Shopify

Jun 24, 2021

Introduction

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that hosts online stores. Their USP is they make it easy for business owners to not only launch an online store but to scale it as their businesses grow. 

Shopify is also well-known for helping business owners move products through effective marketing, including social media, SEO and branding. Users also get access to their e-commerce CMS which offers tools and insightful sales information to grow your business via their dashboard 

Their platform allows businesses to sell in multiple places, including web, mobile, social media, online marketplaces, brick-and-mortar locations, and pop-up shops

Business owners can choose from a range of free and paid themes to find the right look and feel for their store and build their online store using their drag-and-drop store builder. Shopify is also well regarded for its fully responsive websites – ensuring that customers also have a great mobile experience. 

All plans come with an online store, unlimited products, Free SSL certificate. The Advanced option comes with an advanced reporter builder, third-party calculated shipping rates and professional reports. Shopify includes secure, unlimited e-commerce hosting on all plans except Shopify Lite.

Main Features
  • Comprehensive dashboard – Get a holistic and detailed view of your business to better understand sales, orders, and audience
  • Marketing tools – SEO features, automated marketing
  • Shopify Mobile app – get live access to orders, fulfilment, analytics, and more all from your smartphone
  • Shopify App Store – access to over 6,000 apps to help you start, manage, and grow your business – including dropshipping.  
  • Inventory features – generate purchase orders and transfer stock based on inventory forecasts and performance.
  • Integrated loyalty programs – Add loyalty apps to your POS system to reward customers for shopping with you
  • Sales channels – Sell on online marketplaces and social media. Channel availability varies by country.
Pricing

All Shopify plans are month-to-month unless you sign up for an annual or biennial plan.

Plans start from Basic Shopify for new businesses to medium-sized businesses with Shopify and Advanced Shopify which is ideal for bigger businesses. 

Transaction fees also differ per plan, Basic Shopify (2.0%), Shopify (1.0%) and Advanced Shopify (0.5%). 

Shopify offers a 14-day free trial.  

Below are their plans:

  • Basic Shopify – $25
  • Shopify – $65
  • Advanced Shopify – $399
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Pros

  • Easy to Use

  • Great for Beginners

  • Scalable

  • Reliable Hosting

  • Wide Range of Features

Cons

  • Limited Design Customization

  • Shopify Payments Fees

  • No Email Hosting

  • Difficult Exit Strategy

FAQs

Shopify takes security very seriously. They use industry-leading security protocols to protect your store and your customers’ data. They also offer Level 1 PCI DSS compliance, which is the highest level of security available for credit card transactions.

Shopify boasts a very high uptime record. However, in the unlikely event of an outage, they have a robust disaster recovery plan in place to get your store back online as soon as possible.

No! Shopify is designed to be user-friendly, even for those with no coding experience. They offer a drag-and-drop interface for building your store and a large library of themes and apps to customize it.

This depends on the complexity of your store. A basic store can be set up in a few hours, while a more complex store may take longer. Shopify offers a 14-day free trial to help you get started.

Shopify supports multiple currencies and languages, making it easy to sell to customers worldwide.