If you’ve surfed the net for the best eCommerce engine for the online business, you might probably end up with 3DCart vs Shopify in mind. Both platforms are known for their advanced feature sets, simplicity, and affordable pricing, so many e-merchants find it hard to decide between them. The post will provide you with a quick rundown of their differences and similarities for you to choose the one that will give your store the right feel and functionality.
3dcart and Shopify share a lot of similarities. Both are SaaS (software as a service) solutions that come packed with great usability and eCommerce features allowing to build a store that looks good and works well. They’re all-in-one shopping carts that provide hosting, security, and support for one monthly fee. A deeper look at pricing, features, apps, and support will help you decide.
What is the difference between Shopify and 3dcart?
3dcart and Shopify have much of the same functionality and characteristics. So, choosing the best between them will depend on your level of skills, the available budget, and what key features are important to you.
If you take a look at a comparison on Google Trends, there's only one clear winner in terms of what store owners are searching for:
3dcart vs Shopify. Key Differences:
While Shopify is easy to get comfortable with for both technical nerds and for beginners, 3dcart is actually too tricky for newbies who are not very tech educated.
Shopify is at your service 24/7 which means you can reach them via numerous channels, like phone, email, and live chat. 3dcart, contrastingly, prides itself on having responsive customer support based on client feedback, however, their technical help is quite limited.
Both Shopify and 3dcart have strong sales and marketing tools. Unlike Shopify, 3dcart has no mobile app, restricting users who are on the move.
The "https://shopify.pxf.io/za3vY6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shopify Theme Store hosts a collection of over 70 premium and free ecommerce website templates, whereas 3dcart offers more than "https://themes.3dcart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">100 free templates.
Shopify has thousands of integrations to help you improve your business, whereas 3dcart has around 100.
Shopify has a more user-friendly interface, whereas 3dcart expects a certain level of skills to benefit from its features.
3dcart vs Shopify: What is 3dcart?
3dcart is a full-featured eCommerce solution that has all the required functionality to serve merchants of all sizes. There's a range of pricing options, allowing you to select a plan that fits your budget best. Being the foundation for more than 22,000 stores, 3dcart is one of the main players in the eCommerce landscape.
Founded in 1997, today the software is used by store owners in 19 countries. It’s headquartered in Florida and has more than 80 employees. Best features include :
SEO. 3DCart includes a set of powerful instruments to get high ranking in search engines. Top features are SEO friendly URLs and Google sitemap XML generator, dynamic meta tags per product and alt tags for images, etc.
Statistics. 25 business reports and full integration with Google Analytics, nothing more to add. You will get any type of information in a convenient and easy-to-understand form.
Social Media Marketing. Apart from standard marketing tools like discounts and coupon codes 3DCart has one of the best range of SMM features in the industry. Attract new visitors by posting content directly from the admin panel to Facebook and Twitter. Add YouTube videos to your product description and start your company’s blog. Sell your products via Facebook and mobile devices. Make your clients resell products with an effective affiliate system and many others.
Despite all the advantages associated with the platform, 3dcart still has its drawbacks that e-merchants should consider before migrating:
Set up fee. Normally hosted solutions don’t take any extra money for the installation. However, if you decide to go with 3DCart you have to consider these additional costs.
Extensions. 3DCart comes with huge number of default features. However, it lack’s some of top-end functions. Unfortunately, there are not as many add-ons, so, most likely you won’t be able to add any extra features.
3dcart vs Shopify. What About Shopify?
Launched in 2006, the platform is now used by more than 500.000 online stores. The secret of success lays in the powerful product management system and outstanding marketing features like mobile commerce capabilities, SEO optimization, and multiple shipment/payment options. Top functions include the following:
Usability. Even though hosted carts are all supposed to be intuitive and user-friendly Shopify is recognized as virtually the best platform in this case. The Admin panel is very simple and powerful. So you can create products, launch marketing campaigns, and get high profit easily.
Design. Shopify’s professional design has become a real legend in eCommerce. More than a hundred free default templates and the opportunity to alter them in the way you like (user-friendly editor or CSS/HTML files rewriting). Additionally, there are hundreds of free and paid themes available at the official App Store.
App Store. Shopify provides you with extra customization opportunities enabling you to get hundreds of extensions via the App Store. If you need some specific feature that is not included in Shopify by default then most likely you will find it there.
But it is quite obvious that Shopify can’t only have pros, so here are some cons that you also need to pay attention to:
Transaction fee. Probably Shopify is the only solution that charges you with a 1-2% fee for each transaction unless you will purchase the most expensive pricing plan.
Facebook integration. The number of Facebook users is now more than 1 billion so you simply cannot afford to ignore this marketplace.
Check out our infographic to get a better understanding of the migration process via Cart2Cart:
Final Thoughts
With all that being said, take time to consider all the advantages and disadvantages of these eCommerce solutions to make the right-your-size decision. And last but not least: we recommend you to play around with both platforms. Each of them offers a free trial period so you don’t have a reason not to try it by yourself and choose the best one for your specific business goals and objectives.
To conclude, the last barrier that may stand between you and your new 3dcart or Shopify store is the data migration procedure. If you already have a store that is powered by another shopping cart, then the data transfer process may seem like real trouble. To avoid any problems simply use the Cart2Cart migration service. To see how swift and accurate this process can be just click here to register an account and you’ll be on your way to creating a perfect store.
Comment by Sawan
Is it possible to directly link 3Dcart store with aliexpress like oberlo is doing for shopify stores?
Comment by Iryna Namaka
Hello Sawan, thanks for the question. Check more info on your question here. Hope you’ll get all the answers. Otherwise, contact us for more discussion. Always happy to hear from you!