Are you looking for the best Shopify alternatives in Nigeria? You are in the right place.
See, nearly everything in the current world is operating online. That bugs most business owners to sell online. And that explains why most people are rushing to start online businesses.
To start or run an online business, you need to do your due diligence in researching the best e-commerce platform to opt for your business.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform where retailers can market and sell their products and it’s among the leading online shopping sites in Nigeria. However, several other platforms function similarly to Shopify and offer the same or more and better services. Before we get to the different varieties of the other platforms, you need to clearly understand Shopify features, to make informed comparisons and choices.
Shopify Advantages
- User-friendly – Shopify interface is intuitive and easy to understand
- Beautiful themes – Shopify offers a variety of great-looking themes for free
- Handles all the tech – No need to worry about server downtime or hackers
- Offers great support – they have a 24/7 support team and 3rd party consultants
With Shopify, all these come at a cost and may not be the best option for most start-ups or businesses with specific needs. Here are the cons of Shopify.
Shopify Disadvantages
- Expensive – 3rd-party apps have a monthly fee. Shopify also charges a transaction fee and high charges for your payment processing solution. For instance, the basic plan transaction fee is 2% which is relatively very high. Their credit card processing rates are 20% more expensive than the normal 3rd party processor.
- Sub-optimal SEO URL structure – You can’t optimize your URLs for SEO. Instead, Shopify inserts extraneous terms in your URL such as collections or products which are not conducive to SEO ratings
- Prohibited list of goods – The limit to the number of variety of products, changes from time to time. It is however a limiting factor to most businesses with a variety of the same goods.
- The best features are only on higher plans – For example, you should be able to issue gift cards on any plan. Shopify only allows this on regular plans costing $79 per month.
Here are a few examples of the other alternatives to Shopify in Nigeria.
#1. Big commerce
There are over 10 Big commerce stores in Nigeria offering a variety of products, including business and industrial products. Big commerce offers almost everything offered by Shopify, but at a lower price. These include:
- User friendly
- Offer a variety of beautiful themes
- Handles all the tech
- Offers 24/7 support
In addition to all that, BigCommerce offers a full suite of features out of the box, including discount features on their cheapest plan, which allows you to do buy1 get1 free promotions, regular discounts, tier discounts based on quantity, and discounts for repeat customers.
Their basic discounted features are more powerful than Shopify 3rd party plugins and you get them all for free out of the box.
Furthermore, BigCommerce does not charge a transaction fee.
However, Shopify has a much larger app ecosystem and a larger installed base.
#2. Olitt
Olitt is an e-commerce platform offering website builder services to online businesses at a very affordable price.
With Olitt and just like Shopify, you do not need coding skills to run your online store, since they handle all the technical parts and give you a template to customize your website.
Even better than Shopify, the basic plan for Olitt is free and you get to set it up within minutes and have your business running right away. You have the freedom to customize your domain however you want and to best suit your business.
#3. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a plugin on WordPress. It allows you to take e-commerce transactions on the world’s most popular content management system, which is WordPress. WordPress offers infinite versatility on how you can customize your website.
Generally, in 2020 WooCommerce had a much larger share of the market (21%) than Shopify (18%). Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce is completely free to use out of the box.
They also have a huge ecosystem of 3rd party developers compared to Shopify, mostly because the WordPress platform powers over 33% of the entire web.
Another advantage of WooCommerce is that it’s easy to set up and customize your platform and you have full control over your website. The basic plan is free and you start selling right away.
Also, blogging is much better since it’s based on WordPress which is the best blogging platform in the world. You can run your blog alongside your online store and they coexist on the same domain which offers superior SEO benefits.
The only disadvantage of WooCommerce is that you have to manage the tech aspect of your online store. For a tech-challenged entrepreneur, you may need to hire a developer to customize your store which may incur extra costs.
#4. Jumia
Jumia is the leading e-commerce platform in Africa and also among the best online shopping site in Nigeria. This makes it one of the best Shopify alternatives in Nigeria.
Despite having its fair share of downturns, this online marketplace connects thousands of sellers with customers all over Africa and has been operating in Nigeria for over nine years.
Jumia allows store owners to showcase their products for a very reasonable price, through their platform, hence connecting them to all their customers across their platforms. This makes it easy for startups that are not ready to manage a website to be able to sell their products online.
#5. Shift 4 shop
Shift4shop has a 3d cart that supports many of the best Nigerian payment providers.
It is 100% free when you use their payment processing.
Shift 4 shop is the best Shopify alternative in Nigeria if you prefer to have a one-in-all solution for the majority of the e-commerce needs out of the box for free. They also offer more features than both big commerce and Shopify together and it’s free.
Together with the above, shift 4 shop offers a variety of beautiful themes and handles all the tech and 24/7 support. They also offer a complete suite of free marketing services out of the box, do not charge a transaction fee, and allow you to configure your URL structure to your liking.
Shopify’s advantage over shift 4 shop is the 3rd party app ecosystem.
#6. Jiji
Jiji is an African online marketplace where you can sell anything, including new and used products. It is among the biggest online shopping sites in Nigeria. It links buyers and sellers to exchange goods and services by offering sellers their platform to showcase their products for a fee.
#7. Kara
Kara is an online shopping site in Nigeria, which specializes in electronics, and home and kitchen appliances.
This online platform has been in operation since 2013, providing an assortment of products from different international and regional brands.
#8. Konga
Here is another one of the best Shopify alternatives in Nigeria.
Konga is among the best online shopping malls in Nigeria. The e-commerce company was founded in 2012 functioning in Lagos at first but broadened its scope to the entire country over time. It offers seamless payment options and fast delivery to its customers.
#9. PayPorte
PayPorte is an online retail store offering same-day delivery services to a wide demographic from youths to the young urban metropolis. This fast-growing e-commerce company also partners with local businesses by displaying their product on their platform and linking them to customers.
#10. Ajebomarket
Ajebomarket prides itself as the best men’s online fashion store in Nigeria. It offers one-stop quality and trendy products for men with all fashion needs provided in a single organized place. It allows local businesses to showcase and sell their products through their platform.
#11. Obiwezy
Obiwezy is an e-commerce platform in Nigeria offering new and used quality gargets in Nigeria with same-day delivery services. In addition to selling products, they also offer repair services to their customers.
They allow their customers to swap their old gadgets for a new one and get warranty support.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Shopify is a great e-commerce platform in Nigeria, but it is not the only one in the market. Several other platforms are accommodating all levels and types of businesses and some even have better opportunities than Shopify.
Browse through these Shopify alternatives in Nigeria and let us know what you think.
