What is Shopify? Everything you need to know

Introduction

What is Shopify? Ask any business owner expanding online, and you'll hear about Shopify. Look for ways to sell online, and you'll see Shopify among the top choices. Well, Shopify powers over 4.8 million online stores in more than 175 countries and boasts over 2.1 million daily Shopify users as of January 2024.

 In short, Shopify is a globally famous eCommerce store builder, thanks to its low barrier to entry. It helps merchants attain their numerous goals with plug-and-play solutions. 

Many have started selling their wares online after acquiring the required tools with the help of Shopify. Also, Shopify has everything to help merchants succeed, including marketing tools and inventory management facilities.

If you want to know more about Shopify and how Shopify works, stick around!

How does Shopify work?

Today, over a million brands and companies use Shopify (an eCommerce platform) to create their eCommerce websites, display their products and items, increase sales, analyze their marketing metrics, organize orders/shipping/payments, etc. 

It is a subscription-based service that furnishes merchants with the tools they need to set up an online store and sell in person with Shopify POS.

You can start a simple Shopify store and have it running within a day. Also, you can customize and build your online stores with unique features and even fully personalize them per your brand.

Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs from more than 175 countries rely on Shopify to assist them in selling their products. With apps like PickyStory on the Shopify app store, merchants can optimize and customize their stores until it's the perfect place to sell their goods.

What Can You Sell on Shopify?

You can sell the following things on Shopify.

Physical products

A physical product is something you make by hand, manufactured, or something merchants drop-ship to consumers. Physical products include jewelry, bath bombs, t-shirts, gift boxes, etc.

Digital products

Digital products include Ebooks, email templates, audio downloads, Lightroom presets for photographers, etc.

Services and consultations

You can employ Shopify to let your customers book consultations online. You can even sell online or in-person consultations.

Memberships

You can use Shopify to sell your memberships to your customers. Also, merchants can create member-only access to their content on their websites.

Ticketed experiences

People love attending experience-based events, ranging from travel and adventure to wine tastings. You can sell tickets to such events vias Shopify.

Classes and lessons

Consumers can buy, rent, and book lessons from you via your online store.

Rentals

Service-based businesses like rental businesses can also use Shopify to operate. Shopify helps people rent dresses or props.

Who should use Shopify?

If you sell in person and want to increase your reach by selling online, you can use Shopify's eCommerce platform. On the other hand, if you are already a store owner on Etsy or Amazon, you can transition to Shopify to gain more control over your online store. Shopify lets you implement better marketing and sales tools, which are essential in expanding your business.

Anyone from small to medium to large retailers can utilize Shopify. However, large and established brands can also opt for Shopify Plus.

Pros of using Shopify

Beautiful Themes

Shopify boasts numerous professionally designed responsive themes. These themes are both free and paid and are available in Shopify's Theme Store. These Shopify's themes aid people in optimizing their websites across various sectors, including clothing, jewelry, art, etc.

Highly Flexible Platform

Once you finish building an online store, you get various tools for inventory management, customer service, marketing, shipping, reporting, and social media from Shopify.

This highly flexible platform allows its users to choose these tools as per their requirements. Thus, users can automate their eCommerce business without hassles.

Tremendous Speed and Security

Shopify works at a fast speed and has a high level of security. Shopify takes of security as payments usually concern the processing of credit cards. High speed and security enable you to run your online store seamlessly.

24/7 Customer Support

Shopify delivers robust customer support in email, online live chat, and phone. Also, you can find a vast database of frequently asked questions for troubleshooting technology-related problems.

You can even contact Shopify's knowledgeable representatives, who give users fast and helpful support at any time.

Suggested Reading:

Revenue Model of Shopify | Complete Guide

Cons of using Shopify

Pricing Structure

Users need to pay a transaction fee besides Shopify's monthly service charges. The fee ranges from 0.5% to 2% of the sales value, depending on the plan. Those using Shopify payments don't need to pay a transaction fee for their transactions.

Knowledge of Code

If a user wants to customize their website as per their wish, they need to learn basic codes of HTML and CSS and Shopify's coding language named LIQUID. Therefore, to alter your website code, you require a Shopify expert who can help you with LIQUID-related queries and problems.

What are the top 5 features of Shopify?

1. Store Analytics

Every online and offline store owner wants to see their stores' continuous growth and success. To accomplish this, store owners need to crunch the numbers, which they can do by using Shopify's analytics and reports. 

Shopify's analytics and reports give you the numbers of visitors who have visited your store once and regular visitors. Moreover, you can learn about their product browsing history and how your customers provide referrals to others.

In short, you can chart your sales, increase, store traffic, and other things.

2. Access to a massive selection of theme options

When a person desires to create a Shopify online store, they will get numerous templates to help build their store. The Shopify theme store is home to hundreds of beautiful themes that anyone can use as templates to create their stores.

Many theme options make it easy for users to choose the perfect theme for their stores and develop the shopping experience you envision.

 With numerous options, it's easy to find the perfect theme for your store and the shopping experience you wish to create. However, you need to pay for some of Shopify's themes as not all their themes are free of cost.

3. Shopify's marketing platform

Every store owner strives to make their online or in-person store scale dizzy heights by marketing their stores well. You can use Shopify's marketing platform for advertising your store and reaching more customers using SEO TOOLS and BLOGS. 

Store owners can also devise advertising campaigns for Google, Facebook, and other social media channels. Also, store owners can gauge the success and progress of their campaigns with the help of their Dashboards.

4. Shopify POS

Shopify POS (point of sale) lets business owners centralize their sales and sync their inventory in one location if they sell in-person or online. The Shopify POS app and hardware are perfect for anyone with a Shopify store and a pop-up shop, market stall, or other physical location.

5. The Shopify app store

Shopify's most significant feature is its app store. Shopify's app store is the icing on the cake when making your online store. Shopify's app store teems with incredible tools for customizing and optimizing your store, including merchandising, marketing, advertising, fulfillment, conversion, shipping, customer service, etc. 

Shopify's users can find all the types of apps they want, be it an app that nudges your customers to leave reviews or boosts your revenue through upselling. You can find any app as per your need on the Shopify App Store.

How does Shopify work for payment plans?

There are three basic plans to select from and a 14-day free trial. All these plans come with different features and pricing.

The first plan is Basic Shopify, which costs $29 per month and is ideal for new merchants. The Basic Shopify plan includes all the basic features. It furnishes users with everything they need to start selling online. 

The second plan is Shopify which costs $79 per month and allows users to create more staff accounts and inventory locations. This plan also lets you create standard reports for sales data.

The third plan is The Advanced Shopify plan which is available for $299 per month and provides lower credit card transaction fees and several advanced features like international pricing.
 

Suggested Reading:

Business Model of Shopify | Complete Guide

How does Shopify work with PickyStory?

One of the leading upselling and cross-selling apps is PickyStory. PickyStory helps business owners generate more revenue from every visitor visiting their Shopify stores. Shopify Store Owners can create a variety of deals to display at various locations throughout their stores with the help of PickyStory. Store owners can add these deals to any page of their website/ store or show them as pop-ups.

Store owners can display add-on products to raise upselling on their product pages. Moreover, they can create a gallery full of attractive illustrations to encourage people to buy more. It also enables customers to build their bundle of items, etc.

One creates PickStory deals with clicks; one does not require coding skills. Also, one can add PickStory values to one's stores in minutes with the help of drag-and-drop features.

How to Grow Your Shopify Store?

One can grow one's Shopify store in numerous ways. Here are a few tips on how to get one started:

Create Ads 

One can run ads on various platforms such as Facebook, Google, and almost any other social network. But one should select the platform where one's target audience spends most of their time. 

The chosen platform should be able to provide your business with expansion and more sales and reach. Facebook and Google are the most popular advertisement platforms to date.

SEO 

One thing that many new Shopify store owners over is eCommerce SEO. SEO is a powerful way of bringing traffic to your website/ online store on Shopify. New store owners prefer using advertisements to using SEO. 

Store owners can drive free organic traffic to their websites with SEO and content marketing. The right strategy can also reduce your acquisition costs and enhance the conversion rate.

Social Media 

Before making one's store public, one should already build an audience. For instance, starting an Instagram account a few weeks before launching one's store lets one promote to an audience at launch. 

Suggested Reading:

Things to keep in mind before developing your online store

Conclusion

Like everything, Shopify has its pros and cons which one needs to consider before making any decisions. One thing that nullifies every con is its PickyStory. PickyStory helps business owners generate more revenue from every visitor visiting their stores. Shopify Store Owners can create a variety of deals to display at various locations throughout their stores with the help of PickyStory. 

Besides it, there are other ways to grow your business such as Creating Ads, SEO, and Social Media.

If you are interested in developing a platform like Shopify to help people sell their products online, Contact AppsRhino today!

AppsRhino is a custom mobile app development that can help you with custom app and web solution just like it does for various industries like:

• Home Services
• Laundry Delivery
• Alcohol Delivery
• Grocery Delivery

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Shopify easy to use for beginners? 

Yes, Shopify is designed to be user-friendly. Its interface is intuitive, and it provides step-by-step guides to help beginners set up their online stores easily.

Can I customize my Shopify store's design? 

Absolutely, Shopify allows extensive customization through themes and templates. Users can personalize their store's look and feel to match their brand.

Does Shopify offer customer support? 

Yes, Shopify provides customer support via multiple channels including live chat, email, and phone. There's also a vast knowledge base available.

Is Shopify suitable for small businesses? 

Yes, Shopify caters to businesses of all sizes. Its scalable nature allows small businesses to start and grow their online presence efficiently.

Can I sell internationally using Shopify? 

Yes, Shopify facilitates global sales by supporting multiple currencies and languages. It also integrates with shipping carriers for international shipping.