After 50+ stores across Colombia, the US and Australia, our advice is short. Start with Shopify unless you have a concrete reason not to, and decide on business model before you compare feature lists.
After building more than 50 e-commerce stores across Colombia, the US and Australia, we have seen every platform choice play out. Our advice to clients is short: start with Shopify unless you have a specific, concrete reason not to, build your first 12 months of revenue, and only then evaluate whether the platform is holding you back. Most businesses never hit that ceiling.
There is no perfect platform. There is only the right one for your business model, your team's technical capacity, your budget and the market you sell in. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.
Why start with the business model instead of the feature list?
Before you open a browser to compare platforms, answer three questions honestly:
- How many SKUs are you launching with, and how fast will that number grow?
- Who on your team will manage the store day to day, and what is their technical level?
- Are you selling in one market, or planning cross-border commerce within 12 months?
Your answers will eliminate 80% of the platforms before you look at a pricing page.
Why is Shopify the default for consumer brands?
For most consumer brands in Latin America, Shopify wins. It is neither the cheapest nor the most powerful. It is the fastest path from zero to revenue with the lowest operational risk.
The Shopify ecosystem in Colombia has matured a lot. Payment gateways like Mercado Pago and PayU integrate cleanly. The theme ecosystem is extensive. And when something breaks at 11pm on a Friday before a promotional campaign, Shopify's support infrastructure is there.
Shopify struggles with high-volume wholesale (B2B), complex product configurators and businesses that need deep customisation of the checkout flow. At those points you are either paying heavily for Shopify Plus or fighting the platform.
When does WooCommerce make sense?
WooCommerce on WordPress gives you the most control of any platform, and that is exactly the problem for most businesses. Control means someone has to exercise it. Updates, security patches, hosting optimisation, plugin compatibility conflicts. These eat developer hours at a rate that surprises clients who chose WooCommerce to "save money".
It makes sense when you already have a WordPress site with significant content investment, when your SEO strategy is deeply content-driven, or when you have the technical resources in-house to manage the infrastructure.
Is PrestaShop a real option in Latin America?
PrestaShop has surprisingly strong adoption across Colombia and the wider Latin American market. The Spanish-language community is active, local payment integrations are solid, and the total cost of ownership is competitive for mid-size catalogues of 500 to 5,000 SKUs.
The catch is talent. The pool of PrestaShop developers is smaller, and finding experienced ones outside the major cities takes effort. We have built several successful PrestaShop stores for clients in cycling and sporting goods, and we are always upfront about this limitation.
Why isn't the platform the strategy?
We say this in almost every strategy conversation. The platform is infrastructure; strategy happens elsewhere. A well-executed Shopify store will outperform a poorly run custom-built platform every time. The decisions that move revenue are your product presentation, your pricing strategy, your content quality and how you drive traffic.
Our recommendation has not changed. Start with Shopify unless you have a concrete reason not to. Build your first 12 months of revenue, then evaluate whether the platform is limiting you. The businesses that do hit the ceiling have a happy problem.
If you are evaluating platforms for a launch or a migration and want a direct assessment of your situation, reach out. We will tell you what we think, even when it does not close the deal.