I’ve been keeping an eye on Webflow Ecommerce for a while, but unfortunately for the projects I was working on it always fell short.
It’s been about a year since I last looked at the features and I know how quick Webflow are to roll things out.
I’ve been having a look but I couldn’t find solid answers to some questions I have, is anyone able to answer?
Is there a work-around for store collection?
From what I read this isn’t a feature yet, but could you set it as a delivery option and simply set the price to 0?
Multi-currency
Surely this is a thing now, right? The promo videos for Webflow Ecommerce talk about ‘cookie cutter’ stores, but these stores tend to be able to handle multi-currency. When I last looked this wasn’t available, but surely this is an option now?
Sure you can do what you said, set delivery to 0 and call it store collection but then how do you manage that for the customer? How does the customer pick a time slot to come and collect? How do you then relay those time slots in emails that get sent out? How can a customer change or edit their time slot? These are issues Webflow cannot solve.
Multi-currency
No.
Give it 2 years
Webflow eCommerce is in a really awkward position atm, because it’s appealing more to the designer than the business that the designer is working for.
I understand why, after all the designer is Webflow’s target audience, not our clients we upsell to. However, when it comes to eCommerce, conversion via design should not as a feature replace standard features an eCommerce store needs to have to operate.
Most clients who want custom stores to match their branding want custom solutions/features, or at least the standard powerful features you’d expect an eCommerce store to have (that Webflow is missing). Furthermore, these clients usually have the budget for a custom code build anyway. So you’re stuck with Webflow eCommerce only appealing to an extremely niche set of clients; those who care more about the look of their store than how it functions. This is either out of ignorance, lack of experience in trading or simply only needing a simple solution for a simple business.
But this is not surprising. Webflow eCommerce doesn’t market itself as the all singing dancing eCommerce solution, but simply as a tool for designers to break into the eCommerce sector, and in that regard it does it extremely well - this is undeniable. So yes, keep your eye on it, give it another 2 years for serious clients and maybe use the odd client who is just testing the waters with eCommerce with a really simple business.
Here’s a good example of the limits you can push Webflow eCommerce to atm. Take note of their integrated checkout systems.
I totally understand what you are saying regarding collection - Luckily for a potential client I have in mind, they are small and this shouldn’t be an issue.
I 100% agree with what you are saying, as primarily a designer I love how quick and easy it is to use Webflow and I prefer being able to handle everything myself rather than handing off to a designer. I guess it makes commercial sense for Webflow to release eCommerce now, as for some users it may be enough, than to add all possible features and release much later.
It’s just a shame as the occasions I have needed additional functionality like this, Webflow just cannot do it. Or it requires custom code.
That example you gave is very nice, what do you use as your ecommerce solution?
Shopify is just a really solid solution, it’s hard to beat. It’s just so appealing to business owners and developers. If you can’t develop yourself you can always try Udesly Webflow to Shopify adapter. I tried it out earlier this year and it worked great. You create the store in Webflow, export the code and Udesly will convert it to a shopify theme for you. That way you have the control of the Webflow designer and the backend of Shopify for the client. Again though, I’d recommend for only simple eCommerce stores.
Here’s an example of a Webflow to Shopify website converted using Udesly.