Shopify vs Wordpress for and ecommerce site

I need to get started on building my own ecommerce website, but since I have absolutely no idea what I am doing (no html) I need something that will be easy to use and yet fulfill my needs. I have been told in other threads that Wordpress is the way to go, but I am not sure what it will end up looking like. Will it look like a professional ecommerce site, with my own custom look, or will it look like something quickly thrown together, with zero originality? I have also been looking at Shopify, but they say beyond adding a few things here and there to their templates, I would need to know code.

Again, I really want this to be a professional looking site because I am an author looking to sell coaching, seminars, books, etc., but it has to be something that I can create and update on my own. It has to be quick (preferably hosting, etc. all together in one place) with easy to manipulate templates and will be easy to add items to, with email blast program, autoresponders, email capter box, etc. Would wordpress offer all that...and if it does, would it be easy enough for me to use?

What do you recommend??? It doesn't have to be free, but it can't cost me a bundle either.

Thank you.
Stacey Grewal
Aujthor, Gratitude and Goals

 

Wordpress is very easy to use and you should be able to find plugins to do everything you need it to do.

 

Wordpress will likely work for you. I have not actually looked into downloadable products though. There are however good plugins for wordpress that will handle this and you also get the benefit of being able to effectively post things via the blog part.

That said, you can also use something like http://www.prestashop.com/wiki/Downloadable_products/

Which will accomplish the same thing.

hope that helps,
Nigel

 

i didn`t get if you would like to order a web site or make it by your self? cause you wrote about professional websites...

 

The best thing about wordpress is they have a plug in for an amazon affiliate store and an ecommerce store. Shop already made basically. There is also wordpress themes somewhere out there that is webshope compatibale and built for just that.

 

You could use WordPress or an eCommerce script such as Magento.

 

I'd use Zen cart if you just want to make a shop... it's got a tonne of features, though if you're looking for a basic shop, then yeah, plugins for wordpress will do the job

 

I think zen cart and oscommerce are best for ecommerce. You can go to lucenttechnologies.co.uk. They will give you complete package for ecommerce site development and hosting. I just bought hosting for my site simpletofind.com from them.

 

opencart is good for simple ecommerce, magento is best but large.

 

i think that cubecart is the best and I have used them all

 

The bottom line is you can use either for your site. Figure out which one will be the best for you and get you the highest number of conversions.

I set one up with WP-Ecommerce and the theme I used was crafty cart. It was pretty simple but it doesn't work that well for converting. You have to tell WordPress to not treat it as a blog, which can take some time and tweaking, but all-in-all it is pretty easy to do. Using it this way was totally free and WP-Ecommerce will work well with crafty cart right outta the box. You also get the big payment gateways and even UPS & USPS integration is possible.

 

If your looking for an ecommerce store - use an ecommerce script - like magento or prestashop
prestashop is very easy to use and great features...

 

I'd run with wordpress as a platform because it is so extensible and learning material/tutorials/ebooks/lesson and support is both abundant and free. I always start with actual paper books, and there are tons of wordpress books on the market. The eshops plugin can plug into wordpress along with either aweber or mailchimp as an autoresponder, while e-junkie.com and eshops both allow you to offer downloads. Whatever you want to do, there is a plugin, widget, or theme that handles it in wordpress. The more you use it, the more sophisticated your level of skill, understanding, and knowledge will gradually grow to be.