Shopify is a popular cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) e-commerce solution, which lets you set up an online store for your goods and services. It comes with a wide range of features, which allow you to organise your products, personalise your storefront, accept credit card payments, and track your orders. It is built on Ruby on Rails, a proprietary e-commerce platform. However, unlike Woocommerce, it does not come with a feature-packed content management system.
STRENGTHS
- A plethora of themes to choose from - Shopify comes with a variety of themes to make your store stand out from the crowd. Just check out our theme gallery for options.
- Customise your website with over a thousand of apps to choose from - While Shopify, in itself is already feature-rich, you can choose to customise your website further, with a collection of professionally built apps from the Shopify App Store.
- All-in-one solution - Shopify comes with all the bells and whistles necessary for running an e-commerce site (depending on your subscription package), from SEO and analytics, to SSL’s, Shopify has all features you need to run your business online. They also have an app store, if you want to customise your website further.
- Security - Shopify is Level 1-PCI Compliant, thus guaranteeing your customers credit card data are kept secure. Plus, all Shopify website come with a 256-bit SSL certificate. However, website needs to be eligible to have the SSL certificate activated.
- Unlimited bandwidth - You won’t have to worry about additional charges or outages on your website for traffic spikes, thanks to Shopify’s cloud hosting.
- Good support - Shopify has a huge database of FAQ’s, plus a reliable chat, email and phone support with knowledgeable representatives.
WEAKNESSES
- If there’s anything Shopify can’t provide, it’s a feature-rich content management system. As Shopify is focused on helping you build an e-commerce site, content management has become merely an afterthought (but unless you’re also doing content marketing, this wouldn’t be much of a problem).
- Shopify has little room for under-the-hood customisation, unless you’re familiar with their .liquid template.
STANDARD FEATURES
Core Features
- User-friendly interface - Shopify’s streamlined interface lets you manage your ecommerce shop without hassle. Its dashboard features important shop information at a glance when you log in, plus inventory log-ins and real-time statistics.
- Product Management - Shopify’s product management interface includes:
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- Easy adding and management of products
- Inventory tracking
- Drag-and-drop product image management
- Product variants for inventory tracking, prices and weights
- Keyword tagging for easy internal search and browsing
- Fulfillment services for shipping
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- Order management - Shopify’s order features include:
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- Order notifications via email, SMS or RSS
- Ability to email clients via Shopify
- Payment and shipping status tracking for detailed reports
- Order filters
- Ability to export orders in CSV format
- Realtime notifications for orders
- Order cancellation with automated chargeback options
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- E-commerce Marketing - Your shop is designed with SEO in mind, and it comes with the following marketing features:
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- Flexible coupon code creation
- One-click submission to Google Shopping
- Automatic gneeration of XML sitemaps
- Price comparisons
Core plugins
- S-Loyalty - An application that allows you to easily setup and design a loyalty program for your clients. It comes with a full range of features and options to deliver a customised loyalty program experience for your customers.
RECOMMENDED FOR
Shopify is recommended for small to medium sized businesses who are primarily focused on selling.
GUIDES AND RESOURCES
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