Shopify is a Canadian cloud-based commerce platform for small and medium sized businesses. They launched in 2006 and now allow entrepreneurs to sell their products online seamlessly across multiple channels.
Over 200,000 businesses use Shopify, including Budweiser, Red Bull, Skinny Teatox and Pebble! Even more amazing is the fact that it all started because the founders wanted a better way to sell snowboarding equipment to their own customers.
“We could have listed our products on a number of marketplaces, but we wanted to own our brand and build relationships with our customers, along with selling our goods,” their ‘About’ page explains, “Such a tool didn’t exist, so we built it for ourselves. We soon realized a number of other stores were in need of a hassle-free platform to build their retail business, and Shopify was born.”
Shopify has experienced pretty rapid growth over the last few years. In May 2015 they raised $131-million in an IPO, giving them a market value of $1.27 billion! This post goes over some of Shopify’s main features, costs, and ends with some customer reviews:
Features
Shopify has everything you need to build a strong ecommerce presence. They have a great list of free tools, including:
- A business name generator
- Slogan maker
- Bar code generator
- Wholesale product search
- Profit margin calculator and more.
You decide where you want to sell your products using Shopify’s tools. You can sell from:
- Your own online store (that is optimized for mobile devices)
- Directly on Facebook with the new Shop feature (or on Twitter/Pinterest).
- Add ecommerce functionality to any website in minutes with a Buy Button
- Collect payments in person (in store or on-the-go) with the Shopify POS.
When setting up your store, you can choose from over 100 professional templates or build your own using HTML and CSS. With features like global currency support and SEO optimization, Shopify is helping entrepreneurs with every aspect of their business.
Cost
Shopify currently offers three different plan options, once your 14 day trial is over.
Basic ($29/month + 2.4% and 20p per transaction): unlimited products, 24/7 support, no transaction fees, fraud analysis tools and Shopify POS
Professional ($79/month + 2.1% and 20p per transaction): the same features as the Basic plan, plus gift cards, professional reports and abandoned cart recovery
Unlimited ($179/month + 1.8% and 20p per transaction): the same features as the Professional plan, plus advanced report builder and real-time carrier shipping
Reviews
Jbxoxo, owner of the online shop Just Because and a user in the r/Shopify Reddit thread shared:
“Shopify is easy to use with great reports built in that allow you to see how many visitors you’ve to your site and where they came from. Some of the more difficult items include adding variation of products after the original product has been listed. i.e. Oops I forgot to add the option of black to my three different sized vases.
Well each combination has to be entered manually rather than an apply to all option. Also, making tweaks to products can be laborious since there isn’t a next product option from the edit screen. So you have to go out to the listings then find your next product and then enter the edit page.”
Another Shopify user that I met is Emma, the owner of Luna Petite Shop, which she started back in 2009. A stay at home mom that wanted to provide while still caring for her kids (especially for her daughter who has Autism), Emma started making and selling handmade hair pieces. A couple years later she decided to also sell adorable dresses for little girls.
Her Shopify experience has been positive:
“I love Shopify. I was a bit hesitant at first to launch my website through Shopify since I already had trouble with other e-commerce sites. I like that Shopify makes it easy to upload and build a website. The right tools are there. I like the fact that there are video tutorials for anything you may need help for building a site
Shopify’s customer service is excellent. If you have a question they respond right away through email. They also have a chat system where you can chat instantly and they will help with whatever problem you have or try to answer any question. Shopify is awesome all around. Luna Petite Shop made the right choice.”
Pros and Cons
As popular as Shopify has become, there are certainly pros and cons to consider before basing your entire web business off of their platform. First, let’s list out the pros.
- You don’t have to worry about hosting your site. From running multiple websites, we understand the hassle that comes with server issues, custom CSS/HTML and coding, and setting up payment functionality.
- Strong support community. If you’re just starting out, this can be a big asset that you can draw from as you’re setting up your online business. Shopify has guides, blog posts, and a forum to learn from and interact with other entrepreneurs.
- Templates and extensions. Templates and themes make it easy to get your store up and running. In the past, you might have had to create your own website design or hire an expensive designer (yes, we remember those days).
These are very good pros, particularly if you’re a beginner to the world of ecommerce. I think that aside from sourcing products, figuring out fulfillment, and nailing down manufacturing, creating a seamless brand experience where all of the technology JUST WORKS is the next hardest challenge.
However, Shopify does come with several cons, that we’ll point out below.
- You’re adding on a definite monthly cost. When you’re just starting out, you should be avoiding all monthly bills like the plague. More monthly bills means that you need to take in more and more consistent revenue to stay afloat. That’s why for certain bits of software, we prefer to “buy” the software rather than “rent it” at a monthly cost. There’s a saying that accepting monthly payments is a great way to grow your revenue and paying monthly bills is an easy way to go broke.
- Dependent on third party software. You’re dependent on the Shopify platform and any software apps or add-ons that you’ve purchased and that may require updates. If you’re running a large scale ecommerce business, this can be a scary thought!
- Not as blog friendly. Although you can create a blog using Shopify, it in no way will compare to a WordPress blog. Therefore, if blogging is going to be your primary method of customer interaction and ecommerce is an afterthought, Shopify isn’t the best platform to go with. However, if your central focus is ecommerce and blogging is a supplementary activity, it makes sense.
Conclusion
Shopify is a great option for small businesses owners who don’t want to get into the nitty gritty of coding their own site and are okay with the monthly recurring cost model. With over $12 billion total sales done on Shopify, they have proven that they have what it takes to run a great ecommerce platform.
If you still aren’t sure if Shopify is for you, check out this list of top ecommerce platforms.
Also, if you’ve used Shopify, please leave a review on this blog post so that we can get a better collection of non-biased positive and negative reviews!
