Everything You Need to Know About Shopify
Are you ready to create your own Shopify store? Maybe you got an amazing business idea. Maybe you want to stay ahead of the competition by building a strong online presence. No matter what your purpose is, you can use Shopify to build your online store within a few minutes.
Wait! Before you start building your Shopify store, learning all about its features and benefits is important.
Here’s everything you need to know about Shopify before you sign up for your Shopify account –
What is Shopify And How Does it Work?
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that allows you to build your online store. Using this subscription-based software, you can set up your eCommerce store quickly & easily. They offer a wide range of Shopify templates, and you can customize them with logos, videos, text, etc.
Since Shopify is a cloud-based solution, you can operate your eCommerce store from anywhere using the internet. Just sign up for an account and get access to the Shopify dashboard to manage everything in your online store.
If you are already using an eCommerce builder, you can migrate to Shopify to enjoy various features discussed in the next section
Major Features of Shopify
Fully Customizable
Every business is unique. So, they require a custom online store to help their customers find what they want.
Shopify is a fully-customizable eCommerce platform, which allows you to build an online store that aligns with your business objectives. You can easily add, delete or rearrange different sections.
The best part is, unlike building an online store using open-source platforms, you don’t have to pay for website maintenance, software updates, etc.
To learn more about open-source vs Software-as-a-Service, check out our previous blog – Open Source or SaaS – What’s Best For Your Business?
Add Unlimited Products
Shopify provides you with unlimited bandwidth and online storage. That means you can add as many products to your online store. This feature is available on all plans.
Shopify Online Store 2.0 allows merchants to add more information about their products without changing the code. Previously, merchants had to alter the code to do so.
No doubt, by providing additional information about your products (such as how to use them), you can attract more customers.
Shopify POS
Shopify POS (Point of Sale) allows you to sell your products and accept payments easily.
Shopify offers two POS subscription plans, Shopify POS Lite and Shopify POS Pro. Each plan offers different features.
Buy Now, Pay Later
With Shopify stores, merchants can offer their customers flexible financing options. The “Buy Now, Pay Later” feature enables customers to split their purchases into 4 equal installments (with no additional costs).
By allowing customers to split their bills into interest-free installments, you can increase the conversion rate by up to 50 percent.
Gift Cards
Gift cards are a great way to boost awareness and increase the customer base. Merchants can issue gift cards for customer promotions. Unlike discount codes, gift cards can be used on more than one visit to the store.
What’s more? Shopify allows merchants to design and customize gift cards for their customers.
Multiple Sales Channels
Shopify allows you to sell your products through multiple sales channels. Simply connect your store to different online channels and start selling.
For instance, you can sell your products on Facebook. Just add products to the shop tab and increase your reach and sales.
Here are some other sales channels you can integrate your Shopify store with-
★ Shop
★ Instagram
★ Buy Button
★ Messenger
★ Wholesale Channel
★ Handshake
Add Manual Orders
Using Shopify, merchants can create orders on behalf of their customers and accept payments. This helps them keep track of orders received over the phone or in person.
After creating draft orders, merchants can send invoices to customers. Draft orders are converted into orders after the customers complete the payment process.
Staff Logins
For business people, it’s hard to manage all their tasks themselves. Shopify allows merchants to grant permissions to their staff members to handle important tasks such as order creation, order processing, etc.
Moreover, you can hire collaborators for your Shopify store to manage certain tasks for you.
Abandoned Cart Recovery
Not all customers who start the checkout process complete it. With Shopify, you can send automatic emails to customers who abandon their orders. Create custom emails with discount codes, and encourage your customers who left your online store to come back and increase your sales.
24/7 Customer Support
Shopify offers 24/7 customer support to help merchants set up and operate their online stores. Merchants can contact the support team by phone and live chat in English. Additionally, Shopify provides 24/7 email support in Chinese, Spanish, Danish, English, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Italian, etc.
Shopify vs Shopify Plus
Shopify and Shopify Plus work the same way. Both use the same dashboard, editor, and support center. However, Shopify Plus provides you with more control over designing and managing your online store.
Shopify is perfect for small businesses while Shopify Plus is good for medium to large-sized businesses that sell thousands of products every day.
Shopify has three core plans-
1. Basic Shopify – $29/month
2. Shopify – $79/month
3. Advanced Shopify – $299/month
If you are using Shopify Plus, you have to pay 0.25 percent of sales volume per month (with a minimum of $2,000 per month).
Unlike Shopify, Shopify Plus provides you with more flexibility to create your custom online store. You will get a dedicated launch manager who will write codes for you. Moreover, you can customize the checkout page.
Other Shopify Plus features, which you don’t get in Shopify plans are-
❖ Sell your products directly on different marketplaces, such as Amazon, Facebook, etc.
❖ Add unlimited staff accounts
❖ Connect to more third-party apps through APIs
❖ Access to exclusive apps, such as Launchpad, Shopify Flow, Wholesale Channel, etc.
❖ Access to the Merchant Success Program to get the right support and training to meet your business goals
Negative Aspects of Shopify
Harder to Customize Themes
Although Shopify allows merchants to customize theme settings, there are some limitations. All Shopify themes are coded in Liquid. Unless you know how to code in Liquid, it makes theme customization a difficult task for you. Thus, you may need to hire Shopify-certified developers to build a custom online store.
Pricing Structure
Shopify offers merchants a wide range of features, but all are not free. You have to pay for them. For instance, you won’t get features such as fraud analysis, real-time shipping rate, and gift cards in the basic plan.
How to Create Your Shopify Store?
Create Your Shopify Account
Set up your Shopify account. Provide your email address, username, password, the name of the store, and your personal information, and click on the “Get Started” button. Shopify offers new merchants a 14-day free trial.
Select a Theme & Customize Your Store
You can find a wide range of free and premium themes in the Shopify Theme Store. Pick a theme, and customize its fonts, colors, slides, etc. or add/remove custom sections according to your needs.
If you need help related to customizing your theme, you can hire our Shopify experts.
Add Products
The next step is to add products you want to sell using your online store. To do so, go to the “Product” tab and click “Add Product.” To help your customers buy the right products, add appropriate product titles, descriptions, photos, and prices.
Set up a Payment Processor
Shopify provides you with many options for accepting payments from your customers. You can opt for the Shopify payment processor or a third-party system.
Ready to Go
With all these tasks you have done so far, your Shopify store is ready to go. The final step is to disable password protection, thus allowing customers to visit your Shopify store & buy your products.
Next, you can perform various marketing activities to deliver a smooth customer experience and increase sales. These include integrating your store with relevant sales channels, customizing email notifications, adding website performance & analytics tools, etc.
What Can You Sell on Shopify?
Using your Shopify store, you can sell physical products, such as-
❖ Food products
❖ Health and fitness equipment
❖ Electronic devices
❖ Travel Accessories
❖ Kitchen Accessories
❖ Gaming products
❖ Car Accessories
❖ Mobile Accessories
❖ Pet supplies
❖ CBD products
❖ Toys
❖ Health & safety products
❖ Clothes
❖ Baby care products
Moreover, you can sell services, memberships, consultations, event tickets, experiences, event support, rentals, online courses, and digital gift cards
Key Takeaways
Shopify is a SaaS-based software that allows you to build your custom online store hassle-free. You can choose from a variety of themes and add unlimited products to your store. Shopify offers a wide range of features for promoting products and boosting sales.
You can sell a wide range of products and services on your Shopify store. Select a Shopify plan and get started today.
Need professional help to create your Shopify store? Hire certified Shopify developers from Tech Prastish Software Solutions Pvt Ltd. Established in 2008, we specialize in providing Shopify development services and integrated software solutions. Explore our website to learn more about our services, team, design, and development processes.
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