Expert Tips For Use Shopify to Build Your E-commerce Website
In today’s rapid pace digital age, people are increasingly favoring convenience over the brick-and-mortar in-person experience. These days people want everything instantly, from food and financial transactions to shopping and social interactions. People want to order their food with a tap, search for Mr. or Mrs. Right with a single swipe left or right, and be able to send money to a friend with little more than a glance.
With 2021 not yet a month old and still amid a historic pandemic, the appetite for convenience born out of comfort and necessity is only increasing. Luckily businesses of the massive, medium and mom-and-pop sizes are stepping up and creating plenty of e-commerce platforms to satisfy our taste buds for convenience.
In this blog, we will discuss the e-commerce platform Shopify and cover some of the reasons you should use it to build your e-commerce website.
What is Shopify?
Simply put, Shopify is a paid commerce platform that allows you to create and develop an online store where you can market, sell and even ship your products to customers.
Shopify is subscription-based, so you do need to purchase a membership plan before you can get started. But don’t worry too much about the cost because part of what makes the platform so popular is its range of affordable pricing plan options. Click here to see pricing.
What can you sell on Shopify?
Shopify supports a vast array of e-commerce businesses. Subscribers can sell physical products, digital products, drop ship products, and almost everything in between (as long as it is legal).
For example, businesses that offer customization for things like furniture, clothing, jewelry, and more can sell services in the form of appointments. Or similarly, a personal trainer or lawyer can sell consultations.
According to a recent study from Shopify, their highest trending items for 2020 were peel-off-face masks, nail polish, exercise bands, water bottles, blankets, and yoga mats. So if you’re in the personal care or wellness industry, Shopify is an excellent option.
Almost anything goes when selling on Shopify. But there are some prohibitive products such as alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes, CBD, fireworks, drugs, video game currency or credits, firearms, and weapons.
Benefits of using Shopify
Shopify’s website builder is easy to use. The simplicity of the platform is probably its most significant selling point. Shopify is tailor-made for inexperienced users. It’s simple to add products, process orders, and you can even create discounts and promotions.
Shopify’s drag-and-drop editing tool makes web design a breeze.
A wide variety of themes are available for users to choose from, and paid themes to give you even more options to create a unique and distinctive store and stand out from the crowd. Sellers can benefit from their responsive, speed-optimizing, and mobile-friendly web layouts.
Help can be easily accessed if needed, with Shopify offering technical support every hour of the day through a multitude of ways, including live chat, phone, and email. Self-help options are also available.
Another benefit of the e-commerce platform is its low cost. But as mentioned earlier, the platform has a wide range of price plan options to choose from.
Disadvantages of using Shopify
While Shopify comes packed with nearly all the features small businesses could want and need to create an e-commerce store, not every company is created equal.
Every business has specialized needs, and in this area, Shopify comes up short.
Shopify lacks many business-specific features requiring users to purchase add-ons to get their store fleshed out to their full vision ultimately. These add-ons can be costly and tend to increase your monthly fee.
It is safe to say all businesses have customer support issues, and as available as Shopify’s support may be, they are not immune from problems. Recent reviews on their customer support are mixed, which is something to be mindful of.
Shopify features and options
Subscribers have access to fraud analysis with Shopify. Fraud analysis helps to identify fraudulent orders and essentially reduces chargebacks (and stress).
With Shopify, you can choose the Shopify Payments feature (with payment methods like Visa, Master Card, Apple Pay, etc.). Using the Shopify Payments feature, you are PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant. While you can use other payment providers, you may have to pay for transaction fees.
Shopify’s shipping tool allows you to integrate major shipping carriers to calculate real-time shipping rates. You can buy and print shipping labels directly from your admin panel. With Shopify Shipping, you can also display calculated rates in your customers’ shopping carts.
You can integrate your Shopify store with your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest so that your products can reach a wider audience.
Lastly, one of the most visible trends in e-commerce is the unprecedented usage of mobile devices. Shopify is great because it offers mobile apps for Android and iOS, which will let you manage your store from anywhere.
Is Shopify right for you?
Shopify is a brilliantly easy-to-use e-commerce platform. The subscriptions are reasonably priced, and the wide variety of themes to choose from are appealing. Ultimately the choice is yours in terms of what e-commerce platform you decide to use.
Shopify’s website builder is nearly perfect, offering just about everything necessary for small businesses to create and operate an e-commerce website.
When making your decision consider your business’s needs now and where you envision growing in the future.
Get the website you want now!
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We are a full-service digital marketing agency based in Dallas, Texas, offering everything you need for now and years to come. From web development and e-commerce solutions to social media marketing, search engine optimization, brand strategy, and much more.
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