Shopify must be doing something right to earn its place as one of the most familiar and accepted eCommerce platforms and its social media selling tools are also popular, but there are also aspects of the service that might not prove that popular with you.
When you are reviewing your payment solutions options Shopify may well be on your radar as one of your options to consider, so here is a look at some of the pros and cons to help you decide whether it is right for your business.
Simple and easy to use
You won’t need much in the way of computer programming skills in order to get up and running with Shopify and one distinct advantage is that it is easy to navigate your way around the features even if you are a virtual novice.
You will be offered a variety of different template designs out of the box and that should be good news for your setup costs as you probably won’t need to go to the expense of hiring someone to help you get your store up and running.
Good scalability
When you first start out with your business your online store will likely be very modest, to begin with, but as your venture grows you want to be able to scale up and expand as quickly and easily as possible.
This is an important consideration as it means that as your store and product range grows over time and the traffic on your site expands you should find that Shopify has been built with scalability in mind.
You don’t want to go through the hassle and expense of changing or extensively redesigning your store as your business grows and one of the reasons why Shopify has proved to be a popular choice is down to the fact that it should be able to adapt to your changing needs.
Take a look at the costs
There is a price that you have to pay for the convenience and ease of use that Shopify delivers and it would be wise to make sure you are fully aware of all the processing and monthly fees that you will be signing up for.
The platform is fully hosted and that means you don’t have to concern yourself with server and maintenance costs, however, you will have to pay for that privilege and if you want to unlock some of the features you will have to upgrade from the basic package.
In addition, you will have to pay a transaction fee for each card payment processed, plus there are additional transaction fees when you use external gateways.
You should be aware that Shopify transaction fees are separate from the pricing structure and even if you decide not to use Shopify Payments you will still be charged their standard subscription on every order processed via your online store.
The bottom line is that Shopify does offer a viable eCommerce platform if you are a startup or small business but the monthly costs and individual transaction fees do need to be taken into account when you are evaluating your options.
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