Shopify vs Volusion: Which is Best for Your Business?

Choosing the right eCommerce platform can be the cornerstone of a successful business. From design capabilities and pricing to customer support and marketing, Shopify and Volusion provide distinct approaches to building and managing an eCommerce presence. Whether you’re launching a new venture or considering a switch from your current setup, this guide will help you determine which option between Volusion and Shopify aligns best with your business objectives.

Volusion and Shopify: A Quick Overview

Volusion is an eCommerce platform that provides entrepreneurs and businesses with the necessary tools to create, manage, and expand an online store. Founded in 1999, Volusion has been helping businesses sell products online for over two decades, focusing on small to medium-sized enterprises. It’s a comprehensive solution combining website hosting, a shopping cart, checkout functionality, and an admin panel for handling inventory, orders, and customer data.

Volusion stands out for excellent analytics features and inventory tools. You can also promote a specific product on a unique landing page with a “deal of the day” feature. However, only top-tier customers can access phone support without built-in blogging features.

Shopify was founded in 2006 and has become a leading eCommerce solution. The platform allows individuals and businesses to set up, manage, and scale their online stores. It supports a range of companies, from small shops to large enterprises, and is known for its user-friendliness, extensive customization options, and robust features.

Shopify provides secure hosting with 24/7 monitoring, Level 1 PCI DSS compliance, and SSL certificates for all stores. The platform offers competitive pricing, but using a third-party payment gateway can significantly increase expenses. In addition, app costs, domain fees, and premium themes can quickly add up, particularly for those needing advanced features.

A Detailed Look at Volusion vs Shopify

When selecting an eCommerce platform, consider more than just the price. Evaluate the features and functionalities each option offers and their costs. Below, we’ll compare each platform’s pricing against the benefits it provides to business owners.

Shopify Plans and Pricing

Shopify provides three plans for building an eCommerce website and an enterprise-level plan. All plans, regardless of the tier, include the following features:

• Unlimited product listings
• Standard analytics
• Gift cards and discount codes
• Customer segmentation
• Abandoned cart recovery
• POS for in-person sales
• Ten inventory locations
• Social selling

You will need to purchase your domain name at an additional cost, and you may incur more fees for paid themes and app integrations.

Shopify pricing tiers start with the Basic Plan, which, at $19–$25 per month, includes two staff access accounts and standard sales reports. The next tier is the Shopify Plan, which comes with five staff access accounts and professional sales reports and costs between $49–$65 per month. Finally, the Advanced Plan is priced at $299–$399 per month and offers 15 staff access accounts, a custom report builder, and third-party calculated shipping rates.

Shopify also offers a separate enterprise option, Shopify Plus. This option starts at $2,300 monthly on a three-year term and includes priority support, customized transaction fees based on sales volume, omnichannel commerce, and B2B eCommerce functions.

Volusion Plans and Pricing

Volusion follows a similar pricing scheme, offering three main plans and an enterprise-level option (Volusion Prime). The bottom-tier plan includes only basic features. With the $35 monthly Personal plan, you can sell a maximum of $50,000 GMV (gross merchandise value) annually. You can list up to 100 products and receive only one staff account.

At $79 per month, the Professional plan boosts your GMV maximum to $100,000 a year and offers 5,000 product listings and five staff accounts. At the Professional stage and onward, all plans also include abandoned cart reports, CRM, ratings, and reviews.

The Business plan jumps in price to $299 per month but similarly expands annual GMV to $400,000 annually. You receive unlimited product listings and 15 staff accounts.

Finally, as befits an enterprise-level solution, Volusion Prime lifts all caps on sales, product listings, and staff accounts. According to GMV, Prime does not have a standardized price but operates on quote-based pricing.

Volusion and Shopify support all major credit and debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express) and selected mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Each platform allows you to use a preferred or in-house payment gateway and integrate with numerous external gateways at an additional cost.

When using their preferred payment gateways respectively, each platform offers:

• International selling
• Solid security and data safety measures
• Fraud prevention monitoring

Shopify Payment Options

Shopify charges 0.6–2% per transaction (depending on your Shopify plan) if you use an external payment gateway. These fees exceed the transaction processing fees charged by the payment provider. When using Shopify Payments, Shopify’s in-house payment gateway, you eliminate this additional cost and only pay the processing fees associated with your plan.

• Basic Plan: 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction and 2.7% for in-person transactions
• Shopify Plan: 2.6% + $0.30 per online transaction and 2.5% for in-person transactions
• Advanced Plan: 2.4% + $0.30 per online transaction and 2.4% for in-person transactions

Shopify Payments provides helpful fraud analysis tools and an efficient chargeback dispute process. However, note that the service is not available in all countries. Merchants outside supported regions must use alternative payment gateways to handle transactions on their Shopify store—and pay the additional percentage fee accordingly.

Volusion Payment Options

Volusion Payments (powered by Stripe) or PayPal Checkout are Volusion’s preferred payment gateways. Depending on the provider and payment method, payment processing fees start at 1.25% of the transaction value.

Stripe’s native payment feature automatically fills in customer payment and shipping information, ensuring a smooth and efficient checkout. In addition to an intuitive, centralized dashboard to keep track of all your store’s payments with real-time reporting, you can also offer buy now and pay later with Affirm, Afterpay/Clearpay, and Klarna.

Volusion charges an additional 0.35–1.25% per transaction (depending on your plan) as a gateway maintenance fee for using an alternative service provider.

Both Volusion and Shopify merchants offer a range of professionally designed themes that are mobile responsive and customizable to match a business’s branding and aesthetic preferences. With easy-to-navigate drag-and-drop editing, you don’t need any coding or technical knowledge to design your store. However, both platforms also offer the option to edit the HTML and CSS of your website for more detailed customization if you have the technical skills.

Shopify offers a wide variety of templates, including some industry-specific designs. While a few free options exist, many require an additional one-off purchase. Volusion doesn’t provide nearly the extent of theme options, but all templates are free.

Volusion and Shopify are easy to set up, enabling you to launch your store within a day. Once live, each platform includes a dashboard for essential tasks such as adjusting settings, adding products, processing orders, and reviewing site analytics. Both of these theme editors are exceptionally user-friendly, allowing you to preview design changes instantly. If you encounter any issues, both services provide round-the-clock support.

Shopify allows you to add many additional features when setting up your store. However, remember that too many moving parts can sometimes be a hindrance, not a help.

Integrations allow you to enhance your site by connecting it with other services, such as social media shops, SEO tools, or accounting software.

Volusion offers over 80 apps, covering categories from shipping and multichannel selling to pop-ups and accounting. Notable apps include Mailchimp for marketing, Power Chat for real-time customer service, and TrustedSpot for displaying reviews to build trust. These apps vary in price, with both free and paid options available.

Meanwhile, Shopify has raised that number exponentially, offering over 8,000 apps that touch on categories like sales, orders, shipment processing, marketing, analytics, accounting, and customer communication. For instance, you can feature your products on TikTok, streamline sales accounting with QuickBooks, or efficiently handle multiple AliExpress dropshipping orders with DSers.

If your site needs a feature or functionality, you will inevitably find it in Shopify’s app store. However, many of these add-ons come at an extra cost.

Shopify and Volusion offer product categorization for streamlined organization, allowing you to add products individually or in bulk.

Volusion provides integrated tools for selling both physical and digital products and allows unlimited product options and variants. Meanwhile, Shopify limits you to three options per product and has a cap of 100 variants. However, Shopify supports the sale of unlimited products on all its plans, while Volusion caps sales and product listings for bottom-tier plans.

Volusion and Shopify offer a range of shipping options, including free shipping, flat rates, and price or weight-based rates. They also provide calculated shipping rates from third-party carriers. Shopify’s Advanced plan includes real-time shipping rates. However, you can access real-time quotes and discounts with any Shopify plan if you opt for Shopify Shipping with its affiliated couriers. Volusion offers real-time rates with major carriers, including USPS, FedEx, UPS, Royal Mail, Canada Post, and Australia Post.

Multichannel Selling

Shopify enables seamless multichannel selling. You can sell online and in person and easily integrate your Shopify store with popular channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Etsy, eBay, and Amazon. Inventory management, order processing, and payments are centralized for all sales, so you can manage everything in a single hub from the platform. While Volusion also supports sales on eBay and Amazon, you may need third-party integrations for additional channels.

One significant difference between Shopify and Volusion’s social media integration is that Shopify’s advanced integrations enable merchants to sell directly on these platforms, while Volusion’s integrations are more basic. Volusion allows content sharing only on social channels rather than direct sales.

Even if you have the most incredible-looking eCommerce website, it won’t mean much without effective marketing. Volusion and Shopify both provide the tools to help you get your brand and products known. You can create and manage discounts and promo codes with each platform’s basic plans. As for other features, check that your specific plan includes the marketing tools you need, as some features are only available on higher-tier plans. Let’s look at two examples of these subtle differences.

Abandoned Cart Recovery

Shopify offers a marketing tool that assists in recovering abandoned carts (and thus sales) on all its subscription levels. This feature lets you send a one-time email to remind customers of their abandoned carts manually or automatically after a set period, with the default set at 10 hours. Meanwhile, Volusion does not include this feature in its bottom-tier plan but provides access to abandoned cart reports starting with its Professional plan.

Email Marketing

Shopify Email is accessible on all Shopify subscription plans. You can send up to 10,000 emails monthly at no additional cost; beyond that, each batch of 1,000 extra emails costs $1. While you can personalize and schedule your emails using templates, Shopify Email lacks advanced features like automation and segmentation based on customer behavior.

In contrast, Volusion lacks comprehensive built-in email marketing capabilities altogether. However, both platforms can integrate with external email marketing tools like Mailchimp and Constant Contact to improve, streamline, and simplify professional email marketing.

Shopify offers 24/7 live chat support across all its plans. The platform further supports users with beginner guides and a comprehensive FAQ page that includes tips and tutorials. Shopify also offers a community forum for peer-to-peer assistance.

Similarly, Volusion offers a detailed help section and reserves phone support for higher-tier merchants, though primary plan users still can access email and chat support. However, it lacks a community forum for peer-to-peer interaction.

Note that with both platforms, when you use third-party integrations, you will often need to contact the app developer for support if you have an issue with that service.

Shopify vs Volusion: Which Is Best for My Business Needs?

When deciding between platforms like Volusion, Shopify, or any other alternative, the best choice hinges on your business objectives, requirements, and scale. Let’s see how these two compare for different markets.

Volusion is an excellent option for small online retailers. It offers a streamlined feature set focusing on inventory and order management. It provides a transparent pricing structure with low payment processing fees, appealing to budget-minded businesses. Additionally, Volusion supports merchants with robust analytics, providing valuable insights into store performance.

Shopify stands out for its user-friendly interface, extensive app marketplace, and strong community support. This makes it an excellent option for entrepreneurs looking for a feature-rich platform that is easy to set up and manage without requiring extensive technical skills. Its ability to integrate seamlessly with multiple sales channels and its scalable infrastructure make it an attractive choice for growing businesses. It streamlines product sourcing by connecting users with reputable wholesalers and drop shippers.

While both platforms are well-suited to middle-market eCommerce stores, the best choice depends on the features you require, the number of sales you make, and the types of products you sell.

Shopify is ideal for businesses looking to expand extensively. Its comprehensive app store permits businesses to extend functionality to enhance customer experience, improve backend processes, and integrate seamlessly with various marketplaces and social media platforms. This flexibility is precious for businesses operating at scale, requiring diverse tools to manage complex operations.

Volusion, on the other hand, offers strong inventory and data management tools. It is ideal for middle-market businesses that don’t require extensive or complicated features and may offer the most cost-effective payment processing.

Shopify Plus is tailored for high-volume merchants and large businesses. It offers limitless sales and product listings without volume caps. Its robust scalability allows it to handle up to 500,000 hits per minute.

Volusion Prime, Volusion’s top-tier option, provides access to third-party payment gateways, sophisticated reporting, batch order processing, and an API. Businesses also benefit from premium customer relationship management (CRM) tools and Volusion’s highest level of support.

Both platforms cater to large enterprises and offer customization to meet specific needs. However, Shopify Plus has additional premium features like blogging, subscription payments, and tools for upselling and cross-selling. While Volusion offers high-end packages, it lacks these particular advanced features.

Final Steps to eCommerce Success

The decision between Volusion and Shopify ultimately depends on your business’s specific needs, objectives, and the level of scalability you envision for your online presence. Both options offer user-friendly setup and store management with streamlined inventory and sales tools.

Whether you’re selling locally or internationally, high volume or small scale, offering customers convenient payment methods is key to building a successful eCommerce business. Integrating the right payment processing option can help you drive sales and reduce unnecessary fees.

PaymentCloud offers customized payment processing solutions for large and small businesses, helping reduce transaction costs. Our services include a secure, PCI-compliant gateway, easy integration with shopping carts, and fast transaction processing. If you’re looking for an eCommerce merchant service provider that can tailor a solution to your unique business needs, we’re here to help!

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