Aero Vs Magento Vs Shopify

Know which platform is good for your business/project/company.
Each platform has it’s benefits depending on what you need. This can be dependent on the size of your store, the amount of products you have and the customisation you require. If you are unsure which one will suit you best the team at Big Eye Deers can point you in the right direction.

Magento – For when you’ve got a Medium / Large size business that has a high volume of products/services but still want the ability to customise it to your brand. The high spec platform for large businesses that continue to expand and need additional features added. Magento is the vast support of third party modules that can allow it to be scaled up even further.
Aero Commerce –  For a range of businesses from small to large. Aero presents the opportunity to add customisation at a lower cost, meaning you can have a bespoke functioning website without breaking the bank.
Shopify – For those multiple sized businesses that are start ups or community led small SKU simple websites. Shopify likes to keep it simple in the backend to allow newcomers the opportunity to understand how to get the most of our ecommerce.

Know what you want to get out of your platform:
Magento, Aero Commerce and Shopify each have different specs that will fit in with your business. Knowing what you want from your website will allow you to decide which one is best for you. 

Do you want extra fast site speed?

• Server specs with both Aero and Magento can be customised to ensure you always get a fast speed. This can also add a layer of security with multiple load balanced servers to make sure your website goes down.
• With Shopify you’re left to whatever Shopify’s server will serve you, however at a small set up it’s much better than any other server on the market as you get a powerful server with a CDN built in.

Do you want low costs?

• Monthly costs of a Shopify store can be as low as $29/month all in which is incredible value for money to get you started.
• We’re currently testing Aero servers and we can get a strong stable connection, load balanced with CDN and elastic search server for roughly $30/month – However this doesn’t include the monthly service fee
• Magento is the most expensive by far, it’s a huge service that requires a lot of power to get something good.

Do you want it to be customisable? 

• Shopify is great at making a nice custom branded frontend but falls over when any part of the backend needs customization, everything requires a 3rd party plugin that is not editable, it has to be perfect – this leaves you rummaging through lots of reviews to see if it’ll actually work. (This is where the cost of Shopify starts to skyrocket, you might be paying $29/month for Shopify but you’ll end up paying hundreds more every month for plugins). Magento comes into its own with larger more complex integrations /customisations. It also had a pedigree of being a market-leader for over a decade and comes with a large standard list of functionality available out of the box.

Perks of each platform:

Each platform has it’s best bits, we’ve highlighted our favourite from each one.

Magento – There are no limits with Magento, it evolves as your business grows. Magento allows you to:

• Manage multiple stores, transacts in multiple countries, languages, currencies, and use several worldwide shipping providers, all from 1 hub.
• Magento’s large Extensions Marketplace has to option to add rich feature/capabilities and enable integrations with your other digital tools (e.g. ERP, CRM)
• Enables merchants to handle the complexities of B2B commerce

Aero –  Site speed is key with ecommerce with 1 in 3 shoppers leaving a website if they wait more than 5 seconds for a page to load. When comparing site speeds Aero sits at an impressive 1.6 seconds. 

Magento: 4 seconds.
Aero Commerce: 1.6 seconds
WooCommerce: 3.3 seconds
Shopify: 2.2 seconds
(Source: TaoDigital)

Shopify – Allow people to shop anywhere and any time with an easy Shopify app back office to allow you to manage sales. The Shopify platform lets you sell online or in person, just about anywhere…provided you’ve got an internet signal!
As of November 2020 You can extend your reach by integrating Shopify and Instagram shopping allowing a seamless purchase direct from your Instagram. Shopify gives you a mobile-friendly, secure checkout option to add to websites as well.

So which one should you choose?
Although each platform has it’s pros and cons it’s important to define what you want from your eCommerce store. 

Small to medium sized business’ thrive on Shopify as it’s a great place to start, with easy to use templates and plugins and a simple back office that will grow with your business.

If you’re looking to supercharge your eCommerce where site speed and customisation are important to you then speak to us about Aero Commerce.

Already bursting with lots of products and complex integrations? With a need to upscale your site with added multiple functions. Then Magento is the way forward.

If you need help making the decision in terms of which platform is best for you, contact us at Big Eye Deers and we’ll run through it all with you.