ECOMMERCE
Shopify Review For 2021: Should You Choose Shopify For Your E-Commerce Business?
Shopify Review For 2021: Should You Choose Shopify For Your E-Commerce Business?
Table of Contents
A software framework that helps online companies to handle their website, marketing, sales, and operations is known as an eCommerce platform. Whether you’re extending a brick-and-mortar shop, searching for an enterprise-level approach, or even beginning a business from scratch, the eCommerce app has a significant effect on the company’s profitability and efficiency. We’re diving deeper into the E-commerce success of Shopify. Let’s check in this Shopify review on how its features, app integrations, and pricing is the best choice for businesses and brands.
Features Of Shopify
Set Up Your Fully Customisable E-Commerce Website
Shopify helps many startups and beginners launch their dream business by creating a business name with a free logo maker. You can use integrated apps like a drag and drop website builder, choose from store themes or templates and free stock photos to customise your shop. Moreover, Shopify provides instructions on how to start selling digital products and through your social media. One of the best features that many starting businesses and solopreneurs recommend is having your own domain name using Shopify’s domain registration.
Automate Your Business
Automation is the key to a productive and efficient business in the E-commerce field. Particularly, many online shops today should provide quick access to payments, shipping processes, and great marketing schemes to attract customers. Shopify’s Point of Sale (or POS) is a system that allows seamless sales, checkouts, and payment that presents an overview of your whole business process.
There is an abandoned cart recovery feature for your customers that lets you know which product was left behind. You can use this opportunity to encourage them to check out and have your personal touch when communicating with them despite sending an automated email.
Simplify Marketing Strategies
Setting up your store demands a unified marketing strategy to boost your campaign. Shopify has content marketing and SEO tools to reach your potential customers and gain more traffic to your website. You can also promote your products via FacebookAds, Google Smart Shopping, and email marketing with customised email templates. You can also set up personalised profiles to identify your top customers. This feature lets you send targeted emails that will turn your customers into lifetime fans.
Shopify Fulfillment and Dropshipping Services
Fulfilment and drop shipping are two of the essential E-Commerce services that every business owner needs. Shopify assists in your fulfilment tasks with partners from Amazon and Rakuten. Shopify also features a custom fulfilment app or using Shopify Fulfilment Network to process your fulfilment. Dropshipping, on the other hand, is also available for Shopify. With Oberlo, your products are safe and secure with their warehouse that can categorise your products, organise the materials you use for packaging, and more. You can change the shipping rates for each country individually or via a shipping carrier like FedEx, UPS, and more. Another feature is tracking packages with Shopify’s shipping services are easy for you and your customer.
Ultimately, expanding your business internationally is not a problem with Shopify’s international services. Shopify is ready for businesses that are rapidly scaling with various plans and shipping strategies to work with.
Use Shopify While On The Go (Shopify Mobile)
One of the best features of having a mobile version of Shopify is its ease of use. Many Shopify Mobile users are happy with the availability of the desktop version on the palm of their hands. You can access your site builder, e-Commerce and Marketing processes and manage your customers and their orders without issues. You can utilise your phone’s camera, screen, and more which are fully optimised for Shopify’s tools and services.
How Much Does Shopify Cost?
Shopify’s services are split into three pricing plans, Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. For beginners and solopreneurs, we recommend getting their Basic plan that costs $29 per month, where you can have unlimited products to sell, abandoned cart recovery, a free SSL certificate, and provide discounts for your customers. Shopify plan starts at $79 per month with all Basic Shopify features plus professional reports, USPS Priority Mail Cubic® pricing, and includes both international domains and pricing.
Larger businesses might prefer the Advanced Shopify plan that costs $299 per month. With this tier, you can see third-party calculated shipping rates, International pricing (per variant pricing), and have up to 15 staff accounts to build your successful E-commerce empire. Shopify also provides ShopifyPlus for enterprises and ShopifyLite for your existing website with Shopify integration.
Moreover, if you’re not ready to subscribe to any plan and want to test your brand’s marketing opportunities, Shopify has a free trial of 14 days with no credit card required.
App Integrations With Shopify
E-commerce has an umbrella of touchpoints that need professional services and app integrations. With Shopify, you can trust that your trusted apps are available to integrate with their services. Shopify even provides custom-made apps for businesses with bespoke requirements. Here are some of their best and featured apps.
Trending Apps
Refersion: Affiliate Marketing
Smart Search & Instant Search
Style
Vimeo Create – Video Maker
LimeSpot Personalizer
Sales, Marketing, Finances, Reports
Replay Live Sessions Recordings
Data Export reports
Better Reports
Shipping Services And Customer Support
Return Magic
Intuitive Shopping
Bookkeeping
QuickBooks Online
OrderlyPrint
Shopify-Made Apps
Point Of Sale
Kit
You can choose more of their available integrations when you subscribe to their paid plans. Nevertheless, Shopify has a library of free apps that you can select from their Basic Spotify subscription plan. Discover the best Shopify integrated app that you’ll love for your website.
Shopify Alternatives That You Can Choose
Running your business online means you have a plethora of alternatives that may deliver what Shopify lacks. Hence, these three competitors from our Shopify review are some of the alternatives with solid features and services you may want to try.
Magento
You might want to use Magento for services that cater primarily to bigger businesses and enterprises. But, Magento also caters to any B2C & B2B merchants who have limited technical skills but want custom reports and the best user experience for eCommerce builders.
Magento is partnered with Adobe Commerce cloud experience with features like B2B Functionality, DDoS protection and WAF, increased customisation, and more. Magento starts at $1988.00 per month, making it the most expensive platform for running your business. Yet, their superb deployment, security, and performance justify their price rate.
Prestashop
If pricing is your main concern, Prestashop offers a free, open-source platform that caters to many small businesses, startups, and solopreneurs. You can already start building your website with their range of templates, themes and provide customer relationship management while tracking your sales. They have an active developer community for app integrations (like WordPress) and unlimited access to their internal code. However, Prestashop isn’t able to give you hosting services for your website, along with security and compliance.
Squarespace
Many users of Squarespace are fascinated with their stunning designs when setting up their website. Brand owners love their drag and drop builder with SSL included, which provides a beautiful product presentation and security and credibility. Squarespace also lets you sell unlimited products, has a robust inventory system, and is beginner-friendly. Squarespace is the best choice if you want to establish your brand without sacrificing various advanced features like marketing tools and services, advanced report builder and analytics, and customer experience.
Final Thoughts
Shopify truly excels in providing the best eCommerce solution today with over 820,000 merchants. It is the third-largest online retailer behind Amazon and eBay in the US and that continues to see growth every day. Moreover, its services are not just for selling products but also for building your brand’s online presence and influence. It is only wise to set up your brand in an established E-commerce platform that contributes to your business’s future.
For our Shopify review conclusion: Shopify is an all-in-one commerce site; neither a piece of software or a single product. Aside from the software aspect, it’s a thriving community that generates value for company owners by putting together entrepreneurs, business professionals, and customers in the common goal of making commerce easier for everybody.