Squarespace’s customer loyalty mechanisms make it an excellent option for differentiating your e-commerce company.
Squarespace is a website creator that caters to both companies and individuals. Squarespace can allow small companies sell memberships, provide personalised goods, take appointments, and hide unique content behind a barrier. This e-commerce website builder is a wonderful alternative for businesses who want to establish a strong brand and repeat consumers.
Squarespace helps with product sales, but if that’s your primary goal, look at other e-commerce platforms. Squarespace only has a few interfaces with social media and online marketplaces, and it lacks some of its competitors’ comprehensive inventory management capabilities.
Here’s how to figure out if Squarespace is the correct fit for you.
Factors to consider
| Monthly cost when invoiced annually | Individual: $16 per month. E-commerce functionalities are not included.$23 per month for business, plus a 3% transaction charge for e-commerce sales.Commerce Basic: $27 per month, no e-commerce transaction fees.Commerce Advanced: $49 per month, no e-commerce transaction fees.All plans come with a 14-day free trial. Squarespace will give free domain registration for a year if you pay for the year in advance. |
| Payment processing | Stripe Payments handles payment processing. Stripe charges 2.9% + 30 cents each credit and debit card transaction processed online. This is in addition to the 3% transaction fee charged to Squarespace Business clients. |
| Key features | Product reviews from customers appear on product listings.Sales of digital products and gift cards.Product waitlists and low stock notifications. |
| Integrations with online marketplaces | Facebook stores.Instagram Shop.Google Shopping. |
Key characteristics of Squarespace
Squarespace is ideal for organisations who want to establish client loyalty. The things that truly distinguish Squarespace – restricted member areas and appointment scheduling — are not free, but they may be worth it for your unique business.
Members-only places
Squarespace allows you to create private, paywalled sections of your website that only paying members may view. A membership site can be used to offer an online course, premium material, or access to certain items.
These membership sites impose fees in addition to your monthly subscription expenses. Plans include the following:
- Starter: $9 per month + a 7% transaction charge on member purchases. There is just one member area.
- Monthly charge of $18 + a 4% transaction fee. Contains up to three distinct zones.
- The monthly charge is $35, plus a 1% transaction fee. Up to ten member sections are included.
Member spaces are compatible with all Squarespace plans.
Scheduling at Squarespace
Squarespace Scheduling is a unique Squarespace feature that allows you to book appointments. You may automate intake forms and appointment reminders, accept deposits or full payments, and sync appointments to your current calendars. The most expensive package includes HIPAA compliance capabilities as well.
Squarespace Scheduling has additional costs. Monthly plans range from $16 to $49 USD. You do not, however, require a Squarespace website to utilise the Scheduling feature.
Print-on-demand products
Through a connection with Printful, a print-on-demand business, all Squarespace users may provide customised products. You may choose to sell any of Printful’s items — and there are many, ranging from T-shirts to tote bags to puzzles — without needing to have inventory on hand. When customers make a purchase, Printful will create their order and mail it directly to them.
To take purchases for print-on-demand items, you must be on at least the Squarespace Business plan, as the Personal plan does not enable payment processing.
Subscriptions
Users on the Commerce Advanced plan can sell product and service subscriptions. When a customer’s payment is approved, their order will appear in your order dashboard for you to process. Payment frequency can range from weekly to annually, and payments can be configured to expire after a defined period of time, such as if you offer a farm share subscription that is only accessible during the growing season.
Plan features of Squarespace
Here’s what each Squarespace plan includes and how to decide which is ideal for your business’s needs. Remember that the elements that truly distinguish Squarespace – gated member areas and appointment scheduling — both have extra costs, as previously explained.
Squarespace Personal is ideal for freelancers.
Squarespace’s entry-level plan does not contain e-commerce functionality, so you cannot sell things or accept payments online. However, if your company is tiny and client-focused, Squarespace Personal may be plenty – you may offer examples of your work, testimonials, price, and contact information.
When invoiced annually, the cost is $16 each month.
This level includes the following features:
- Website builder with drag-and-drop functionality.
- There were a total of two contributors.
- Personalised print-on-demand items.
- Storage for 30 minutes of video.
Squarespace Business is best suited to membership- or appointment-based enterprises.
Squarespace Business provides basic e-commerce solutions such as limitless product listings, inventory management, and shipping tools. However, at this level, you must pay a 3% transaction charge on all sales. When your monthly sales surpass $133, it’s worthwhile to pay a few additional dollars to switch to the Commerce Basic plan.
As a result, Squarespace Business may be a viable option if you want to use Squarespace Scheduling for reservations and payments or Member Areas for selling premium content. You’ll still be able to sell items and stuff, but you’ll be able to focus on other revenue streams and just sell products when necessary.
When invoiced annually, the cost is $23 per month.
At this level, additional features include:
- Contributors are unlimited.
- There is no limit to the number of product listings.
- Acceptance of money.
- One year of free Google Workspace.
- Pop-ups may be used to market your products and services.
Squarespace Commerce Basic is the best option for most product merchants.
Squarespace Commerce Basic includes the majority of the most important e-commerce capabilities, such as connections with other marketplaces, product waitlists, and customer reviews. Users may also use Square to accept in-person payments. If you’re making consistent online sales and wish to sell in person sometimes, this is definitely the Squarespace plan for you.
Price: $27 per month when invoiced yearly.
Additional features at this level include:
- Merchandising tools such as product waitlists and low stock warnings.
- Integrations with Facebook and Instagram.
- Customer feedback on products.
- Square POS enables in-person purchases.
- Customer accounts.
Squarespace Commerce Advanced is ideal for subscription-based companies.
Squarespace Commerce Advanced includes extra sales capabilities like as automated discounts and free delivery on orders exceeding a particular dollar threshold. This is also the stage at which you may pursue subscriptions as an e-commerce business strategy.
Depending on the pricing of your recurring subscriptions, you may only need to sell a few to cover the difference in monthly costs between Commerce Basic and Commerce Advanced.
When invoiced annually, the price is $49 per month.
At this level, additional features include:
- delivery prices that change dynamically and free delivery on qualified items.
- Notifications of abandoned cart retrieval.
- Discounts are applied automatically to qualified orders.
- Subscriptions to products.
Squarespace advantages
Management of subscriptions and members
Squarespace provides a plethora of features to assist individuals whose businesses rely on long-term client connections. You may offer product and service subscriptions, as well as construct gated member areas where consumers can access special material or online courses. Product waitlists can also be used to promote anticipation for new or returning goods.
When invoiced annually, the price is $49 per month.
At this level, additional features include:
- delivery prices that change dynamically and free delivery on qualified items.
- Notifications of abandoned cart retrieval.
- Discounts are applied automatically to qualified orders.
- Subscriptions to products.
Squarespace advantages
Management of subscriptions and members
Squarespace provides an extensive range of features to assist individuals whose businesses rely on long-term client connections. You may offer product and service subscriptions, as well as construct gated member areas where consumers can access special material or online courses. Product waitlists can also be used to promote anticipation for new or returning goods.
Squarespace provides all of these capabilities under one roof, which is easy for you. To facilitate subscriptions on Shopify, you’ll need to use a third-party software. Third-party applications can be useful, however customer support is normally given by a separate firm, and services may incur additional fees (as some do with Squarespace).
Scheduling at Squarespace
Squarespace’s appointment-booking software is notable for its comprehensive collection of capabilities. Not only is it convenient for your team — you can create separate calendars for each staffer and location and sync appointments to your existing calendar system — but Squarespace Scheduling also allows customers to fill out intake forms, receive reminder emails and texts, and pay a deposit in advance.
Squarespace Scheduling has an extra monthly fee. However, you may use it with any of Squarespace’s plans, allowing you to select the plan that best suits your needs. Furthermore, Squarespace is expected to be less expensive for businesses with several locations than competitor Square Appointments, which charges a fee for each location added.
14-day risk-free trial
Squarespace provides a generous two-week free trial period. That should give you enough time to develop an e-commerce website, place test orders, and play around with Squarespace’s features before determining whether it’s perfect for you. Shopify’s free trial period is only three days.
Squarespace disadvantages
There is no free version.
Squarespace does not have a free version, despite its extensive free trial. If you merely need an online portfolio or sell a few goods at a time, look for a free e-commerce website builder instead.
Inventory restrictions and delivery options
Squarespace is definitely not the ideal online shop builder for you if you sell a lot of physical things. The software provides basic inventory management features as well as the option to generate USPS mailing labels, which may be adequate for certain firms. However, if you wish to track inventory across various locations, amend orders, fulfil orders in bulk, or obtain cheap shipping rates from numerous carriers, you’ll want a platform with additional product management tools.
Sales channels are limited.
Squarespace only integrates with Facebook, Instagram, and Google Shopping. You may import products from an Etsy store onto your Squarespace website, but it will not immediately sync when you make an Etsy sale, and you will need to maintain inventory separately. If you want to sell things on different social networks and marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay, TikTok, or Walmart, look for a website builder that supports omnichannel commerce better.
Squarespace substitutes
Square Online provides a free plan.
Square Online has many of the same capabilities as Squarespace, such as limitless product listings, discounts, and appointment scheduling through Square Appointments. It’s a very attractive option if you also have a physical store, because you can plan in-store pickup. If you want a custom domain, you’ll need to switch to a premium service.
Shopify is preferable for high-volume goods merchants.
Shopify has extensive inventory and customer order management services. For example, you can change orders after they’ve been placed, but Squarespace only allows you to cancel orders. Shopify may also be used to store inventory in numerous locations and transport items between them, including Shopify fulfilment centres. For these reasons, it’s a better option for companies who offer a lot of physical things.
BigCommerce is superior for multichannel sales.
BigCommerce may assist you in managing many shops and selling on a number of platforms. While Squarespace provides many options for promoting your brand identification and customer loyalty, it lacks interfaces with markets such as TikTok, eBay, and Amazon. BigCommerce is better suited to e-commerce businesses who want to meet their customers on other platforms rather than bringing them to their own websites.
