Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose the Best E-Commerce Platform

WooCommerce: tailored directly to customer needs

WooCommerce is a popular e-commerce platform developed by WordPress. If the store owner already has experience with WordPress, or if the company’s current website is built on WordPress, WooCommerce is often the clear choice.

Both the website and the online store can then be managed with the same credentials, and the system itself is intuitive – assuming, of course, that the existing WordPress site is technically well built.

However, if a cheap and poorly made theme is chosen, or if too little effort is invested in proper site development, the outcome can be problematic. In that case, flexibility, reliability, security and user experience may all suffer.

WooCommerce adapts to the business, rather than forcing the business to adapt to the platform’s limitations.

When to choose WooCommerce?

WooCommerce’s biggest advantage is its flexibility.

It allows complete customization of the store’s appearance (everything the user sees) as well as functionalities such as product filtering, delivery options or wish lists. Tailored reporting tools and order management features are also frequently needed.

In other words, WooCommerce provides excellent “back-end tools,” while the user interface and customer-facing features are always built to fit the project’s unique needs.

WooCommerce is therefore an excellent choice when the goal is to meet both customer and end-user expectations as precisely as possible. It adapts to the business, rather than forcing the business to adapt to the platform’s limitations.

This is why we always begin our e-commerce projects with service design and requirements definition: first clarifying the what and why, and only then moving on to the how. In this process, WooCommerce consistently proves to be a strong candidate thanks to its capabilities.

P.S. Interested in our service design process? Read our Buyer’s Guide article on digital service design.

Extensive integration possibilities

WooCommerce can be integrated with a wide range of systems, such as PIM or ERP solutions. For example, together with S-Ryhmä we implemented such an integration, while for Mediatrade we developed a store with advanced product filtering and tailored quoting tools.

It’s possible to set up WooCommerce without support, but it is not the easiest platform to approach. Especially for integrations, we recommend involving expert assistance.

WooCommerce is suitable for companies and stores of all sizes, though its customization capabilities tend to be most beneficial for medium and large businesses.

Typical project phases for a WooCommerce store

• Service design and requirements definition
• User interface prototype
• Visual design of the interface
• Technical implementation
• Testing and launch
• Maintenance and further development

WooCommerce pricing

The WooCommerce platform itself is free to download, but it needs to be hosted on your own server, in the cloud, or via a web hosting provider. Many plugins are paid add-ons.

Because of this, it’s difficult to give an exact cost estimate – the total depends on the chosen hosting solution, the number of required add-ons, and whether outside expertise is needed.

The key benefit of WooCommerce is that you only pay for the features you actually use. We never automatically add paid plugins; instead, we carefully select only what’s necessary. Most functionalities are implemented as custom solutions.

So, WooCommerce project costs typically start around 40 000 €, with the upper range often reaching 100 000 €. These projects usually require several dozen person-days of expert work, even though WooCommerce is considered a “ready-made” e-commerce platform.

Shopify: an online store with a monthly subscription

Canadian-based Shopify has grown into one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. Its biggest advantage is that it allows you to set up an online store without significant technical expertise.

Features of Shopify

With Shopify, an online store can be created using ready-made templates, making it essentially the opposite of WooCommerce. The platform is easy to use, but adapting the store to very specific requirements can be difficult. For example, integrating Shopify with an organization’s PIM or ERP system may not be possible.

Although Shopify’s customization options are limited, it is flexible enough to support a wide range of online stores. The store’s appearance can be modified fairly freely, which may be sufficient for smaller businesses in particular.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify’s entry-level plan costs 32 € per month. There are also plans priced at 92 € and 384 € per month for larger businesses needing additional features. For truly versatile online stores, the monthly subscription can exceed 2000 €. It is also important to note that Shopify takes a sales commission with all license options.

Shopify is inexpensive in terms of upfront costs but often expensive in terms of ongoing total costs. We generally do not recommend it for clients who require extensive customization or complex e-commerce needs.

MyCashflow: a Finnish e-commerce platform

MyCashflow is a Finnish e-commerce platform with a monthly subscription model. Like Shopify, it allows you to set up an online store quickly with a ready-made package solution, without requiring any technical know-how.

Features of MyCashflow

While MyCashflow offers pre-built templates, it also supports some customization. For example, the store’s appearance can be adjusted broadly if needed. However, functionality customization is very limited, almost nonexistent.

MyCashflow Pricing

The most affordable plan costs 49 € per month, supporting up to 200 products and 500 MB of storage. This is quickly insufficient for web stores with larger product catalogs or higher traffic.

The 107.50 € per month plan raises the product limit to 2000 and storage capacity to 5 GB. A Pro subscription is also available at 165.80 € per month, offering additional features.

Thanks to being locally developed, MyCashflow is a service we are happy to recommend to clients whose needs and budgets align with a simple, ready-made e-commerce solution.

We help build e-commerce stores

In this article, we have highlighted just three e-commerce platforms, though of course there are many more.

To sum up:

• Small and lightweight stores can be built with MyCashflow or Shopify.
• Medium to large customized projects are best implemented with WooCommerce – until the project size reaches the hundreds of thousands of euros range. At that point, Magento enters the picture as WooCommerce’s competitor.

We primarily deliver e-commerce projects with WooCommerce. This allows us to provide clients with a fully tailored solution that integrates seamlessly with their existing systems. This is especially important when the new web store must connect smoothly with the organization’s current infrastructure.

The cost of building an e-commerce store always depends on the scope of the project. The best way to start planning – and receive a cost estimate – is simply to get in touch with us.

Isto Karttunen

Senior Project Manager

Isto Karttunen

Senior Project Manager