Which Website Design Platform is Right For Jewelers?

Oftentimes, jewelers will ask us to create a new website without knowing what website design platform (or CMS, which stands for Content Management System) they should choose. However, the answer to this question truly depends on a number of factors unique to each jeweler and their own specific needs. 

With this in mind, many jewelers will select the wrong CMS; and one that sets their website up for failure. Whether you want a site built to rank high on search engines out of the gate or an eCommerce platform ready to sell products from day one, we’re here to help you choose the right website design platform for you. 

Magento

Magento is a popular open-source e-commerce platform. It’s used by small business and large brands alike as it’s easy to customize and scale for both B2B and B2C businesses.

Some key features of Magento:

• Ability to create and deploy custom e-shops
• Massive marketplace stocked with website themes and useful applications
• Search engine optimization
• An easy-to-integrate shopping cart system
• Intuitive inventory system
• Multi-store support
• Integration of software tools such as a CRM, an ERP, etc

Magento is one of the fastest growing cloud-based e-commerce platforms as well, in part because of its customer support, user-friendliness, and flexible shopping cart system. Magento comes with some essential digital marketing features including search engine optimization and customizable user interface design.

Shopify

Shopify is an increasingly popular e-commerce platform and a major contender to Magento. According to Shopify, over 500,000 merchants are using Shopify in some way, shape, or form and over $65 billion worth of goods have been sold through the platform.

Shopify allows jewelers who want to sell their products online to:

• Set up an online store with a custom domain
• Customize your online storefront with pre-made, tweakable themes
• Accept credit card transactions
• Add social media sales channels (like Pinterest)
• Track orders
• Respond to orders

In contrast to Magento, Shopify is hosted. This means they take care of hosting for you. For small business owners without any real web development experience, Shopify could be the best option. This means you’ll have to pay to use the Shopify platform itself, but that most of the technical details are taken care of for you.

WordPress (WooCommerce)

When you create a WooCommerce store, you kind of have to do two separate things:

• Install WordPress and learn the WordPress interface (if you’re not already familiar with WordPress, that is)
• Install and configure WooCommerce and learn the WooCommerce interface

In general, before you can start accepting orders, you’ll be responsible for:

• Finding hosting
• Installing WordPress
• Installing and configuring WooCommerce
• Finding a WooCommerce theme
• Configuring nitty-gritty details like payment gateways, tax calculations, and more (though something called WooCommerce Services has made some of this simpler)

Now – none of this is too daunting, and the massive WordPress community makes it easy to find help. But there’s a definite learning curve – especially if this is your first WordPress site.

In Conclusion

If you’re still unsure of what web design platform to choose, you should first consider your needs. You can ask questions like:

• Do I want to sell jewelry on my website?
• Will my website target multiple locations?
• Am I going to allow users to book appointments directly?

Answering all of these questions can help you make an educated decision, however, if you’re looking for expert guidance, you may want to consider partnering with a web design team who specializes in the jewelry industry, like GemFind. Contact us today to get started.

  Contact GemFind to get started. 800-373-4373

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