Pros and Cons
As with any eCommerce platform on the market, there are going to pros and cons; one platform isn’t going to suit all, so we’ve taken the time to find out the good and the bad so you can make an informed decision as to whether Shopify is the right platform for you.
Pros
Over 100 themes – Shopify offers its customers over 100 stunning themes and templates to make their online stores look unique and professional. Shopify’s theme store enables their customers to choose from a collection of paid and free themes dependent on the industry your business caters for (e.g. jewellery, hairdressing, clothing, manufacturing, etc.), so you can choose the right theme to fit your style of the website.
All of Shopify’s themes are checked for quality and compatibility to ensure that they work with the latest version of Shopify.
Tools and Apps – It’s great being able to make a brilliant online store, but with Shopify, you can do so much more. Shopify’s app store lets you choose from hundreds of apps to enhance your eCommerce website, such as fraud detection apps, SMS notifications for abandoned carts, store credit add-ons; the list really does go on and on, and this is something we’re very excited about. Not only are these tools available, but they are also both free and paid, so you can choose and trial out different tools to suit your needs.
Whether you’re looking for marketing and reporting applications, social media enhancement, or accounting, Shopify’s apps truly allow you to automate your eCommerce business, making it stand out above the rest.
Expert Customer Support – Comparing our experience of Shopify with other eCommerce providers, Shopify is by far one of the, if not, the best out there for customer support.
Building your own online store is a great feature, but you’re essentially left to your own devices, so if something does go wrong, or you don’t understand something, who do you turn to? Shopify provides quick and helpful answers to the questions we put to them; they’ve been supportive, informative, and won’t leave you in the lurch.
Their database of FAQs are almost endless, yet if you’re still struggling to get hold of an answer, they have phone, email, and chat support at the ready – Shopify certainly excels in this area, we don’t think there’s any better support out there.
Cons
Transaction fees – Regardless of the type of pricing plan you choose, Shopify charges a transaction fee for every sale you make through your eCommerce store, unless you use Shopify Payments – this essentially means that Shopify will charge you a % of your sales value, depending on the pricing plan you choose, which we’ve covered in the pricing section above.
However, in the grand scheme of things, this % value only ever goes as high as 2%, which is essentially a payment to Shopify for powering all of your online sales and the technology behind the platform.
Monthly payments – Covered in the pricing plans above, Shopify’s monthly payment subscription on the face of it can seem a little high; almost £237 per month for their top package. Although Shopify has a great number of apps to choose from, a lot of which are free, if you do choose to install a paid app, your monthly costs could get a little pricey.
However, again, we have to look at this in the grand scheme of things; how much would you pay an accountant monthly to manage your accounts? If you’re wise about your choices, you can keep your monthly costs down, just pay attention to what you’re adding onto your eCommerce site and be money-wise.
