Shopify

Everything You Need to Know About Shopify & How it Can Benefit Your Business

Let’s say that you have an idea of selling your own-designed t-shirts online. However, you do not have any clue about how to do it. That’s where you need assistance. Here in this article, you will learn about Shopify and get the detailed answers to your “What is Shopify?” and “How does Shopify work?” questions. It is software that provides online store setups for anyone interested in selling via digital platforms. You have the chance to sell both physically and digitally. This software also allows your business’ inventory and stock information to get synchronized together, letting the inventory management be at ease. Furthermore, Shopify gives you the dream business you’ve wanted all along with its seamless features and user-friendly interface. To better understand the software, we need to explain the “commerce platform” side in-depth. It is an online store builder and a whole package of business needs. A regular online store has to list its products, do the marketing, ship the sold wares, receive the payment and manage the rest of the operation all by itself. On the contrary, a user could do all these necessities in one place and gain time for other stuff. Briefly, lets you start and maintain your business wherever you are with its practical tools in one spot.

What Does Shopify Promise For Your Business?

Shopify gives you everything you need to start an online retail business. Several template alternatives for the design of your store, integrations for payment processes, check-out plans on the internet, omnichannel selling assistance, SEO and marketing implementations are there for you with Shopify. Once you’ve started to work and see the progress, you could benefit from Shopify APIs and some other tools to develop your capabilities whenever you need them. As your online business grows, your necessities will be going up as well. From custom storefront themes to Shopify POS, these products will be unique to customers to help them rise in the market. It also has an app store that includes thousands of practical applications to customize your business even further. For almost every need of yours, you can find the most cutting-edge tools to make your business more considerable in this store. Shipping is one of the most functional Shopify features you can benefit from. Using this feature, you can create the right setup that works best for your business, manage orders, arrange pickups with contractual shipping companies like DHL or UPS, and offer live order tracking if you’re in Australia, the USA or Canada. If you are generally traveling, you can benefit from Shopify mobile app to keep up with your business. Mobile app allows you to do everything you’d do on your computer from your mobile devices. You can also see store activity in real-time, get visitor insights and analyze your business performance. Through Shopify’s analytics and reports feature, you have the chance to optimize store activities easily. In addition to providing sales, inventory, and shipping aids, it gives you a marketing tool, as well. With Shopify’s marketing platform, you can reach higher customer levels by creating shopping campaigns on different media channels. In this way, you have the power to control your customer data and campaign performance on one dashboard. All these back-office and storefront implementations provide you with the support you need on many different levels, from sales to marketing.

Shopify Pricing: What Is the Offer?

Shopify offers three different plans for its merchants. For example, Basic is the most economical solution. If you choose this plan, you can sell an unlimited number of products, have 24/7 open chat/e-mail/telephone support, recover your abandoned shopping cart, and print shipping labels. However, features like gift cards, real-time carrier shipping, e-mail accounts, advanced report builder, professional reports, and providing domains are not included in this package. The second one of Shopify plans is called Shopify, and this is a bit more expensive than the basic one, offering more features. For instance, with the Shopify plan, you can sell both digital and physical products. Customer logins, abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, professional reports, shipping label printing, and 24/7 support are included in the package. The rate charged for credit card payments is quite reasonable in this plan, and a certain amount of discount will be applied if you pay the yearly contract cost in advance. The final plan is called Shopify Advanced. Though this is the most expensive one, this plan provides you with the best shipping conditions and the lowest credit card rates. If you need real-time carrier shipping, this plan is the only solution for your business as it offers you the necessary features. In this plan, the shipping cost is calculated and charged by the third party. Shopify Advanced also gives you the right to use the advanced report builder tool to create your own professional reports. Apart from all these 3 Shopify plans, there’s one more: Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus is an enterprise solution for the ones looking for a measurable online selling platform. When you decide on Shopify Plus, you will access the system for your developers and have a dedicated support team. If you need more information, please visit the Shopify Pricing page here.

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The Advantages You Have with Shopify

If you’re seeking a well-equipped tool for your business, don’t look further. It gives you everything from sales, inventory, marketing, and shipping in one place with practical tools. Shopify features and benefits start with a user-friendly interface. The simplicity of usage gives it merchants an opportunity in managing boring administrative tasks easily. Thus, business owners’ main aim comes alive in a short time: increase in sales figures. A wide range of storefront choices is one of the most favorite benefits as it gives you the freedom to create the look and feel of your store. A more beautiful and professional-looking website is not a dream anymore with these eye-catching themes. On top of that, you can relate your storefront choice with the industry you work in, such as Art & Photography, Jewelry & Accessories, Food & Beverage, Furniture, Home & Living, Electronics, and more. Besides, with over 1200 different apps, the Shopify app store can automate your daily task routine. So you leave time for the other significant stuff that’s worth your time. For example, with apps, you can freely purify your accounting flow and let all sales figures be transferred to the accounting software without much time spent. The other useful app is undoubtedly the one called “The Cash on Delivery”. If you sell abroad and have specific needs for different countries, this app is a perfect match for your business. If you require support of any kind about your business, a dedicated team will be assisting you regardless of your plan. The team is available via live chat, telephone, and e-mail. From SEO rankings to sharing on social media, Shopify benefits you with its marketing tools, as well. You can add related keywords to your website pages and product descriptions, create blogs, use the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) feature to speed up your site, and have an instant sitemap generated automatically.

Shopify vs. Amazon: The Basic Differences

Shopify and Amazon are the giants of ecommerce, and both allow you to sell your products online. However, Amazon is a marketplace that gives you the product you search for with many different brands, whereas Shopify is an ecommerce platform that gives you the websites you look for. On Amazon, your inventory belongs to you, but if you log in to Shopify, you will see a Shopify-hosted website with personalized pages. If we are to make a Shopify vs. Amazon comparison, we must handle the pricing issue upfront. Shopify allows its merchants to use its platform for free for 14 days. After this 14-day trial period, you have to choose among Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans. Depending on your business needs, you pick one of those solutions and optimize your business. Each plan with its own pricing policy benefits your website from its design to necessary technical assistance. On the other hand, Amazon gives two different options to its sellers. They need to choose from the individual and professional type of plan. If you do not have a monthly selling figure higher than 40 units, you can relate the individual plan. Here there’s no monthly fee except for a commission over each sale. You have to pay a certain amount for every item you sell on Amazon and some referral fee. In the professional plan, you will need to pay a monthly fee as well as a variable closing and shipping or Fulfillment By Amazon (Amazon FBA) fees.

BONUS: For detailed information, please check our article about Shopify and Amazon fulfillment networks check out our article.