Squarespace vs. Storenvy

While the site-builder is very easy to use, it does take a little getting used to. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the basics, however, you’ll have no trouble changing everything from your logo to your color scheme.

The management dashboard, from where users manage listings, orders, and analytics, is intuitive and easy to navigate.

Beautiful template designs, user-friendly features, website is loading well. Very well coded and developed.

Easy to use, hugely customizable, great templates.

I love Squarespace. I have built my entire business on Squarespace, to annual revenues of over 500K.

Storenvy is one of the easiest-to-use solutions we’ve reviewed. People with little design and technical experience will find it particularly appealing. It’s a browser-based solution and a central dashboard provides access to various areas for managing store operations, including orders, marketing, marketplace listings, storefront design, and so on. The website builder - which allows for limited CSS and HTML changes - is also very intuitive.

The initial set-up can be a little complicated, but overall we found that managing day-to-day tasks was straightforward.

"Storenvy is super customizable and I really appreciate that. Etsy is bigger and a bit more well known, though."

"I've been on Storenvy for awhile now and it's pretty simple."

"I like Storenvy! It's free to make a store and list stuff, but they take a processing fee."

Squarespace Commerce strikes a rare balance for an ecommerce website builder by combining intuitive, accessible customization tools with the option to make more advanced code changes.

Because the site-builder has a lot of options, it does require a little familiarization. But once users have overcome that initial hurdle, an array of customization opportunities open up.

The only downside is that, while the templates are beautifully-designed and mobile-optimized, only ten are offered. If you’re thinking about opting for Squarespace, check that one of the themes meets your needs before signing up to a paid plan. There’s a free trial, so you can take the platform for a test-drive first.

Storenvy has a website builder along with an HTML and CSS editor. Users with coding experience can make virtually any changes they want. Non-technical users, on the other hand, have more limited control over their storefront. Using only the site-builder, it’s possible to change colors, text, banners, background images, and certain parts of the layout. Retailers have access to a range of themes, some of which have an extra charge (usually around thirty dollars). It’s also possible to purchase a custom domain name for your store.

While the design features aren’t out of this world, they’re very easy to use and among the best we’ve seen for an independent store that’s coupled with a third-party marketplace.

All in all, Squarespace offers excellent value for money. The feature-set is extremely robust and includes unlimited products, multi-channel management (through the “Shopping Feed” integration), POS, abandoned cart emails, customer accounts, and more. It’s also possible to sell digital products and subscription services.

The only area where Squarespace falls is the limited add-on library. Compared to a solution like Shopify, Squarespace doesn’t offer smaller, less obvious features like countdown timers or personalized promotions.

To take advantage of all the features, you’ll need to sign up for the “Advanced” plan, but smaller retailers will get by happily on the “Basic” plan. The “Business” plan offers a limited feature-set and is designed for webmasters that want to sell a small number of products.

Storenvy provides very good value for money, especially when compared to other ecommerce platforms, which can run up to hundreds of dollars.

There are three plans available. “Hobbyist” is free and allows for up to 1000 listings. “Plus” is $14.99/month and has additional features like discounts. “Pro” is $29.99/month and includes automation tools.

Payments are handled via either Stripe or Paypal, and associated fees apply. There are no additional fees for products sold through your store. If an item is sold via a listing on the marketplace, you will be charged 15% of the final sale price (which includes shipping).

Retailers can also opt in to the “Managed Marketing” scheme. If you decide to do this, Storenvy will advertise products on your behalf on sites like Facebook and Google, taking 25% of each sale.

The support package offered by Squarespace is excellent and users generally report high levels of customer satisfaction.

Customer support is available 24/7 via email and on Twitter. Live chat is available between 4 AM and 8 PM on weekdays.

Because Squarespace is a well-known and popular site-builder, a large community of users are active on the forums, which is another bonus.

Customer service for sellers is a bit of a mixed bag on Storenvy. Technical support is via email or the contact form. There is no phone or live-chat assistance. What’s more, it can take up to twenty-four hours to receive a response. There are no premium support packages on the paid plans.

Reviews online of individuals who have interacted with the support team are mixed, with many citing poor experiences. That said, it’s important to remember that the majority of online reviews are from customers (not fellow sellers) and independent store-owners are often responsible for handling issues, so Storenvy isn’t always to blame.

Retailers also have access to extensive documentation and a Facebook community group.

Squarespace is a popular ecommerce platform and site-builder with a loyal band of users. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use solution with a comprehensive and powerful set of features, then take advantage of the free trial and give it a test-drive.

One of the best aspects of Squarespace is its applicability to retailers with a range of coding abilities. Non-developers can take advantage of the feature-rich site-builder (which is easy to navigate one you’re familiar with all the options) and build a highly-customized site. Developers, on the other hand, can customize and alter a site’s code extensively using the “Developer Mode”.

So what about the downsides? While we’re big fans of Squarespace, it’s not all sunshine and roses. Although the feature-set is excellent - covering omnichannel listings, customer accounts, POS, promotion features, and email marketing - the integration library is a little sparse. Without coding experience, retailers will find it difficult to add smaller features, like countdown timers or personalization, without advanced coding abilities. If you want access to a large add-on library, a solution like Shopify might be preferable. Furthermore, while the themes on offer are superb, there’s only ten of them.

We think that Storenvy is one of the best solutions available to small independent sellers. It combines all the benefits of a fully independent store with access to an active marketplace. What’s more, additional services like “Managed Marketing” (Storenvy will market your products through third-party sites like Facebook) can be immensely useful to retailers without much advertising experience. It also has an excellent free plan and a fair, transparent pricing structure.

Larger retailers will find it insufficient for their needs and a more feature-rich platform like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, etc. will be preferable. That said, there are still opportunities for these retailers to take advantage of the marketplace.