Choosing an E-Commerce Platform for Merch

Hosted, self-hosted and creator platforms

Store platforms come in three broad shapes, and the shape decides how much of the technical work lands on you.

• Hosted store builders (Shopify, Big Cartel, Squarespace, Wix, BigCommerce) run the servers, checkout, security and updates. You pay a subscription and configure rather than build. Squarespace and Wix began as website builders with a shop added; Shopify, Big Cartel and BigCommerce began as shops.
• Self-hosted software (WooCommerce) is a free plugin for WordPress that you install on hosting you choose. You control everything and you maintain everything: hosting, updates, backups and security.
• Creator and music platforms (Fourthwall, Bandcamp and similar) bundle a storefront with production, memberships or music sales. They are covered in selling band merch online.

What matters when the product is merch

Generic platform reviews weigh blogging tools and email builders. A merch store has narrower needs:

1. Variants. One tee in five sizes and eight colors is 40 variants. Extended sizes and a third option push that higher, and every platform has a ceiling.
2. Pre-orders and drops. Can you sell before stock exists, cap quantities, and launch at a set time? See pre-orders vs in-stock drops for why it matters.
3. Inventory by size. Stock counts per variant, and ideally per location if a printer or 3PL holds some of it.
4. Fulfillment connections. Apps for print-on-demand services, warehouses and shipping labels.
5. Fee model. What you pay as sales grow, not just in month one.
6. Design and content. Size charts, fit notes and good mobile product pages; see product pages that sell apparel.

The platforms side by side

Features below were checked on each platform's own pages and help centers on the date in the sources. Plans and limits change, so follow the links before you commit.

Sources for the limits: Shopify's variants page, Big Cartel's variants article, Squarespace's help article on adding product variants, Wix's store limits, WooCommerce's variable product docs and BigCommerce's variants and modifiers article.

All six connect to Printful and Printify, according to Printful's integrations page and the platform list in Printify's help center.

How the fee models differ, and how to compare them

The fee models differ more than the plan prices do. Four patterns appear:

• Subscription plus processing. You pay a monthly plan and a card rate per order. Shopify adds its own transaction fee if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, and Squarespace's entry plan adds one on store sales.
• Priced by catalog size. Big Cartel's plans step up with the number of products you list: five on the free Gold plan, 50 on Platinum and 500 on Diamond (see Big Cartel's pricing page and its plans help article). A brand that keeps every past drop listed reaches the cap faster than one that archives.
• Priced by sales volume. BigCommerce assigns plans by trailing 12-month sales and moves you up automatically as sales grow. Read its pricing page for any fees tied to your choice of payment provider.
• Priced by infrastructure. WooCommerce is free; hosting, paid extensions and the payment processor are the costs.

To compare, write down three numbers from your plan or your last year: orders per month, average order value and how many products you will have listed. Then, for each platform:

1. Find the plan that has the features you need (staff logins, inventory tracking, pre-orders, discount codes).
2. Add the subscription, the processing cost on that month's sales and any platform transaction fee.
3. Add the paid apps or extensions you would need to match the features on the others, such as a pre-order app or a size chart app.
4. Repeat at double the volume, since a successful drop changes the answer.

Pricing your merch shows where payment fees sit in your unit cost.

Head to head: the common Shopify comparisons

Shopify vs Squarespace. Squarespace builds a better-looking content site with less effort, and its higher plans add reserved carts with a countdown for limited releases. Shopify goes further on apparel operations: a higher variant ceiling, pre-orders through apps, inventory across several locations and a deeper pool of fulfillment apps. Choose Squarespace if the shop is one part of a portfolio or brand site; choose Shopify if the shop is the business.

Wix vs Shopify. Wix has native pre-orders (paid in full at checkout) and generous variant limits, and it suits a site with bookings, events and a shop together. Shopify suits a store that expects partners in the admin, more fulfillment locations and a large app ecosystem.

WooCommerce vs Shopify. WooCommerce gives total control and no platform revenue share, at the cost of running WordPress hosting, updates and security yourself. It suits a team that already runs WordPress well. Shopify trades that control for a hosted checkout and less upkeep.

BigCommerce vs Shopify. BigCommerce includes a pre-order setting with a release date and allows many variants per product, and its plans follow your sales volume. It suits larger catalogs and B2B-leaning sellers. Shopify has the larger range of merch-specific apps and themes.

Big Cartel vs Shopify. Big Cartel is the simpler and cheaper start for an artist with a few designs; Shopify scales further. Shopify vs Big Cartel covers this pairing in detail.

Who each platform suits

• Shopify: brands planning regular drops, pre-orders, wholesale or several fulfillment partners. Start with setting up Shopify for a clothing brand.
• Big Cartel: illustrators, bands and small labels with a tight catalog who value simplicity and no platform fee on sales.
• Squarespace: creatives whose website, portfolio or blog matters as much as the shop.
• Wix: businesses that need a general website with a shop, bookings or events alongside.
• WooCommerce: sellers with an existing WordPress site and someone to maintain it.
• BigCommerce: larger catalogs, many variants and sellers with wholesale ambitions.

Before you choose

Build one real product on a trial of your two front-runners: every size and color, a size chart, real photos and a pre-order if you plan to use them. Connect your fulfillment partner's app, run a test order and look at the result on a phone. An afternoon of this answers more than any comparison table. If you plan to use print-on-demand at first, read print-on-demand vs bulk production as well, since the production model often decides which integrations you need.

Whichever you pick, keep SKUs and option names consistent from day one. If you outgrow the platform, a clean catalog exported as a spreadsheet maps onto the next one with little rework; a messy one has to be cleaned up before it can move.

Useful for: clothing brands, bands, creators, companies.