Report

On

“Researching and comparing between different E-commerce platforms (such as Shopify,

Woo-commerce, Wix) and making recommendations for an E-commerce business”

Prepared By

Nikesh Ranjan Pradhan

Registration No.- 200415140047

Batch- 2020-23

Under the Guidance of

PROF. Ansuman Jena

Associate Professor

School of Management

As a fulfilment of B.com Program

CENTURION UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
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CONTENTS
Declaration i

Acknowledgement ii

List of Tables iii

List of figures or illustrations iv

Chapter – I Introduction 8-24

1.1 Summary about e-commerce and e-commerce platform 9

1.2 About the Companies 17

(Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix)

Chapter – II Review of Literature 26-30

2.1 Review of literature 26

2.2 Objective of the Research 30

Chapter – III Research and Comparison (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 31-54

3.1 Overview (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 32

3.2 Work Structure (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 35

3.3 Pricing (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 39

3.4 Ease of use (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 42

3.5 Payment Methods (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 43

3.6 Pros & Cons (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 45

3.7 Themes & Customization options (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 47

3.8 Website Security (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 51

3.9 SEO (Shopify, WooCommerce & Wix) 52

Chapter – IV Research Methodology 55-64

4.1 Research Methodology 56

4.2 Research Design 59

4.3 Types of data required 61

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4.4 Sources of data collection 62

4.5 Tools and techniques 63

Chapter-V Data Analysis 65-86

5.1 Data analysis 66

Chapter-V Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion 87-91

5.1 Findings 88

5.2 Conclusion 89

5.3 Recommendations 90

Annexure - I: Questionnaire Used for Data Collection 91-95

Annexure – II: References 95-96

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DECLARATION

I do hereby declare that this project report “Researching and comparing

between different E-commerce platforms (such as Shopify, Woo-commerce,
Wix ) and making recommendations for an E-commerce business” submitted
by me, is an authentic record of my original work carried out under the
guidance of PROF. Ansuman Jena , in fulfilment of the B.COM program of
School of management, Centurion University of Technology and Management,
Odisha is exclusively prepared and conceptualized by me and is not submitted
to any other institution or published anywhere before.

Nikesh Ranjan Pradhan Date:

(200415140047) Signature: ____________

ACKNOWLEGEMENT
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It is great pleasure for me to undertake this project. I feel highly doing the
project entitled - Researching and comparing between different E-commerce
platforms (such as Shopify, Woo-commerce, Wix) and making
recommendations for an E-commerce business.

I am grateful to my project guide PROF. Ansuman Jena for the guidance and
help.

Although this report has been prepared with utmost care and deep routed
interest. I extend my gratitude to my internal guide, PROF. Ansuman Jena,
associate professor of School of Management at Centurion University of
Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha for giving me this
opportunity and time to time guidance and encouragement.

I acknowledge my inner most gratitude to faculty guide for their co-operation

and kind assistance during framing of this project.

Date- Nikesh Ranjan

Pradhan

Signature: ______________ (200415140047)

LIST OF TABLES
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Tables:

Table 1- Shopify Company Profile

Table 2- WooCommerce Company Profile

Table 3- Wix Company Profile

Table 4- Age of respondents

Table-5- Academic Qualification of respondents

Table 6- Occupation of respondents

Table 7- Do you know about e-commerce platform?

Table 8- How long use of e-commerce platform

Table 9- Reason of using e-commerce platform

Table 10- know about Shopify

Table 11- know about WooCommerce

Table 12- Know about Wix

Table 13- Feels safe while using

Table 14- which e-commerce platform have largest market coverage

Table 15- which have more features

Table 16- Which have best themes and web design

Table 17- Responses towards best value for money

Table 18- Who gives best customer support

Table 19- Recommend for a start- up e-commerce business

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Table 20- Who is best for retail

Table 21- Which platform respondents choose to run their business

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures:

Figure 1: Overlay of e-commerce

Figure 2: Overlay of e-commerce platform

Figure 3: Overlay of the Shopify

Figure 4: Overlay of the Shopify webpage

Figure 5: Overlay of the WooCommerce webpage

Figure 6: Overlay of the Wix

Figure 7: Overlay of the Wix webpage

Figure 8: Chart on age of respondent

Figure 9: Chart on academic qualification of respondents

Figure 10: Chart on Occupation of respondents

Figure 11: Chart on knowledge about e-commerce platform

Figure 12: Chart on use of e-commerce platform

Figure 13: Chart on reason of using e-commerce platform

Figure 14: Chart on known about Shopify

Figure 15: Chart on known about WooCommerce

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Figure 16: Chart on known about Wix

Figure 17: Chart on website security of e-commerce platform

Figure 18: Chart on largest market coverage

Figure 19: Chart on more features of given e-commerce platform

Figure 20: Chart on best themes and web design

Figure 21: Chart on best value for money

Figure 22: Chart on customer support

Figure 23: Chart on recommendations of respondents about start-up

Figure 24: Chart on best for retail business

Figure 25: Chart on their opinion

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CHAPTER - 1
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INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

E-Commerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, is an

activity of buying and selling goods or services over the internet or open
networks. So, any kind of transaction (whether money, funds, or data) is
considered as E-commerce. So, E-commerce can be defined in many ways,
some define E-Commerce as buying and selling goods and services over the
Internet, others define E-Commerce as retail sales to consumers for which the
transaction takes place on open networks. The buying and selling of products,
services, and digital products through the Internet all fall under the umbrella of
e-commerce.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines e-

commerce as:

“All forms of transactions relating to commercial activities, including both

organizations and individuals, which are based on the processing and
transmission of digitized data including text, sound, and visual
images.” According to this view, E-commerce does not necessarily require the
use of the Internet. E-commerce includes all forms of transactions that process
and transmit digitized data which includes text, sound and visual images.

E-commerce is the application of information technology and communication

technology to three basic activities related to commercial business, the three
basic activities are as follows: 

 Production and support- which includes assisting production,

distribution, and maintenance of goods and services.
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 Transaction preparation- which includes getting product information

into the market-place and bringing buyers and sellers into contract with
each other; and
 Transaction completion- which includes concluding transactions,
transferring payments, and securing financial services. 

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically

buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet.

Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce,

electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing,
online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI),
inventory management systems, and automated data collection
systems. E-commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of
the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the electronics
industry.

Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at
least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use
other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions
include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music
purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as
iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online
liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce:
online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is
supported by electronic business.

Figure- 1
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E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:

• Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites
and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots,
and voice assistants

• Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process

third party business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
sales;

• Business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling;

• Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and

social media;

• Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange;

• Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or

fax (for example, with newsletters);

• Engaging in retail for launching new products and services;

• Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading

purposes.

E-commerce Platform

An eCommerce platform is an end-to-end software solution that allows online

retailers to manage their business. This type of service encompasses
eCommerce website builders, accounting and inventory management systems,
as well as customer service infrastructure. An eCommerce platform is a
lifesaver if you decide to launch an online shop from scratch or as an addition
to a brick-and-mortar store. In this article, we’ll discuss why your business
probably needs this service, list the essential features of a good eCommerce
platform, and give five popular software solutions once over.
Running an online store is a complex undertaking that requires many
processes, from building a website to accepting payments and managing
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stocks. Software solutions allow you to manage all of these processes and take
away the headache of dealing with each aspect individually.

eCommerce platforms have all the components you need to operate and grow
your online business without complicating your day-to-day operations. Using
an eCommerce platform is cheaper than creating software from scratch and
more comfortable than using many plugins.

Elaborate eCommerce platforms facilitate the purchasing process for your

customers, prevent system failures, technical issues, and help you
troubleshoot them whenever they pop up. So, you can spend less time helping
your clients with shopping and concentrate on improving your sales process
and boosting your revenue.

All these features make eCommerce platforms worth your investment. Let’s
get into the details and discover the features you should look for while
choosing the best eCommerce solution for your business.

Figure- 2

E-commerce platforms and vendors

An e-commerce platform is a tool that is used to manage an e-commerce

business. E-commerce platform options range in size from ones for small
businesses to large enterprises. These e-commerce platforms include online
marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, that simply require signing up for user
accounts and little to no IT implementation.
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Another e-commerce platform model is SaaS, where store owners subscribe to

a service where they essentially rent space in a cloud-hosted service. This
approach does not require in-house development or on-premises
infrastructure. Other e-commerce platforms include opensource platforms that
require a hosting environment -- cloud or on premises -- or complete manual
implementation and maintenance.

A few examples of e-commerce marketplace platforms include the following:

 Alibaba
 Amazon
 Chewy
 eBay
 Etsy
 Overstock
 Newegg
 Rakuten
 Walmart Marketplace
 Wayfair

Vendors offering e-commerce platform services for clients hosting their own
online store sites include the following:

 BigCommerce
 Ecwid
 Magento
 Oracle NetSuite Commerce
 Salesforce Commerce Cloud (B2B and B2C options)
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 Shopify
 Squarespace
 WooCommerce

Features Of an E-commerce Platform

The number of online retailers in the world amounts to 7.1 million and
continues to grow. It's no wonder that the market offers a great many
eCommerce platforms. Figuring out a solution to meet your business’ needs
can be a tough job. To pick the best service, evaluate the following aspects of
any eCommerce platform you consider.

Interface

A user-friendly intuitive interface for webstore creation is a must for any

eCommerce platform. However, you may flounder with building a website on
some solutions. Some of them may require technical skills, such as HTML
knowledge or WordPress experience.

To find the best and most convenient for you, test several platforms and go for
the one you like the most. Look for a platform that lets you create not only
product pages but also blog posts. This feature may come in handy when you
decide to acquire new customers with content marketing or improve your
website search results with a series of SEO-optimized articles.

Design options

Most eCommerce platforms offer countless ready-to-use designs and themes

so you can create your webstore’s appearance quickly and easily. Pay attention
to how many free and paid templates your solution provides. Look for
additional designs in the platform’s community. It will help you save time and
money.

On the other hand, you may have a vision of your future store or develop it as
time passes. In this case, explore design customization opportunities your
eCommerce platform provides. The best decision is to find a platform that
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offers a perfect balance between design freedom and a variety of pre-made

templates.

Store Management Systems

Management systems are the core of every eCommerce website, since they
differentiate online stores from any other types of websites. To operate your
shop, you need three frameworks:

 The product management system lets an admin upload product to your

website and manage listings. A quality solution should allow bulk
uploads, categorizing and mapping products, setting up dynamic catalog
filters like sorting, price range, colour, size, and so on.
 The order management system accounts for processing customers’
orders. To perform this task at a fast pace, it should include order
tracking, email notifications, and shipping service API.
 The return management system allows you to take care of your return
policy. It should encompass return rules and types, place and approve
requests, print invoices, update statuses, and so on.
Your eCommerce platform may offer these systems as part of the standard
package or allow integration with services that provide them.

Payment Processing

You can’t do business without accepting payments, and it is not as

straightforward as it sounds. You should consider the currencies you operate
with, the payment methods your customers prefer, tax systems, and more.

The main difficulty here is the payment gateway your eCommerce platform
uses. A payment gateway is a processor that moves money from your
customers’ accounts to your own. This component often limits the payment
methods and determines the currencies your service can offer.

So, define the payment options your eCommerce platform supports out of the
box. You can also learn which third-party services you can integrate with your
software to expand its opportunities.

Security
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You should protect your customer data at any cost. Data breaches and leaks
will have devastating effects on your business. Thus, it’s crucial to make sure
your eCommerce platform offers suitable security options.

To keep your transactions protected, make sure your eCommerce platform

meets the PCI security standards – a 12-piece set of requirements for websites
that work with payment information. Another aspect of a secure website is its
SSL certificates. They are a type of file that lets a browser securely process
sensitive transactions.

The features listed above are the base your eCommerce platform should
provide or allow you to integrate with ease. However, many solutions go the
extra mile and offer additional options, such as protection from fraud and
DDoS attacks.

Support

Operating a web store, you will inevitably face technical issues. No matter how
hard you try to minimize them, they will occur at some point. Support from an
eCommerce platform can help you troubleshoot these problems instantly and
reduce downtime.

When exploring the support your provider offers, start with any available
documentation on their site. An extensive library of FAQs, how-tos, and guides
will walk you through the main issues without needing to waste time on
reaching a support team member. Another indicator of good support is the
presence of forums or Q&A areas, where you can ask for advice from other
users.

Finally, learn more about getting in touch with the support team. See which
channels your eCommerce platform offers to reach specialists and how fast
they resolve questions. You can also browse through reviews on third-party
websites to find out how your service really deals with customers’ issues.

Promotion opportunities

The majority of eCommerce platforms offer different options to promote your

web store. Many of these solutions lay beyond the standard package the
service provides, so you need to figure out which of them will fit
your eCommerce marketing strategy.
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The main point to consider here is SEO, as 70% of marketers believe it to be a

more efficient acquisition channel than PPC. Pay attention to SEO-friendly
eCommerce platforms. They should allow you to use your domain name, add
your blog, and collect customer reviews.

Remember the number one SEO trend – mobile optimization. As more

than half of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, an eCommerce
platform should provide your web store with a mobile version or mobile app.

Data consolidation

If you can't measure your webstore’s performance, you can’t manage it.
Calculating your results is the only way to make timely changes and refine your
business outcomes. However, using a bundle of tools for analytics may be
tricky and time-consuming.

Make sure your eCommerce platform allows you to collect and store data, or
supports integrations with analytics services. Struggling to understand what
indicators to track? Follow our guide on the customer success metrics you
need to keep an eye on to make sure your business is healthy.

These parameters may become inadequate as your business grows. Thus, pay
attention to your eCommerce platform’s scalability. Another feature to look for
is flexibility – it often comes in the form of integrations with third-party
services. Make sure your solution supports integration with
popular CRM, CMS, marketing automation software, and so on.

1.2 ABOUT THE COMPANIES

SHOPIFY

Shopify was first founded in 2004. It is an e-commerce platform that helps

sellers build a website and sell their products online. With all the ups and
downs, by the course of a decade, the sales of Shopify skyrocketed. Shopify
had about 12,000 merchants by then and earned a huge revenue of $105
million. It is especially known for its flexibility of payments. Its adaptability in
business helped it to flourish.

Shopify Inc (Shopify) is a provider of cloud-based, multi-channel commerce

platform. The company’s software allows merchants to design, manage and
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sell their products across multiple sales channels, including web and mobile
store fronts, social media, physical retail locations, pop-up shops and
marketplaces. It also enables merchants to manage products and inventory,
establish customer relationships, process orders and payments, ship orders,
and leverage analytics and reporting all from back office. The company offers
its services to merchants of small and medium sized businesses and provides
services under the brand name Shopify. It operates in the US, Ireland,
Singapore and Canada. Shopify is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The company reported that it had more than 2,000,000 businesses in

approximately 175 countries using its platform as of December
2021. According to Built With, 1.58 million websites run on the Shopify
platform as of 2021. According to W3Techs, 4.4% of the top 10 million
websites use Shopify. The total gross merchandise
volume exceeded US$197 billion for calendar 2022. As of July 2022, Shopify is
among the top 20 largest publicly traded Canadian companies by market
capitalization.

Figure-3

COMPANY PROFILE: -

Table -1- Company profile

Name Shopify Inc.

Founders Tobias Lütke

Daniel Weinand

Scott Lake
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Type Public

Industry E-commerce

Founded 2006; 17 years ago

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Headquarters Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Services Online Shopping

Website https://shopify.com/

Figure- 4
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WOOCOMMERCE

WooCommerce is a flexible, open-source commerce solution built on

WordPress. The company started in 2008 as WooThemes and in 2017 decided
to focus exclusively on ecommerce.
Today, WooCommerce empowers small and medium businesses to build
exactly the store they want and sell online. Our legacy as an all-remote
company endures, growing from three founders in Norway, the United
Kingdom, and South Africa to 330+ team members in over 32 countries.

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is
designed for small to large-sized online merchants using WordPress. Launched
on September 27, 2011, the plugin quickly became popular for its simplicity to
install and customize and for the market position of the base product as
freeware (even though many of its optional extensions are paid and
proprietary).
In November 2007, Mark Forrester, Magnus Jepson, and Adii Pienaar teamed
up online to build a new theme for WordPress. After a few months of selling
themes together, they decided to make their working relationship official and
jointly launch WooThemes.

WooThemes was born as a globally distributed company with a small IRL

presence in Cape Town. While growing a large portfolio of commercial themes,
it became clear that our customers required more functionality. We decided to
try something new, venturing into the world of plugin development.

Our first plugin, WooCommerce, saw the light of day in 2011, enabling users to
transform their WordPress site into a professional ecommerce storefront.

COMPANY PROFILE: -
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Table -2- Company profile

Name WooCommerce

Founded 2008

Founders Matt Mullenweg, co-founder

Mike-little, co-founder

Type E-commerce

Industries Software Development, E-commerce

Developer(s) Automattic

Headquarters San Francisco, CA, California

Website woocommerce.com

Figure-5

Wix

Wix.com Ltd. operates and develops a web platform. The Company's platform
offers solutions that enable businesses, organizations, and individuals to
develop customized websites and application platforms. Wix.com serves
customers worldwide.
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Figure- 6

Wix.com Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops and markets a cloud-
based platform that enables anyone to create a website or web application in
North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and internationally. The company
offers Wix Editor, a drag-and-drop visual development and website editing
environment platform; Wix ADI that enables users to create a website for their
specific needs; and Corvid by Wix to create websites and web applications. It
also provides Ascend by Wix, which offers its users access to a suite of
approximately 20 products or features enabling them to connect with their
customers, automate their work, and grow their business; Wix Logo Maker
that allows users to generate a logo using artificial intelligence; Wix Answers, a
support infrastructure enabling its users to help their users across various
channels; and Wix Payments, a payment platform, which helps its users receive
payments from their users through their Wix Website. In addition, the
company offers various vertical-specific applications that business owners use
to operate various aspects of their business online. Further, it provides a range
of complementary services, including App Market that offers its registered
users the ability to install and uninstall a range of free and paid web
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applications; Wix Arena, an online marketplace that brings users seeking help
in creating and managing a website, together with Web experts; and Wix App,
a native mobile application, which enables users to manage their Websites and
Wix operating systems. As of December 31, 2021, the company had
approximately 222 million registered users and 6 million premium
subscriptions. The company was formerly known as Wixpress Ltd. Wix.com Ltd.
was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Wix provides customizable website templates and a drag-and-drop HTML5

web site builder that includes apps, graphics, image galleries, fonts, vectors,
animations and other options. Users also may opt to create their web sites
from scratch. In October 2013, Wix introduced a mobile editor to allow users
to adjust their sites for mobile viewing.

Wix App Market offers both free and subscription-based applications, with a
revenue split of 80% for the developer and 20 percent for Wix. Customers can
integrate third-party applications into their own web sites, such as photograph
feeds, blogging, music playlists, online community, e-mail marketing, and file
management.

COMPANY PROFILE: -

Table -3- Company profile

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Name Wix

Founded 2006

Founders Avishai Abrahami

Nadav Abrahami

Giora Kaplan

Type Public

Headquarters Tel Aviv, Israel

Services
Website builder, business
management, web hosting service

Industry Internet

Area Served Worldwide

Website
www.wix.com

Figure- 7
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Chapter-2

LITERATURE REVIEW
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2.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Overview

E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is the exchange of goods and services,

or the transaction of funds or data, over the internet. This process of buying
and selling goods and services online typically consists of the exchange of data
or currency to process a transaction involving more than one entity or
individual.

The customer places the order via the online store using a web browser; the
order details are then relayed to a central backend system – an e-commerce
platform, which facilitates or performs several tasks, including:

 Receiving the order

 Updating stock or inventory levels and confirming if there’s sufficient
stock
 Processing the payment for the order
 Confirming adequate funds were received to fulfil the order
 Notifying the customer that the order was successfully processed.
 Notifying the shipping department for the order to be shipped to the
customer, or access to the service to be granted.

If you're starting an ecommerce business, odds are you'll fall into at least one
of these four general categories. Each has its benefits and challenges, and
many companies simultaneously operate in several.

Knowing what bucket your idea fits in can help you think creatively about what
your opportunities and threats might be. 
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The truth is, ecommerce is the future for every business model. Knowing how
it works best with yours can help you continue to outperform the competition
and continue driving growth long-term.

eCommerce Platforms enable you to market your products on the internet,

even with limited resources to start. They allow you to create a website to
display the products you want to sell. Aside from your online storefront, you
can also process orders, manage your inventory, and receive payments. 

An ecommerce platform is the software an online store deploys to handle all

their merchant buying needs and their own seller needs. These needs
include product pages, reviews, transactions, order fulfilment, and returns.

Some of the most popular platforms in the market today are:

 Shopify
 BigCommerce
 Magento
 WooCommerce
 Wix
 Big Cartel
 Squarespace
 Salesforce Commerce Cloud
 Volusion

 Several studies have been conducted in India and abroad on various

aspects regarding e-commerce. Some worthwhile studies relating to e-
commerce are reviewed here.
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Sharma and Mittal (2009) in their study “prospects of e-commerce in India”,

mentions that India is showing tremendous growth in the e-commerce.
Undoubtedly, with the middle class of288 million people, online shopping
shows unlimited potential in India. The real estate costs are touching the sky.
Today e-commerce has become an integral part of our daily life. There are
websites providing any number of goods and services. The e-commerce portals
provide goods and services in a variety of categories. To name a few: apparel
and accessories for men and women’s, health and beauty products, books and
magazines, computers and peripherals, vehicles, software, consumer
electronics, household appliances, jewellery, audio, video, entertainment,
goods, gift articles, real estate, and services. Ashish Gupta, senior managing
director of Helion venture partners and one of the first backers of Flipkart as
an angel investor: “Flipkart has been absorbing companies that have
some potential (lets buy, Myntra). In that process, some of the best will go
wrong, for sure. But that is par for the course. The company (Flipkart) is
consciously taking bets that allow it to either grow or eliminate competition
that reduces marketing spend and improves economics.”
Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001) substantiated that the prior experience was
found to affect the intention and behaviour significantly and in a variety of
ways. The results of this study imply that the technology acceptance model
should be applied to electronic commerce research with caution. In order to
develop a successful and profitable web shop, understanding customers ‘needs
is essential. It has to be ensured that products are as cheap in a web shop as
purchased from traditional channels. According to Sharma and Mittal (2009) in
their study “prospects of e-commerce in India”, mentions that India is showing
tremendous growth in the e-commerce. Undoubtedly, with the middle class of
288 million people, online shopping shows unlimited potential in India.
The real estate costs are touching the sky. Today e-commerce has become an
integral part of our daily life. There are websites providing any number of
goods and services. The e-commerce portals provide goods and services in a
variety of categories. To name a few: apparel and accessories for men and
women, health and beauty products, books, and magazines, computers and
 P a g e | 29

peripherals, vehicles, software, consumer electronics, household

appliances, jewellery, audio, video, entertainment, goods, gift articles, real
estate, and services. Samedi and Ali (2010) compared the perceived risk level
between internet and store shopping, and revisit the relationships among past
positive experience, perceived risk level, and future purchase intention within
the internet shopping environment.
Abhijit Mitra. (2013), “e-commerce in India-a review”, international journal of
marketing, financial services & management research. Concluded that the e-
commerce has broken the geographical limitations and it is a revolution-
commerce will improve tremendously in next five years in India.
D.k. gangeshwar. (2013),” e-commerce or internet marketing: a business
review from Indian context”, international journal of u- and e- service, science,
and technology. Concluded that the e-commerce has a very bright future in
India although security, privacy, and dependency on technology are some of
the drawbacks of e-commerce but still there is a bright future to e-commerce.
Gupta (2014) in her paper “E-Commerce: Role of e-commerce in today’s
business”, presents a comprehensive definition of e-commerce while isolating
it from e-business. The paper enlists the different e-commerce models i.e.,
B2B, B2C, B2G and C2C, narratively analysing the nitty gritties of each. Rina
(2016) also elaborates the different applications of e-commerce in “Challenges
and Future Scope of E-commerce in India”, at the same time, defining the
degree to which they are operational in the country.

Martin dodge. (1999),” finding the source of Amazon.com: examining the hype
of the earth’s biggest book store”, centre for advanced spatial
analysis. Concluded that Amazon.com has been one of the most promising e-
commerce companies and has grown rapidly by providing quality service.
Vijay Govindarajan is one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and
innovation. Govindarajan, Coxe distinguished professor at Dartmouth college’s
tuck school of business and Marvin bower fellow at Harvard business school, is
 P a g e | 30

also a best-selling author. The biggest opportunity in India is e-commerce.

Why? Three important factors will drive this: 1)
mobile phone penetration; 2) a young demographic that is used to ordering thi
ngs using the mobile platform; 3) growth of consumerism with more
Indians with higher disposable income. We will see many new innovative
business models in the e-commerce space in the next five years. No doubt we
will see new innovative high-growth companies — Indian equivalents of
Alibaba.

2.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH: -

 To define how important are e-commerce platforms for a business now

a days.
 To know about which e-commerce platform is best for individuals who
are doing e-commerce business.
 To research about different e-commerce platforms and compare their
features with each other.
 To describe briefly about Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix and explain
their business strategy.
 To survey individuals by the help of questionnaire to know their
preference towards e-commerce platforms(Shopify, WooCommerce and
Wix).
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Chapter-3
 P a g e | 32

RESEARCH AND COMPARISION

Before we start with our in-depth comparison of these three platforms, it’s
important to understand that every user has his preferences, but some things
are pretty common for all users. So, we are going to start with covering the
basics and explain what each platform offers.

3.1 OVERVIEW: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

Shopify

Shopify is an all-in-one online store builder, meaning you can create a beautiful
online store without knowing any code. With Shopify, you get everything that
professional eCommerce companies have at competitive pricing and a
simplified toolset.

Shopify is straightforward and user-friendly for people unfamiliar with the

technical aspects of managing a website, and it’s also scalable and
customizable.
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Shopify is a comprehensive, all-in-one e-commerce platform and a website-

building tool that offers a simple and seamless way of building, managing, and
marketing your online store. With a wide variety of templates, Shopify allows
for advanced customization so that your store can follow your branding
requirements. It’s worth mentioning that this platform is ready-to-use and that
it’s a no-brainer choice for those who want an out-of-the-box solution for their
e-commerce store – it takes only a couple of minutes to get it up and running.

Shopify was first founded in 2004. It is an e-commerce platform that helps

sellers build a website and sell their products online. With all the ups and
downs, by the course of a decade, the sales of Shopify skyrocketed. Shopify
had about 12,000 merchants by then and earned a huge revenue of $105
million. It is especially known for its flexibility of payments. Its adaptability in
business helped it to flourish.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress websites.

Using WooCommerce, you can build an online store, add products to that
store, and process payments. WooCommerce’s primary audience is WordPress
users who want the power of an eCommerce site without any programming
knowledge.

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plug-in for WordPress. It easily

transforms this content management system into a powerful e-commerce
platform. If you’re already using WordPress to run your website, then you can
easily implement this plug-in without having to build an entire online store
from scratch.

When reviewing Shopify vs Wix vs WooCommerce, it’s crucial to pinpoint that

we’re talking about three entirely different products. Wix and Shopify are
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standalone platforms, while WooCommerce works only as an addition to

WordPress.

WooCommerce also allows users to manage their online stores easily. From
setting up product displays, and managing orders, to accepting multiple
payment gateways.

This platform was first launched in 2011 by a company called WooThemes.

Then, in 2015, it was acquired by Automattic, the parent company of
WordPress. When WordPress and WooCommerce merged, their growth
escalated. Until now, Automattic continues to be an active developer for
WooCommerce and its extensions.

Wix

Wix is a beginner-friendly website builder, and, as such, it is highly

recommended for people with no coding experience. It comes with drag-and-
drop functionality that makes the website-building process extremely easy.

Although it was primarily conceived for content-heavy websites, its e-

commerce features allow you to set up an online store in no time.

Wix is a free website builder with an easy-to-use interface, full of features for
the absolute beginner user. To start an online store on Wix, you will need to
install the Wix stores app to convert your site to an online store with a drop-
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and-drag capability and no coding. You can create a professional store where
you are in control without any hassle or trouble on the user side!

As far as ecommerce functionality goes, Wix has a few helpful tools. The
platform lets merchants track orders, accept online payments, sell products on
multiple channels, and create abandoned cart campaigns. 

However, it lacks certain features that are imperative for product-based

businesses in particular. Shortcomings include the absence of low-stock alerts
and other key inventory management features. If you have more than 10 or so
products, you’ll want a platform with more robust inventory-tracking tools.
Plus, you need to use a third-party app for social commerce integrations. 

3.2 WORK STRUCTURE: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

How Does Shopify Works

Shopify, in simpler terms, helps one build their own website for their business.
Shopify acts as a provider of online stores. It helps you to directly create
a professional trade website by registering and logging into your account.
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Setting up other simple things and then the users are ready to upload and sell
the products at their convenience. It helps them to start a business
journey, without requiring to have any knowledge about website building.

Now let's look at How one can start selling on Shopify. It is pretty simple to
understand how to set up the business on Shopify.

 First of all, you have to create an account on Shopify to enrol yourself as

the seller on the platform.
 Add products or services from the account, add and customize the
theme for the product and finally add a domain.
 Add text as the description of the selling product and add a suitable
image for it.
 Enable payments from settings. It has got its own payment
gateway called ‘Shopify Payments’, it's a free service. If the retailer uses
other gateways – such as PayPal, Amazon Pay, or other methods, he will
be charged.
 Add the shipping settings. One can buy shipping labels and decide at
what rate the seller wants to charge the customers.
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 Users can add some apps from the Shopify App Store to market and sell
the products on that platform too.
 Select a Price plan. The user has to upgrade after the free trial by
selecting the ‘Select a plan’ button at the end of every page to keep
going.
 When the process is done, the store can then be published.

How Does WooCommerce Works

WooCommerce is a free plugin. It lets you turn a WordPress website into an

ecommerce store. WooCommerce is fully compatible with the functions on
your WordPress site. It means you can have a WordPress ecommerce site with
products, a shopping cart, and checkout options. Now that we’ve addressed
how WooCommerce works.

The four step process is simple: go to your WordPress dashboard, select

“Plugin Options,” search for WooCommerce, and download the plugin to your
WordPress site. Then, the Setup Wizard will walk you through the quick and
easy process of creating your online store.
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WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that allows you to turn your WordPress

website into an online store. WooCommerce is a free plugin, but you will need
to pay for a WordPress hosting plan and for a domain name (if you don’t
already have one). WooCommerce is a very popular eCommerce platform and
is used by many large online retailers.

How Does Wix Works

Wix is a SaaS application that allows its customers to build their own websites
and mobile sites based on the HTML5 standard.

The Wix platform comes with a pre-built editor that allows users to edit, drag,
and drop items across all the pages users create. This removes the need for
any manual coding (although users are still able to insert their own code).

In most cases, users will choose from a set of pre-built templates and alter
them according to their needs. Wix offers over 500 of them in categories
including:

 Business
 Blogging
 Music
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 Photography
 Fashion & Style

… and many more. On top of that, Wix offers a multitude of other features
such as buying a domain, creating logos for your site or hosting it on the web.  

Additionally, developers can create third party apps on the Wix platform.
These applications extend the functionality of a created website and include
gimmicks such as automatic currency converters, chat bots or weather
snapshots.  

3.3 PRICING: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

Shopify Pricing
Shopify, in comparison, only offers a 14-day free trial, which gives you time to
become familiar with its many features. 

There are four plans available on monthly billing:

Shopify Starter: (these functions like a buy button so that you can start
processing payments on a site you already have) $5 a month

Shopify Basic: $29 a month, for which you get:

 An eCommerce website and blog

 You can list unlimited products
 You can register two staff accounts
 24/7 support
 Up to four inventory locations
 Marketing automation
 Basic reports

Shopify: $79 a month – you get everything in the Shopify Basic plan, plus:

 Five staff accounts

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 Five inventory locations

 Standard reporting functionality 

Advanced Shopify: $299 a month – with Shopify’s most extensive package, you

get everything above, plus

 15 staff accounts
 Eight inventory locations
 Advanced reports
 Third-party calculated shipping rates
 Custom pricing by market (for international businesses)
 Duties and import taxes are displayed at checkout

On top of these costs, Shopify also charges an extra transaction fee unless you
use their native payment gateway. This starts at 2% but lessens to 0.5% on the
Advanced plan.

WooCommerce Pricing

WooCommerce is a Free plugin to use without any upfront cost or monthly

fees.
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However, the plugin does not offer any hosting or domain services. These are
available through third-party providers such as Hostinger at an extra cost (a
few dollars/month).

The overall cost of WooCommerce varies based on your demands. However,

it’s critical that you buy your own hosting service for WooCommerce. You will
also need to purchase a theme, as WooCommerce doesn’t have attractive free
templates. A pre-production WooCommerce topic costs about $25–$299,
depending on the credibility of the theme creator (general thumb rule: The
more expensive it is, the more trustworthy it will be).

You can access more insights about the expenses of having a WooCommerce
site via WooCommerce pricing.

Wix Pricing
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The Wix Basic Plan is free of charge with some limitations – you cannot sell
online, and it doesn’t include any storage space.

Once upgrading, Wix offers a free trial for 14 days that includes all features of
the Premium Business plan (including hosting). Pricing starts at $29 per month
after the trial expires.

Using the Wix Business plan, you can:

 Accept online payments

 Remove Wix Ads from your site
 Replace the Wix favicon in the browser tab with your own.
 Change the free Wix URL to your custom domain.

3.4 EASE OF USE Comparison: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

Shopify

The Shopify interface is straightforward to use; it just takes a few steps to

create your online store. It adds products, editing prices, managing inventory,
and paying for orders simply with its point-and-click UI. Shopify is an excellent
option for both beginners and intermediate users.

WooCommerce
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 While the WooCommerce interface is user-friendly and easy to understand, it

takes a bit more time than Shopify to get your store up and running. There are
lots of free themes available for you to choose from that have great designs.

WooCommerce comes with all the eCommerce store features, such as online
payments and shipping rates, and taxes. With no coding knowledge, users can
build a website using a drag-and-drop editor. Meanwhile, their website
templates offer various layouts and designs for any business or style.

Wix

an excellent option for those who are new to building websites. The interface
is straightforward to get used to, and it’s quite user-friendly, which means that
you don’t need any coding experience to build a website from scratch. To start
an online store, you will need to install the Wix stores app, which is free, and
you can then create a store.

3.5 PAYMENT METHODS: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

Shopify

besides Shopify Payments, you can choose between credit cards, PayPal,
Amazon payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay
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WooCommerce

works with third-party service providers that enable you to accept

online payments on your eCommerce store: Stripe, PayPal ,Square

Authorize.Net, WooCommerce Payments.

Wix

on Wix, the client can pay using Wix Payments, Credit Card, PayPal, and

a Manual payment.
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3.6 PROS AND CONS: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

Shopify

Pros:

 Quick start with slick onboarding process

 Customizable themes
 Fast and reliable sites
 Community support
 Excellent built-in marketing tools 
 Sell everywhere online and in-person
 Access to over 6,000 apps through the Shopify app store
 Great SEO out of the box
 Easy to obtain a custom domain

Cons:

 Shopify Payments is limited to some countries

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WooCommerce

Pros:

 Excellent option for WordPress users

 Open source and highly customizable 
 Over 6,000 integrations and WordPress plug-ins
 Active developer and expert community

Cons:

 Self-hosted
 Requires efficiency in WordPress
 High costs for hosting, development, maintenance, and more

Wix

Pros:

 Fully hosted
 Easy to use
 Free forever plan
 Lots of support

Cons:

 Tracking and analytics require paid plan

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 Site isn’t transferrable 

 Free plan forces Wix branding

3.7 THEMES AND CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS: Shopify,

WooCommerce, Wix

Now that we’ve established the difference between these three e-commerce
solutions, we can move on to discussing their design and appearance.

Given that visual appeal plays an important role when it comes to making sure
your e-commerce store is perceived as credible and legit, you should give some
thought to the choice of templates and themes that these three solutions
provide.

Shopify

The official Shopify website offers 9 free and 64 paid themes, but some of
them come in 2 or 3 versions, which significantly increases these numbers. All
of them are well-designed, professional-looking, and responsive, meaning that
they display properly on all devices regardless of their screen size. Besides that,
you shop for more themes from third-party designers.

Another upside of this dedicated e-commerce platform is that its themes are
specifically tailored to be used for online stores, and they’re designed to help
you sell. Finally, you don’t have to worry about the security of your website if
you opt for official Shopify themes. On the downside, these themes come with
a hefty price – $180, but this one-time investment is worthwhile if we bear in
mind their quality and the fact that they cover a number of different industries.
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It’s very important to mention that although Shopify does offer a lot of
customization options, it still can’t compare with WooCommerce in this
department. The latter boasts a plethora of powerful, free plug-ins. But what’s
also worth mentioning is that Shopify allows you to change its functionalities
only up to a certain degree, while self-hosted platforms are much more
generous when it comes to this, meaning that you can tweak and adjust almost
everything.

In other words, if you like to be in control of your e-commerce platform

themes, plug-ins, and functionalities, then Shopify might not be what you
need, and you should opt for a self-hosted platform offering full-on
customization.

WooCommerce

As for WooCommerce, its design and customization options come with

WordPress.

This platform has thousands of templates available, both paid and free,
meaning that it’s a winner in this regard. With a massive number of high-
quality themes, this platform provides its users with plenty of options to make
their e-commerce stores attractive. But this advantage comes with a downside
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– not all the templates are safe, as some of them are laced with malicious code
that will hurt the safety of your website. And since you store your customers’
sensitive data, you should be very careful when it comes to the security of your
e-commerce store. So, make sure to always download your templates from a
reputable source.

Given that businesses need complex filters, custom reports, unusual

integrations, or creative and complex account pages, Wix isn’t the best
solution because of its limited customization functionality. Even if there is a
possibility to make it work, it’s expensive because it requires a number of
upgrades.

WooCommerce, for example, offers unparalleled account page customization,

and unlike Wix and Shopify, it allows you to both use plug-ins and code this
page yourself. And if we bear in mind that the account page is one of the most
critical elements of your entire e-commerce website, it’s obvious why you have
to pay special attention to it.  Namely, it can greatly affect your user
experience and that’s why you should make sure that it’s as personalized as
possible.

When it comes to unusual integrations, WooCommerce is capable of creating

some very complex booking forms, overcoming the issue of product data
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import that doesn’t come from a common POS system, or implementing

interior design room planner tools. Depending on what you need, when
comparing the performance of Wix vs Shopify vs WooCommerce in terms of
design and appearance, we can conclude that each has its benefits. Wix is
tremendously easy to use, while Shopify offers a high level of flexibility when it
comes to styling and switching templates. WooCommerce and its abundance
of high-quality, professional-looking themes is also a good bargain, but for the
best results, think about hiring an expert to handle your e-commerce web
design.

Wix

With more than 500 templates, Wix might seem like it’s a much better choice
than Shopify, but there’s a catch. Namely, most of these templates haven’t
been created with an e-commerce store in mind, although around 60 are.

Another thing that you should take into consideration is that, unlike Shopify,
Wix doesn’t allow you to change the template of your store after implementing
one.
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This might not seem like a big issue at first, but if you decide to rebrand your
online store, you can have a problem.

If we put these two deal-breakers aside, Wix does offer a lot in the design and
customization department, and what’s even more important, you can easily
design your store.

3.8 WEBSITE SECURITY: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix

Cybercrime poses a real threat to every online business and should be very
wary when it comes to protecting your store. And even more so if we bear in
mind that since COVID-19, a 300% increase in cyber-attacks has been reported.

Shopify

Shopify is a respectable e-commerce platform, which means that it handles

everything from a technical perspective, including updating security patches,
software configuration, or hosting.

However, you can take additional steps to safeguard your store and make sure
that both your and your customers’ data is protected against cyber-attacks.

WooCommerce

WordPress, being more suited for those who want a more customized solution,
requires users to handle all this by themselves or enlist developers for help.

It’s crucial for the stability and security of your WordPress e-commerce store
to run the latest version of the software and update your plug-ins and themes
regularly.

There are different optimized solutions that will make your life easier, 
facilitate maintaining your e-commerce store, and keep it secure.
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WP Engine, for example, comes with daily encrypted backups, managed core
updates and patches, a free, fully-managed content-distribution network,
automatic platform updates, threat detection and protection, 24/7/365
support, and auto migration, among many other powerful options.

As for staying on the safe side, Shopify and Wix might seem as if they are
easier to handle if you’re not tech-savvy. However, this doesn’t mean that
WooCommerce is inferior in this regard, but that you should take a more active
role in protecting your e-commerce store. However, if you opt WordPress
hosting, you can leave all this to professionals and never worry about the
safety and performance of your e-commerce store.

Wix

Given that Wix is a hosted platform, the company is responsible for keeping
your website secure and protected.

Just like with Shopify, you should also add different layers of safety to your
website by following the best cybersecurity practices.

3.9 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION: Shopify,

WooCommerce, Wix

In order to make sure your e-commerce store ranks well on Google and other
search engines; you need to optimize it properly.
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Shopify

Shopify outperforms Wix here, mainly when it comes to mobile search. Its
responsive templates adjust well to the screen of any size, which means that
your customers will be able to browse and make a purchase from their
smartphones too. It should be mentioned that it’s possible to use Accelerated
Mobile Pages on Shopify, thus speeding up the delivery of content on mobile
devices. And given that mobile-first indexing is important for SEO, it’s clear
that Shopify has a competitive edge.

WooCommerce

This solution is particularly SEO-friendly, and its code is optimized for SEO. But,
what sets it apart from all the other solutions is its integration with WordPress
that comes with excellent search engine optimization capabilities. This way,
you can take advantage of a highly-effective Yoast plug-in that can help you
optimize your content for SEO, even if you aren’t an expert in the field.

Wix
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Wix comes with slim SEO options, as it allows you to create and edit your page
titles, meta descriptions, headings, and redirects. This platform basically has an
SEO Wizard, but it’s mainly focused on keyword targeting, ranking, and
grouping, which is OK only for entry-level optimization. But, if you want a more
comprehensive tool that will allow your e-commerce store to outperform your
competition, then you should look elsewhere. Another issue is responsiveness.
Although this platform does come with certain responsive elements, the truth
is that the result won’t be a fully responsive site. Even when the layout looks
good on your screen, there’s a chance that your website won’t display properly
on mobile or even desktop screens with a different resolution.

Finally, you should be aware that you can’t pick a server when you’re using
Wix, which means that you won’t have full control when it comes to loading
speed.  Also, instead of using responsive templates like Shopify, Wix comes
with a feature called “absolute positioning,” and it positions web elements
using a pixel.

In the comparison Wix vs Shopify vs WooCommerce – WooCommerce and

Shopify are dominating here, but Wix will also do if you want only some basic
SEO.
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Chapter-4
 P a g e | 56

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

What is research: - Research comprises "creative work undertaken on a

systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including
knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge
to devise new applications." It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the
results of previous work, solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or
develop new theories. A research project may also be an expansion on past
work in the field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or
experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects, or the project
as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied
research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and
development (R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human
knowledge. Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary
considerably both within and between humanities and sciences. There are
several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social,
business, marketing, practitioner research, etc.

Research methodology is a way of explaining how a researcher intends to carry

out their research. It's a logical, systematic plan to resolve a research problem.
 P a g e | 57

A methodology details a researcher's approach to the research to ensure

reliable, valid results that address their aims and objectives. It encompasses
what data they're going to collect and where from, as well as how it's being
collected and analysed.

RESEARCH PROCESS: - Research exercise may take many forms but systematic
enquiry is features common to all such forms. Being a systematic enquiry, it
requires careful planning of the orderly investigation process.

STAGES IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS: - In planning and designing a specific

research project, it is necessary to anticipate all the steps that must be
undertaken if the project is to be successful in collecting valid and reliable
information. The steps of marketing research process are highlighted in the
following flow diagram.
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Qualitative research

Qualitative Research involves collecting and analysing non-numerical data

(e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It
can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas
for research. It also involves collecting and analysing numerical data for
statistical analysis.

Approaches

 It is used to understand how people experience the world. While there

are many approaches to qualitative research, they tend to be flexible
and focus on retaining rich meaning when interpreting data.
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 Common approaches include grounded theory, ethnography, action

research, phenomenological research, and narrative research. They
share some similarities, but emphasize different aims and perspectives.

Research example: -

To research the culture of a large tech company, you decide to take an

ethnographic approach. You work at the company for several months and use
various methods to gather data:

 You take field notes with observations and reflect on your own
experiences of the company culture.
 You distribute open-ended surveys to employees across all the
company’s offices by email to find out if the culture varies across
locations.
 You conduct in-depth interviews with employees in your office to learn
about their experiences and perspectives in greater detail.

Qualitative researchers often consider themselves “instruments” in research

because all observations, interpretations and analyses are filtered through
their own personal lens.

4.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

The most important step after defining a research problem is preparing the
design of the research project, which is popularly known as “Research Design”.
A research design helps to decide upon issues like what, when, where, how
much, by what means etc., with regard to an enquiry or research study. A
 P a g e | 60

research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of

data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with
economy in procedure. In fact, research design is a conceptual structure within
which research is conducted; it constitutes the blue print for the collection,
measurement and analysis of data.

Research design is the framework of research methods and techniques chosen

by a researcher to conduct a study. The design allows researchers to sharpen
the research methods suitable for the subject matter and set up their studies
for success.

Creating a research topic explains the type of research (experimental, survey

research, correlational, semi-experimental, review) and its sub-type
(experimental design, research problem, descriptive case-study).

There are three main types of designs for research:

 Data collection
 Measurement
 Analysis

The research problem an organization faces will determine the design, not
vice-versa. The design phase of a study determines which tools to use and how
they are used.

Thus, the research design provides an outline of what the researcher is going
to do in terms of framing the hypothesis, its operational implications and the
final data analysis. Specifically, the research design highlights the decisions
which include:

 Nature of study
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 the purpose of study

 The location where the study would be conducted
 The nature of data required
 From where the required data can be collected
 What time period the study would cover
 What type of sample design that would be used?
 The techniques of data collection that would be used
 The method of data analysis that would be adopted
 The manner in which the report will be prepared

An impactful research design usually creates a minimum bias in data and

increases trust in the accuracy of collected data. A design that produces the
least margin of error in experimental research is generally considered the
desired outcome.

 I have used DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN.

(Descriptive research design is a type of research design that aims to

systematically obtain information to describe a phenomenon, situation, or
population. More specifically, it helps answer the what, when, where, and how
questions regarding the research problem rather than the why)

 I will choose this research design because the main goal of the research
design is to describe the data & features what being studied.
 Descriptive research design is a fact-finding investigation with adequate
interpretation. It focuses on aspect or dimension of the problem studied.
It is designed to gather descriptive information
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For this project report descriptive research was used as it helps the researcher
to get the better insights of the organization. And it was very important for this
study to get the better insights of the company as this study is done to get
which e-commerce platform is best for an new user.

4.3 TYPES OF DATA REQUIRED

In this whole study on “Researching and comparing between different E-

commerce platforms (such as Shopify, Woo-commerce, Wix ) and making
recommendations for an E-commerce business” I have used Qualitative data.
Qualitative Data means collecting and analysing nonnumerical data (e.g., text,
video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be
used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for
research. It also involves collecting and analysing numerical data for statistical
analysis.

Approaches

It is used to understand how people experience the world. While there are
many approaches to qualitative research, they tend to be flexible and focus on
retaining rich meaning when interpreting data.

Common approaches include grounded theory, ethnography, action research,

phenomenological research, and narrative research. They share some
similarities, but emphasize different aims and perspectives.
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Qualitative data have been used as it is the data that approximates and
characterizes. Questionnaire was prepared to record the opinions and
experiences of the customers with The Jay Bharat Spices Pvt. Ltd. and to get
the required data qualitative is the best way.

4.4 SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION

For this project both primary and secondary data were valuable sources of
information.

The goal for all data collection is to capture quality evidence that then
translates to rich data analysis and allows the building of a convincing and
credible answer to questions that have been posed.

1) PRIMARY DATA: - Primary data was collected from various people and
their opinion and information for the specific purposes of study helped to run
the analysis. In essence, the questions asked were tailored to elicit the data
that will help for study. The data was collected through questionnaire to
understand their experience and preference towards their loyal company.

2) SECONDARY DATA: - To make primary data collection more specific,

Secondary data will help to make it more useful. It helps to improve the
understanding of the problem. Secondary data was collected from various
sources such as different business websites, published papers and books.

This overall information/data are collected from two sources:

a. Primary sources:
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1. Discussion with bank officer.

2. Personal observation.

3. Desk work in different section/departments.

b. Secondary sources:

1. Annual report of the bank.

2. Related books and publications

3. Bank websites.

4. Statements.

4.5 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Methods of data collection-

In this study Primary data was collected through the questionnaire.

Sampling- o Sampling Techniques- Convenience Sampling and Probability

Sampling

Convenience sampling is defined as a method adopted by researchers where

they collect market research data from a conveniently available pool of
respondent.
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Probability sampling refers to the selection of sample from a population, when

this selection is based on the principle of randomization that is random
selection or chance.

Sample Size- Sample size for this research study is 20.

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Chapter-5

DATA ANALYSIS

5.1 DATA ANALYSIS

In this section of the study, I have done the analysis of the Data collected
through the structured Questionnaire.

Table -4:- Age of the respondents

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Age Percentage of No. of respondent

respondent
20 or less 15% 3s
20-25 65% 13
25-35 20% 4
35 and above 0% 0

Figure- 8

The majority of the respondents are from the age group of 20-25 that is 13
respondents out of 20. Then the second largest age group is 25-35 that are
around 4 respondents. Then comes 3 respondents in the age group of 20 or
less and lastly is the age group of 35 and above with no respondents.

Table -5:- Academic qualification of the respondents

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Academic qualifications Percentage of respondent No. of respondent

Bachelor's Degree 65% 13

Master’s Degree 10% 2

Doctorate 5% 1

Other 20% 4

Figure- 9

The academic qualifications of majority of the respondents are Bachelor’s

degree which is 13 out of 20. Second largest category is others category with 4
respondents. Then comes the Master’s degree with 2 respondents. Then
comes Doctorate with 1 respondent.

Table -6:-Occupation of the respondents

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Occupation Percentage of respondent No. of respondent

Student 70% 14

Business 10% 2

Service(job) 15% 3

Unemployed 5% 1

Figure- 10

The majority of respondents are students that is 14 out of 20. Then the no. of
respondents who are doing business is 2 out of 20. 3 out of 20 respondents are
doing service(job). lastly 1 of them is unemployed.

Table -7:- Do you know about e-commerce platform?

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Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Yes 100% 20

No 0% 0

Figure- 11

Out of 20 respondents all were known about e-commerce platforms. Because

now a days everyone using e-commerce platforms mainly for shopping. So for
that reason everyone have some knowledge about e-commerce platforms.
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Table -8: - For how many years you are using e-commerce platform?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents
Less than one year 5% 1

One year or less than five 50% 10

years
More than five years 40% 8

Do not know/ can’t say 5% 1

Figure- 12

The majority of respondents are from one year or less than five year that
means 10 out of 20 respondents are known the e-commerce platforms from
less than five years. Then 8 out of 20 respondents are known the e-commerce
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platform for more than five years. Then 1 out of 20 respondents is known
about e-commerce platform for less than one year. 1 out of 20 is do not
remember when he is come to know about e-commerce platforms.

Table -9: - For what reason do you use e-commerce platform?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

For personal use 85% 17

For Business use 0% 0

For both personal and 15% 3

business use

Figure- 13
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17 out of 20 respondents are use e-commerce platforms as personal use like

shopping. Then 3 out of 20 respondents are using e-commerce platforms for
both personal and business use. Then out of 20 respondents no one using e-
commerce platforms for only business use.

Table -10: - Do you know about Shopify?

Percentage of respondents No. of respondents

Yes 85% 17

No 15% 3
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Figure-14

The majority of respondents giving responses to yes that is 17 out of 20. That
means 17 respondents are known about shopify. Then 3 out of 20 are not
known about shopify.

Table -11: - Do you know about WooCommerce?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Yes 70% 14

No 30% 6
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Figure-15

14 out of 20 respondents are known about WooCommerce. Then 6 out of 20

are not known about WooCommerce.

Table -12: - Do you know about Wix?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Yes 85% 17

No 15% 3
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Figure- 16

The majority of respondents giving responses to yes that is 17 out of 20. That
means 17 respondents are known about Wix. Then 3 out of 20 are not known
about Wix.

Table -13: - Which e-commerce platform feels safe while using? 

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 65% 13

WooCommerce 20% 4
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Wix 15% 3

Figure- 17

The majority of respondents that is 13 out of 20 are saying that shopify is feels
safe while it using by peoples. That means it have good website security. Then
4 out of 20 respondents are saying that they WooCommerce have best website
security. Then lastly 3 out of 20 respondents are saying that Wix feels safe
while using.

Table -14: - According to you which of the following e-commerce platform

has largest market coverage?
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Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents
Shopify 65% 13

Wix 15% 3

WooCommerce 20% 4

Figure- 18

13 out of 20 respondents are saying that shopify have largest market coverage.

Then 4 out of 20 respondents have saying that WooCommerce have largest

market coverage. Then lastly 3 out of 20 respondents have saying that Wix
have largest market coverage.

Table -15: - According to you which of the following e-commerce platform

have more features?
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Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 65% 13

WooCommerce 20% 4

Wix 15% 3

Figure-19

13 out of 20 respondents are saying that shopify have more features. Then 4
out of 20 respondents have saying that WooCommerce have more features.
Then lastly 3 out of 20 respondents have saying that Wix have more features.

Table -16: - Which of the e-commerce platform have best themes and web
design? 
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Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 30% 6

WooCommerce 20% 4

Wix 50% 10

Figure- 20

The major of respondents that is 10 out of 20 are saying that WooCommerce

have well themes and web design. Then secondly shopify have best themes
and web design that is 6 out of 20. Then lastly 4 out of 20 respondents have
saying that Wix have good themes and web design.
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Table -17: - According to you who offers the best value for money?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 26.3% 5

WooCommerce 47.4% 9

Wix 26.3% 5

Figure- 21

9 out of 20 respondents are saying that WooCommerce offers the best value
for money. Then Wix and Shopify have same respondents that 5 out of 20 they
are saying that they both offers best value for money. Lastly 1 out of 20
respondent is not choosing any of them.
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Table -18: - Which of the following e-commerce platform gives you the best
customer support?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 65% 13

WooCommerce 10% 2

Wix 25% 5

Figure-22

13 out of 20 respondents are saying that shopify gives you the best customer
support. Then 5 out of 20 respondents have saying that Wix gives you the best
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customer support. Then lastly 2 out of 20 respondents are saying that

WooCommerce gives best customer support.

Table -19: - Which of the following e-commerce platform you will

recommend for a start-up e-commerce business?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 40% 8

WooCommerce 25% 5

Wix 35% 7

Figure-23
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8 out of 20 respondents will recommend shopify for a start-up e-commerce

business. Then 7 out of 20 respondents will recommend Wix for a start up e-
commerce business. Then lastly 5 out of 20 respondents will recommend
WooCommerce for a start-up e-commerce business.

Table -20: - Which of the following e-commerce platform is best for Retail?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 70% 14

WooCommerce 20% 4

Wix 10% 2
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Figure- 24

14 out of 20 respondents are saying that shopify is best for doing retail
business. Then 4 out of 20 respondents have saying that WooCommerce is best
for doing retail business. Then lastly 2 out of 20 respondents are saying that
Wix is best for doing retail business.

Table -21: - If you had an e-commerce business, which of the following e-

commerce platform would you choose to run your business?

Percentage of No. of respondents

respondents

Shopify 60% 12

WooCommerce 25% 5
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Wix 15% 3

Figure- 25

12 out of 20 respondents are saying that shopify is best for run their business if
they have. Then 5 out of 20 respondents are saying that WooCommerce is best
for run their business if they have. Lastly 3 put of 20 respondents are saying
that Wix is best for run their business.
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Chapter-6
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FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

6.1 FINDINGS:

 After this research I got that e-commerce platforms are plays a vital role
for a business now a days.
 After this research I had got to know that which e-commerce platform is
best between Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix.
 Also, I got to know that the majority of respondents are from the age of
20-25.
 Also, I would come to know that now a days all individuals have some
kind of knowledge about e-commerce platform.
 After this research I have got to know that most of the individuals were
using this e-commerce platforms for personal use. Now a days many
individuals also it uses for both personal and business use.
 Also, most of the individuals have some kind of knowledge about
Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix.
 After this research I have got that Shopify have largest market coverage,
more features, also some kind of value for money, best customer
support and lastly it feels safe while using.
 Also, I would come to know that WooCommerce and Wix have best
themes and web design. Also, Shopify have best but less than Wix and
WooCommerce. Because Wix and WooCommerce platforms are mainly
based themes design.
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 Also, I would come to know that WooCommerce offers best value for
money for staters. Because it will free of cost.
 Lastly, I would came to know that many respondents and also my
opinion is that Shopify is best for retail business and if the respondents
have e-commerce business then they choose Shopify for run their
business.

6.2 CONCLUSION:

The research is conducted on the comparing e-commerce platforms (such as

Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix) will be very much useful for peoples and
which individuals are wants to doing e-commerce business and who is also
doing this e-commerce business. This study also helps the competitors of these
e-commerce platforms.

So, there you have it – we’ve reached the end of our in-depth Shopify vs Wix vs
WooCommerce review. Now you’re acquainted with the strengths and
weaknesses of each platform, you might be wondering if there’s a clear
winner.

In truth, however, each platform caters to a slightly different audience. You can
easily identify which option is right for you in most cases.

In summary: Go with Wix if you’re looking for an affordable and intuitive

website builder to build a business site. If eCommerce is only secondary to
your needs, Wix provides the easiest and quickest web design process. 
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In contrast, those with physical retail stores and/or a greater focus on

eCommerce should consider Shopify, their best contender. Shopify provides
the greatest amount of in-built selling and store management features, comes
with its own POS system, and is easy to use.

Lastly, WooCommerce remains the most flexible for those businesses that
want full control of their source code, their content, and products and who
want to scale by extending their functionality as needed. WooCommerce is
best suited to businesses with a team dedicated to website design and
maintenance, as coding knowledge comes in useful. 

6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS:

Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce all of three are ideal in their own ways.

If we compare Wix vs Shopify vs WooCommerce against each other, it’s

important to highlight that each one of them is suitable for a particular
audience. Wix is affordable and easy to use, and it’s modest in terms of certain
features and functionalities, which makes it a perfect solution for those who
don’t want to invest too much or run smaller e-commerce stores. Shopify is
significantly more advanced since it’s specifically geared towards the e-
commerce industry, and it still isn’t demanding in terms of ease of use.

Those who need a big store that can be scaled but don’t want any hassle
should opt for Shopify. Finally, WooCommerce offers the greatest level of
flexibility and customization, but it can be on the expensive side if you opt for
custom development. It’s a good option for those who are proficient in terms
of web development or have a budget to hire developers.
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When you’re deep into ecommerce comparison shopping, it’s easy to forget
why you’re picking an ecommerce platform at all. At the end of the day, there
is no best choice for everyone. Instead, look for the right platform that lets you
serve your customers the best ecommerce experience that makes shopping
online feel easy.

Beyond simply the best online store builder, think about the other business
tools those platforms offer. It’s often beneficial to use a seamlessly integrated
ecosystem, consisting of your online store, payment processor, POS, and even
small business lender. Shopify, for example, has an entire suite of tools that
help you manage every aspect of your business, and an App Store with over
4,000 apps to help you customize the experience for your customers and your
team. 

Selling online with your own ecommerce website has never been easier, faster,
or more scalable. Shopify is a single platform that lets you sell wherever your
customers are—online, in-person, and everywhere in between.

ANNEXURE-I

QUESTIONNAIRE:

Name ______
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Age______

a) 20 or less
b) 20-25
c) 25-35
d) 35 and above

Academic Qualifications_____

a) Bachelor’s Degree
b) Master’s Degree
c) Doctorate
d) Other

Occupation____

a) Student
b) Business
c) Service(job)
d) Unemployed

Do you know about e-commerce platform?

a) Yes
b) No

For how many years you are using e-commerce platform?

a) Less than one year

b) One year or less than five years
c) More than five years
d) Do not know/ can’t say
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For what reason do you use e-commerce platform?

a) For personal use

b) For business use
c) For both personal and business use

Do you know about Shopify?

a) Yes
b) No

Do you know about WooCommerce?

a) Yes
b) No

Do you know about Wix?

a) Yes
b) No

Which e-commerce platform feels safe while using?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

According to you, which e-commerce platform have largest market coverage?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix
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According to you which of the following e-commerce platform have more

features?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

Which of the following e-commerce platform have best themes and web
design?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

According to you who offers the best value for money?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

Which of the following e-commerce platform gives you the best customer
support?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

Which e-commerce platform you will recommend for a start-up e-commerce

business?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
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c) Wix

Which of the following e-commerce platform is best for retail?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

If you had an e-commerce business, which of the following e-commerce

platform have more features?

a) Shopify
b) WooCommerce
c) Wix

ANNEXURE-II

REFERENCES: -

https://history-computer.com/shopify-company-profile/

https://startuptalky.com/shopify-business-model/

https://www.academia.edu/8930549/
E_Commerce_in_India_Literature_Review

https://www.feedough.com/how-does-shopify-work-shopify-business-model/
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https://www.rapyd.net/blog/what-is-wix-and-how-can-it-grow-global-
ecommerce/

https://www.shopify.com/blog/best-ecommerce-platforms

https://www.nexcess.net/blog/10-reasons-to-choose-woocommerce/

https://craft.co/woocommerce

https://ecommerce-platforms.com/compare/shopify-vs-wix-vs-wordpress

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wix

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/woocommerce-vs-
shopify/

https://www.enzuzo.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-using-wix-for-ecommerce

https://www.trustradius.com/compare-products/wix-vs-woocommerce

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317496972_Growth_of_E-
commerce_in_India_An_Analytical_Review_of_Literature

http://shodh.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/57/4/04_chapter
%202.pdf
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