I have a slightly bigger than small business with a WooCommerce shop. Over the years, I’ve had to do so much customisation that I’ve ended up with over 20 plugins just to make WC do what I need. Some of these plugins have annual subscriptions, which add up to about $700 a year. Besides the fact that my website feels like a house of cards, requiring many updates and maintenance, the cost has me wondering if I might be better off with an external e-commerce solution like Shopify. I’d like to hear your thoughts!
​
**Here are my current paid subscriptions:**
1. WooCommerce Zapier (to interface with my CRM/Active Campaign): $79/annually
2. Zapier itself: $348/annually
3. Table Rate Shipping (to designate set shipping costs at volume intervals): $199/annually
4. Advanced Notifications (to notify my drop shipper of an order: $39/annually
​
**Here are the rest of my Woo plugins:**
1. Add to Cart Button Custom Text
2. Autocomplete WooCommerce Orders
3. BLAZING Email Transfer Payment Gateway
4. Booster Plus for WooCommerce
5. LearnDash LMS – WooCommerce Integration
6. PPOM for WooCommerce
7. Reminder for WooCommerce Unpaid Orders
8. Stripe Payment Plugin for WooCommerce
9. WooCommerce Advanced Notifications
10. WooCommerce Bulk Discount
11. WooCommerce Direct Checkout
12. WooCommerce PayPal Payments
13. WooCommerce Price Based on Country
14. WooCommerce Price Based on Country Pro
15. WooCommerce Product Image Gallery Options
16. WooCommerce Shipping & Tax
17. WooCommerce Smart Coupons
​
​
​
​
[ad_2]
Shopify might be a good alternative for you. Have you done the cost (fees + time) analysis between the both of them? For peace of mind, going with a platform like Shopify would definitely alleviate the amount of time you spend maintaining your site.
What does the Woo/Zapier/AC integration do that the native Woo/AC integration doesn’t?
Have you seen “Shop”, the app from Shopify? It’s pretty cool, not sure if it’s catching on or not.
If you have a Shopify store, you can be added to that app.
Shopify is pretty great, I definitely like it over WC. You can easily get into plugin hell with Shopify too though.
How is the performance in your current setup with Woocommerce? It can’t handle high-traffic workloads without having a beefier server. Too bad, people are still relying on traditional e-commerce just because they get someone else to manage it, doesn’t mean the decisions is better when it get tedious over time.
I think you should open a developer account and play with Shopify and see what the aggravation versus cost will actually be.
One thing you may want to try is spinning off another development site in WordPress and look at using Shopify buttons. If it works for you you can keep your WordPress site for the SEO and then also get the benefit of Shopify for the fulfillment and payment piece. Just a thought. I’ve done demo sites with this setup because I like that Shopify is actually one company and has support. Big commerce is also another that I’ve considered.