One of the main benefits of WordPress that makes it shine against its competitors is its flexibility in functionality and design. When WordPress is paired with a theme like Divi, it is much easier to achieve a unique design than it is to do on tools like Shopify.
With Shopify you’re generally locked into a more rigid theme design and have more limited functionality. That being said, Shopify does offer more out-of-the-box functionality when it comes to eCommerce – which makes it appealing to non-techies who re looking to quickly set up an online storefront.
Both platforms have their advantages and shortcomings and no two projects are the same, so there’s an argument for either project depending on the business model. We as an agency recommend WordPress 9 times out of 10 because of its open-source nature and its long-term cost-effectiveness.
Sometimes businesses who have a WordPress site decide they want to try out Shopify for their eCommerce functionality. Maybe they were selling products on WordPress through a plugin like WooCommerce, or maybe they just had some informational pages and haven’t yet built any ecommerce functionality.
I always encourage companies to try things out and there are lot of great selling tools in Shopify! Before you plan on making a switch, know that there’s no need to abandon the WordPress site you spent all your time, money and energy into. You can actually reap the benefits of the open source WordPress while also tapping into Shopify’s out-of-the-box ecommerce functionality. The two can exist harmoniously and we’ll outline a couple ways to do this below.
Option 1: Use a subdomain on your Shopify store.
Let’s say you’re using WordPress for your website scoobysnacks.com.
You’ve also set up a store on Shopify and by default the domain looks something like scoobysnacks.myshopify.com.
You can set up a subdomain like store.scoobysnacks.com and point that to your Shopify store.
You can then add an item to your main menu (i.e. “Shop”) on your WordPress site (scoobysnacks.com) that points to your newly set up Shopify store (store.scoobysnacks.com).
Additionally you can try to match the look and feel of the two separate sites by customizing the themes from each site to match each other as close as possible (colors, font choices, overall layout, etc).Â
You can learn more about subdomains and Shopify here:
https://docs.shopify.com/manual/settings/domains/understanding-domains#domain-anatomy
Option 2: Add “Buy Buttons” to WordPress site
This is our preferred method of integration!
If you want to keep your visitors on there as much as possible, then I would recommend using Shopify’s “Buy Button” feature.
This way you can basically embed a Shopify product directly onto any page of your WordPress website. This includes the product image, title, price, and most importantly the buy button. The visitor can shop directly on the WordPress site, adding one or multiple items to their cart, and will only be brought to the Shopify store when they click to “Checkout”
The “buy buttons” can also be customized in color to match the branding on your WordPress website, so this too is a seamless experience for your website visitors.
I love this solution because the buying experience is all done on your main site, and also because you can harness this functionality with just the Shopify Lite plan which is only $9/month (instead of paying the basic plan $29/month fee).
Learn more about how to create Buy Buttons: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/buy-button/setup
I recommend using the “Collection Buy Button” so you don’t have to continuously add new Shopify products to your WordPress website.
Summary
There are multiple ways to integrate Shopify with WordPress and we’ve highlighted the two main ways to do so. I prefer option #2 (using “buy buttons”) because it creates a more seamless experience for the buyer.
Please feel free to comment below with any questions or reach me directly at bobby@plantedsky.com I’d love to chat with you about your website and help get you set up with the best system that makes the most sense for your business.
