Website World Versus Shopify

Choosing the best eCommerce platform is a key decision business owners make. Both Shopify and Website World are capable global platforms, yet there are differences in eCommerce features offered, pricing transparency, scalability and ease of use. 

In this comparison, we break down the key differences between Shopify and Website World, helping you to decide which eCommerce platform is best for your business.

Shopify vs Website World: eCommerce Platform Comparison

Both Shopify and Website World are globally recognised eCommerce platforms, used by businesses of all sizes around the world. Here is a comparison table between the key differences between Website World and Shopify:

Feature / Challenge	شوبيفاي	عالم المواقع الإلكترونية	Your Benefits Using Website World
Advanced features	Many advanced eCommerce features require paid apps	Built-in advanced eCommerce tools	With Website World, you'll save money and reduce complexity, providing you with powerful tools
Pricing predictability	Costs increase as you add new apps or themes. Transaction fees charged.	Transparent pricing with essential eCommerce features included. No transaction fees	With Website World, there are no surprise costs
Customisation	Deep design or changes often need costly developer skills	Drag-and-drop editor plus full HTML access.	Website World gives full flexibility to create a unique store without hiring developers
B2B / Wholesale selling	Requires multiple apps for wholesale pricing, tiered discounts, or advanced shipping.	Advanced selling features included — multi-tier pricing, complex shipping, and multi-location stock supported.	Website World supports complex selling out-of-the-box — ideal for B2B, trade, or growing stores.
SEO & marketing	Some SEO elements (URLs, robots.txt) hard to control without workarounds or apps.	Full control over URLs, metadata, and page structure; built-in SEO tools.	Website World SEO assists with easier organic growth and traffic optimisation without extra tools.
Support & local expertise	Global 24/7 support can be generic; response times vary.	Personalised support with local and global market expertise.	Website World offers faster, expert help tailored to your market and business needs.

Let's dive deeper and explore the key differences, including the pros and cons between Shopify and Website World:

• Website World is Made in New Zealand - Shopify is from Canada

Website World is made in NZ, supported from NZ, and hosting prices are fixed to your chosen currency. This might be NZD, AUD, GBP, EUR, CAD or USD (and many more). Website World is a global website platform, hosting websites from all over the world, in multiple currencies. Whereas Shopify is made in Canada, and support is generally provided from Canada/USA. Shopify prices are fixed in USD, and currency fluctuations can make this expensive for NZ customers. 

• Trade Ordering Built In

With Website World, you get trade ordering built in, with 8 price groups, and unlimited unique customer prices per product. There is no additional cost to using Trade Ordering with Website World, whereas you would need to add an expensive plugin with Shopify.

• Rural Delivery Detection and Address Verification

Both Website World and Shopify are popular systems, with many courier integrations around the world. However, only Website World understands how rural NZ Postcodes work, and ensures that most rural addresses pay a rural surcharge if you have configured your freight that way. Website World offers multiple pathways to checkout, where customers can either select a delivery method first, or enter their address first. If the goods are digital, there is no requirement to enter a delivery address. Website World provides NZ Post address verification. Website World does not reject orders that have an invalid address, we simply notify the merchant so that the address can be manually verified and wording corrected. Shopify has been known to reject perfectly reasonable addresses, and that is not good for business.

• Payment Options Without Transaction Fees

Both Shopify and Website World are integrated with Afterpay, and many of the worlds most popular payment options like Stripe and Paypal. However, Website World offers many more NZ based payment options than Shopify. Website World does not charge any percentage transaction fees on your customer payments. Shopify charges a 2% surcharge on any payment option other than Stripe. You can use any payment option with Website World, and the fees for payment processing are charged directly to you by the payment gateway. If you choose Stripe as your payment option, then you are comparing apples with apples, and the pricing is going to be much the same. But if you really want to offer other payment options like Paypal and Afterpay, then saving 2% is awesome. Also, online banking payments are easily understood by NZ customers, and a swift way to complete checkout in NZ.

• More Affordable Hosting Costs

For many small Shopify retailers, you will save more than 44% by moving your website to Website World. With the additional cost savings on transaction fees, it makes financial sense to change to Website World. And for NZ businesses, this supports the local NZ economy. 

• Email and Domain Services Included

Website World offers NZ web addresses, and international domains also. Website World also provides email services (mailboxes) included in the standard hosting plans. Website World was awarded the 2019 prize as NZ's most secure domain portfolio by the .nz domain registry.

• POS, Inventory Management, Multi Vendors, Reports and Analytics 

Point of Sale and inventory management is included for free with Website World. Shopify also provides POS but many features require additional payment. You can have unlimited staff logins with Website World. Shopify has limits on staff count. Both platforms offer basic inventory management, and both platforms integrate with 3rd party inventory systems. Both platforms offer extensive real time reports and analytics. Website World's POS works on all devices, including windows computers, so you do not need to buy special hardware. You can use your virtual payment gateway to process credit cards without additional hardware on Website World.

• Mailchimp or other Bulk Emailers

With Website World you can choose to use MailChimp or our integrated bulk emailer. Website Worlds integrated emailer has many more formatting options, and targeting features than Shopify's new bulk emailer service.

How To Migrate From Shopify To Website World - Website Migration Offer

When you are ready, we can migrate your Shopify website content to our easier to use eCommerce platform. Here are the steps involved:

1. Complete the enquiry form at the end of this email, and include your URL in the comments. 
2. We will complete a basic migration of your Shopify website to our eCommerce platform
3. We will email you a password so you can login and review our system 
4. You will need to complete a few tasks prior to going live.
• Sign up to a payment provider of your choice
• Configure your freight fees and discounts
• Fine tune any design theme changes you require
5. When you are ready to go live, only then, do you need to pay your first month hosting fee. 

What is included in the basic migration?

• We will migrate all your public facing product data and categories/collections, including title, description, photo, price, and SEO meta data.
• We will migrate your other pages like about us, T&C, contact us, etc. 
• We will attempt to match your theme to the closest match we have available
• Your sitemap and SEO meta data will remain in tact. Any work you did with a SEO expert will not be lost. Your links on Google will remain intact.

What is excluded from the basic migration offer? 

• It can take time to get a perfect match to your old website design, so we only include a best match option in this offer. Our web designers can be engaged to perfect your website design, perhaps taking your website in a new design direction. Or you might use our other themes and personalise your website yourself, free of charge. 
• Training videos are provided free, and some webinars too, and we have many online tutorials. If you require professional one on one guidance, then you can organise a training session with one of our professional web designers. 
• If you are aware of any plugins or customisations that have enhanced your Shopify experience, then you would need to let us know about those prior to migrating your site. In most cases, we offer the same features within our platform, not requiring a plugin.  More about migration can be found here: Website Migration Services