What does the e-commerce stack in solar and photovoltaics really look like? For this report we identified around 1,800 active solar, PV and balcony power plant shops worldwide from the HTTP Archive (as of August 2026), i.e. retailers for modules, inverters and storage, and analysed which shop system they run on and which payment methods, marketing and review tools they use. Pure installers and service providers are excluded.
Key findings
- Solar is self-hosted-heavy: WooCommerce leads narrowly at 36.2% ahead of Shopify (34.8%), one of only two industries (besides industrial) without a Shopify lead.
- This reflects the technical, often DACH-shaped character of the industry (balcony power plants, storage, inverters).
- Customer contact is above-average: 29.7% of shops use a chat tool, led by WhatsApp Business (21.1%), fitting explanation-intensive technical products.
- Reviews are DACH-typical: alongside Judge.me (11.7%), Trusted Shops (3.4%) is strongly represented.
- Checkout is PayPal-first (29.0%), and Klarna (7.7%) is relevant as financing for higher-priced PV purchases.
Which shop system does the solar industry use?
Solar is one of only two industries (besides industrial) where Shopify does not lead: WooCommerce is narrowly ahead at 36.2%, Shopify follows at 34.8%. This reflects the technical, self-hosted-affine character of the industry.
| Shop system | Share of solar shops |
|---|---|
| WooCommerce | 36.2% |
| Shopify | 34.8% |
| Wix eCommerce | 6.3% |
| Squarespace Commerce | 2.2% |
| Shopware | 1.9% |
| PrestaShop | 1.4% |
| JTL Shop | 1.2% |
Share of 1,789 classified solar shops (product shops only, no installers). The Wappalyzer catch-all "Cart Functionality" is excluded.
How do customers pay in solar shops?
Checkout is PayPal-first. Klarna plays an above-average role as financing for higher-priced solar and storage purchases.
| Payment method | Share of solar shops |
|---|---|
| PayPal | 29.0% |
| Apple Pay | 20.7% |
| Shop Pay | 18.3% |
| Google Pay | 15.9% |
| Klarna | 7.7% |
| Stripe | 2.6% |
Which review tools do solar shops use?
For higher-priced, technical purchases, trust matters: 23.5% of all shops use a review tool. Alongside Judge.me, Trusted Shops is strikingly strong, a clear DACH signal.
| Review tool | Share of solar shops |
|---|---|
| Judge.me | 11.7% |
| Trustpilot | 3.7% |
| Trusted Shops | 3.4% |
| Trustindex | 2.3% |
| Loox | 1.6% |
23.5% of solar shops use at least one detectable review tool.
What do solar shops run email marketing with?
23.6% of solar shops use a marketing automation tool. Klaviyo and Mailchimp lead, and the above-average HubSpot share points to consultation- and project-adjacent businesses.
| Marketing tool | Share of solar shops |
|---|---|
| Klaviyo | 8.4% |
| Mailchimp | 7.1% |
| PushOwl | 4.1% |
| HubSpot | 2.9% |
| MailChimp for WordPress | 2.0% |
| Omnisend | 1.9% |
23.6% of solar shops use at least one marketing automation tool.
How do solar shops communicate with customers?
Customer contact is above-average: 29.7% of solar shops use a chat or support tool. WhatsApp Business leads, fitting explanation-intensive technical products and sizing questions.
| Chat / support tool | Share of solar shops |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp Business Chat | 21.1% |
| Zendesk | 2.9% |
| Tawk.to | 2.8% |
| Tidio | 1.4% |
29.7% of solar shops use at least one live chat or support tool.
What this means for your shop
Solar is, besides industrial, the second industry where WooCommerce (36.2%) leads ahead of Shopify (34.8%). This reflects the technical, often DACH-shaped character: balcony power plants, storage and inverters are frequently sold via self-hosted shops with custom configuration and consultation functions.
The stack is consultation- and trust-driven: high live-chat share (WhatsApp 21.1%), DACH-typical trust signals like Trusted Shops and HubSpot for project-adjacent businesses. Klarna shows the importance of financing for larger purchases.
For a migration Shopify is attractive where a solar retailer wants to scale and mobile-optimise its product business (modules, storage, balcony power plants). The target architecture should cleanly map consultation, sizing and financing.
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Frequently asked questions Which shop system do most solar shops use?
Which tools do successful solar shops use?
How were the solar shops identified?
Sources & methodology
This is our own analysis of the technology detection of the HTTP Archive (crawl of 1 August 2026, mobile home pages, deduplicated per domain). From all shops detected as e-commerce, we classified solar shops via the shop description (OpenGraph and Twitter metadata), limited to shops with unambiguous product signals (e.g. solar module, inverter, balcony power plant, energy storage) and excluding pure installers, service providers and sun-protection cosmetics. A manual sample check found around 90% precision. All percentages refer to the 1,789 classified shops. The automatic technology detection is not perfect in every individual case.
Conducted by
Richard Roth
SEO & GEO Strategist
Till Täubrich
Shopify Development & Migration
Research and analysis by the team at store2x, specialised in Shopify migration and SEO.