Sellfy and Shopify are two ecommerce platforms with very different goals — but which one is the better choice for your online store?
To help you decide, I’ve tested both Sellfy and Shopify across key categories including pricing, selling features, ease of use, templates, and support.
Whether you’re selling digital downloads, subscriptions, or physical products, this breakdown will help you choose the right platform for where your business is at right now.
What I Learned After Analyzing 6000+ Stores Using Our App Detector Tool
Over the past 12 years, I’ve worked closely with ecommerce design, platforms, and tools — but in the last year alone, I analysed more than 6000 Shopify fashion and clothing stores for ecomm.design, our ecommerce design gallery.
To dig deeper, I used our in-house Shopify App Detector tool to track which apps each store uses. That gave me a clear view into what successful brands are doing behind the scenes — not just what’s trending.
This guide isn’t based on theory. It’s built from real-world data — apps that real fashion brands are using to grow and streamline their stores.
When you’re starting or scaling a clothing store online, picking the right ecommerce platform isn’t just about tech — it’s about setting up a store that matches how people shop for clothes today.
After 12+ years working in ecommerce — testing platforms, helping brands grow, and running ecomm.design — I’ve seen what works and what holds stores back.
From mobile speed to how you display colour and size variants, the little details make a big difference.
Here’s my honest breakdown of the best ecommerce platforms for clothing brands — based on actual usability, not marketing fluff.
I’ve been deep in ecommerce for over a decade — working with clients to build, optimise, and grow online stores across dozens of industries.
Through our ecommerce design gallery at ecomm.design, we’ve analysed over 6,000 Shopify stores to curate the best examples of design, UX, and performance.
On top of that, I’ve worked directly with brands to build custom Shopify sites, migrating stores to Shopify, audit underperforming stores, and help ecommerce teams scale more effectively.
So this isn’t a surface-level review or an affiliate-driven top-10 list.
It’s a real look at how Shopify performs in the wild — the good, the bad, and what I’ve consistently seen in the stores that succeed (and the ones that quietly stall out).
Does Shopify take a percentage of sales? The simple answer is “yes”, but the amount Shopify takes varies depending on numerous factors.
Shopify is one of the top ecommerce platforms in the world, and in my opinion, offers incredible value for money. However, like many SaaS solutions, it does take a percentage of your sales (or profits) to pay for things like payment processing.
Whenever you process a transaction using a payment gateway, whether it’s PayPal, Square, Stripe, or any other, there’s a fee to pay for processing that transaction.
Launching an ecommerce store comes with a long list of to-dos.
And let’s be honest — designing a logo from scratch isn’t at the top of everyone’s list. That’s exactly why tools like BrandCrowd are so popular.
It promises fast, professional-looking logos, a drag-and-drop editor, and a massive template library.
But how good is it really? Especially if you’re building an ecommerce brand that needs to stand out in a crowded space?
After testing it out for multiple store concepts, here’s what I found — the good, the bad, and whether it’s actually worth your money.
When people ask me how to design a fashion ecommerce store, what they really want to know is—how do I build something that doesn’t just look good but actually converts browsers into buyers consistently?
And that’s the right question to ask, because there are a million fashion sites out there that look amazing but don’t sell a thing.
Design without strategy is decoration. And in ecommerce, decoration doesn’t pay the bills.
So whether you’re building a clothing website from scratch or redesigning an underperforming store, I’m going to walk you through everything you need—from layout and navigation to mobile UX and conversion psychology—based on over a decade of experience designing online fashion stores for brands that are still in business today.
Let me say this straight — if your ecommerce site isn’t accessible, you’re losing money.
Not because your products are bad.
Not because your ads are off.
But because a big part of your audience simply can’t use your site properly, and they’re clicking away without ever converting.
The good news?
This is one of the easiest wins most ecommerce brands completely ignore.
Let’s fix that.
If your ecommerce site looks good but doesn’t make people feel anything, it’s leaking money.
I’ve seen brands throw money at beautiful websites. Pixel-perfect layouts. Designer fonts. Polished product photography. And still — no one’s buying.
Why? Because it’s all surface-level. People don’t connect with “clean” — they connect with emotion.
We don’t need to guess.
We’ve got the data. People remember how a site made them feel way more than what it looked like. If you want to move people to action, you’ve got to move them emotionally. That’s the whole game.
Whether you’re new to the world of online selling, or you’ve been investing in ecommerce for a while now, you probably know few things have a bigger impact on your success, than your choice of ecommerce platform.
For me, Shopify stands out as one of the best ecommerce platforms around, thanks to its scalability, versatility, and ease of use.
However, Big Cartel is another heavy hitter in the industry with a lot of benefits to offer.
It’s great for “artistic” merchants, photographers, and visual artists. Plus, it’s arguably the more “cost-effective” choice for beginners (with a free plan for smaller merchants).
So, which platform is really best for your business?
I’ve tried out Squarespace as an ecommerce platform and website builder for small businesses.
It’s popular for a reason – advanced features and user friendly design, so even beginners can use it.
Setting up an online store with Squarespace is easy.
Create an account, add products, set up payment and fulfillment options, design the site and once everything is in place upgrade the account and the store is live.
14 day free trial so you can test most of the commerce features before committing to a paid plan.
If you’re serious about scaling your online store, you need an eCommerce website that converts—not just one that looks good.
I’ve spent over 10 years in eCommerce, working with countless designers across different platforms. Some were great. Others? A total nightmare.
So, I put together this curated list of the best eCommerce website designers for Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. These are experts who actually deliver results, whether you’re launching a new store or optimizing an existing one.
