In the era of digitization, it has become a necessity to get your business online. Ecommerce websites allow you to have large customer base and do online business while using devices that customers already own at a significantly reduced cost and time. The traditional method of creating eCommerce portals has been replaced by the current software for generating shopping carts.
When it comes to the top eCommerce platforms, Shopify is the first name that immediately comes to mind among the various e-commerce platforms available.
Shopify is a well-known eCommerce platform that offers everything you'll need for your online business. This safe eCommerce software is a complete package for your eCommerce website, allowing you to quickly construct different pages with an inbuilt authoring tool; sell, ship, and manage your products in multiple locations with local language support; and customise online stores. It is an easy-to-use tool for online commerce. It allows businesses the flexibility to develop a multi-channel experience that helps showcase the brand.
According to sources, approximately 4.5 million firms in 150+ countries rely on this site. As per Google searches as well, Shopify is ranked among the top 5 best eCommerce platforms for the years 2020 and 2021. It is a one-stop-solution for online businesses that seek to strengthen their online marketplace.
How does Shopify Work?
Shopify operates on a monthly subscription-based Software as a Service (SaaS) model. As it is a cloud-based solution, you won't have to bother about upgrading or maintaining software or web servers. Also, it becomes easy to access and manage your business from any location with an internet connection. With Shopify's online store builder and themes, you can modify the look and feel of your online store. Anyone can own a Shopify store in as little as 15 minutes.
What Can I Sell on Shopify?
Shopify offers solutions for selling services, memberships, event tickets, classes, digital cards, and accepting donations, as well as physical products. In addition, there is no limit to the number of products and services you can sell online. If you trade in intangible products, Shopify is a great option for selling your products online. Things that you can sell through Shopify store (other than products)
- Services (appointments)
- Memberships
- Consultations
- Digital products
- Event support
- Experiences
- Classes, lessons, and workshops
- Rentals
- Installations (and quotes)
- Donations
- Event tickets
- Digital gift cards
If you don't have a product or service, the Drop shipping solutions allow you to sell your products without actually holding inventory.
Why Shopify is among one of the best?
There are several reasons why Shopify is amongst the market leaders in eCommerce Store, for a variety of reasons which are illustrated below:
- Easy to use: Shopify makes it easy to sell goods or services with a minimal amount of setup. The site comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor where you can edit the look of your online store homepage without the need for any coding. This platform offers a complete solution, with no technicalities related to site development and hosting. If you want more control over the look and feel of your homepage, you even have the option to edit your site using code.
- Hosted solution and cloud-based setup: Web hosting can be a real challenge if you are just starting your online business. Hosting a shopping cart requires some technical knowhow which becomes a lot easier with Shopify. Also, as Shopify is a cloud-based setup and hosted solution, so the issues related to servers or databases are resolved. With administrator login details and an internet connection, you can access the store from anywhere without setup. Clouds allow you to run your business with ease. And that cost is included with your subscription, so you have less to worry about.
- Ability to use your own “Domain name”: With Shopify, you can use your own domain name and connect it to Shopify from your store's admin. In case you don’t have a domain name, either buy one through Shopify or through a third-party service.
- Range of themes: With Shopify, you have a wide variety of free as well as paid themes to select from. Shopify's theme store provides a collection of more than 70 high-quality and free e-commerce templates. The template is compatible with products, clothing and fashion, electronics, art, and other types of e-commerce sites.
- Proprietary payment gateway: Maintaining an effective payment process is an important step for e-commerce stores to receive payments from their customers. Shopify accepts a wide range of payment methods, including PayPal, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Not only that, it also offers its own gateway. It does not charge any transaction fees and keeps credit card fees low. To have a merchant account to use this gateway is also not mandatory though, but is rather a convenience. Option to accept cryptocurrency is also offered by Shopify.
- Abandoned cart recovery: The most astonishing feature offered by Shopify is the abandoned cart recovery. What happens if a visitor to your store places a product in their virtual cart but leaves without buying it? Well the abandoned cart recovery feature automatically tracks and emails these potential customers and set reminders for them to complete their transaction. Thus, it helps to create more revenue and returns.
- SEO & Marketing tools: Shopify features advanced SEO capabilities that will help your website rank higher in search results, making it easier for customers to find you. You also have complex algorithms at your disposal, which can inform you where your clients are coming from so that you can customise your marketing accordingly. A wide range of marketing options are available in the app store, such as social network integration, referral marketing, product reviews, eCommerce marketing and email marketing. Users may create personalised online experiences for customers and increase the Return on Investment (ROI) on their marketing spending with these tools.
- Reliable and Safe: If you are operating an eCommerce store, you will have to deal with sensitive information such as :- credit card numbers, net banking details, consumer choices and so on. So it becomes critical that your website is safe, quick and accessible at all times to your consumers. A Shopify expert can easily handle all server maintenance and upgrades for you. Thus ensuring that your store and shopping cart are always accessible and that pages load very quickly.
- Customer service support is available all the year round: Shopify’s philosophy revolves around having great customer support. They are available 24*7 and the reaction time is quite rapid. They are available via phone, email or chat for any queries and issues.
Why do we need a Shopify expert?
Shopify experts are professionals who know how to get the job done? What do customers actually want? And they can even advise on how to do a task to get more and more returns. Yes, it seems to be really easy to navigate through Shopify, but still, there are innumerable benefits associated with hiring a Shopify expert. Some of them are listed below:
- Running a store, online or offline, is itself full of so many responsibilities and tasks. Thus, both the burden and the risk of error increase. So, why not hire an expert and lessen your stress and burden?
- Experts know the online market trends very well, so they make sure to inculcate this knowledge into your online stores to attract more and more customers and keep them engaged.
- They provide high quality work, as they have the proper understanding of Shopify features and functionalities. Thus, they make sure that the task assigned provides the desired outcomes.
- The experts know every minute detail of the platform. Therefore, they can turn your website a really profitable venture.
- Shopify experts are available 24*7. Thus, continuous and efficient support is available to you at all times.
- The default Shopify designs may be sufficient to keep the online store up and running, but if you really want to customise them according to your taste and preferences, you should hire an expert.
Shopify as a platform stands out from the competition. Shopify is often regarded as the most user-friendly platform for both small and large eCommerce enterprises. This technology helps save expenditure across the spectrum by streamlining customer relationship management, inventory management, transactions, and more, thus providing merchants with all the tools they need to create beautiful eCommerce websites. Still, you should examine what you are seeking and the rewards versus aspects of operating your eCommerce business to determine if Shopify is the ideal answer for you. And when you decide on Shopify, hiring an expert it is a win-win situation.
