Hey, it's Chris from Style Factory here.
In this Shopify review, I'm going to show you the key things that you really need to
know about the platform. I'm going to highlight the seven really good things about Shopify
and the seven bad things you absolutely need to watch out for.
So stay tuned to find out if Shopify is the right ecommerce platform for you.
Let's dive right into the good stuff first.
One — Shopify is easy to use.
Shopify has been designed for a non-technical audience. You don't need to install any software
on your computer — all you need is a web browser and access to the internet.
The interface is pretty user friendly, and
you can use Shopify to build a very professional-looking
store without any coding being necessary.
Two — the templates are good.
There's a decent selection of free templates included with Shopify, and they look great.
They're all responsive, meaning they'll display nicely on any device.
And if you don't like the free options, there's a wide range of premium themes available too.
Three — abandoned cart saving is available on all plans.
Abandoned cart saving lets you identify visitors who nearly bought something from your store,
only to change their mind at the last minute.
Once you know who these users are, you can then send them an email with a discount code
that encourages them to complete their purchase.
The good news is that unlike many of its competitors,
Shopify includes this important functionality on all its plans, even its entry level one.
Four — it's great for dropshipping.
Dropshipping lets you sell products without keeping any of them in stock. You take an
order, send it to a supplier and they deliver the goods to your customer.
Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms for merchants who want to dropship, because
it offers a really wide range of dropshipping apps that let you sell lots of different goods
from lots of different suppliers.
Five — it performs tax calculations automatically.
One of the challenges of selling online is that you can end up making sales in places
with different tax rates — something you have to reflect in the pricing of your products.
Thankfully, Shopify works out the tax rates automatically for merchants based in the U.S.
and Canada, and it also handles the EU's VAT MOSS rules on digital products really well.
Six — it has built in email marketing.
In addition to letting you build an online store, Shopify lets you host a mailing list
and send e-newsletters to it, and it lets you do this very cheaply too.
Seven — it’s good for selling in physical locations.
Shopify has one of the most comprehensive point-of-sale feature sets available. You
can integrate the platform with a wide range of point-of-sale hardware, like card readers,
barcode scanners, receipt printers and tills.
This lets you sell products easily in retail outlets, pop-up shops or market stalls, and
keep all your inventory in sync.
OK, so that's the good stuff. Now let's look at seven things that might make you think
twice about Shopify.
But before we do that, it would be great if you could just give this video a thumbs up,
hit the subscribe button and click the notifications
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Right, so let's discuss where Shopify gets the thumbs down.
One — you can only have three options per product.
Shopify is a lot more restrictive than other platforms when it comes to product options:
there's a limit of three, so if your products come in lots of shapes and sizes, you might
need to think about using a different platform or paying extra for a Shopify app that lets
you create more options.
Two - adding custom fields is hard.
If you're a merchant who needs to capture personalized information at checkout — for
example, text for an engraving — then you might get a bit frustrated by Shopify.
Adding custom fields involves either adding some code to your site or again paying extra
for a Shopify app that provides this functionality.
Three — professional reporting costs extra.
If you're somebody who loves to pour over sales data, you're going to have to pay extra
to get it with Shopify.
Full reporting features are only available on the more expensive plans.
Four - you pay extra to use a third party payment gateway. If you don't want to
use Shopify's built in payment processor, Shopify Payments, you're charged a transaction
fee on each sale. This can make things more expensive, particularly for users in countries
where Shopify Payments isn't available.
Five — full point of sale functionality is expensive.
Although you can do a lot with the built in Shopify point of sale functionality, to get
the most out of it, you’ll need to pay quite a lot extra every month for a Shopify POS
Pro add on.
This lets you use POS in multiple locations, print custom receipts, add unlimited members
of staff and more — but it's pricey.
Six — you often need to buy an app to obtain a key feature.
Some key features that you might expect to be built into Shopify are either missing or
a bit inadequate, and you will often have
to resort to using an app to gain the functionality
you need.
Examples of this include fully automatic currency conversion, GDPR or CCPA compliant cookie
notices, and the ability to let users upload files at checkout.
Seven — real carrier shipping is only available on the most expensive plans.
If you want to automatically display carrier shipping rates on Shopify, you'll need to
be on one of its most expensive plans, pay for a monthly add on or subscribe to the platform
on an annual basis. Many competing platforms offer real time carrier shipping at a lower
price point.
So there we have it — the main good things and bad things about Shopify.
There's a lot more pros and cons to discover, however, so do check out our full review on
the Style Factory website.
You'll find the details for this below this video along with a link to a free Shopify
trial.
If you enjoyed the Shopify review, please do give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our
YouTube channel for all the latest tips on ecommerce and running an online business.
And finally, if you have any questions about Shopify, make sure you add a comment below
— I do my best to answer all of them.
Thanks for watching.