Aphix vs WooCommerce | eCommerce Comparison
Find out how Aphix compares to WooCommerce in terms of some of the most important elements you need to consider for your eCommerce platform.
Comparing Aphix head-to-head with WooCommerce is a slightly unusual comparison. This is not only because of the extreme differences in functionality between the two platforms but the size of companies they’re designed for.
However, we believe that only by knowing what’s available on the eCommerce market and by then comparing the different eCommerce platforms will you find the perfect, futureproof eCommerce solution for your business.
In this post, we’ll compare the main differences between Aphix and WooCommerce, as well as the key elements that you need to understand and consider when choosing between these two platforms.
The key elements we’ll discuss here are:
- Complexity
- ERP Integration
- Scalability
- Hosting & Security
- Pricing
As a snapshot, take a look at the table below for a quick head-to-head comparison.
Now, without further ado, let’s dive right in...
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Complexity
At Aphix, we strive to make our software as robust and easy to use as possible and the implementation process is quick and easy. Our dedicated team of implementation consultants do all of the hard work for you, including setting-up, testing, and deploying your eCommerce platform in a quick, efficient and professional manner. Also, our customer support team is there when you need them most, to help you make any changes or guide you through each step in the right direction.
WooCommerce is quite easy to set up, even for beginners. Their setup wizard walks you through each step of the onboarding process. That being said, when it comes to a bit of the more technical configurations, it can be quite confusing and a lot more challenging. WooCommerce also requires a lot more effort to get your online store up and running. You are the one mainly responsible for setting everything up and testing that it works. Not to mention that you’ll need a WordPress site first before you even consider WooCommerce as an option. To top it all off, hosting and security is on you and will need to be taken into account as we’ll discuss further below.
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ERP Integration
Aphix offers out-of-the-box, real-time integration with all major ERP systems such as SAP, Sage, and Intact. The Aphix platform is industry driven and handles the subtle differences between B2B and B2C extremely well. The real strength of our eCommerce platform is the ability to use the data stored in your ERP in real-time, in our eCommerce, eProcurement, and mobile app solutions.
This real-time integration ensures that your customers see live product information, customer-specific pricing, live stock availability, and my account information such as order history, statements, and more directly from your ERP. The best part is that you only have to maintain the data in one system, your ERP. The Aphix platform takes care of the rest.
WooCommerce, on the other hand, doesn’t offer direct ERP integration. This is understandable considering that it is a WordPress plugin. However, if you’re serious about your eCommerce operations, then you definitely need to consider this as a challenge that you will have to overcome as you grow in order to scale the solution.
To integrate with an ERP, you need to use a 3rd party connector that will pull the information from your ERP and push it into your WooCommerce site. This type of connection leads to extra cost, a third party provider and additional complexity.
*Note: When a WordPress update or patch needs to be applied (as they regularly do), your WooCommerce connection will almost inevitably break. This is because the plugin was configured for the version you are on and not the updated version. In this scenario you have 3 choices:
- Stay on the version you’re on and get left behind by technological advances.
- Pay to have your plugin reconfigured
- upgrade to a Saas solution like Aphix on which you will always be on the latest version
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Scalability
Aphix was created with business scalability in mind. Our products integrate out-of-the-box in real-time with your ERP and the platform hosts multiple add-on solutions to help your business scale as it grows. Such solutions include eCommerce, eProcurement, and Mobile Apps. Also, added eCommerce features and functionality like multi-sites, multi-languages, multiple currencies, localisation and globalisation can be added when you need them. This will help your business reach new markets with ease.
WooCommerce can be both easy and hard to scale depending on your business needs. It’s easy for small businesses to add more extensions or add functionality at an added cost. But, it’s harder for larger businesses that are planning on implementing a company wide ERP system and will almost certainly need integration between the two systems to drive business efficiency.
As a self-hosted platform, WordPress makes you entirely responsible for managing resources, backups, updates, and the security of your website. As a result, your WooCommerce integration with your ERP system can be a constant source of headache that will drain your resources and won’t let you scale quickly.
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Hosting & Security
Aphix is a certified integration partner to SAP, Sage, and Intact, meaning we provide a secure SaaS platform that’s approved by the ERP provider. Unlike WordPress, Aphix uses "Closed Source" software that only allows the developers of the software to access and edit the code. This process makes it impossible for anyone to breach the software or to get access to sensitive customer information. Our dedicated team maintains and ensures that your webstore is safe and secure at all times.
Our eCommerce platform is hosted and managed by Aphix. All security updates, including SSL certificate renewal, underlying AWS infrastructure updates, load balancing, 24/7 monitoring and more is handled by us. All security updates are automatically applied and rolled out without you needing to take any action. This means you're always on the latest version of our software while remaining connected to your ERP at all times.
WordPress, on the other hand, as open-source software, is a double-edged sword. It gives you the flexibility to host and make your own store as secure as you can, but your IT team is fully responsible for this. They are also responsible for applying any new security patches that WordPress releases (ensuring it doesn't break any customisations/ERP connector you have) and updating all the required infrastructure.
Even when it comes to simple security issues such as an SSL certificate, you have to take care of it and ensure that it's kept up-to-date. When WordPress creates patches for known security risks, it’s up to you to act on it to ensure your eCommerce is safe and secure. This is fine if you have the team to manage it, as long as you keep up with security best practices. It’s extremely important to update patches for known security risks, add an SSL certificate, add WordPress security plugins, and to always keep multiple website backups among other things that need to be constantly managed.
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Pricing
Aphix offers a very competitive, yet affordable SaaS-based subscription fee for our eCommerce and suite of products. All of our solutions are hosted on the Aphix Digital Platform and are maintained and updated by us. When you sign up to Aphix, as a customer, you get more than just a solution... you get a life-time digital business partner.
In our pricing, we include everything from ERP integration to hosting, to security, to software updates, to support & training, and much, much more.
WooCommerce, as a plugin for Wordpress, costs nothing upfront. However, there are expenses that you need to consider such as the ongoing resources to manage it, hosting, security, theme (if you want a premium theme), as well as extensions and functionality.
Also, since you’re setting up the eCommerce site yourself, you’ll need to consider all the time and effort you’ll need to put into the implementation and rollout of your WooCommerce store. Not forgetting that you’ll need to set-up a WordPress site first.
Most importantly, if you’re considering ERP integration, which you should think about before you even venture into the world of eCommerce, then you should know that costs may increase considerably with WooCommerce as already explained.
Summary
By now, you should have a better understanding of what to look for when in search of a scalable eCommerce platform.
Whether you’re starting out or growing fast and need a fit-for-purpose eCommerce solution, then your choice must be driven by your business requirements, your resources and the timeframe by which you wish to go live.
For newly founded companies with low volumes of orders and few resources, WooCommerce could be the ideal starting point. As already mentioned, you need to manage a lot of things yourself in order to limit overheads until your business grows further.
When you grow big enough and you need to digitally transform your business, you’ll undoubtedly implement some type of business management software or an ERP system.
You’ll need to do this in order to help you run and scale your business operations efficiently. This type of growth is associated with an increased number of online orders which will become unmanageable for a solution like WooCommerce. At this point, a move to Aphix and an ERP integrated eCommerce solution would be the next logical step that most business owners make in order to drive more efficiency from their ERP investment.
In fact, many of our customers say that an ERP system goes hand-in-hand with Aphix eCommerce. The two systems communicate in such a way that makes information much more streamlined and allows them to focus on how they can grow their business, not how to manage orders and repetitive time-consuming data tasks.
In case you are in search of an eCommerce platform, you should have a look at the Aphix Digital Platform that has been built with your eCommerce operations needs in mind.
You can request a demo to see the power of our platform in action. Alternatively, you can email us on sales@aphixsoftware.com or call us on +041 213 7222 if you have any other questions that you would like answered.