SureCart is a new and upcoming ecommerce plugin for WordPress that’s lined up to compete with the internet’s leading online store tool -WooCommerce.
Perhaps you are wondering which of these WordPress plugins would best suited for your business needs. Let’s make it easy for you by checking out the biggest likenesses and differences between the two.
Biggest SureCart vs WooCommerce Differences
The first thing that you need to understand is that SureCart is not designed to replace WooCommerce. It is just a new way for you to sell on WordPress.
SureCart Is “Headless”
What seperates SureCart from Woocommerce, is the fact that it is headless platform. This means that the backend management system has been totally separated from the frontend WordPress plugin. What this means is that SureCare is hosted on their servers and not on your website. It is only connected to the frontend WordPress plugin.
Enhanced Security
As a headless solution, SureCart can provide you with better security benefits. Thieves and hackers will not be able to get access to your complex backend data seeing that it is kept away from your website. SureCart will also save your digital files on their servers, so your chartered information stays safe and secure.
You might think that your data is better off being guarded by your website. But this isn’t really the case. When you host a website, your information is on a platform that does not belong to you. Unless you physically own the webhosting server.
The online dealings of your business is sent to a platform that you have no claim over. For example; If you need to know what to charge for shipping or when you receive a payment the information is on a platform not registered to you or your business.
When you use SureCart your data will always belong to you as stated on their website.
“You can export it whenever you want, and unlike other platforms, SureCart lets you have your data where you want it, in real-time, with our automation engine. Our platform uses the same technology that powers Shopify, Stripe, Twitter, GitHub, and the same infrastructure used by always-on platforms such as Salesforce, Kajabi, Product Hunt. Your data will always be your data”
The Usual Product and Cart Pages Don’t Exist with SureCart
With WooCommerce you would have to set up online shop by first adding your products to a product page. Here you have to insert the product name, describe it and add pricing details. You would also need to add a few images photos. This product would be put on show into a shop archive page with all the other products you have for sale. Browsers to your site, will then add different products to their shopping cart. Lastly they would have to add their payment details and purchase the items.
Giving your customers the option of subscribing to your business, which secures frequent payments, would also cost a bunch of money. Previously you would have had to buy a premium add-on plugin that can cost nearly R2000 per year per website. This is not the case with SureCart.
For all intents and purposes, you can create a sales page which gives out more information about your product offer. Another cool thing about SureCart is that you can add a “buy now” button on your website. When your customer clicks on this, they will be forwarded to a custom checkout page specially designed for your product. Below we expand more on this.
Products in SureCart
With SureCart you can create a product by adding its name, image, cost information, and all downloadable digital files the customer needs to download after the sale. The catch is that it won’t be on its own product page. The product information that would usually add to a WooCommerce page have to be added to a page you physically create to endorse the product.
The Shop Page
You won’t be able to add a product catalogue or archive by using SureCart. If you want to show off all your products on a single shop page, you have to to design and update that page. This also means that there is no unique way to sort out your products.
SureCart is “Cartless”
In its current beta version, SureCart does not have an ad-to-cart There’s add-to-cart page or function. So you won’t be able to add multiple products before checking out.
Presently, if your customers want to buy many items in your online store, they have the following options available:
- Fill out a checkout form for each product they want to buy
- You could package your products together and sell it on one checkout form.
- Otherwise, you can design a custom checkout form that gives the customer a few steps with multiple product choices that they have to decide on
It has been suggested that SureCart plans to create an off-canvas add-to cart feature. Something that isn’t available in their beta version as yet.
- When it comes to the previously mentioned feature you will have to make a careful decision. Here it is clear that WooCommerce would be the better option seeing that:
- You can add a product page and have it pull into a product catalogue,
- You can let your customers add multiple items to their cart
- Your customers can check out on a single stationary page
The Checkout Page
When it comes to WooCommerce, you’re confined to one checkout page. Also you won’t be able to add this to other pages in your website.
When it comes to SureCart, you can:
- Create and customize a new checkout form for every single product.
- You will also have the ability to design and use a default checkout form.
- Checkout forms can also be set in on any area of your website by using a short code. If you prefer you can also add it straight to a page in Gutenberg blocks.
What we like most about the modified checkout forms, is that it gives you more control of the buyer’s user experience. This has been proven to reduce tension in the purchase process and increase conversions. The ultimate goal her is to get more orders on your website.
Product Reviews
Seeing that SureCart doesn’t have any product pages, your customers wont be able to leave any product review. You are going to have to be a bit intuitive about this for the moment. You can do this by focusing on getting feedback from your customers on social media platforms.
SureCart may be open to let collect reviews in the future as its usage grows. But at the moment this is an issue to take into account when choosing between SureCart and WooCommerce.
Product Variations
You won’t be able to add variations to one product with SureCart in its current beta version.
As a small business you might be able to work around this as SureCart has a better user experience than WooCommerce.
In contrast, if you sell several digital products you might have some trouble when every product has a few variations. It doesn’t make sense to physically generate tons of products in SureCart with minor differences. If that’s you at the moment, then it might be better to stick with WooCommerce.
SureCart vs WooCommerce
These two ecommerce resources are very useful platforms.
When you are a small business, SureCart brings everything you will need to start selling your products. There isn’t much you need to learn in order to get going and get that sale.
WooCommerce is geared to bigger businesses. It also requires you to install extra plugins to enhance its functionality to your products.
Some users have also experienced trouble modifying their product page, while not having enough plugins for altered checkouts.
So, it doesn’t really fare well in these aspects because SureCart has these functions and more. Overall, one platform isn’t necessarily “better” than the other. From what we have learned, both of these platforms function better with certain business sizes and necessities.
FAQs about SureCart
Does SureCart store credit card payment details?
SureCart works just like other e-commerce platforms that refrains from storing any credit card payment information. All credit card information is passed straight to the payment gateway in an encoded session.
Does SureCart have integrations?
SureCart isn’t just an ecommerce platform. It is also effectively equipped with a full automation engine to systematize the aftermath of purchases or refunds. With this you will be able to have series of actions available such as sign up to courses, memberships and more. This is one of SureCart’s secret weapons to making it a competitive eccomerce platform.
Conclusion
Both SureCart and WooCommerce are fantastic platforms to build your online store. It really comes down to what you, your business and your customers need at the end of the day.
SureCart might be the new kid on the block, but it is sure to pack a punch. You won’t need to buy the best hosting services on the market and doesn’t require any extra plugins.
WooCommerce lets you build any kind of online store from scratch and has a few advanced capabilities. The choice is ultimately yours from the start.
