A Simple Intro To Shopify: How To Get Started

Worldwide retail e-commerce sales are projected to surpass $8 trillion by 2026. That’s a substantial rise from just over $1 trillion less than a decade ago. Forward-looking businesses are capitalizing on this growth by launching online stores to reach new customers and generate more sales.

Unfortunately though, there are still a lot of entrepreneurs today who don’t know how to build and grow their own websites, so they rely on markets like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy. Although these marketplaces offer sellers a great outlet in the early stages of building online businesses, you’ll eventually need your own online storefront to unlock your business’s full potential.

This article is for business owners looking for the simplest way to get an online store up and running. Here you’ll learn everything you need to get started with a hugely popular and easy-to-use online store builder called Shopify.

What is Shopify?

If you spend any amount of time online, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Shopify. But what is it, exactly?

In a nutshell, Shopify is an all-in-one merchant platform that gives businesses the building blocks they need to create a store and make money online.

Founded in 2006, Shopify has ballooned in popularity in recent years because it’s affordable, simple to use, and provides all the tools you need to succeed. Even if you don’t have experience building or managing online stores, Shopify makes it easy to get started.

The platform is designed to accommodate a wide assortment of businesses, whether you’re selling physical goods, digital products, or services. Plus, many plugins and add-ons are available through the Shopify app store that can help fine-tune your shop to fit your specific business needs.

Click here to try Shopify for free!

Bestseller No. 1

Shopify: Beginner to Pro Guide - The Comprehensive Guide: (Shopify, Shopify Pro, Shopify Store, Shopify Dropshipping, Shopify Beginners Guide)

Short, Timothy (Author)
English (Publication Language)
60 Pages - 07/25/2016 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)

Why Use Shopify?

At its core, Shopify stitches together payment processing, merchandising, inventory management, marketing, customer relations, and shipping into one unified platform.

While it’s best known for e-commerce, Shopify can be used to manage both online and in-person stores – from startups selling handcrafted products via social media to brick-and-mortar popups that require traditional technologies such as barcode scanners and cash registers.

Since it’s a cloud-based platform, entrepreneurs can operate their Shopify store from practically anywhere in the world using any device that has access to the web. Perhaps, this is how they have gained millions of loyal customers spread across 175 different countries.

Having such a massive customer base gives Shopify a unique vantage point over the industry, allowing them to spot trends and quickly build new features that help businesses thrive today and future-proof themselves for tomorrow.

While the internet is a powerful resource for small business owners, online retail is still dominated mainly by big players like Amazon and Alibaba. Shopify levels the playing field for small businesses by providing them with a platform that takes care of all the complex backend operations. Small businesses can focus on their core competencies and day-to-day operations rather than be bogged down by technical details like server maintenance, upgrades, and scaling.

Key Benefits of Using Shopify?

There are several benefits to using Shopify for your business:

User-friendly. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, you’ll be able to easily create and manage your store. Shopify offers a wide range of templates that can be easily customized to match your brand, and its drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create eye-catching stores without any coding knowledge.
Cost-effective. No cost or credit card is required to sign up for the free trial. Once the trial is over, users can move forward with 3 months of Shopify Basic for only $1 per month. After the introductory offer, prices start as low as $29.99 a month. Click here to try Shopify for free!
Feature packed.Shopify offers a vast selection of over 2,000 plugins and add-ons, so you can tailor your store to your specific business. Need a plugin to handle language translation? No problem! SEO analytics? No problem! Marketing tools? There are plugins for that too!
World-class support. Shopify has a team of support experts available 24/7 to answer questions and help businesses resolve issues that arise. This level of support is extremely helpful, especially for small e-commerce shops that aren’t familiar with all the ins and outs of running an online store.

As you can see, Shopify comes with some serious peace of mind. In the past, online companies had to hire expensive web developers to piece together different tools and platforms to build their ideas. Now with Shopify taking care of all the heavy lifting, and you only need to focus on handling your business and its customers

Key Disadvantages of Using Shopify?

At this point, you should have a solid understanding of the reasons why Shopify has become a leader in the e-commerce space. However, to suggest that the platform is completely flawless would be untrue. In this section, we’ll highlight three significant disadvantages of using Shopify.

Feature Lock. Currently, Shopify offers several different plans, from the cheapest, known as Shopify Basic ($29.99 per month), to the most expensive, Shopify Plus ($2,000 per month). While $29.99/mo isn’t too much for most businesses, the features you get at that level are limited, meaning some businesses will need to opt into one of the mid-tier options, priced at $79 and $299 per month.
Cost to Customize. In addition to paying for Shopify itself, many plugins require users to pay a monthly fee. Plugin prices range from a few dollars to as much as $1000 or more every month. And if you can’t find the feel and functionality you’re looking for by using apps and themes, you’ll have to create a fully customized experience. If you’re not well-versed in web design and coding, you’ll have to settle or be willing to shell out extra money to hire a Shopify developer who can execute your vision.
Migration Challanges. Building a brand new Shopify store is relatively straightforward. However, if you’re migrating an existing shop to or from the platform, there are several obstacles you’ll need to navigate. For one, some websites have had their SEO score take a hit after mismanaging their blog migration. Another common pain point is ensuring that customer data is transferred correctly. Minor dissimilarities in how the different backends handle data can result in your customers losing access to their accounts if certain precautions aren’t taken.

In Conclusion

Shopify is one of the best ways to start making money online by selling products directly to your customers. It’s easy to use and provides everything you need to create a professional online storefront.

We hope this article was helpful in introducing you to the platform, and we encourage you to give it a try.

Click here to try Shopify for free!

Bestseller No. 1

Shopify: Beginner to Pro Guide - The Comprehensive Guide: (Shopify, Shopify Pro, Shopify Store, Shopify Dropshipping, Shopify Beginners Guide)

Short, Timothy (Author)
English (Publication Language)
60 Pages - 07/25/2016 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)

Bestseller No. 2