Shopify Review 2024: Key Features, Pros and Cons of E-commerce Website Builder

Shopify Review 2024: Key Features, Pros and Cons of Ecommerce Website Builder

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Is Shopify any good?

This question has been asked a lot on Google search queries and I think it’s relevant to tackle this concern by giving you my honest opinions based on dedicated research.

In fact, individuals and small businesses are struggling to find the right website builder that provides the necessary resources and features to build an ecommerce website and start selling products online.

Shopify is a powerful eCommerce website builder that has a wide range of superior features and resources to help you build an online store successfully.

In this Shopify review, you will discover how it works, explore key features and their benefits to your business, as well as learn some pros and cons. 

What is Shopify?

Shopify is the global ecommerce website builder that allows businesses of all sizes and individuals to start, launch, and manage their online stores and make money by selling products online.

With a variety of useful features, small business owners and entrepreneurs have all the available tools they need to sell physical products on their websites, social media, and online marketplace.

Shopify successfully launched its first initial public offering back in May 2015 on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges ( Shopify IPO).

At the time of writing, the ecommerce platform has empowered millions of ecommerce businesses in more than 175 countries across the globe, helping businesses generate over $444 billion in global revenue.

Related reading: Squarespace Review 2024: Features and Pros & Cons of Website Builder

How does Shopify work?

With Shopify’s advanced tools and features, you can access this all-in-one ecommerce platform to build an online store successfully using advanced inventory, and order management systems, as well as handle your store payment.

Here are the four main steps to start, build, market, and manage your ecommerce website with Shopify:

• Build an online store: at this stage, the priority is to select the available customization and responsive theme that fits your online store, using the drag-and-drop feature to create and design your website to your own needs.
• Start selling your online or physical product: after setting up payment methods like PayPal or Stripe, now is the time to upload products online and sell globally.
• Grow ecommerce business: sell products online on multiple channels, like marketplaces, online stores, social media, etc. Access to web analytics to understand clients’ behavior and their preferences.
• Manage ecommerce store: track sales and order inventory, shipping rates, and manage payment processing on the platform.

Shopify pretty much handles much of the behind-scenes tasks to help you build an ecommerce website and manage your online order.

It provides all the necessary tools and a platform, so you can concentrate on finding high-quality products and make money online by selling to your customers.

Build your online store using a 3-day free trial ( without any credit card required), after that, you only pay $1 for your first 3 months to run your ecommerce business:

⇒ Grab a free trial with Shopify

What are Shopify features and benefits?

Depending on your business needs and budget, Shopify has varying levels of features that empower businesses of all sizes to sell their physical products online on a global scale:

Here are some standout features I believe will determine as main factors for your final decision:

• Pre-designed themes
• Access to free business tools
• Multi-channel sales
• Manage different forms of payments
• Manage your stocks and orders effectively
• Fast shipping orders

Let’s dive into the details of each feature and its benefits, so you can use the platform effectively and scale your business in terms of boosting sales revenue.

Pre-designed themes

Building an ecommerce website is never been easy with Shopify as it has a variety of premium and free themes, all suitable for different types of business needs, like baby& home care, clothing, and electronics.

It takes a few minutes to install the theme you like and scale your online business.

Choosing any theme from Shopify, you receive a pack of building features, including offering discounts, capturing customer emails, suggesting products to customers, etc.

Another benefit you should consider using Shopify themes is that most of them are lightweight and user-friendly, which can boost your site’s core web vitals and optimize for search engines.

Access to free business tools

Once you choose any membership plan, you can take advantage of free tools to create, manage, and scale your ecommerce business.

Specifically, it provides everything you need to build an ecommerce website and start selling products online:

• Logo creation
• Business name idea
• Slogan generator
• Tool for business card creation
• Available order templates
• QR code generator
• Invoice generator

Access to those free tools gives retail businesses and individuals an upper hand to manage and grow their platforms.

Multi-channel sales

With multi-sale channels, Shopify sellers can reach millions of customers on different channels, including Facebook, TikTok, eBay, Walmart, Amazon, Google search, and B2B sales, to name a few.

You can select one of those platforms that fit your business-targeted audience and brand reputation, then you can use the Shopify dashboard to manage orders from all selling platforms.

Manage different forms of payments

Shopify sellers don’t need to go through a lengthy process to install third-party payment on their online store. With just one click, they can turn on the Shopify payments.

What they need to do is to log into Shopify and enable some popular payment methods, like credit cards, PayPal, Visa, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.

Manage your stocks and orders effectively

With the sophisticated invention management system, you can easily manage and track all products that are currently being sent from suppliers, and understand current stocks in the warehouse and stocks that are running low.

You can track the number of online orders on the Shopify dashboard, and use the order management and fulfillment feature to manage multiple orders using add notes, search tags, or filters.

Both you and the customers can track the order delivery status, and in case of communication, you can SMS the customer to notify them about their order status.

Fast shipping orders

Shopify store owners can start shipping the order faster, through built-in shipping rate comparisons, label printing, and partnerships with leading carriers.

You also can receive up to 88% discount shipping rate with some industry shipping leaders, like DHL, UPS, and USPS.

⇒ Get Started with Shopify for free, and receive $1 per month for the first 3 months

How much does Shopify cost?

In terms of Shopify plans pricing, there are 3 main paid subscription plans that offer a varying level of features for different businesses’ needs:

• Basic: 25$ per month, it is a starting option for individuals and small businesses to access all basic features like building an ecommerce website, managing and shipping orders, and accepting payments. It also includes up to 1,000 inventory locations and allows 2 employee accounts.
• Shopify: $65 per month, this Shopify pricing plan is a perfect match for small businesses with 5 employee accounts and access to professional reports.
• Advance: $399 per month, this plan is an ideal solution for medium to large businesses with 15 staff accounts and can custom professional reports.

You can take advantage of the 24/7 live chat support feature to make inquiries regarding order issues, shipping rates, or any necessary support you need, this feature is available for all Shopify plans.

Shopify pros and cons

I analyzed all key features and their functionalities, so you can be able to use Shopify ecommerce website builder effectively. 

Every top website builder has its weaknesses, and here are the pros and cons of Shopify:

Pros

• Shopify offers a wide range of top features for all types of businesses’ needs.
• Allow businesses to manage multiple sales channels, like Facebook, Google Search, Amazon, etc.
• Provide 24/7 live chat support to customers with any inquiries.
• Manage and track all products that are currently being sent from suppliers, and understand current stocks in the warehouse and stocks that are running low.

Cons

• Doesn’t offer any free plan.
• Shopify price plans are a bit higher than other e-commerce platforms.
• The basic plan only offers 2 staff accounts, which I feel may not be enough for small businesses.

What are other Shopify alternatives?

Besides this top ecommerce website builder, there are other alternatives to Shopify you may consider using based on your business expectations and budget:

• Squarespace: is also a leading ecommerce platform that offers several great features ( membership sites, schedule appointments, and pre-built templates) for businesses and individuals to launch and sell products online. 
• BigCommerce: is another world large ecommerce website builder platform, it has a wide variety of top features, like the design for the Saas platform, stock management & order management, and payment processing system, to name a few.

Final thoughts on the Shopify review

Shopify is one of the world’s largest ecommerce website builder platforms that offers many useful features to help individuals and businesses of all sizes build and scale their online stores successfully.

You should consider taking advantage of features, like multi-channel sales, stock inventory, and order features, as well as fast shipping to track and monitor orders and stock inventory properly.

The direct approach to see whether Shopify is the right one for your business is to take a free trial and start paying $1 for your first three months.

You will get familiar with all features and learn how to use this ecommerce website builder platform effectively.

Additional reading resources:

BigCommerce Review: Features & How it Works

How to Increase Traffic From Quora: 6 Free Traffic Methods

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