Shopify is an ecommerce platform which allows to build your own store both online and offline using Shopify POS. Shopify can be used from beginners to experts to build their own store. It provides online selling space to open storefront displaying products, engaging with customers and accepting payments.
Shopify has its own unique features; it is mostly related to online sales.
You can sell anything in Shopify
- Clothing
- Jewelry
- Home accessories
- Beauty products
- Kitchenware
- Pet products etc...,
However, Shopify doesn’t work for some types of business like
- Gambling
- Phone services
- Multilevel marketing
- Products that make unverified health claims
- Virtual currency services
- Travel services
Shopify plans
You can use a 14- day free trial of Shopify to know how it works and can add free apps to test. It provides the basic knowledge to run an ecommerce store. Shopify POS (point of sale) which allows you to sell products offline. Can sell products at physical store and can receive payment through POS app.
How does Shopify works?
- Set up your Account: -
Setting a Shopify store is little time taken process but it is very easy to setup.
- Signing up with Shopify: -
First step is to sign up to the Shopify account and select a subscription. It is recommended to start Shopify with the basic plan so that you can expand it whenever required.
- Selecting a business name: -
After creating an account, you can create your store. The first step is to create name and domain for the store. We can add our own business name and link new domain or already existing domain.
- Select a theme: -
In the Shopify theme store we can find the theme which is related to our business. It includes free themes and paid themes which are developed by third-party designers.
- Add products: -
Adding products is easy but it takes time if there are more products it takes much time. In the Shopify store admin in the left menu we have products option there we can add products, description, price and product tags.
- Add collections: -
Create collection and give product tags. So that the tags will be added under this collection.
- Set up payment methods: -
You can accept credit cards, debit cards, UPI and also cash on delivery for payment.
- Sell using multiple sales channels: -
You can sell products not only in your Shopify store but also in google, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and other sites.
- Tracking business: -
Shopify had a dashboard which displays reports, sales, new customers, returns customers etc., every day. These details can also be managed from mobile from any place and not only this you can add products and also there are many languages in Shopify store setup.
Pros & Cons of Shopify
Pros
Easy to start: - Anyone can start building a Shopify Store. Shopify is lowering obstacles to e-commerce and attracting thousands of new users every year.
Free Themes: - Usually for building a new website it takes more time, money and effort. But with Shopify it becomes easier it provides free themes that you can customize and make it in the way you want. All the themes are mobile responsive.
Affordable: - If we start a business we need to pay for products, marketing, domains. If we are in the starting of business, we can go with Shopify lite. After started growing in the business we can upgrade to higher plans.
Apps: - There are many apps for almost everything in the Shopify app store. There are both free apps and paid apps which can be used to our convenience.
Excellent support: - Shopify team will be available 24/7 for phone, email and for live chats to solve customers issues in less time.
Conclusion: -
Shopify is a more user-friendly e-commerce platform. It is a hosted platform, Shopify will take care of all the hosting you need while building your online store and all the hosting costs are included in the Shopify plans. It doesn’t require any coding experience or website building to make it and run. It provides everything for the user to setup a store. Shopify provides free domain “myShopify.com”. 4,000,000+ websites are built using Shopify