5 Shopify Alternatives to Build a D2C Website Like Bombay Shaving Company

Looking for a Shopify D2C alternative to launch your men's grooming brand? You’ve come to the right place! The D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) model is skyrocketing in India, and the men's grooming industry is leading the charge. With trailblazers like Bombay Shaving Company transforming how men buy grooming essentials, now is the perfect time to dive into this booming market. If you're ready to build your brand but seeking a powerful Shopify alternative, this is just the right blog for you. 

In this blog, you will get a walk through into the growth forecasts for men’s grooming products market growth in coming years, five eCommerce platforms that can help you create a sleek, scalable D2C portal—and steps to build your brand new D2C store easily and quickly.

Ready? 

Let’s get started!

Growth of the Men’s Grooming Products Market in India

The men's grooming market in India is booming, with IMARC projecting the market to reach $2.4 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% during 2024-2032 the market is expected to be worth $4.1 billion by 2032. The D2C model has played a significant role in this growth, enabling brands to offer personalized grooming solutions and establish a direct connection with their customers. 

This growth is fueled by increasing awareness about personal grooming, the rise of eCommerce, and the shift toward premium grooming products. Brands like Bombay Shaving Company are at the forefront of this movement, providing high-quality grooming products directly to consumers through their D2C platforms.

Here are the top reasons that have fuelled the growth of men’s grooming products market in India:

• Increased awareness of personal grooming and self-care among men.
• Rise of social media promoting grooming trends and products.
• Growing demand for premium grooming products and niche brands.
• Evolving gender norms encourage self-expression and grooming.
• Expansion of eCommerce making grooming products easily accessible.
• Celebrity endorsements and influencer marketing driving product popularity.
• Growing disposable income enables men to invest in grooming essentials.

5 Must-Have Features in the Shopify D2C Alternative For Men’s Personal Care Items Website

With a growing market for men’s grooming essentials, it becomes imperative for direct-to-consumer brands to tailor their offering based on the buying trends of customers.

Here are the 5 non-negotiable features to look for in your prospective ecommerce platform for building a D2C men’s personal care items:

Scalability: Ensure the Shopify competitor platform can handle the growing demand for premium grooming products and brand expansion.

Mobile-first Design: With M-Commerce on the rise, a seamless mobile shopping experience is essential for accessibility.

Omnichannel Support: buyers connect with brands across 4-6 touchpoints and so it is essential to choose a platform that supports online, offline and other new-age digital commerce sales channels ( social media, WhatsApp etc) to tap into the expanding reach of grooming brands.

Customization: The platform should allow for flexible branding and creating tailored buying journeys to cater to evolving gender norms and personal expression.

Seamless Integrations: Look for seamless integrations that help your brand add preferred third party tools and services for ERP, CRM, marketing, accounting, logistics, payments and more.

Now that we know the must have features let us evaluate the top 5 Shopify D2C alternatives on their relative pros and cons.

Top 5 Shopify Alternatives for a D2C Men’s Grooming Products Brand Like Bombay Shaving Company

Ready to take your men’s grooming brand to the next level, just like Bombay Shaving Company? If you're looking for the perfect eCommerce platform to launch your D2C brand, it’s important to choose a solution that supports your growth while delivering a seamless shopping experience. 

In this listicle, we’ll explore the top 5 Shopify alternatives that offer the features and flexibility you need to build a successful men’s grooming products brand in India and beyond.

1. StoreHippo

StoreHippo is a cutting-edge, mobile-first eCommerce platform tailored specifically for enterprises and rapidly growing D2C brands. Packed with a comprehensive suite of advanced features and extensive customization options, StoreHippo is the ideal Shopify D2C alternative for businesses looking for scalability and flexibility. It’s particularly well-suited for brands like Bombay Shaving Company that require a platform built for agile operations and seamless growth in a competitive market.

Pros:

• Plug-and-play features for rapid store setup, minimizing time to market.
• Highly flexible framework that allows for effortless customization of both the frontend and backend.
• Customization and scalability that enable you to shape your store to your brand’s exact needs without limitations.
• Built-in mobile app builder and PWA support, along with delivery boy and vendor/admin apps, facilitating seamless, mobile-first customer experiences make it an ideal Shopify D2C alternative.
• Multi-vendor and multi-store support, allowing you to scale into a marketplace or manage multiple storefronts effortlessly.
• Omnichannel solutions with integrated offline-to-online features, essential for brands aiming to expand their retail presence.
• User-friendly drag-and-drop interface for creating unique design themes tailored to your D2C store in India.
• Seamless integration to build a tailored ecosystem for your men’s grooming products D2C brand.
• Support for over 100 languages, enabling deeper connections with customers in their native languages, making it an ideal eCommerce platform for men’s grooming products D2C brands.
• Built-in marketing tools such as discount engine, blog engine, and abandoned cart follow-up.
• White-label solutions customized for enterprise-level D2C brands.

Cons:

• Advanced features and extensive customizations are only available in higher-tier plans.
• While favored by high-volume stores as a leading D2C website builder, POS integration is limited to third-party solutions, lacking a proprietary POS system.
• Marketing services are not offered, despite demand from many clients

2. Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Magento, now a part of Adobe Commerce, is a robust D2C Shopify alternative that offers unparalleled flexibility and customization, making it a popular choice for D2C brands in the men’s grooming products category. With its open-source architecture, Magento gives businesses complete control over the user experience, enabling brands to craft highly personalized, complex product offerings. However, this power comes with increased technical demands, making Magento a better fit for larger grooming brands with dedicated development teams.

Pros:

• Complete control over store features and user experience through customizable open-source architecture.
• Advanced product management for grooming items with multiple variants, configurations, and custom pricing rules.
• Scalable platform suitable for large operations and expanding product lines.
• Extensive third-party integrations for marketing, logistics, and payment gateways.
• Multi-language and multi-currency support for reaching global markets.

Cons:

• High technical complexity requiring expert developers for setup and maintenance.
• Higher cost of ownership due to hosting, security, and ongoing development needs.
• Longer time to market with complex setup and configuration processes.
• Regular updates and security patches add to operational overhead.
• Limited built-in features necessitating additional plugins for a complete D2C solution.

3. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a powerful Shopify D2C alternative that provides a robust, user-friendly platform for building and scaling men’s grooming product brands. Known for its extensive built-in features and ease of use, BigCommerce is ideal for brands looking to streamline their operations without heavy reliance on third-party apps. Its flexibility and scalability make it a top choice for grooming brands aiming to expand quickly while maintaining a seamless shopping experience for their customers. However, while it excels in many areas, it may not offer the deep customization capabilities of more complex platforms like StoreHippo and Magento.

Pros:

• No transaction fees, making it cost-effective for high-volume grooming product sales.
• Extensive built-in features like SEO tools, marketing integrations, and multi-channel selling, reduce the need for additional apps.
• Scalable infrastructure suitable for growing men’s grooming brands with expanding product lines.
• User-friendly interface that simplifies store management for non-technical teams.
• Multi-channel sales support, including integration with Amazon, Instagram, and other platforms, is perfect for expanding brand visibility.

Cons:

• Limited design customization compared to highly flexible platforms like StoreHippo and Magento.
• Pricing tiers based on sales volume can become expensive as your men’s grooming brand grows.
• Fewer advanced features in comparison to more customizable Shopify D2C alternatives like StoreHippo and Magento.
• Lack of native mobile app builder may require third-party solutions for mobile-first grooming brands.
• Complexity in handling large catalogs and advanced product variants for grooming items may necessitate additional configurations.

4. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a highly popular Shopify alternative for D2C brands, especially for brands already familiar with WordPress. This open-source plugin allows businesses to easily transform their WordPress sites into fully functioning online stores. For men’s grooming brands, WooCommerce offers flexibility and customization with access to a wide variety of plugins. However, it’s best suited for smaller to mid-sized D2C brands, as it can require significant customization and performance optimization as your business grows.

Pros:

• Seamless WordPress integration, ideal Shopify alternative for grooming brands looking to build on a familiar CMS.
• Highly customizable with thousands of plugins available for extending store functionality and personalization.
• Cost-effective solution with lower initial setup costs for smaller D2C grooming brands.
• User-friendly interface for those already accustomed to WordPress, making store management easier.
• Strong community support with a wealth of resources and tutorials for troubleshooting and growth.

Cons:

• Limited scalability for large men’s grooming brands as store size and traffic increase.
• Performance issues may arise with larger product catalogs and higher traffic without proper optimization making it a less popular Shopify D2C alternative.
• Dependence on plugins can lead to compatibility issues and increased maintenance.
• No native multi-channel selling support, requiring additional tools for selling across platforms like Amazon or Instagram.
• Requires external hosting and additional security measures, increasing complexity as the D2C website grows.

5. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is a versatile Shopify D2C alternative offering a robust platform for brands looking to build a D2C website with powerful features at a lower cost. Known for its affordability, Shift4Shop comes with a range of built-in tools, from marketing integrations to advanced SEO, making it an attractive choice for men’s grooming brands just starting out or those looking to keep costs low. However, while it offers solid functionality out-of-the-box, it may not be the best option for brands that require heavy customization or advanced features.

Pros:

• Affordable pricing with many features included in the base plan, making it budget-friendly for grooming startups.
• No transaction fees, allowing you to maximize profits on high-volume sales of men’s grooming products.
• Built-in marketing tools like SEO optimization, newsletters, and social media integrations, perfect for growing D2C grooming brands.
• Easy-to-use interface that simplifies store setup and management for non-technical users.
• Fast and reliable out-of-the-box performance with secure hosting included, reducing the need for additional IT investments make it a good D2C Shopify alternative.

Cons:

• Limited design flexibility, offering fewer customization options compared to more robust platforms like Magento or StoreHippo.
• Smaller app ecosystem, which may limit access to specialized tools needed by grooming brands for scaling operations.
• Basic mobile optimization, lacking advanced mobile-first features like native app support for grooming brands focused on mobile commerce.
• Fewer advanced features for large D2C men’s grooming products brands looking for highly specialized functionality.
• Support for international markets is not as comprehensive, which may hinder global expansion for men’s grooming brands.

Conclusion

While all five platforms offer viable alternatives to Shopify for building a D2C website like Bombay Shaving Company, StoreHippo truly stands out as the superior solution. Its mobile-first design, plug-and-play features, and unparalleled scalability make it an ideal choice for fast-growing D2C brands. Unlike the more complex Magento or the less customizable WooCommerce, StoreHippo offers a powerful balance of flexibility, advanced features, and ease of use. 

As a Shopify D2C alternative, StoreHippo empowers brands to expand rapidly without compromising performance or agility. Whether you're looking to launch or scale, StoreHippo proves to be the best Shopify competitor for D2C websites seeking a smooth and adaptable platform to support their growth.

Ready to take your men’s grooming brand to the next level? Explore how StoreHippo can help you build a dynamic D2C website, start your 14-day free trial now.