Which shop system suits your business?

Almost every conversation about an online shop starts with the same question: Shopify or WooCommerce? In the initial consultation we usually turn it around. First we want to know what you sell, who you sell to and who will look after the shop after launch. Only then does the question of the system make sense. In our projects, four routes are possible. A small or medium-sized business in Austria rarely needs more.

Before we talk about software, we look at your products. How many items are there? How often do they change? Are there variants? For the system, a T-shirt in five sizes and three colours is fifteen items, each with its own stock level. Anyone selling food, vouchers or seminars has quite different requirements again.

Then comes the question of business customers. Should resellers see different prices, order on account or meet minimum quantities? Not every system can handle such B2B functions out of the box. They often need extensions that bring their own running costs. And finally: is there already an inventory management system or accounting software that the shop needs to exchange data with? These three points decide more than any feature comparison sheet.

Shopify: ready quickly, but rented

Shopify is a hosted service. The provider takes care of servers, security updates and payment processing. You pay a monthly fee for this. For a young brand with a manageable product range, this is often the most sensible start.

That was the case with Merchflix, a brand for fan merchandise. We planned the shop on Shopify together with the founder, from the product presentation to the checkout. Because most purchases happen on mobile phones, the focus was on mobile usability. Merchflix does not have to worry about servers or updates.

You should know the downside. Many functions come via apps with their own subscription. If you use an external payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, you pay additional transaction fees. Shopify decides how far you may customise the checkout. You can export your products and orders, but the platform itself remains rented.

WooCommerce: flexible, if someone looks after it

WooCommerce is an extension for WordPress. The shop runs on your own hosting and the data sits on your server. There is a plugin for almost every requirement: dealer prices, special shipping rules, connections to accounting and inventory management. This freedom is its biggest advantage.

It is also the biggest effort. WordPress, the theme and every plugin receive updates all the time. If you leave them, you risk security gaps. If you install them untested, you risk an error in the checkout. A WooCommerce shop without regular maintenance is therefore not a good idea. With support in the background, it is a solid solution for businesses that want more control.

Headless: your own frontend, Shopify in the background

With a headless shop, we split the technology into two parts. Shopify or another shop system manages products, orders and payments in the background. We develop the pages your customers see as a separate website. This gives full freedom in design and loading time.

This is worthwhile when the shop is part of a content-rich website, when the design cannot be achieved with templates, or when several languages and channels come together. But it takes more development. In addition, many Shopify apps only work in the standard themes. For most small shops, headless is simply not necessary. We only recommend it when the reasons above really apply.

Few products: a lean checkout with Stripe

Not every sale needs a shop system. If you sell seminars, appointments or a few vouchers, you do not need a basket, categories or stock management. Here we prefer to build a lean payment process directly into the website. The payment itself is handled by Stripe, a payment service provider that offers card, Klarna and EPS.

For VÖPP, we developed such a platform, through which members and other interested people book seminars and training courses and pay via Stripe. For the kinesiologist Sarah Fraberger, appointment booking and payment are combined in one process. Sometimes nothing new is needed at all: for TopMoves, we integrated the dance studio's existing booking solution into the new website instead of replacing it.

The catch: anything beyond payment has to be built specifically. If the product range grows, a proper shop will at some point be the better choice.

Austrian specifics that are often forgotten

Whatever the system, we check these points before every shop project:

• Invoices: They must contain the mandatory details under § 11 of the Austrian VAT Act (Umsatzsteuergesetz). Not every system creates such invoices without an add-on module.

• VAT: If you deliver to private customers in other EU countries, you charge the destination country's VAT above an EU-wide threshold. This is reported via the One-Stop-Shop (OSS). For this, the shop must know the correct tax rates for each country.

• Payment methods: EPS is the Austrian online bank transfer. Customers pay with the login for their own online banking. Check whether your payment provider supports EPS.

• Shipping: Labels should come directly from the shop, not be typed out. Ask Austrian Post or your shipping provider which connection is available for your system.

• Accessibility: Since 28 June 2025, the Austrian Accessibility Act has also applied to online shops, with an exception for micro-enterprises. You can find details in our article on the Accessibility Act.

Who maintains the shop after launch?

In the end, this question often decides more than all the features. Who adds new products? Who installs updates? Who responds when a payment gets stuck? If nobody in your business has time for this and no agency looks after the shop, Shopify is the safe choice. If maintenance is taken care of, WooCommerce and headless are open to you.

That is why our recommendation is rarely the name of a system. It is a combination of product range, target group and the honest answer to the question of who looks after it.

You can read how we plan and connect shops under E-Commerce & Shop Systems.