Magento, Shopify or Shopware?
Founded in Münsterland by two brothers, Stefan and Sebastian Hamann, Shopware has been successfully operating as the largest and most popular e-commerce platform on the German market for around 20 years. Over these years, the platform has been continuously expanded with numerous out-of-the-box features and SEO functions and released in new versions to adapt to the ever-changing requirements of customers. In 2019, the latest version Shopware 6 was presented at the Shopware Community Day, which attracts new users every day thanks to its scalability, flexibility and internationalization. The main goals of providing the best experience for a customer anywhere in the world and developing online commerce worldwide, thanks to a large number of sales channels (different in assortment, currencies and languages), tax calculation/price configurators created for international scaling, make Shopware a unique e-commerce platform today.
In addition, the company itself has expanded the market geographically. Since 2016, the Shopware software providers have been working closely with the UK market, which led to the UK business being strengthened last year with the opening of a Shopware office in London. It is also worth noting that working with Shopware guarantees security and reliability because it has a very active developer community that provides customers with professional support;
In addition to worldwide distribution, Shopware offers its customers a unique variety of languages to sell in all corners of the world. Currently, Shopware applications are available in around 25 languages thanks to Crowdin. This is an open source platform where a community of volunteers, native speakers, invest their technical language skills in front-end translations so that the online stores can function internationally. Once the translations are completed, each online store can download the plugin for free according to the language needs of their customers. Note: All instructions are translated from English or German, although Shopware is made in Germany. What's more, to prove that it is an international platform, Shopware documentation is currently being produced in English for the time being _. On the other hand, after a thorough investigation of the English-speaking markets in terms of the most popular platforms in e-commerce, especially in the US, it was surprising to find that the majority of websites have still been using WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify for many years without considering switching to more advanced, modern platforms for a variety of reasons.
According to Google Trends, Shopify was the most popular e-commerce platform in the USA in the last 12 months.
- Shopify; 
- Magento; 
- Shopware
The line chart below shows that Shopware is the leading e-commerce platform in Germany.
- Shopware; - Magento
As far as English-speaking markets are concerned, the USA has always been regarded as the global standard for e-commerce, as the first platforms for online sales such as Amazon and eBay were created here in the 1990s. Furthermore, the dominance of the USA in the digital market can be explained by the large number of 288 million internet users and the constant habit of relying on online shopping. As the largest market for e-commerce compared to the UK and Germany (see the pie chart below), the US is the second largest market in the world after China with a turnover of 343 billion US dollars in 2019 (https://www.statista.com/topics/2443/us-ecommerce/). The question of why the Shopware platform has not yet been launched on the American e-commerce market remains unanswered. Perhaps the hurdles for entering the American market are quite high due to the large players and tough competition. Nevertheless, as the most elegant e-commerce platform with its proactively developing strategies, Shopware has many chances to gain traction in any part of the world. These are just our guesses, if you have other ideas, we would be very happy if you share them with us.
https://trends.builtwith.com/shop
In general, the e-commerce business is changing rapidly and expanding every day. In 2020 alone, more than 24 million e-commerce websites were launched worldwide (see the statistic), influencing online customer behaviour and shaping new international online shopping habits. Therefore, many entrepreneurs are moving towards creating their own websites with e-commerce functionality instead of selling through the online marketplaces. Secondly, there is a wide choice of e-commerce platforms to choose from these days, which can sometimes confuse and mislead entrepreneurs. Many useful tips & articles can be found on websites on how to start your business from scratch or how to optimise your website to increase conversion rates and "compel" customers to buy from your online shop through various marketing strategies. Does that sound good to you? In these times of uncertainty and fierce competition between e-commerce players, we have prepared a thorough but brief comparison of three e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento and Shopware that will certainly make your decision making easier. Let's now take a look at what each platform has to offer.
| SHOPWARE | |
|---|---|
| Price | Free: There are no costs until you generate sales. |
| Advantages | - Open source software - Easy setup and management of the online shop - The main feature of Shopware is Shopping World. This helps online businesses to maximise customer engagement through banners, video sliders, blog articles. - Better optimisation for SEO with focus on emotional content marketing - A simple backend - A short term loading system. Get your shop up and running in a few weeks. - Shopware 5 integration is designed to work with Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch) to improve functionality and speed for large organisations with millions of items. Note: For smaller shops, the installation of Elasticsearch is not required. - Integration of different payment methods and shipping options - Different sales channels - Good support & community - Smooth global scaling |
| Disadvantages - Additional costs for media customisation - Comparatively small number of plugins (approx. 3,500 free and paid modules) |
|
| Best suited | For any business model, whether B2B or B2C. Shopware Cloud was recently introduced for D2C (Direct-to-Consumer). For beginners who want to build their business from scratch or those who want to increase their e-commerce productivity. |
| SHOPIFY | |
|---|---|
| Price | 14 days free trial version is available. |
| Advantages - A self-hosted e-commerce platform - A simple backend for both beginners and advanced users - Extensive Facebook selling features |
|
| Disadvantages - Weak SEO - Transaction fees (when using non-Shopify payments) - Expensive apps - No responsive frontend - No customer support in the UK |
|
| Best suited | For small to medium-sized companies. |
| MAGENT | |
|---|---|
| Price | There is no trial period for Magento. The Magento Commerce Edition starts at $24,000 per year. The open source version is free, but requires considerable development effort. |
| Advantages | - Open source software - A good selection of free and paid plugins - Improved security through two-factor authentication (2FA), but only applies to Magento admin users - Powerful SEO functions - Front end is responsive - Global sales - Integrated checkout, payment and shipping |
| Disadvantages | - Expensive with Commerce Edition, requires experienced specialists for Magento online shop development - Poor product support - Complex e-commerce software that requires hosting - Slow loading times - The main disadvantage of Magento 2.4.1 is the lack of support from Elasticsearch, which is necessary for running a shop - No social media functions |
| Best suited | e-commerce at enterprise level ( Magento Commerce and/or Magento Cloud ). Note: The open source version does not include B2B functions. |
After briefly comparing both sides of each platform, we can see that Shopify is better suited for retail stores due to its functionality and Shopware with Magento are more advanced systems whose features make them the hub of the ecommerce world. Both systems play in the same league because they work well for the global market, B2B and B2C businesses. Which of the two is better: Shopware or Magento? Our answer is simple: the more advanced the functionality of your system, the more difficult it is to implement and maintain. In terms of ease of use & budget, Shopware 6 wins against Magento 2. Shopware 6 is a cost-effective and easy-to-use online shop solution with an intuitive user interface and a user-friendly backend. Unlimited flexibility through the API approach, the ability to develop your brand's authenticity with Shopping World and extensive out-of-the-box features and ready-to-use plugins might make you think about switching your e-commerce business to Shopware. Should you require more detailed information about Shopware with a free demo presentation, we are at your disposal.for any questions.
Regardless of the competition between these platforms, both have won the trust of renowned companies such as Coca-Cola (Magento), Swatch (Magento), Christian Louboutin (Magento), L'Oréal (Shopware), Mercedes-Benz (Shopware), Philips (Shopware) worldwide and continue to conquer the global market by taking on every technological challenge and easily adapting to the new changes. Shopware is a one-click solution for commissioning or maintenance. Magento is a time-consuming e-commerce solution compared to Shopware because it is a more complex system equipped with numerous functions, extensions and plugins. Our Magento 2 agency specialises in the creation of online shops on this platform. As a result, it can take quite a while and cost you quite a bit to choose the best combination of features and extensions for the development or design of your online shop. The choice is up to YOU.
