Making your own e-shop today is no longer a problem thanks to the various tools available. In the following review, I focused on Shopify. What does it offer you and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a platform that gets your business into the online world. The history of Shopify began with its own e-shop focused on the sale of snowboards in 2004. At that time, one of the founders, Tobi Lütke, was looking for a suitable platform for his business. None of the e-shop solutions available at the time met his needs, so he created his own.
In 2006, he launched Shopify with other founding members Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake. Since then, the platform has come a long way and is currently used by more than 1.7 million companies in 175 countries.
What Shopify offers
Shopify is an online all-in-one platform . It offers the tools needed to establish and develop a successful online business in various fields. It aims to “improve trade for all”.
It helps to gain independence in every step from the establishment of the company, through its management and development. With Shopify you get everything for easy launch of your own e-shop, its operation, adding functions and goods as well as promotion. And without being dependent on external programmers.
Create or move a store to the online space
Powerful sales support tools help you create a business or move your existing business to the world of the Internet . Shopify also offers a solution for those who are looking for a new platform for their e-shop. The operating system created for the global online store is suitable for companies of all sizes .
Here you can run a multi-item store and e-shops, which are visited by thousands of customers every day. Shopify is therefore used by small businesses and large companies and brands with different focus. Here you will find a suitable solution for the sale of food, fashion clothing, furniture, art and electronics.
You can support the development of your business with a number of tools , which are constantly being added to. Shopify is characterized by simplicity and support for constant innovation, which adapts to rapid technological change.
One platform for different sales methods
You can use Shopify online, in person or through social networks.
E-shop
You can create an e-shop in a clear tool with a drag and drop function. You can choose from more than 70 topics , from which you can choose a suitable design for your e-shop. All tools are customized by users without programming knowledge.
Own store or dispensing point
Do you have your own point of sale? Thanks to Shopify, you can offer your customers an even better shopping experience. Personalized services, flexible shopping, hassle-free returns, product complaints and unified goods management will help you start your business more efficiently.
Sales through social networks
Would you like to take full advantage of the potential of social networks or other sales channels? Shopify will help you with sales via Facebook, Messenger, Amazon, eBay and many more.
Convert an existing site to a store
You can add a Sell button to your own website through which you would like to start selling your products. Shopify helps you create a secure payment environment suitable for use on all devices.
Marketing tools
With Shopify you will use tools to support sales. You can increase traffic to your e-shop by creating your own blog and using various SEO tools, such as labels, meta descriptions, product descriptions and the like.
You can also target sales to social media audiences. Take advantage of effective online marketing with its proven tools such as email marketing, Google or Facebook advertising.
Shopify app store
Need to add new features to your store? You can find more than 2,700 of them in the Shopify app Store . Paid and free applications allow you to add features and link to third-party applications . There are applications for marketing, sales, inventory management, security, finance, orders, transportation, business design and many other areas.
Slovak users will also enjoy the fact that you will find applications for transport options, such as Mail Order and DPD. You will also find applications for connecting to the Fakturoid system here. However, these are among the paid ones.
Technical support
Technical support is ready to help with your problems 24 hours a day. In addition, you can search the site for instructions and advice from all areas that you will address during the creation and operation of the e-shop.
Paid help from experts
You can also use paid experts from several areas. Need help setting up a business, design, SEO optimization, or other issues? A team of paid consultants is selected from freelancers in each area.
Instructions on how to create an e-shop with Shopify
You can try Shopify for free for 14 days before ordering services. Just enter your email address, fill out the information to create an account on Shopify and you’re ready to go.
You will be greeted by a homepage from which you can continue directly by selecting the appropriate plan you are interested in. You won’t make your first payment until after the trial period. However, it is possible to continue testing Shopify without choosing a plan.
E-shop design
You can create your own e-shop design by choosing a suitable topic. Shopify offers themes for different areas of business. You can choose šablóny with a minimalist design, for small or large products, food and drinks, with the possibility of inserting videos and 3D photo goods. You can view all Shopify themes on the shopify themes page.
If you want to choose according to the area of your business, you will find designs suitable for electronics, health and beauty, sports, toys, jewelry and much more. In each area you have a choice of several free and paid topics . When selected, topics can be filtered for better orientation.
You can customize the appearance of the e-shop in the administration. Go to the Administration, Online Store section and select Themes . You will find your current topic on the right side of the page. Use the Actions button to rename, duplicate, download, edit code or language. You will also find a preview here.
Use the Customize button to go to page editing options. You edit the page header and footer, insert images, text, image gallery. You can also add new sections to the page here. At the top you will find a menu for selecting the current page you are editing.
If you want to change the preset šablón u, scroll on the Themes page below . In the Theme library you have a choice of freely available or paid themes. By clicking on the appropriate button, you will see a menu from which you can choose. It is also possible to upload your own theme to the page, which is used by the Upload theme button.
Add blog, pages and menus
In the administration, in the Online Store menu section, you will also find tools for creating a blog, adding individual pages, creating menus and linking or purchasing a new domain. The Preferences function is used for the meta title and meta description of the page being edited. You’ll also find social networking tools, Google Analytics, GDPR, and SPAM.
Sales channels
For business development, Shopify offers links to other sales channels. To add them, go to the Sales Channels function in the site administration. You can use the link to Facebook, Google, Pinterest and others for free.
Adding products
Use the Products feature to add products. A simple text editor is available when entering product data. You can also upload photos and video for the products here. If you prefer to use the HTML format, there is also this option.
As you scroll below, you’ll find tools for inserting media via URLs, adding files, prices, inventory tracking, shipping, product variations, and more. Here you can add a Product title and description and edit the page URL to optimize each product .
You can save the embedded product as a draft or post it immediately on the site. The window on the right side of the Product status page is used for this option. The Discard button is displayed on the top bar to delete and the Save button to save the inserted goods.
Reports
Current reports on sales, number of visitors, average order amount and selected modes of transport can be found in the administration section. Analytics . You will also get an overview of where the customers of your online store come from, what your turnover is, how the customers move in the e-shop and other useful information for the continuous improvement and growth of the store.
Add marketing tools
Use the Marketing feature to set up sales support with select marketing tools . Under Overwiew , you’ll find customizable šablóny to help you use the recommended sales channels.
You can also add applications for marketing, email marketing and personalized automated marketing according to customer behavior. For those who have no experience with online marketing, there is also practical advice. The results of your online campaigns will appear in the Campaigns section.
Discount settings
The Discounts function allows you to take advantage of discounts in the e-shop. The setting is possible with a fixed amount or percentage. You can also set up a free shipping or “buy one product and get another for free” promotion. In addition, you can set which products the event applies to, the conditions of its use and others.
Shipping, payment, and more settings
At the bottom of the Settings administration menu are functions for setting up several inseparable parts of the e-shop. Here you will select payment options, transport, notifications sent to the customer and the like.
Convenient search in administration
You will easily find your way around the creation and operation of the e-shop in a clear administration. At first, however, you may not be able to find something. The creators of the system also thought of such a situation.
An administration search window is available at the top of the page. Just start typing what you’re looking for and you’ll see all the relevant results.
Administration also in Czech
If your language skills interfere with your work with Shopify, there is an opportunity to use this system in Czech . By clicking on your name in the upper right corner of the page, you will see the option Manage account . You can edit your account by clicking on it. This is where you will find the option to change the language.
Prices of services
When ordering Shopify services, you have a choice of three price packages.
- Basic Shopify for 29 USD / month,
- Shopify for 79 USD / month,
- Advanced Shopify for $ 299 / month.
They differ, for example, in the number of people who have access to the administration, the ability to add prices in multiple currencies and the adaptation of foreign branches.
Shopify Lite
For small businesses, a specific Shopify Lite plan is created for only USD 9 / month. It hides the possibility for merchants who use personal sales or create an e-shop from any existing site using the Buy button. You get features for:
- financial reports,
- customer profiles,
- order management,
- product management,
- product details with QR code,
- own discounts.
Advantages and disadvantages of Shopify
Shopify is a clear system in which you get more than a tool for creating a fully functional e-shop. I consider the biggest advantages:
- clarity of administration,
- the possibility of creating an e-shop regardless of its size and number of products,
- selection of freely available and paid šablón for various areas of business,
- clear, responsive topics for easy customer orientation,
- the ability to customize topics and upload your own,
- integrated marketing tools that even a beginner can use,
- quality technical support, including a number of instructions,
- a number of functions for the operation and development of the e-shop,
- functionality-enhancing applications
- analysis of sales and effectiveness of marketing tools,
- connection to other sales channels,
- SEO tools for each product, category and page with the ability to change the URL,
- discount setting options.
Disadvantages
Despite the many advantages of Slovak customers, they will not be pleased that the applications for Mail Order, DPD and Fakturoid are paid.
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