Is GoDaddy For Ecommerce Worth It? A Comprehensive Review
By Sam Nguyen
In this article, we comprehensively review GoDaddy for Ecommerce: its price, features, marketing tools, customer support, and more.
Key Takeaways
- GoDaddy Ecommerce is an affordable, user-friendly choice for small businesses aiming to launch a store to start selling efficiently. For merchants seeking easy setup and management, GoDaddy Ecommerce could be the answer.
- GoDaddy Ecommerce features and marketing tools empower growth, though scalability considerations exist.
GoDaddy For Ecommerce: An Overview
GoDaddy is a company that offers various services for creating and managing websites, including hosting and eCommerce online store building. Through the use of ADI, an innovative approach to website design, you simply need to answer a few basic questions about your store. GoDaddy will then construct an online store for you, which you can further customize to match your preferences. This approach ensures that even those with limited technical expertise can establish a professional-looking platform.
You can also add your own products, images, descriptions, and prices and choose your payment methods, shipping options, and taxes. GoDaddy’s eCommerce website builder also provides you with automatic SEO optimization, mobile-ready performance, marketplace integration, blog creation, and more.
If you’re a small business aiming to establish an online presence and sell a few products quickly, GoDaddy is an ideal choice.
However, it’s important to note that there are limitations to its features. Large companies with global expansion aspirations would find platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce more suitable for their scalability needs.
GoDaddy Ecommerce Pros and Cons
Pros
- ADI web design: The platform can create a store based on your answers to a few questions.
- All-in-One Solution: GoDaddy provides a comprehensive suite of tools and features, including website building, hosting, product management, secure payment processing, and order fulfillment.
- Marketing tools: GoDaddy provides built-in marketing features like SEO optimization, social media integration, email marketing, and performance analysis, such as InSight, which uses artificial intelligence to provide you with personalized guidance and insights on how to grow your business.
- Responsive Design: Ecommerce websites created with GoDaddy are mobile-responsive, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers on different devices.
Cons
- Limited Customization: While GoDaddy offers pre-designed templates, you can only change the layout, colors, fonts, and images of your template, but not the overall design or functionality
- Scalability: GoDaddy’s ecommerce solution might not be as suitable for rapidly growing businesses with complex needs. You only have two ecommerce plans to choose from, with a limit of 5,000 products.
- Integrations: While GoDaddy offers a range of built-in features, it doesn’t have an app store to add more features or integrations to your store, such as social media selling, loyalty programs, dropshipping, etc.
- Ecommerce features: Some of its features need to improve the quality and depth, such as product variants, inventory management, order and email automation, customer reviews, etc.
Who Should Use GoDaddy For Ecommerce?
- Small businesses: GoDaddy is a great solution for small business owners and solopreneurs who want to build a simple ecommerce storefront without any web design experience. It’s best for small businesses that don’t need to scale quickly.
- Local retailers and startups: GoDaddy is also ideal for business owners who want to manage everything in one place. GoDaddy’s strengths are fast setup, marketing integrations, and customer support.
- Merchants with limited inventory: New businesses just entering the ecommerce space and wanting an easy-to-use platform to test the waters can benefit from GoDaddy’s simplicity.
- Nonprofits: Nonprofit organizations looking to sell merchandise as a way to raise funds for their causes can set up an online store using GoDaddy.
However, if you need more customization, scalability, or advanced features, consider other ecommerce platforms, such as Shopify or BigCommerce, which offer more flexibility and functionality.
GoDaddy For Ecommerce: A Complete Breakdown
Pricing
GoDaddy Ecommerce offers a range of plans designed for different scales of businesses and their specific requirements. GoDaddy has four plans, which range in price from $11.99 per month to $49.99 per month if paid monthly. If you opt for an annual subscription, the cost goes down from $6.99 per month to $29.99 per month.
GoDaddy Ecommerce Plans
GoDaddy has two price plans that allow you to sell online: Commerce and Commerce Plus.
The Commerce plan costs $14.99 per month (billed annually). This plan lets you sell physical and digital products online and a lot of features below:
- A website builder with e-commerce-optimized templates
- Built-in payment processing with GoDaddy Payments, PayPal and Stripe
- Built-in SEO and analytics tools
- Online appointment booking
- Custom domain connection
- Point of sale
- Online auto inventory and product sync
- Discounted and promotional features
- Gift cards
- Discounted shipping
- Sales-tracking dashboard
- 25,000 email marketing sends/mo
- Post to social media (Facebook, Instagram)
- 24/7 support
This plan suits small businesses selling online with minimal hassle and setup.
The Commerce Plus plan costs $29.99 per month (billed annually). This plan includes everything in the Commerce plan, plus advanced features.
- Customer reviews and ratings
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced shipping options
- 100,000 email marketing sends/mo
- Automated sales tax calculation
This plan is ideal for growing businesses that want to increase their sales and customer loyalty with more features and options.
GoDaddy does not charge transaction fees for its ecommerce plans, but you will still have to pay the card processing fees charged by its payment gateway – GoDaddy Payments or other third-party payment providers, such as PayPal or Stripe. Typically, you can expect to be charged an average standard rate of 2.3% + $0.30 per transaction.
Godaddy For Ecommerce Pricing Vs Other Competitors
If you compare GoDaddy’s ecommerce plans with Wix’s ecommerce plans, you will find that Wix has more plans to choose from, ranging from $27 per month to $159 per month. Wix also offers more customization, features, and integrations than GoDaddy, but setting up and managing may be more complex and time-consuming.
To compare with Shopify’s ecommerce plans, Shopify has 5 plans, 4 of which allow you to create a full-function ecommerce store, with prices ranging from $39 per month to $2000+ per month. Shopify provides more customization, features, and integrations than GoDaddy but charges transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments as your payment gateway.
To compare the three platforms for e-commerce:
- GoDaddy is the most affordable option for small to medium-sized online stores needing a simple, easy-to-use solution.
- Wix is slightly more expensive than GoDaddy but offers more design flexibility and customization options for your online store.
- Shopify is the most expensive option but also the most powerful and professional solution for large-scale or complex online stores that need advanced features and integrations.
Ease of use
GoDaddy Ecommerce is designed with user-friendliness, ensuring that beginners and experienced users can smoothly navigate its interface.
GoDaddy ADI
GoDaddy takes pride in its user-friendly approach, and a significant contributor to this is its Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) editor. With the ADI editor, crafting a website becomes a streamlined process. By responding to a few questions, the platform automatically generates a website tailored to your requirements.
GoDaddy’s approach, particularly through the ADI, is highly suitable for novices who may not have much familiarity with website development. The platform’s onboarding process stands out, as it not only creates a site based on your responses but also guides you through the customization process and the addition of your products.
GoDaddy Templates
GoDaddy offers a robust selection of over 100 themes that are optimized for different industries and products, such as fashion, beauty, food, health, sports, and more. Browse the themes by category, popularity, or features, and filter them by color, layout, or style. GoDaddy lets you preview the theme looks on desktop and mobile devices before choosing one.
GoDaddy allows you to customize your theme with your own logo, colors, fonts, images, and content. You can use the drag-and-drop editor to change the layout and design of your pages, add or remove sections, and adjust the spacing and alignment.
You can add product options such as size, color, or material to your products and create variations based on those options. You can edit the HTML and CSS code of your theme with advanced customization options.
GoDaddy user-friendly interface
GoDaddy has a simple and intuitive interface that guides you through creating your online store. You can start by choosing a domain name, a template, and a payment plan. Then, you can add your products, set up your payment and shipping options, and customize your store’s appearance and functionality. You can also preview your store on different devices and publish it with one click.
GoDaddy provides you with a user-friendly dashboard that lets you manage your inventory, orders, payments, shipping, taxes, and marketing from a single place. You can see an overview of your store’s performance, such as sales, visitors, revenue, and conversion rate.
GoDaddy Insight – a built-in analytics tool that helps you track your store’s performance and get personalized recommendations to grow your business. Seamlessly integrate your store with third-party marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Woocommerce so you can sell your products across multiple channels and reach more customers.
Sales Tools and Features
GoDaddy stands out for offering one of the most comprehensive toolsets available among ecommerce website builders. The platform equips users with diverse tools that facilitate various aspects of online store management.
However, it’s worth noting that while GoDaddy’s toolset is robust, it only includes some features found in other platforms. For instance, direct cross-channel selling capabilities might not be as extensive as those offered by Shopify or BigCommerce. Additionally, the features provided by GoDaddy might reach a different level of quality than those found in platforms like Squarespace, which excels in website design.
Despite these limitations, GoDaddy compensates with a range of other strengths that make it an attractive choice, particularly for smaller stores. Its flexibility, marketing tools, and user-friendly interface contribute to its appeal as a solid option for businesses seeking to establish a strong online presence and easily manage their operations.
Online auto inventory and product sync
GoDaddy allows you to sync your inventory and products across your online store and other marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart. You can also manage your inventory from your dashboard and get alerts when your stock is low.
Discounted shipping
You can offer your customers free or discounted shipping options and print shipping labels directly from your dashboard. You can also integrate with popular shipping carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL.
GoDaddy’s ecommerce plans offer discounted USPS shipping rates to users.
Moreover, these plans provide real-time shipping rates from both USPS and UPS. This feature is valuable as it enables you to offer precise shipping costs to your customers. This accuracy prevents potential losses on certain orders and ensures that you don’t overcharge customers for shipping.
Product listings
GoDaddy provides unlimited product listings with high-quality images, videos, and descriptions. You can also add product options, variations, categories, tags, and SEO metadata to optimize your products for search engines and customers.
Flexible product variants
GoDaddy allows you to easily create flexible product variants based on different attributes like size, color, or material. You can set different prices, weights, and images for each variant. For instance, if you are selling shoes, you can connect both size and color choices to each item.
Multiple payment methods and currencies
You can accept payments from your customers using various methods like credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more. Your stores can sell in multiple currencies and languages and automatically calculate taxes based on your location.
Integrations
GoDaddy provides seamless integration for your online store with various third-party apps and services that enhance your store’s functionality and performance. For example, you can integrate with Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Zapier, and more.
Point of sale
You can sell in person using GoDaddy’s point of sale (POS) system that connects with your online store. You can accept in-person payments using a card reader or a mobile device and manage your orders and inventory from one place.
Marketing Features
Marketing features are a crucial aspect when considering building an ecommerce website. GoDaddy may not provide the best marketing tools, but it helps you market your online store and reach more customers easily and effectively at an affordable price.
SEO
GoDaddy e-commerce automatically optimizes your store for search engines by generating SEO metadata, sitemaps, and robots.txt files. You can also edit your SEO settings for each page and product, such as title, description, and keywords, for each page and product. GoDaddy also provides SEO guidance and tips to improve your ranking and visibility.
Email marketing
You can create and send professional email campaigns to your customers and subscribers. GoDaddy allows you to choose from various templates, customize them with your own content and images, and track your results. You can also segment your audience based on their behavior, preferences, and purchase history and send them personalized offers and recommendations.
GoDaddy offers up to 10,000 emails/month for you to effectively create email marketing campaigns to attract, connect with customers and make more sales.
Social Media Integration
GoDaddy e-commerce enables you to connect your store with your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. You can share your products and promotions on your social platforms and drive more traffic to your store. You can also sell directly on Facebook and Instagram by syncing your product catalog and inventory with your social shops.
Blogging
Last but not least, GoDaddy lets you create a blog for your store, where you can post engaging content related to your products, industry, or niche. You can use the blog to showcase your expertise, build trust with your customers, and boost your SEO. You can also add social sharing buttons, comments, and RSS feeds to your blog posts.
GoDaddy Customer Support
GoDaddy ensures comprehensive ecommerce support through a range of accessible channels.
- 24/7 Phone Line: GoDaddy offers around-the-clock phone support, allowing users to connect with assistance anytime they need.
- Live Chat Support: With an average response time of under 2 minutes, GoDaddy’s live chat support offers swift and direct solutions to queries. However, it is only available on weekdays.
- Dedicated Twitter Account: A dedicated Twitter account is available to address questions and inquiries, providing another means of seeking help.
In line with common practices among website builders, GoDaddy boasts its own knowledge base. This resource functions akin to a search engine, delivering immediate and relevant answers to users’ questions.
Should your search within the knowledge base fall short, we recommend turning to live chat or phone support. These options offer responsive assistance and up-to-date information tailored to your needs.
Although GoDaddy’s support options may not be exhaustive, they are clear, concise, and more than adequate to fulfill your assistance requirements. The variety of support avenues ensures that users can confidently seek the help they need to navigate their ecommerce endeavors.
GoDaddy Ecommerce Customer Satisfaction
Understanding GoDaddy’s potential is one thing, but hearing from individuals who have experience is invaluable. What are their impressions of GoDaddy? Do they find satisfaction in using it?
As we research, some customers have positive reviews of GoDaddy Ecommerce, saying that it is easy to use, has good customer service, and offers a flat rate for e-commerce plans. People love that GoDaddy Ecommerce is fast and easy to build an online store thanks to its artificial design intelligence (ADI) feature.
Customers appreciate GoDaddy Ecommerce supports more industries than any of its competitors and has excellent marketing tools for email campaigns and performance analysis.
However, some customers have negative reviews of GoDaddy Ecommerce, saying it has limited customization options, poor performance, and hidden fees. GoDaddy Ecommerce doesn’t allow scaling and requires upgrading to one of the e-commerce plans to sell online.
Customers also dislike that GoDaddy Ecommerce doesn’t offer order and email automation.
In general, GoDaddy, as an ecommerce website builder, GoDaddy stands out for its affordability with its features compared to other platforms.
The Verdict: Is GoDaddy Ecommerce Worth The Money?
In a landscape where many website builders embrace Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI), GoDaddy stands out as an early adopter of this trend. The platform provides an excellent entry point for beginners, furnishing all the essential tools required to operate an online store seamlessly through its integrated marketing suite.
Beyond its user-friendliness, GoDaddy boasts affordability, positioning itself as a cost-effective solution. The platform has invested considerable effort in refining its design offerings to rival the likes of Wix and Squarespace.
Being the world’s largest domain registrar, GoDaddy simplifies the process of selecting and connecting a compelling domain name.
However, there are certain limitations to be aware of. GoDaddy’s apps and features may lack the depth necessary to facilitate extensive business growth nationally or globally. Furthermore, the level of creative control could be restricting. Exploring alternatives like Wix might be advisable for those seeking the utmost autonomy in arranging site elements.
In conclusion, GoDaddy Ecommerce is worth the money for new and small businesses aiming to start online sales swiftly. Its user-friendly approach, affordability, and domain expertise make it an ideal solution for those needing rapid website deployment for their ecommerce ventures.
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