Three platforms, three very different philosophies. We compare them point by point, and tell you which one we recommend (and which one we avoid).
'WooCommerce, Shopify or Wix?' It's the question we hear most when a client wants to sell online. All three are popular, but they don't play in the same league. After dozens of e-commerce projects, here's our honest take.
Shopify: the e-commerce benchmark
Shopify is a hosted platform built for selling. Everything is integrated natively: product catalogue, cart, secure checkout, stock management, shipping, automated emails. No hosting to manage, no manual updates, no security vulnerabilities to monitor. You focus on your products, Shopify handles the rest. And commission-wise: no transaction fees as long as you use Shopify Payments, their built-in payment gateway.
What we love about Shopify is reliability. The checkout is optimised for conversion (it's their core business), the app ecosystem is nearly complete, and the platform handles scale, whether you sell 10 or 10,000 products. For 90% of the e-commerce projects we work on, it's the solution we recommend.
International reach and marketplaces
Another major advantage: Shopify makes going international easy. Native marketplace connections (Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping), automatic shop translation, multi-currency management. Expanding into foreign markets has never been simpler. For an SMB looking to test exports without investing in complex infrastructure, it's a considerable advantage.
The Shopify mobile app
With the Shopify mobile app, you can remove product photo backgrounds in one tap, create ultra-professional product listings and manage your entire store from your phone. Order tracking, stock management, sales analytics. Everything is accessible on the go. It's a massive time saver, especially for entrepreneurs who don't have a dedicated team.
WooCommerce: WordPress flexibility
WooCommerce is the e-commerce extension for WordPress. If you already have a WordPress site with lots of editorial content (blog, guides, landing pages) and want to add a shop, WooCommerce makes sense. Flexibility is total: every detail is customisable, from the checkout funnel down to the smallest form field.
The flip side: WooCommerce requires dedicated performant hosting, constant updates (WordPress + WooCommerce + plugins + theme), and security vigilance. It's a flexible ecosystem, but it's an ongoing technical investment. Without a trusted partner to maintain it all, it can quickly become a maintenance nightmare, especially when plugins start conflicting with each other.
Wix: the limits of consumer all-in-one
Wix is a consumer website builder with an e-commerce layer bolted on top. On paper, it's appealing: drag-and-drop interface, ready-made templates, attractive entry-level pricing. In practice, it's a different story.
SEO and performance
SEO on Wix is structurally limited. The generated code is heavy, URLs aren't always clean, loading times are often poor. For a personal showcase site, it might do. For an e-commerce site that needs to rank on Google and convert, it's a serious handicap. Core Web Vitals are rarely green on Wix, which directly impacts your visibility in search results.
Customisation and migration
Customisation on Wix hits a ceiling fast. As soon as you step outside the provided templates, you're stuck. No source code access, no real freedom over the purchase funnel, basic e-commerce features compared to Shopify. And if you ever want to migrate to another platform, good luck. Wix doesn't make data export easy. It's vendor lock-in you need to anticipate before committing.
Let's be clear: we don't recommend Wix for professional e-commerce. It's a tool designed for individuals who want a quick website, not for businesses that want to sell seriously online.
How to choose the right platform
La Cuisine Numérique offers support on Shopify, WooCommerce and custom development. We never push a technology by default. We listen to your project, analyse your needs, your budget, and your growth ambitions, then recommend the most fitting solution. Get in touch to discuss: the quote is free.