Three ways to sell online in India
Dukaan, The Storemate, and Shopify all let you run an online store, but they aim at different sellers. Dukaan is built for fast, mobile-first, often WhatsApp-led selling. The Storemate is a full India-first store platform. Shopify is the global heavyweight. Here's an honest look at where each fits.
Dukaan vs The Storemate vs Shopify at a glance
| What matters | Dukaan | The Storemate | Shopify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Fast mobile-first selling | Full India-first store | Global depth |
| Speed to launch | Minutes, phone-first | A little setup, fuller store | Slower once apps added |
| UPI + COD controls | Basic | First-class, built in | Via apps |
| GST invoicing | Limited | Built in at checkout | Usually a paid app |
| Pricing | Low, INR | Free up, INR | INR plans + app costs |
Speed to first sale
Dukaan is famously quick - a store in minutes, run largely from your phone. The Storemate takes a little more setup but gives you a fuller store: themes, a page builder, and commerce on by default. Shopify is fast for a standard store, slower once you add the apps you'll need. To sell within the hour, Dukaan is hard to beat.
Payments and COD
All three handle Indian payments, but depth differs. For a store where COD is half your orders, look closely at COD controls - restricting by pincode, verifying orders, converting to prepaid. The Storemate treats UPI, cards, and COD as first-class, with those controls built in.
Shipping, pincodes and returns
COD orders that come back can hurt more than slow sales. So check what each platform gives you to stop them. Can you see if a courier serves a pincode before you accept the order? Can you block COD for pincodes that keep returning parcels? Can you set shipping by zone or weight, with a free-shipping threshold? The Storemate has pincode checks, a COD block list and shipping zones built in. On the other two, check what comes built in and what needs an app. Ask each one which couriers it works with, too. A missing courier link means typing every order into a second dashboard by hand.
GST and invoicing
An India-first platform should generate GST-correct invoices without a paid app. The Storemate does this at checkout. Check the same on any platform you compare - on global tools it often means installing and paying for one more app.
How your store looks and feels
Your store is your shopfront, so test how much you can change without code. Can you set your own colours, fonts and banners? Can you build a landing page for a sale, or only edit a fixed layout? The Storemate gives you themes and a page builder. Shopify has a large theme store. Ask whether the theme you like costs extra, since a paid theme adds to the bill. For Dukaan, open the editor yourself and see if it builds the pages you need. Whatever you pick, check the result on a phone. Photos should load fast, and the buy button should stay easy to find on a small screen.
Depth of features
This is the real split. Dukaan keeps it lean and fast. Shopify goes deep through paid apps. The Storemate bundles more into the plan - page builder, email sequences, loyalty, analytics, multiple stores. If you want breadth without stitching apps together, that bundle matters.
Total cost
Compare plan, plus transaction fee, plus gateway fee, plus apps, at your real volume. The Storemate is priced in rupees from free up. Storemate Payments costs 2.36%–3.54% per online order depending on your plan, or nothing per order on your own Razorpay with a paid plan. Line each platform's full bill against your expected sales, not the headline plan price.
What Shopify costs in India
Shopify lists its India prices in rupees. The Basic plan is ₹1,994 a month, or ₹1,499 a month on yearly billing. Grow is ₹7,447 a month, or ₹5,599 a month yearly. If you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds 2% on each sale on Basic. That drops to 1% on Grow. At ₹1,00,000 of monthly sales through another gateway, the Basic fee alone is ₹2,000. Check Dukaan's current pricing page too, for the billing period you plan to use. Then put every number in one sheet, next to your expected monthly sales.
The gateway still takes its share
Your payment gateway charges you much the same whichever platform sits on top. Razorpay's standard plan, for example, charges 2% per successful transaction on domestic cards, UPI, netbanking and wallets. GST at 18% is added on that fee. So on ₹50,000 of monthly sales you pay about ₹1,000 plus ₹180 GST. That cost does not decide between the three. What decides it is what each platform adds on top - its plan, any per-sale fee and paid apps. So when you compare, keep the gateway line the same on every sheet and look hard at the rest.
How easy is it to leave later?
You might outgrow your first platform, so check the exit before you go in. Can you export products, customers and orders as a file? Can you keep your own domain when you move? Will your old links redirect, so Google traffic still finds you? Ask these three questions of each platform and write down the answers. If the help pages are unclear, ask support directly and keep the reply. A store that is quick to open but hard to leave can cost you months of work later. The one that makes leaving easy is usually the one that is safest to join.
Try all three on the same test
- Pick five real products and add them to each platform.
- Open each store on your phone and time the checkout.
- Place a UPI order and a COD order, then look at the invoice.
- Price each full monthly bill at your expected sales.
- Check how easily you can export your data from each one.
- Ask each support team one real question and note the reply time.
- Write down which one felt easiest, and why, before you decide.
Which one for which seller
Selling fast and mobile-first, light on features? Dukaan. Want a full India-first store with GST, marketing, and room to grow? The Storemate. Depend on a specific global app or sell heavily abroad? Shopify. Be honest about which seller you are, then pick the fit - it's free to try The Storemate on your own store first.