One of the best-known E-commerce solutions available today is undoubtedly Shopify. It is a fabulous E-commerce platform created for online merchants which also has a point of sale system for retailers.
With so many E-commerce platforms available in the market, one can get confused about which platforms can be best suited to grow their online business. Shopify has a vast community of developers and users. Let us understand the advantages and disadvantages of Shopify to understand it better.
Shopify Pros:
- Ease in setup and use:
- No high-level technical knowledge required:
- Security:
- Flexible customer support:
- Templates and design:
- Abandoned cart options:
- Shopify is great for dropshipping:
- Automatic tax calculations:
- Inbuilt email marketing:
- Point of sale feature:
Shopify is very simple to use since its initial few steps of setup are straightforward. Its features are pretty simple to exaggerate into your E-commerce store and using them is fun.
Shopify is also quite simple to use for people with little or no experience with technology. You do not need any prior understanding of Shopify or any additional skills in to become a Shopify expert.
Shopify meets all the PCI standards and compliance such as maintaining a secure network and regularly testing them, maintaining a management program, implementing a strong access control measure, maintaining an information security policy, and much more. Thus Shopify provides there users with a safe shopping experience.
Shopify has a fantastic customer support system that includes different departments for different types of queries. Like queries regarding the platform and its features, themes, and APIs, guidance for setting up a business, etc. which you can get through a quick process.
Shopify offers a vast collection of free templates which look great. Any type of device can display these templates as they are responsive. You can choose the premium themes too for wider options.
In Shopify, abandoned cart saving is available on all the plans. It lets you identify your customers who previously purchased something from your store. This helps you to apply your marketing strategy like emailing a discount coupon to attract customers to buy your products. All these things encourage the customers to complete their pending cart purchase and thus abandoned cart rate is greatly reduced. This is the most important advantage of Shopify and this feature is included even in its base version.
This is a great feature any E-commerce platform would provide as its lets the online merchant sell the products even when it’s not in stock, directly from the supplier. Shopify also offers a wide range of dropshipping apps to sell different goods from different suppliers.
Shopify takes care of calculating the tax rates automatically on the products for the users around the world such as taxes in the USA, Canada, and also Europe’s VAT MOSS rule, etc. Thus making your sales easier and more flexible.
Apart from building a splendid online store, Shopify also lets you host a mailing list to send newsletters, etc. at very affordable rates.
Shopify’s extensive Point of Sale (POS) functionality is one especially powerful feature that merits special note and helps it stand out from its competitors. This functionality allows you to use your iOS or Android mobile to sell not just online but also in physical locations.
Other than these features, Shopify also has some other huge number of benefits which gives more reason to try it out.
Along with the benefits, let us also understand some of its cons.
Shopify Cons:
- Restrictions on products options:
- Hard to add a custom field:
- Extra cost for professional reporting:
- Extra payment for 3rd party payment integration:
- Set up issues:
Shopify is more restrictive than other E-commerce platforms when it comes to product options. You can only have 3 options per product and you can create more options by paying extra money.
Adding custom fields like capturing personalized information at checkout or any other thing is very tough in Shopify. For this, you have to include extra code or pay extra to get benefited from this functionality.
Full data reporting features in Shopify are available with its higher plans only. So with the basic or free plans, you won’t be able to use it.
If you use a third-party payment gateway other than the inbuilt payment processor of Shopify, you won’t be able to avoid transaction fees.
A key feature that you may expect to be available out of the box frequently needs the installation of an app, which might make shop setup a bit harder than you’d want or cause your site to slow down a little.
These were some of the main issues customers are facing while using Shopify for their online business. If these issues are worked upon, the merchant can have a delightful experience using the platform.
Conclusion:
Every platform has its own pros and cons. While some will offer one function better, other platforms can offer other functions better and Shopify is not any different. It has a huge number of benefits with some cons. It is upon you to decide and choose the best for your business.
Certainly, the Shopify platform has some limitations that need to be worked upon. But an experienced and certified Shopify developer can overcome these hurdles easily and make your E-commerce site smoothly running. For this, iCreative Technologies can be your best choice as we offer comprehensive Shopify development services which can take your business to the next level. We have Shopify certified developers who have varied industry experience. They use Shopify’s extensive features in such a way that you would not catch any trouble functioning your site. Get in touch with us right away.
Jainesh Shah
Jainesh Shah is a CEO and Co-Founder of iCreative Technologies Inc. iCreative Technologies is a digital eCommerce agency mainly serving B2B clients across the globe. With over 15 years of experience in technology and business, he is helping his client thrive in this competitive era. He is specialized in eCommerce consulting, creative thinking, generating new business ideas, and delivering end products to market in the digital space. He is working with the vision to help his partner agencies and Clients to grow in their respective businesses.