Shopify and WordPress have become household names in website solutions. Shopify for its eCommerce SAAS (Software as a service) and WordPress originally for a blogging platform, turned CMS (content management system) and now turned eCommerce solution as well thanks to the addition of WooCommerce. Shopify announced that they’ve rolled out a plugin that integrates Shopify and WordPress in an aim to combine the power of both platforms into one, but is it worthwhile?
Pros of Shopify and WordPress Together
- Two powerful platforms that historically have specialized in two different types of websites
- Ability to have a more feature-rich CMS in WordPress for marketing
- Shopify’s extensive app marketplace
Cons of WordPress and Shopify Combined
- Two systems to manage – to logins, to support paths, etc.
- Potential integration issues or inflexibility despite the plugin and of the shelf themes
- Cost – Must be paying at least to host your WordPress website and paying for Shopify
WordPress and Shopify Themes
One of the challenges of combining two different website platforms is in the theme. Each software needs to have its own theme, or design but when you’re using two, they need to look the same. Shopify has teamed up with 3 different theme companies to make themes that bridge the two solutions together.
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Simple by Themify
The Simple theme by Themify is a free WordPress theme that was built to be easy to use. Simple is integrated directly out of the box with the Shopify Buy Button plugin for any of the different page types. One other core feature of Simple is that it is fully responsive or mobile friendly. Whether someone visits a Simple theme site on desktop, mobile or tablet, they’ll be covered.
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Pulse by Ultralinx
Pulse is another super clean theme that blends WordPress with Shopify. Pulse’s focus is on a single product and would be great for a microsite, book, and many other products. Pulse theme is also mobile friendly, responsive and even supports retina displays for higher quality images.
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Hype by Themezilla
Hype theme, or Zillacommerce, allows you to easily integrate WordPress and Shopify. Hype boasts extra front-end control, versatility and customization while still keeping things simple.
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Shopify + WordPress Integration
Here is a quick demo of how easy it is with the Shopify for WordPress plugin to add products directly into WordPress. Remember, this doesn’t build an entire ecommerce store inside of WordPress, it just allows you to tie products to blog posts, pages, and other custom post types in WordPress.
Steps to add a product from Shopify to WordPress
- Get a Shopify account here
- Download the plugin or install from the WordPress.org repo
- Activate configure the Shopify plugin by going to your WordPress Admin > Plugins
- Find the page or post you wish to add a product from Shopify and click ‘Add Product’
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WordPress and Shopify Pricing
As mentioned above, one of the downsides of using two platforms together is you have twice the cost. WordPress requires that you’re paying for at least a web hosting account that can start around $4 a month. Shopify requires a minimum of around $9 a month for their Lite service as well. The cost of doing business is not a lot by any stretch, but it is something to take into consideration.
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Should I Combine WordPress and Shopify?
It really can go either way. Running two different platforms can cause a unique challenge but Shopify does make eCommerce very simple and could be worth it. The alternatives are to either run Shopify as a stand alone product or run a different eCommerce solution for WordPress like WooCommerce. The best thing to do is sit down and map out what you want to do short term as well as long term and see if using WordPress and Shopify together meets those needs.
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