Shopify vs SnapScan

Shopify

Storefront and themes

A professional store live in a day. Themes are configurable without code, and the paid ones are usually worth the once off cost.

Checkout

One of the highest converting checkouts available, which is the single feature most worth paying for in ecommerce.

Sidekick AI

Assists with product descriptions, store edits and analytics questions. Useful for volume catalogue work, still needs editing.

App ecosystem

Thousands of apps covering local shipping, accounting and marketing. Also the main way a low monthly plan becomes an expensive one.

Multi channel selling

Sell through social channels and marketplaces from the same inventory, which prevents the overselling that kills small retailers.

SnapScan

QR payments with no hardware

The payment instrument is a printed code, so there is nothing to buy, nothing to rent and nothing to fail at the counter.

Online checkout

The same account covers ecommerce payments on your website, which keeps one merchant relationship and one settlement stream rather than two.

Local point of sale integrations

Published connections to TallOrder, Pilot POS, EasiPOS, HumbleTill, Lightspeed and others, which are systems you actually meet in South African retail.

Billing integrations

Full integrations with Sage Accounting and with Healthbridge and Nexion for medical practices, so a payment can settle against the right invoice.

Rates that fall with turnover

The standard rate is 2.95 percent excluding VAT and reduces as monthly turnover grows, with custom rates available for larger merchants.

Shopify

What it takes to start

A store can be live in a day and trading properly in a week. Theme selection, product import and shipping rules are the bulk of the work. The South African specific task is payments, because you must connect a local gateway and confirm the total fee before launch rather than after your first busy weekend.

When something breaks

Support is 24 hours a day through chat and email and is genuinely responsive. There is a large local agency and freelancer community if you want build help. App support is separate, which matters, because a problem in a third party app is not something Shopify will fix for you.

SnapScan

What it takes to start

Signing up is free and done online, after which you print the QR code and put it on the counter. There is nothing to install and nothing to configure for the simplest use. Where implementation does exist is in the connections. SnapScan publishes integrations with a long list of point of sale systems used in South African retail and hospitality, and with billing systems including Sage Accounting, so a payment can land against the right invoice rather than needing a manual match. Setting those up is a short piece of work with your point of sale supplier rather than a project, but do it before you go live, because reconciling QR payments by hand every day is how the saving disappears.

When something breaks

Support is local and reachable, and the merchant portal covers the day to day questions about payouts and reconciliation without needing to speak to anyone. Because there is no hardware, the failure modes are narrower than with a card machine. What goes wrong is usually a customer with no data or a payment that needs matching to an invoice, and both are handled in the portal. The thing to establish before committing is who supports the connection between SnapScan and your point of sale, because that link is usually owned by the point of sale supplier rather than by SnapScan.

Shopify

• A credible store live in a day, run by someone who is not technical
• One of the highest converting checkouts available, which is the feature most worth paying for
• Sell through social and marketplaces from the same inventory, which prevents overselling

• Shopify Payments is unavailable in South Africa, so an extra transaction fee applies on top of your gateway fee
• The trial is only three days, which is not enough to build and test a real store
• App subscriptions turn a low monthly plan into a considerably higher one

SnapScan

• Nothing to buy and nothing to rent, because the payment instrument is a printed QR code
• South African customers already recognise the code, which removes the explaining at the counter
• The rate falls as monthly turnover grows rather than staying fixed at the headline number
• Integrates with Sage Accounting and a long list of local point of sale systems

• At 2.95 percent excluding VAT it is dearer than a card machine rate for most merchants
• The customer needs a smartphone and a working data connection to pay you at all
• No card machine, so a customer wanting to tap a physical card cannot be served
• Narrow by design, offering payment acceptance rather than any kind of business management

Shopify

The single most important South African fact about Shopify is that Shopify Payments is not available here. You will use a local gateway such as Payfast, Yoco or Peach, and Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on top of what that gateway already takes. Model both fees together against your expected turnover, because at volume this is a larger number than the subscription. Local shipping and courier apps are available and well supported, and there is a strong local agency community. Just do the payment arithmetic honestly before you commit.

SnapScan

SnapScan is one of the few payment products where the South African consumer side is already solved, because the app has been in circulation here for years and people know the code on sight. That familiarity is the whole argument for it. Signing up is free, there is no monthly fee and no hardware to finance, so a market trader or a small practice can take payment tomorrow. The published integration list is unusually local, covering Sage Accounting for billing and point of sale systems such as TallOrder, Pilot POS and EasiPOS that you actually meet in South African retail. Weigh the 2.95 percent excluding VAT against a card machine rate honestly, because on volume it is the more expensive way to be paid.

Shopify

Still the best ecommerce platform for most South African retailers, provided you go in with clear eyes about the local transaction fee and the app spend.

SnapScan

Excellent as a second way to be paid, and often the only one a market trader or a small practice needs. If cards are the main way your customers pay you, price a card machine properly before settling on this as the primary method.