Shopify has been changing the game of ecommerce for more than 15 years, and its benefits and ease of integration make it an easy, common-sense solution for many businesses.
A global phenomenon, Shopify is now used in almost 200 different countries by close to two million different websites. Why does your business need Shopify? In this era of global commerce driven by the internet, Shopify can be a simple solution to complex logistical problems, and there are many tangible benefits to go along with its seamless integration.
Not only does the product give companies the ability to simplify merchandising and the online checkout process, but Shopify can also assist with marketing and customer engagement.
What are Shopify’s most important features?
Shopify is one of the easiest ways to launch an online business while allowing room (and functionality) for growth. Why start with a commerce platform that won’t be able to meet a company’s needs when it achieves large success? Many of Shopify’s largest accounts started with a smaller commerce host and had to move over to Shopify when they outgrew their previous platform.
Shopify allows you to create a professional-looking ecommerce solution with every feature and functionality an entrepreneur could want. It can be extremely costly and time-consuming to create an ecommerce website from scratch — Shopify is the logical solution.
Users choose from a library of free, customizable templates to bring their website design and store to life. Marketing, payments and security are all taken care of by the platform, leaving the user to focus on what they do best — bring ideas to life and grow their business.
Making money with Shopify
It takes many businesses months, even years, to create a profitable online merchandising solution. Creating an online business is a full-time job in itself; Shopify is a way to ease this burden and start making money faster. Shopify also has a network of experts available to their users who can help you get started and zero in on possible customers.
According to data in Entrepreneur’s new book on Shopify, online customers currently make up 18% of the world’s retail sales. That number is expected to rise to 22% of global sales by the end of 2023. If you’re not already taking advantage of internet sales, now is the time to get started, and Shopify is the platform that will help you become successful.
How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify offers three pricing tiers for business owners. There is a basic tier ($29/month), a Shopify tier ($79/month) and an advanced tier ($299/month). Additionally, Shopify gives users the ability to pay for a full year of service upfront, saving users up to 50% off of these three plans. Benefits will increase with each subsequent tier (such as more customizable and complex reporting data, more staff accounts, more inventory locations and greater shipping discounts), and a user’s credit card price-per-transaction fee will also decrease as business owners move up the subscription tiers.
It’s also worth noting that Shopify does not charge a setup fee on any of its plans.
Shopify offers a more scalable solution for entrepreneurs
There are numerous stories of business owners who started on smaller-scale business solution sites such as Etsy and who needed more and moved on to Shopify for a more customizable and scalable solution. One such business owner, Kristin Berry Mastoras, is profiled in Entrepreneur’s new book on Shopify. One of the most common reasons that entrepreneurs move to the Shopify platform is that the competition doesn’t offer the same functionality as Shopify.
“After trying several different ecommerce platforms, I did not realize just how customizable a Shopify-based ecommerce website can be, especially when you hire a programmer to alter a theme,” Berry Mastoras says. “Shopify is a set of tools for building your own thing, and it’s currently used by some of the biggest companies in the world, so it’s extremely scalable.”
Shopify vs. Amazon
It is important to be able to deliver a fast, efficient order-to-doorstep experience. There’s no denying that Amazon changed the way ecommerce works with Amazon Prime, allowing two-day shipping (or faster) to its members. So what are the advantages of using Shopify versus selling on Amazon?
First of all, it is possible to use both. Shopify has a fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) integration that allows users to stock their products at an Amazon fulfillment center. In short, this isn’t an either/or proposition; Shopify allows its users to have the convenience of Amazon integrated into their ecommerce store while also giving them the freedom to go beyond Amazon. The same isn’t true if you host your store exclusively at Amazon, as you might have to manage your Amazon listings and ecommerce website’s listings from two separate entities if you aren’t using the Shopify platform for your non-Amazon entities.
To learn even more about Shopify, including valuable insider knowledge from some of its experts, check out Entrepreneur’s new book, The Ultimate Guide to Shopify. It’s available now on Entrepreneur Bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Bookshop.
