Have you thought about selling products online but aren’t sure which of the many shopping systems to choose? Today we are taking a closer look at one of my favorite webshop systems – Shopware. If you haven’t heard of this system yet, it’s mainly because they have been operating mainly in Germany for the last 15 years or so. But lately especially with the new version 6, they have started to become a serious competitor to many larger systems like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce in the rest of the world too.
Read more: What is a good webshop system?
Benefits of Shopware
With the new release of Shopware 6 there has been a lot of major improvements in the scalability and load speed. Even webshops with thousands of products can load lightning fast in Shopware if you have done the setup and installation correct. It scalable – which means you can easily add new countries to an existing webshop, add new products, and change the layout and much more.
It got an easy to navigate backend which is a lot easier to use for site owners compared to other systems like Shopify or Magento. The admin panel is intuitive and can be used even by none tech guys with minimal training. I think this is one of the strongest features of Shopware.
Out of the box the system is loaded with tons of cool features. Stuff that you normally would have a pay a small fortune for in plugins. It’s SEO friendly and you can easily configure it to almost any need.
Disadvantages of Shopware
Not everything is great in Shopware, so let’s take a quick look at some of the disadvantages of this system. Like many other similar systems, it does require a good server in order to run smooth and fast. You can’t expect to buy a 10$ and expect to get a lightning fast webshop.
Since Shopware still is a pretty new system outside of Germany, it can be problematic finding the right developers for a system like this. This also means that skilled programmers can be rather expensive if you need something fixed or changed.
It’s also not a very cheap system. There a many much more expensive solutions out there, but you will end up payment 2-3 times as much for a shop ware system as you would for a similar Shopify or WooCommerce solution. Is it worth the additional cost? Not for all, but in many cases it the best extra money you have spent.
How does it compare to WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a shopping module on top of a blog/website system. Shopware is a pure shopping system (with some blog/website features). So everything is designed with shopping in mind, which gives a much better user experience and a more logical approach. It also means there isn’t a much uneasy code to load, which makes it a much faster system.
WooCommce may be a little easier to use for beginners. And it can be added on top of an existing website if it’s running WordPress. WooCommerce are much easier to code in, if you need special features, and there are tons more plugins and themes for WooCommerce, which makes it much easier to get a beautiful website. So for some project, especially smaller websites that only operates in one country – WooCommerce is the best option. For larger project or shops that need multi language, currency or more shops in one backend – Shopware is a really good option.
That was a little about Shopware – a shopping system you most likely haven’t heard about before – but one you really should consider if you are looking to start a new webshop online.
