What is the difference between Shopify and Shoptet?
First of all, I apologize to my followers who do not speak Czech. Why am I writing this article in Czech? Because over the last month I've been attending several e-commerce events to share the message about Shopify, and the most common question I get is: What exactly is the difference between Shoptet and Shopify? Here I have the opportunity to discuss this issue in detail, also for future reference.
I'm not the first to make this comparison. You can check out this post from my colleague Jakub Liška with a video comparing the two platforms in detail.
Under what circumstances would I recommend Shoptet?
Shoptet is a great tool in Czech e-commerce. It allows everyone to start running an e-shop easily and without major costs. No wonder more than 34 thousand e-shops run on the Shoptet system, which is a great success. However, it also has its limitations, just like any other platform.
Who is Shoptet great for?
- For local Czech businesses that are just trying to sell online.
- For companies that do not have ambitions to expand into different markets.
- For e-shops that prefer software developed in the Czech Republic for Czech users instead of international platforms.
For whom does Shoptet become restrictive?
- You have been running on Shoptet for several months and the market is responding positively to your products. You're ready to go to the next level and start improving and customizing your store for a better customer experience.
- You want to grow, scale and expand without Shoptet's limitations and lack of features.
- Want to sell in multiple countries, improve your e-shop with one of the more than 8,000 apps available, create something through Shopify's advanced APIs, have intuitive management to easily manage your operations.
Shopify Myths!
Maybe you still don't believe that Shopify is a suitable solution for the needs of Czech brands. It's time to bust some of these myths.
Shopify grew from zero to more than 2,500 e-shops in the Czech Republic, even without any proper active marketing efforts. The growth is exponential and it won't stop here.
There are three main myths that I need to clear up so that you can better understand the position of Shopify on the Czech market compared to Shoptet.
1. Shopify is not just for small e-shops
You may still believe that Shopify is great for small e-commerce stores that sell t-shirts, but it will never handle the complexities of large businesses. Not much room for debate here. Not only huge global brands like Decathlon, Staples and Gymshark run their e-shops on Shopify Plus, but also big local companies like Okay, Ledvance and ETA use Shopify's platform.
List of logos of companies using Shopify Plus. The biggest and most interesting companies in the world are already using Shopify.
2. Shopify is not a simple box solution
How is it possible that such brands are able to operate on this platform? Precisely because Shopify is not just a box solution. It is much more than that! Not only is it completely built as an API-first platform, but it's also highly customizable to your needs. Plus, Shopify scales with you, handling up to 30,000 transactions per minute at its checkout without your e-shop ever crashing or crashing.
3. Shopify (also) speaks Czech
Similar to me, a Portuguese who moved to Brno in 2015, Shopify already speaks Czech - by that I mean they understand our specific needs and are working to keep improving. One of the best ways Shopify did this was by bringing its own Shopify Payments gateway to our country in 2022 and translating the Shopify administration into Czech. In addition, today all important local services integrate with Shopify: Ecomail, Smartsup, Skladon, Retino, GoPay, Comgate, Zásilkovna, PPL and others. And those who aren't yet connected to Shopify can easily do so using Shopify's open APIs.
