Magento vs Shopware: Which Ecommerce Platform to Choose
If you are mulling over migrating your business to another ecommerce CMS or just starting your journey of building an online business, check out our platform comparison.
Both platforms have been long-established in the market as reliable and flexible ones for businesses from any industry. Being highly customizable and scalable, they offer a wide range of business features, which we’ll explore in detail.
The article will focus on the differences between platforms and spoiler: we’ll make it clear which alternative is more suitable. Let’s get the ball rolling!
General Overview of Platforms
Magento Overview
Market share. Almost 12 percent of all ecommerce websites are Magento ones with a community of more than 250,000 entrepreneurs running their businesses on this CMS, as stated in the Hosting Tribunal report.
Geography. The platform gains traction in the United States, with over a third of all Magento sites based there. Business owners from Western Europe, South America, India, and Africa also find it a good fit and run their enterprises on Magento. Here are the top countries with the most significant number of Magento-powered websites:
Source: BuiltWith
Top industries. Fashion & apparel, electronics, home & decor, food & beverages, and hobbies are leading fields among Magento-based businesses:
Source: BuiltWith
Brands. Among well-known brands powered by Magento are Jaguar, Coca-Cola, Seat, Helly Hansen, Timberland, Everlast, Land Rover, Ford, Omega, Missguided, Fred Perry, Björn Borg, Monin, etc.
Shopware Overview
Market share. The number of sites on Shopware takes the back seat compared to Magento, as 0.1 percent of all the websites use this CMS, as reported by W3Techs.
Geography. In general, the CMS is the most popular in its homeland — Germany and then in the United States, Western Europe, and Scandinavia.
Source: BuiltWith
Top industries. The breakdown by industry in the case of Shopware is slightly different from Magento. Here is a list of sectors Shopware-based businesses are engaged in:
Source: BuiltWith
Brands. Top brands also use Shopware as an online ecosystem for their business, including Tangle Teezer, Mercedes-Benz, Oktoberfest Shop, Philips, Marc Aurel, Lufthansa, Aston Martin, etc. Undoubtedly, this list is much smaller than that of the competitor, and also most of them are still German brands.
Shopware vs Magento: What’s Under the Hood
Pricing
Magento. The CMS involves Open Source (Community) Edition, which is free and successfully covers the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.
In case you strive for more, you may find Commerce (Enterprise) Edition more interesting since it provides a wide range of advanced features and starts from $24,000 (~€20,000) per year. A real boon to big online businesses!
But first things first: the difference between these two editions is worth in-depth exploring and comparing the functional internals of each one to make a final decision.
Shopware. The platform also allows working on the Starter Edition, a free version that supports essential opportunities.
There are both Professional and Enterprise Editions with powerful features highly competitive even with Magento for those who want to benefit from more sophisticated functionality. The costs are much more modest and start from €2,388 per year.
Source: Shopware Pricing
Usability & Performance
Magento. The second version of the CMS features a much more simplified UI than the previous one — Magento 1. Website admins can quickly perform daily operations and make adjustments if necessary, although it may take a little longer due to the many configurations and options available.
The only thing non-tech shop owners may have real difficulties with is Magento setup and customizations, requiring external assistance from engineers. For implementing more sophisticated features, you’d better examine Magento documentation first of all if you aren’t a tech-savvy guy.
Shopware. The strong suit is its easy-to-use and intuitive UI that is a real asset for newbies in online business. Site admins can also access extensive analytics dashboards with sales data and quickly make edits to the web design or content using the drag and drop editor.
If we compare the performance of both platforms, Shopware gains the upper hand here. According to the test conducted by the Magento Architect, the page response time of Magento is slower on almost every tested page.
Marketing & Sales Tools
Magento. The CMS can proudly boast its built-in marketing and shopping toolset, including a smooth integration with Amazon, user engagement tactics (wish lists, emails, product comparisons, and reviews), and Google tools.
The focus of Magento Commerce shifts to product merchandising and dynamic presentation.
For those who would like to increase Magento’s native powers significantly, there’s a library of extensions to fit every taste and deal with email marketing, SEO, advertising, or automation.
Source: Magento Marketplace
Shopware. It also has a vast selection of modules and extensions focused on marketing and sales.
We do like a powerful built-in feature called Shopping Worlds, which allows grabbing customers’ attention at first glance and delivering a unique user experience with a touch of storytelling.
A website admin can create a shop from a plethora of ready-made layouts initially developed with the latest UX/UI best practices. Animations and interactions increase user engagement and build an emotional bond with a brand while bringing the product presentation to the next level.
SEO Tools
Magento. The CMS is amongst the most SEO-friendly systems and involves a pack of powerful native capabilities like meta-data enhancing, sitemap configuring, URLs rewriting, images and canonical tags optimization, etc.
The only thing to keep in mind is that you should configure every feature by hand, and that’s why you’d better have SEO skills or resources available.
Shopware. As a comparison, Shopware store owners can benefit from SEO settings configured automatically and manually adjust them if needed.
A list of SEO features includes meta-data optimization, SEO-friendly URLs, sitemaps, RSS & Atomic feeds, Google image search, etc.
Community & Support
Magento. The community is large and numbers at least 150,000 developers worldwide, who actively contribute to evolving the platform, support, and educate each other within this ecosystem.
Customer support is available in the Enterprise Edition, though those who run their businesses on Open Source most often can find solutions in the official documentation or forums.
Shopware. The community is small-scale compared to Magento and contains roughly 40,000 developers, and most of them are Germans. However, the Shopware documentation and user guides have English versions and may also come in handy in case of any problems. Apart from that, they frequently organize online webinars and events for merchants covering the platform enhancements and best plugins for any purpose.
You can receive customer support if only you’ve chosen Enterprise Edition, or you can order it as an extra service for other kinds of pricing packages.
Which Platform Works for Who
Magento: Big & Medium Businesses with Enough Resources
If you run a big business or intend to become one soon, the platform is a wise choice. Building a store on this CMS is worth it, provided that you have enough resources and Magento development efforts to configure it and successfully maintain it in the future.
What else we would like to say about Magento is its extensive customization opportunities, with the help of which you can implement the most daring web design solution with many complex interactions and visual effects. It will help you achieve your goals in delivering an exclusive shopping experience and leaving a powerful impression on your customers.
For those who manage small-sized businesses, Magento can provide something valuable, like budget-friendly options, many free extensions available, and tons of native features. In this case, you’d better assess your capabilities and compare them with what the platform provides.
Shopware: Small-Sized Stores Eager to Go Online Instantly
What this ecommerce platform is genuinely famous for is a short time-to-market cycle. If you don’t have enough time to delve into but need a fast result, you can always use the help of Shopware developers.
Besides, for those who do not have much experience operating an online store and considerable resources, this system is precious.
But still, if you are a well-established business, you shouldn’t dismiss the platform. Firstly, it takes into account the needs of both local small brands and large retailers. Besides, Gartner recently included Shopware in its report with an analysis of the leading players in the ecommerce market, entitling it a niche one for now, which holds out great promises for the platform’s future.
Source: Gartner Report
Conclusion
Of course, the variety of ecommerce platforms on the market today is impressive since there is an option for every business, regardless of sales volume, industry, localization, or any other factor. This article was only about analyzing a tiny piece of this enormous pie and platforms that we think are interesting to compare.
The most important thing is to carry out in-depth research, weigh the pros and cons, and finally choose the right fit precisely for your enterprise. If you are still in doubt or didn’t find yourself between two options, drop us a line. We’ll analyze the background info and suggest a range of suitable options and opportunities, even if it is neither Magento nor Shopware 🙂
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