If you’re looking for a way to start your own online store, Shopify is the perfect platform. In this blog post, we will go over what Shopify is and how it can help you start an online store that’s perfect for any business.
We’ll also discuss some of the benefits of using Shopify as well as some tools available to help you get started. So if you’re interested in learning more about opening up your own online store with Shopify, then keep reading!
Table of Contents
What is Shopify?
If you’ve ever bought a product online, then you’ve probably heard of Shopify. (One of the most popular platforms for starting an online store). It’s easy to use and has all sorts of features that make running your business as efficient as possible.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows you to create an online store and sell your products (and digital products) through that storefront. Shopify is a very popular platform for small businesses who are looking to start their own business or take it to the next level, especially in competitive fields like fashion, design, jewelry-making, etc.
What Does Shopify Do?
Shopify provides you with a website that is designed to sell and give you the tools to sell online. These tools help you manage your inventory, payments, orders, and more. Shopify also provides an online store for you to sell in as well as a cart that customers can add products to and purchase straight from the site.
What is Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is Shopify’s flagship product. Shopify Plus is a subscription service that offers additional features to grow and scale your business. It offers advanced customer and order management, integrated inventory with Shopify POS, and advanced marketing tools to grow your business quickly.
Shopify Plus is a great product for startups that want to scale their business easily without the need to hire additional help or purchase extra equipment. It’s also perfect for businesses that enjoy generating leads on social media but don’t have the time or resources to convert those leads into sales. Because they’re too busy working on other aspects of their company such as customer service or managing inventory levels.
It offers some very powerful features that can be used by any size business. This includes 6,000+ apps, so you never run out of options when it comes to building up your storefront page and making sure it’s appealing to all your customers.
The Shopify Plus program is perfect for growing businesses and entrepreneurs because it includes everything you need in order to grow without adding on more fees or contracts after the initial purchase of the program. You don’t have to worry about scaling either because the platform handles this automatically. Of course, you still need to deliver high-quality products or services.
What is Shopify Lite?
Shopify Lite is for people looking to sell in-person (via POS lite) or add a buy button to their existing website. With Shopify Lite, you get features to view reports, make gift cards available to your customers, and split bills.
However, please take note that you can’t build an online store with Shopify Lite.
Shopify Lite costs $9.00 USD/month* (Billed every 30 days). In-person credit card processing rates start at 2.4% per transaction. You can try Shopify Lite free for 14 days.
Shopify Lite includes access to Shopify Admin which you can use to manage your business. The Shopify Lite plan also includes the Buy Button and Shopify POS Lite sales channels. You get the following features:
- Overview dashboard
- Finances reports
- Customer profiles
- Order management
- Product management
- Mobile POS and hardware accessories
- Email carts
- QR code product details
- In-store inventory
- Gift cards
- Split bill
- Custom discounts and discount codes
What is Shopify POS?
Shopify POS (Point of Sale) allows you to accept payments offline. It displays all of the product information and allows you to process credit card transactions too!
Shopify POS is a great way to give customers an easy experience when purchasing from your brick-and-mortar location, without having to worry about traditional methods like Square or PayPal. You can also use Shopify Point of Sale as a customer management system that will help keep track of what products have been sold over time so you’ll never need to worry about inventory again!
Why Shopify? Pros and Cons of Shopify Ecommerce
Shopify Pros
1. Detailed Shopify Reports
In the backend of your Shopify website, you’ll be able to view all of your reports such as sales data, returns, shipping, and more. These detailed Shopify reports will help give you a clear picture of what’s going on in your store at any given time so that you can make informed business decisions.
2. Free Features
If you’re new to selling online, Shopify has a lot of free features that you can use to make your store look professional. For example, they have free themes for you to choose from. And their web-based editor will help simplify the process of creating new pages for your website. This makes Shopify ideal for beginners because they can “play around” and see if it’s the right platform for them.
Shopify also has free fonts you can use and customize to suit your branding style. There are also thousands of stock photos you can use to make your website look more professional.
3. Shopify is on a Cloud Network
Shopify being on a cloud network has an advantage because it is always up and running, making sure your store never goes down. This means you can have a business that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!
4. There’s a Plan for Everyone
No matter what kind of business you are running, Shopify has a plan that will work for you. Of course, this depends on how big your business is. Some businesses only need the basic Shopify plan, others need the advanced plan.
This is useful to business owners looking to save money on development because Shopify has a scalable pricing system.
Shopify plans range from $29 to $299 per month, and the tiers are broken down into three categories: Basic Shopify ($29), Shopify ($79), and Advanced Shopify ($299).
5. Tons of Apps to Complement Your Shopify Store
There’s a wide variety of third-party Shopify apps that you can use to complement your store. Whether it’s a customer loyalty program, shipping calculator, or inventory management system — Shopify has the app for you!
One such example is ShipStation and we are going to talk about what they do below.
ShipStation helps sellers automatically sync their Shopify store with all of the eCommerce platforms they’re using so that orders can be fulfilled more efficiently. Without this kind of automation, fulfilling product orders from different channels could cost hours in lost productivity which ultimately means less money coming into your business account each month!
6. Tons of Support
Shopify has a great customer service team who are available 24 hours a day, 365 days out of the year to answer any questions that you might have about running your store or using Shopify! They also have their own blog where online store owners share their expertise.
7. Low Barrier to Entry
Whether it’s your first time selling online or you’ve been at it for years, Shopify is a platform that will help your business grow and thrive. And the fact is, every year it’s becoming easier and quicker to create an online business.
Shopify Cons
1. There’s a Learning Curve
Shopify lets you sell online. But (as with everything) you’ll need some time, patience, and a willingness to learn before everything becomes second nature. That also means you’ll likely make mistakes in the first few months of using Shopify.
2. Shopify Alone Won’t Guarantee Your Success
Even though Shopify has a bunch of features to help your online store, you’ll still need to put in the work and time. Shopify alone won’t do all of the heavy lifting for you, but it will make it a lot easier than if you’re doing everything on your own.
Shopify Overview: How Does Shopify Work?
Shopify is an e-commerce platform. Shopify will help you sell online by providing a platform that is easy to use, has marketing tools for social media and search engine optimization (SEO), provides the ability to collect payments in any currency, offers integrated credit card processing services, and more.
How does Shopify work?
First, you need to design your Shopify store. This is where you’ll decide on a name, create the look and feel of your online store, add products to sell (or choose from thousands of pre-made ones), set up shipping labels/rates for each product (including whether they ship internationally) and more.
Next, you need to pick your Shopify theme that best suits your company’s branding: Should it be light? Dark? Friendly colors or serious black and white hues? Now it’s time to start building out all the pages on which customers will interact with one another – like contact information page, about us section, Terms & Conditions page etc., in addition to getting started by adding blog posts. You can edit any part after publishing so don’t worry if
What Can You Sell on Shopify?
There’s a wide variety of products that you can sell on Shopify.
- Products include:
- Apparel – like t-shirts, hats, dresses etc.;
- Accessories – like jewelry and sunglasses;
- Books – so you can share your knowledge by writing a book of tips or recipes;
- Electronics – from small chargers to big televisions and headphones;;
- Food products such as teas and chocolates;
- Services including web development which is sometimes necessary for launching an online store as well!
How to Grow Your Shopify Store
Build Your Email List
Having an email list is essential for any online store.
A subscriber is someone who has opted-in to get your emails and usually they’re more engaged with the brand because you’ve sought them out.
If there are a lot of people on your email list, it’s easier for you to market products or services in the future so that way everyone can be part of what makes up Shopify!
(And if you want to scale your business, just make sure you hone in on your email marketing strategies.)
Use Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram Ads for Increased Traffic
Organic traffic is good. And supplementing that with social media ads can help increase the volume of traffic you’re getting to your Shopify store.
Try Affiliate Marketing
You can offer someone a commission per sale. Not only will this get you more sales, but you’ll also get traffic from their list.
Sell on Multiple Platforms
If you’re already selling in-store or online through another platform like eBay, then it might not cost much to sell there, too. (Let’s say $50 USD at most depending on what other platforms are involved.) You never know when people may stumble across one of those sales channels and turn into customers. So it doesn’t hurt to have all options available (if possible).
Frequently Asked Questions About Shopify
Is Shopify legit?
If it’s your first time selling online, it’s natural to doubt Shopify’s legitimacy! Shopify is a reputable platform, and it has the backing of big names in online selling like Amazon.
Shopify also has ratings on review websites that indicate its legitimacy. And as said earlier, if you shop online, you’ve probably come across a Shopify store.
Is Shopify good for beginners?
Yes! Shopify can help you set up your store in 15 minutes. It’s also easy to customize the design of Shopify stores, enabling a wide range of people with varying levels of technical skills to use it.
But it doesn’t stop there. If you find yourself technically challenged, you can contact Shopify support team, which is available 24/7.
Is Shopify good for small businesses?
Yes. Shopify has flexible pricing options that make it an affordable option for small businesses.
For instance, Shopify offers a basic plan which costs $29/mo and it gives you…
- Online store (includes e-commerce website and blog)
- Unlimited products
- 2 staff accounts (staff members with access to the Shopify admin and Shopify POS)
- 24/7 support
- Sales channels (sell on online marketplaces and social media. Channel availability varies by country)
- Up to 4 locations (assign inventory to retail stores, warehouses, pop-ups, or wherever you store products)
- Manual order creation
- Discount codes
- Free SSL certificate
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Gift cards
- Up to 77% shipping discount (competitive shipping rates from DHL Express, UPS, or USPS)
- Print shipping labels
- Fraud analysis
- Shopify POS Lite (accept in-person payments instantly at pop-ups, markets, fairs, and more)
- Sell in 133 currencies (use price rounding to create consistency in your prices after conversion)
- Sell in multiple languages (up to 5)
(Depending on your plan, you can get more features that suit your business.)
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a way to start your own online store, Shopify is the perfect platform. It can help make sure that everything from order fulfillment and shipping logistics to customer service is taken care of. So all you have to do is focus on what matters most — selling products!
There’s no better time than now to get started using Shopify.
If you want to fast-track your Shopify journey and get your online store up and running without any problems… you’ll need someone who’s done it successfully for other Shopify store owners. Whether you’re starting out or wanting to expand your online stores, we can work closely with you every step of the way. To learn more about how our team at TransBiz can help turn your ideas into reality by providing a seamless omnichannel experience, click here to contact us today!
