Shopify Has Been An Overwhelming Success
Across a slew of eCommerce options, one platform has emerged as a standout success story – Shopify. What began as a humble startup in 2006 has now become the go-to eCommerce platform for businesses of all sizes. We explore the advantages that have made Shopify into the dominant eCommerce platform.
17 Benefits Of Using Shopify For Your Online Store
Easy To Use
1. User-Friendly Interface
One of the fundamental reasons behind Shopify’s success is its user-friendly interface and ease of use. From the beginning, the platform was designed to cater to non-tech-savvy entrepreneurs who wanted to start an online store without the hassle of dealing with complex coding and website development. Shopify’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, pre-designed templates, and extensive app ecosystem make it accessible to everyone, from small mom-and-pop shops to multinational corporations.
2. Simple Setup
Designed for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, Shopify requires no technical expertise to get your store up and running.
The platform offers step-by-step guidance, pre-designed templates, and an intuitive dashboard that lets you add products, set up payment gateways, and customize your store’s look in just a few clicks. Shopify also provides built-in features like automatic tax calculations and shipping integrations, reducing the time and effort needed to configure essential business operations.
3. Affordable Pricing & Low Startup Costs
Shopify offers a range of pricing plans designed to accommodate businesses at various stages, ensuring there’s always a plan that aligns with your budget.
The Basic Plan starts at $56AUD per month, with no setup fee, and this plan is enough for most small businesses who need under 5 staff accounts.
Easy To Manage
4. Security & Reliability
When running an online store, the security and reliability of your platform are non-negotiable. Shopify takes these concerns seriously by providing built-in SSL certification and PCI compliance, ensuring that all data transfers—such as payment and customer information—are encrypted and secure.
For store owners, this means peace of mind knowing their business is protected from potential cyber threats and that customers can shop with confidence. Shopify’s robust infrastructure guarantees high uptime, ensuring that your store is always available to customers. With dependable performance and minimal downtime, you can focus on growing your business rather than worrying about technical issues.
Additionally, Shopify handles server maintenance, updates, and backups, sparing business owners from the complexities of managing backend systems. By providing a secure and reliable foundation, Shopify helps you build trust with customers while ensuring smooth, uninterrupted business operations.
5. Mobile-First Approach
As mobile commerce continues to dominate the online retail landscape, Shopify has been proactive in adopting a mobile-first approach. With mobile responsiveness built into their themes and a seamless mobile shopping experience, Shopify merchants can capitalise on the growing number of customers who prefer to shop on their smartphones and tablets.
6. 24/7 Support
Shopify offers a range of different support services available to both users and business owners 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The support centre lets you talk in real-time with a Shopify employee via voice chat or via instant messaging. You also have the option to read through the articles published in the help centre if you need help with frequently asked questions.
There’s also a community support centre that allows users to post articles and comments requesting help. This allows other users to learn from the endeavours of others and ask the Shopify community for help and advice.
Does The Hard Work For You
7. Versatility and Scalability
Shopify’s versatility has played a significant role in its rapid rise to prominence. It has proven to be equally effective for various types of businesses, from retail to subscription-based services, dropshipping, and digital products. Additionally, as businesses grow, Shopify scales with them, offering a range of pricing plans and features that suit different needs. This adaptability has attracted businesses at all stages of development, enabling them to build and grow their online presence with ease.
8. Tax Handled For You
Shopify simplifies sales tax with automatic tax calculations. The platform calculates sales taxes based on your store’s location and the customer’s shipping address, ensuring compliance with local tax regulations.
For business owners, this means less time spent researching tax laws or manually applying rates for different regions. Shopify’s system is regularly updated to reflect the latest tax rules, so you can rest assured that your store remains compliant as regulations change.
9. POS Integration
Shopify’s Point of Sale (POS) system seamlessly bridges the gap between your online store and physical retail locations, providing a unified platform to manage sales, inventory, and customer data across all channels.
10. Suits Many Business Models
Shopify is designed to accommodate a diverse range of e-commerce business models, making it a versatile choice for entrepreneurs. Whether you’re selling physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions, or running a dropshipping operation, Shopify provides the tools and integrations needed to manage your business effectively.
This flexibility means you can adapt and expand your offerings without switching platforms. This adaptability ensures that your store can grow and evolve alongside your goals, providing a stable foundation for success regardless of your business model.
Grow Your Business
11. Powerful App Ecosystem
Shopify’s extensive app ecosystem has been a game-changer for its users. The platform provides an App Store with over 10,000 third-party apps that cater to almost any specific requirement an online store might have. These apps range from marketing and SEO tools to inventory management, customer service, and integrations with other business systems. This ecosystem empowers businesses to customise their stores and optimise their operations, making Shopify a comprehensive one-stop solution for eCommerce.
12. Marketing Integration
Shopify also offers powerful integration with a range of marketing software, such as email marketing platforms, social media platforms and analytics software. By integrating your e-commerce website with marketing software, you can streamline your marketing and gain valuable insights into user behavior. This can help you to improve your marketing campaigns, increase sales, and grow your business.
13. Inbuilt Marketing Tools
Shopify provides you with all the tools you need to market your products to new and existing customers. Whether you’re an experienced marketing professional or only just beginning, Shopify provides a number of inbuilt marketing tools to help you boost your products into the world of eCommerce.
Shopify Blogs allow you to write regular content on topics that your consumers may be searching for. Writing regular blogs can help boost your site’s SEO and provide relevant information about your business and products to potential consumers. Your blog can be attached to your Shopify website without the need for any external site links.
Shopify also offers a number of additional SEO tools. The platform will guide you through optimising your site including implementing auto-generated and manually added keywords, URL optimisation, custom domain name options, and meta descriptions.
You can track how your store is progressing with Shopify’s inbuilt insights features.
14. Social Media Connectivity
If you want to sync your social media to your eCommerce platform, Shopify is a great choice. Cross compatibility with many different social media platforms makes it very easy to share your products with your followers or reach out to new consumers through marketing channels.
You can Sync your existing Facebook Shop with your newly created Shopify Store. This allows your Facebook followers to easily access your Shopify website and stay up to date with new product releases. You can also integrate Shopify into your Instagram business profile with shoppable posts. Shoppable posts make it easy for current and new followers to find products featured in your posts and shop directly through Instagram without needing to leave the platform.
Focus On Design
15. Custom Design Or Choose From A Range Of themes
Gone are the days when the online shopping experience is bland and boring. Digital consumers expect a certain level of professionalism and creativity from eCommerce businesses.
Businesses can build their website from scratch using a custom design – allowing them to choose every colour and detail to create a strong and unique brand identity. Shopify also offers a wide selection of professionally designed themes. These themes are fully customisable – this makes designing your website easy, fast and convenient, no design skills necessary!
With mobile responsiveness built into every theme, you can ensure your store looks great and performs well on all devices, helping to attract and retain customers across platforms. Shopify’s diverse theme library empowers you to create a visually appealing and functional store that stands out from the competition.
16. Custom Development & API
Another advantage of Shopify is the ability to execute a custom and development design for your website. Whether you want a clean and simple design or a more complex layout, Shopify gives us the ability to build a custom theme focused on your brand and the user experience needed for the target audience.
Developers can harness Shopify’s robust APIs and development tools to create custom themes, design unique user interfaces, and integrate third-party applications seamlessly. Whether it’s modifying the checkout process, implementing advanced shipping options, or integrating personalised marketing tools, Shopify’s focus on customisation and rich developer community ensure that the platform can be moulded and adapted to cater to diverse business needs.
17. Constant Innovation
Shopify’s continuous drive for innovation has kept it ahead of the curve in the eCommerce space. The company consistently rolls out updates and new features to improve user experience and address emerging trends in the industry. From AI-powered product recommendations to augmented reality shopping experiences, Shopify ensures its merchants have access to cutting-edge technologies that can boost their online sales and engagement.
If you’d like to talk to one of our eCommerce experts about your building or maintaining your online store, you can contact us here.
