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PHP > Laravel > OctoberCMS > MelonCart
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I was talking to a person who works for company dealing with Spiritual Lifestyle Products in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Their current (live) website is built on WordPress + WooCommerce, while their newer website uses a React/Next.js frontend with a Python Django backend. And they're currently evaluating a Shopify migration and are looking for someone who can review both platforms and recommend the best long-term solution.
"But after launching our new website, we've faced several issues with performance, backend workflows, and SEO, and it has also affected our existing website. Many of our competitors use Shopify, so we're evaluating whether it would be a better long-term solution. We're looking for someone who can review both websites objectively and recommend the best platform based on our business requirements.....not necessarily Shopify."
They have 2 websites, on two different domains using two completely different tech stacks, both self-hosted. And now they're exploring the possibility of a third option (Shopify) of a managed hosting solution using a templating engine called liquid, which is Shopify's proprietary server-side templating language.
I was surprised that, being a small shop / brand, they spent a considerable amount of tech resources on building two whole websites and now willing to spend on a third one.
I suggested a newer / different tech stack : PHP > Laravel > OctoberCMS > MelonCart - mainly because PHP resources are in abundance in India and you get full control of the source-code just as it is with WordPress + WooCommerce and Django+React. And SEO using PHP is easier to handle ... well this is very true with WordPress because of all those SEO plugins available but in general this is possible in a Django based site too but since the front-end here is in React/NextJS, they probably faced issues challenges related to SEO on a SPA level. Go for Shopify if you're low on tech resources - Shopify can get a lot done easier and faster even by non-developers. But if you have a front-end guy and a back-end guy or even a decent full-stack engineer, then why not stick to self-hosted platform which you have full control of ?
My friend Sudhir, always chooses Shopify, but he is a marketing person and not a techie, so for people like him, Shopify makes sense.
The staff at OctoberCMS forum are extremely helpful. That's the main reason why I suggested OctoberCMS which is based on Laravel. So helpful, that when I suggested RazorPay as a payment gateway for Indian merchants is must, they had it implemented in a week's time and launched ! That's equivalent to free development effort by the founder themselves.
The only difference in choosing WordPress + WooCommerce or Django + React over OctoberCMS + LemonCart, is that there is a one-time license fee to use OctoberCMS which is \(19 and a one-time license fee to use LemonCart which is \)199 - but I don't find these as a bottleneck to develop a good eCommerce site in-house.
So give MelonCart a try - be on their forum at https://talk.octobercms.com and go ahead as ask away questions on challenges you're facing - you'd be surprised how much time you can save on development.
