site already: WooCommerce often makes sense, since everything can stay in one place.
• A dropshipper selling abroad: Usually Shopify, because its apps and international selling tools are well suited to this.

How we would decide

When someone asks us to settle WordPress vs Shopify for them, we ask three things. How many products do you have? Who will look after the site once it is live? Do you need anything unusual, such as wholesale prices or bookings? If nobody on your team wants to deal with updates, that usually points to Shopify. If you already have a developer or plan to publish regularly, WordPress starts to look better.

Can you switch later?

Yes. Products, customers and orders can be moved either way, and old links can be redirected so you keep your search rankings. It is a bit of work, but it is not a disaster. So do not let this decision hold you up for months. Pick the one that fits today and start selling.

Still undecided? Tell us what you sell and how many products you have, and we will give you a straight answer. Here is more about our Shopify and e-commerce work. For the latest plan prices, check Shopify's pricing page.