So what’s so great about Shopify?
It doesn’t matter how broad your catalogue is, how big your business is, or whether you’re selling services or products. If you want to start selling online, Shopify is a great solution. It caters to businesses of any size and from any industries, and is well known for its simplicity and intuitive interface. Let’s explore its key features and advantages.
- Self-hosted. While the very popular WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, so you need to have WordPress in order to use it, Shopify is a self-hosted e-commerce solution. You don’t have to install any extra software to get started: once you’ve downloaded Shopify, your online store can be ready in just a few minutes.
- Affordability. There are different pricing tiers available according to the features and tools you need. If you are just setting up a small business, you can start with a smaller fee. It will provide you with all the basic functionality you need to get your first online store up and running. There are no set-up fees, and if you’re not sure whether this is the right solution you can start with a 2-week free trial.
- Versatility. Shopify is great for selling online on different platforms. Yes, it allows you to set up a traditional e-commerce website. But it also caters to other ways of selling like Facebook shop or Facebook Messenger, a Twitter “Buy now” system, Pinterest “buyable pins” and more.
- POS solutions. This functionality sets Shopify apart from most e-commerce systems available. It integrates with your physical shop and allows you to accept payments of any kind and from any device. It also updates your inventory automatically. Bottom line—you will have one platform for all your transactions and sales, and won’t have to waste time copying and importing/exporting data to and from different places.
- Customization. Shopify offers a wide range of both free and paid apps to add features to your online store. They are pretty easy to install, and you can rely on thousands of customer reviews to make sure you’re choosing the right one for you. A few examples? There are marketing-oriented apps to improve SEO, shipping-focused apps that allow your customers to track their orders, customer-specific apps like live chats and contact forms. And the list goes on, from currency converters to invoice and accounting systems, and from analytics dashboards to inventory management tools.
And speaking of customization, Shopify themes are beautifully crafted layouts—perfect to give your online store a great look and save you a lot of time. As usual, ThemeForest offers a collection of multipurpose themes, designed to suit any kind of business and industry, as well as industry-specific templates ( Fashion is probably the most popular). All themes come with extensive documentation to help you set everything up and make the most out of your template.
Need more help getting started? This article How to Set Up Your First Shopify Store may be just what you’re looking for.
Still can’t make up your mind about which e-commerce platform you want to use? Torn between Shopify and WooCommerce? Envato Tuts+ instructor Brenda Barron has explored the pros and cons of both solutions in her post WooCommerce vs Shopify: How to Choose the Best eCommerce Platform For You.