Windo v/s Squarespace
Over 2.64 billion people are investing their time in online shopping with the rise of eCommerce. The number is exponentially rising because of the ease and convenience of online shoppers. Thus, the increase in digital buyers shouldn’t come as a surprise because the potential of the eCommerce industry is vast, with numerous untapped opportunities.
Brands should look beyond the number of online shoppers to better understand the consumer perspective. The internet brings people across the globe together and eliminates the barrier to reaching consumers outside your geographical area.
One of the ways to do this is by creating and designing your online store. It helps you expand your business and provide a personalized shopping experience to your customers.
Having an online store increases brand awareness. But the biggest concern is to find the right platform to create an online store. This guide will take a closer look at Windo and Squarespace to help you choose the best-suited eCommerce platform.
About Windo and Squarespace
Windo
Windo is an online store builder that allows you to create and design your online store within a few minutes. It is known as one of the best Shopify alternatives. You can sell your products from one place without any hassle or complicated procedures. It is specifically designed for small businesses and solopreneurs; however, it doesn’t limit itself to them.
This one-in-all platform helps you start, run, and grow your business by making selling super easy and convenient.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a New York-based website building and hosting company that allows you to create your online business and sell your products seamlessly. Whether starting out or having an established business, you can use Squarespace to run your business seamlessly.
Windo vs Squarespace
Pricing
Windo comprises majorly three pricing plans: Sprout Plan, Blossom Plan, and Garden Plan.
The Sprout Plan is forever free, i.e., $0 per month. It allows you to have access to features like seamless online payments, unlimited products to sell, unlimited orders, and excellent customer support to help you forever.
On the other hand, the Blossom Plan starts from $5 billed annually, which is the upgraded version of the Sprout Plan. It consists of all the features available in the free plan, along with a custom domain, 0% transaction fee, adding bulk products, and priority customer support.
Whereas, if we talk about the Garden Plan, it starts from $7 billed annually. This plan carries everything Sprout and Blossom plans have, plus live chat support for the customers, an android app for the store, unlimited access to all features, and early access to paid features.
Squarespace comprises four pricing plans: Personal, Business, Commerce (Basic), and Commerce (Advanced).
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The personal plan starts at $16 per month and has features like mobile-optimized websites, customizable templates, and a free custom domain.
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The business plan starts at $23 per month, which has all the features of the personal program along with advanced website analytics 3% transaction fee on fully integrated eCommerce websites.
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The Commerce (Basic) plan starts at $27 per month. It has all the features of the business plan but with a 0% transaction fee.
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The Commerce (Advanced) plan starts at $49 per month. Along with all the features of the Commerce (Basic) plan, it even provides advanced shipping and discounting options to businesses.
Squarespace is costlier than Windo, especially for brands that are starting out and wants to scale their business.
Live Chat and WhatsApp Integration
Windo’s Live Chat and WhatsApp Integration let you chat with your buyers seamlessly and resolve customer queries without any hassle. Along with it, you can customize the design and position of the chat widget as per your needs. You even get to decide the part of the screen that you want to be visible.
Squarespace does not support any third-party apps or plugins, making it difficult for businesses to seek customization as per their needs. Due to this, brands have less control over functionality as compared to other platforms like Windo.
Squarespace restricts users in many ways. While Windo gives the required creative freedom to brands to scale their business seamlessly.
Customized Themes
Windo provides six different theme options. Windo provides you with six different themes as well as the feasibility of building your own unique theme. You can select the one that suits your brand and customize the layout based on your brand colors and design. Its customized theme options can help you provide a unique shopping experience to your customers and create a long-lasting impression.
Simply go to the themes option in the settings while using Windo. Choose the theme you love and add primary colors that resonate or reflect your brand personality. Along with it, you can even add or remove different sections, like shipping information, marketing banners, etc., from the store.
Squarespace allows you to explore endless design options that help you design your store with the required details. You can try out different layouts and flexibly change them with a click. Its mobile-optimized templates let you create an eye-catchy website, allowing you to showcase all the products at their absolute best.
Both Windo and Squarespace have numerous layout options that can be used to design your online store. Personalization helps in enhancing brand credibility and gives a competitive edge.
Shipping Integration
Windo’s shipping integration feature lets businesses connect with shipping partners based on the countries the products will be delivered to. This feature makes the entire delivery process seamless and hassle-free. Along with it, Windo has an automated system that counts shipping rates, communicates with customers, and prints shipping labels automatically.
This feature eliminates all the hard work and makes shipping easier and more convenient.
Squarespace helps you fulfill all the orders seamlessly, along with shipping products, tracking orders, and managing returns. While this platform helps in fulfilling all the shipping requirements, it keeps customers informed with order tracking and notifications.
The seamless shipping procedure plays a crucial role in building customer trust and boosting business growth. Both Windo and Squarespace provide shipping integration that can help your business to reach customers at the right time and right place.
Marketing Integration
Windo helps brands attract traffic to their online store. Through this feature, you can reach target audiences beyond your geographical area and look into the analytics of the online store. Currently, Windo has Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics ID to help your online store attract the right store traffic.
The marketing integration feature can also help in increasing audience engagement and improving the analytics of your online store.
Squarespace helps in promoting your products across different channels and lets you incentivise shoppers to push them to come back to your online store through the marketing integration feature.
Pros & Cons of Windo
Pros:
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Windo is an easy-to-use eCommerce platform. Its process is simple and lets small businesses create and design their online store seamlessly.
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It is affordable and one of the most effective eCommerce platforms as compared to competitors like Shopify and Squarespace.
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Its interface is user-friendly, allowing users to navigate through the website easily.
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Businesses do not require any prior coding knowledge or technical skills to create an online store through Windo.
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You can easily convert your online store into an app to enhance the online shopping experience for your customers. It will give easy access to your products to buyers and lead to an increase in conversion rate.
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Windo lets you import images from your social media handles seamlessly. Thus, you can use them on different web pages of your online store or website.
Cons:
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It is a paid tool. And The Sprout Plan (forever-free plan) has certain limitations as compared to the Blossom Plan.
Pros & Cons of Squarespace
Pros:
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They have endless theme options that you can use to design your online store or website as per your brand personality and colors.
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Like Windo, it is a simple and easy-to-use platform. You don’t require any coding knowledge to create and design your online store through Squarespace.
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It provides 24*7 customer support through the live chat feature on its platform.
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From plugins to endless themes, Squarespace provides some of the best features and is a one-in-all platform.
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It has a user-friendly design that allows users to navigate through the platform seamlessly without any obstacles.
Cons:
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There is no phone support which reduces the efficiency of the chat mechanism. It may lead to problems if users wish to receive immediate support from the business.
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It is expensive as compared to Windo, which is not affordable for small businesses.
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Squarespace lacks advanced marketing tools and prominent third-party tools, limiting business growth. This will restrict businesses in A/B testing to choose what is working the best for them.
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Due to the lack of third-party integrations, brands have less control over customization and functionality while using Squarespace.
Which is Better — Windo or Squarespace?
It is definitely Windo.
Both Windo and Squarespace are the best Shopify alternatives. But Windo wins the race as it is more affordable and effective as compared to Squarespace. Windo’s pricing plans are set in such a way that the platform can be leveraged seamlessly by numerous small businesses.
Along with this, Windo provides all the important features but at a lesser rate than Squarespace. Furthermore, the latter charges transaction fees as users decide to choose an expensive plan. In contrast, Windo does not charge any transaction fees.
Therefore Windo is an ideal option for creating and design your online store effectively. Through this platform, you can start, run, and grow your business without any hurdles.
Is it Important to Create an Online Store?
Yes, the potential of eCommerce stores is on the rise due to the increase in online shopping. There has been a massive shift in consumer mindset for online shopping, especially after the pandemic.
It gives you immense opportunities to promote your business and reach global customers. You can even promote your online store across different social media platforms and boost your business growth.
An online store reduces the barrier to reaching a large audience and helps in increasing your sales by building brand credibility.
eCommerce is going to grow continually. There is no way you can ignore the trend. Physical stores with no online presence are no longer enough. Because the majority of the audience is online and the buying process has entirely changed.
Another advantage of creating an online store is that your store is 24*7 and won't restrict your customers from buying your products. They can have access to your store and products anytime and anywhere and purchase without stepping out of their house.
Although the internet has immense opportunities for business owners, very few brands are selling their products online. The advantages of an online store for owners are underrated and need to be leveraged by many.
As the wave of online shoppers is increasing in size, it has become important for businesses to have an online presence and not just rely on physical stores.
To Wrap Up…
Numerous eCommerce websites help in building an online store seamlessly. But not every platform is the best option for you, considering your budget and availability of features.
Choose eCommerce platforms like Windo to increase your brand awareness and make shopping convenient for online shoppers.
Don't mean to brag, but...
