eCommerce is growing faster than we can fathom.
The minute a piece of news is posted about the eCommerce growth percentage, a couple other eCommerces are created and hundreds of orders are placed.
We can safely say that there’s no better time to create, grow or sell an eCommerce.
But how would you go about creating or growing your eCommerce?
We’ll all about the Amazon business models for beginners and everyone looking to grow their sales.
But we’re also absolutely in favor of owning other selling channels like Shopify or WooCommerce online shops.
And it is not a matter of choosing between Amazon or Shopify but rather making both work for what you need.
This blog post is all about Shopify and its pros and cons.
What is Shopify?
It may look like a silly question but… Do you really know what it is?
When we google “what is shopify” there are 420.000.000 results that show up. Which means it’s never too much to dive into this question.
Shopify is a subscription based eCommerce platform that allows anyone to create and grow an online business.
It allows for literally anyone to create an eCommerce because no coding is needed. The platform is easy to use, even for those who lack the technical skill to do it.
Shopify is probably the most loved platform for new eCommerce owners precisely for how easy the whole creation process is.
But, sure enough, not all is perfect.
Like all platforms in whatever area of business, Shopify comes with its pros and cons.
Pros and Cons of Shopify
As we mentioned before, Shopify is often referred to as the best eCommerce platform.
We’ll let you be the judge of that after reading about the pros and cons of Shopify.
Pros of Shopify
Simplicity
There’s no need to hire tech-savvy people to get your eCommerce online and that is one of the major pros of Shopify.
The platform is easy to build, use and maintain, and also makes it easy to update products and inventory.
The people at Website Builder Expert even point out that the simplicity of the whole platform makes it ideal for larger businesses when compared to other platforms that take away a lot more time of inventory management than Shopify itself.
Designed for you
Getting caught up in design choices you sometimes can’t even explain is a huge turn off for business owners.
Also, not everyone can hire the best web designer there is.
Shopify allows you to choose from various preset theme designs so you start selling with a beautiful store without the hassle of dozens of meetings with a web designer (and the cost itself, of course).
Integrations & Apps
An eCommerce business doesn’t just need a website.
There are multiple other apps and integrations that need to work together, such as:
- Advertising platforms;
- Email Marketing;
- Analytics platforms;
- Etc.
So you need to guarantee that you have the option to add these to keep track of how the business is evolving.
The Shopify App Store allows for over 1000 integration and connected apps, making it fairly easy for you to have all you need to read the numbers and get your business booming.
Payment methods
Because it’s used and known worldwide, Shopify is probably the most complete platform in terms of payment methods.
Up until today there are over 100 options for payment methods, including Shopify Payment, which is their own platform.
This is fantastic as it allows you to easily expand your business to different countries.
Cons of Shopify
Pricing
As we’ve mentioned before, Shopify is a subscription based platform.
This means that you’ll need to pay a monthly fee to keep your website online.
At the moment these monthly fees can vary between 29$ and 299$, depending on the type of platform and plugins you want to have installed.
But this is not the only thing you need to pay for.
Shopify will also charge you a set fee for transactions.
And for extra plugins you want to have installed.
This is honestly the biggest con of Shopify and it is a huge one.
Design options
As we’ve mentioned before, you have various themes to choose from to create your eCommerce storefront.
But only about ten of them are free, meaning you have to pay to have access to other options.
Simplicity
Wait, so simplicity is a pro AND a con?
We believe so because some people will find that Shopify doesn’t fit their needs exactly.
And if they’re a bit more advanced in terms of technical skill, Shopify will seem very limited in what they offer.
If you’re a person who likes challenges and prefers to have things done your way, Shopify will not suit you and you will be unhappy with it.
Integrations & Apps
Yes, this one is also a pro and a con.
Because most apps and integrations will come at a cost, just like we said in the pricing con.
Some may cost you an extra 50$ a month, which may cause Shopify to become a bit expensive for new eCommerce owners or certain type of eCommerce businesses.
Is Shopify the best for eCommerce?
This will depend on the business model you want to pursue.
Large store owners and eCommerce’s with a lot of products will definitely benefit from the simplicity that Shopify brings to business management.
For new eCommerce owners we believe that having your eCommerce on Shopify and Amazon will make for a great debut but you shouldn’t take your eyes off your Shopify expense list.
You can figure out what works best for you along the way and there’s always a chance to change in the future.
