I am a store owner and Woocommerce users.
I’d like to learn other platforms and Shopware seems very interesting.
However I am not a developer: My WooCommerce stores are built with page builders and plugins, without writing a single line of code.
Is it possible to do the same with Shopware or coding skills are required?
And also, another question is: how is Shopware better than WooCommerce?
Hey tom and welcome to the forum!
In general I think, you don’t really need to be a programmer, but you need to know a few technical things before you’re ready to install your first Shopware instance. First of all you need access via FTP to a Webserver, for uploading the shopware installation folder to your server and you need to be able to create an empty database.
If you are completely new to Shopware, unfortunately you have to do some read work first, starting at this point: Shopware 6 - Getting Started
If you can’t hold it, jump to this page and scroll to the headline „Downloading Shopware“: Shopware 6 - First Steps - Installation
Please check with your provider beforehand whether all system requirements are met and the DNS settings have been made correctly.
Shopware’s content pages are based on a Page Builder, too. But it’s much less dynamic, as the wordpress’ page builder are, like Elementor. But no worries, the Plugin store’s got you! Shopware brings a whole bunch of Plugins, which can add missing features, or also to include a much better page builder.
Shopware is more suitable than Woocommerce simply because it was designed entirely as shop software. Shops based on Wordpress often have the problem of not being legally compliant, which can lead to expensive written warnings in some countries. In addition, the management of orders, customers and products is simply better in pure shop systems because they do not have to follow the framework conditions of the higher-level system.
Nevertheless, there are also some disadvantages in Shopware 6. The biggest one is probably the costs. Shopware, unlike Wordpress, requires a considerably more powerful server. Furthermore, problems that arise can sometimes become very complex because the whole system is built much more complexly. Simple edits in the core are not possible because the code has a lot of integrity, so you have to rely on programming plug-ins. The scope of Shopware’s plug-in shop cannot be compared at all with the number of Wordpress add-ons, as Wordpress is much more widespread than Shopware. And finally, there is the range of functions. In the German part of the forum, there is a lot of discussion about missing functions, so you should be clear in advance about which functions are important for your business and then weigh up your decision.
Conclusion:
In my eyes Shopware has a lot of potential, but sometimes the software also demands a lot from you. Many missing functions spoil the experience, but on the whole it is fun to work with the system once everything is up and running.
Best regards!
LA
@littleAmused Hey, thank you for your reply.
In the past couple of days I’ve explored Shopware and it is a really interesting Platform.
Do you have any tips on how to install it locally on macOS?
Talking about resources, what do you mean by „Shopware, unlike Wordpress, requires a considerably more powerful server“?
I tested it on Cloudways, with the base 1 core 1gb of ram server and it worked super fine, although obviously I haven’t tested it in a production site with a lot of traffic.
Thank you very much!
Hey!
I’m glad I could help you for a start!
In our agency, we often have the experience that site operators with Wordpress have only booked the server that is sufficient for their requirements. With Shopware, these have to be set a little higher - but this would have to be compared with Shopware’s system requirements and, if necessary, discussed with the provider. 1 GB of RAM is definitely more than enough - at least 512 MB is recommended for both systems.
I do!
Until recently, I had always used the classic solution via MAMP. This will still work, but it is classified as obsolete and should not necessarily be used any more - if you still want to take a look:
https://developer.shopware.com/docs/guides/installation/mamp
There is nothing wrong with downloading a productive version of the software and installing it locally via MAMP if you just want to test and view it.
There is a second variant (Symfony CLI, or Symfony Flex), which I personally find better and which is also currently recommended for development, but which can also be more complicated, as a certain programmatic understanding is required. It also requires know-how in dealing with the console. But this contradicts the initial question: „Do I have to be a developer?“ - For this kind of installation: Yes.
If you still want it explained, let me know 
You can also find other options (Docker, Variant+, …) here:
https://developer.shopware.com/docs/guides/installation/overview
Best regards,
LA