Advantages of Shopify
1. Easy Setup
Shopify offers a quick-to-launch platform for your online store, without the fuss over servers, development and support, when compared to other self-hosted platforms such as WordPress. The user interface on Shopify is clean, user-friendly and has all the features logically structured. The documentation on Shopify sites is varied and includes loads of video guides.
2. No Technical Worries
Secure and fast hosting is standard with all Shopify packages. You don’t need any technical expertise to launch a basic Shopify store; all software and hosting are provided by Shopify. Shopify also takes care of all software updates. So you can focus all your efforts on selling and not worry about technical issues.
3. Secure & Reliable
If you have an eCommerce store, you will be dealing with sensitive customer information including credit card details, plus impatient customers. This means your site needs to be fast, secure and always online. One of the big advantages of a hosted solution is the reliability it provides. Shopify will take care of all server maintenance and upgrades to keep your store and shopping cart available at all times and ensure that pages load quickly.
4. Customer Support
There is support available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the response time is fairly instant, meaning your business is never on its own. You can get in touch via phone, email or web chat.
5. Mobile Ready
All of Shopify’s themes are mobile responsive and the platform includes a free built-in mobile commerce shopping cart, meaning your store looks great on all devices and your customers can shop freely wherever they are.
6. Customisation
There are 160 themes to choose from (free and paid) in the Shopify Theme Store, all of which are mobile responsive, plus hundreds available on sites such as ThemeForest.
7. Apps and more Apps
Shopify’s app store has a plethora of apps with functionality that you can add to your shop. You can add reviews, loyalty programmes, and customer wishlists, get in-depth analytics, print labels and packing slips, and integrate with accounting software, shipping programs and social media sites.
8. SEO & Marketing tools
It’s all well and good having a beautiful online shop but if no one visits you’ll be pulling down the virtual shutters in no time. Another of Shopify’s big selling points is its powerful Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) features that will help your website rank higher in search results so customers can find you.
9. Abandoned Cart Recovery
Loads of users will add items to their cart and never checkout. According to research almost 1/3 of users will do this. Shopify offers an abandoned checkout cart recovery service which automatically tracks and emails these potential customers to remind them to complete their purchase; an easy way to potentially generate more revenue.
10. Shopify Payment Gateway
Shopify has loads of payment gateways to choose from and even offers its own payment gateway. The Shopify payment gateway is powered by Stripe. If you choose to use this you will not incur any transaction fees plus you will benefit from lower credit card fees. It also doesn’t require a merchant account to use.
