Online shopping has become commonplace: whether it's clothes, electrical appliances or cat food - you can buy almost anything quickly and easily on the Internet. To make sure your shopping experience goes smoothly, you need a shopping cart system to work behind the scenes. This software is the technical foundation of any online store and provides the functionality for presenting products, selling products and services digitally, and handling the order and payment process. It also offers various online marketing options.
In the article "Software comparison: Which is the best shop system?", we presented the most interesting software solutions for your online shop: Shopware, Magento, JTL Shop, OXID eShop, Gambio, PrestaShop and Spryker. We would like to take a closer look at the two most important systems - Shopware and Magento - and ask our CTO Christian about it.
- Christian Kehres
Christian has been part of the W&S Digital Agency for over 6 years and has an answer to every technical question. For this reason, we asked him directly about shop systems and his personal favorite.
Which shop system do you use?
Preferably Shopware. Of course there are many systems out there and most of them have their right to exist. But when it comes to larger online stores, Shopware and Magento are particularly suitable.
Why Shopware?
The system has what is necessary and is not overloaded. This makes it very user-friendly. In addition, extensions can be developed very quickly and easily. Since it is German software, it is specialized in the German market and its laws. There is also German speaking support.
Do you already work with Shopware 6?
Yes, mainly because of the API-first approach. The interfaces make it easy to connect to third party systems such as accounting software or an inventory management system. The downside is that not all plugins are available for the new version. This will change in the next few months.
Why not Magento? What are the pros and cons compared to Shopware?
Magento has been following the API-first approach for years and has more features and extensions than Shopware. However, this also makes the system very complex and user unfriendly. This is reflected not only in the handling but also in the development effort: An online shop can be set up and customized much faster and more cost-effectively with Shopware than with Magento.
A second point is the uncertainty about the future of Magento: The system was acquired by eBay in 2011, went to Permira in 2015, and has been owned by Adobe since 2018. Shopware, as an owner-managed family business, promises stability.
What about performance?
Of course, it always depends on the structure of the shop, but on average, a Magento-based site loads much slower because the system is very complex. According to a test on medium.com, a category page and a simple product page load almost twice as fast with Shopware as with Magento. In the shopping cart area, the build is up to five times faster.
And security?
When it comes to security, implementation is key: if an online store is not programmed properly, it is vulnerable - regardless of the software used. In general, however, Magento, like Shopware, provides a solid foundation for developing a secure shop.
Is a free version worth it?
The free version of Shopware 6 only has the most necessary functions. Therefore, we usually recommend purchasing a license. This will also give you access to support. It also depends on the size of the shop: For very small projects and beginners there is the Starter Edition, for larger shops we recommend the Professional Edition and for large B2B shops the Enterprise Edition.
Our clear recommendation is Shopware. We have summarized the reasons for this in the following table: In it, we directly compare the most important features of Magento 2 and Shopware 6 and show which software is ahead in which area.
Just try Shopware: We will be happy to set up a demo shop for you so that you can test the features and handling of the system. If you would like to see for yourself, simply contact us via our contact form or call us at +49 711 184206-0.
