PROS AND CONS OF USING SHOPIFY

PROS AND CONS OF USING SHOPIFY

Shopify is considered by many as THE ecommerce solution provider to go to while setting up a new online business. Whether you are beginning your business as an online venture or transitioning from an offline to an online store, Shopify is widely regarded as the one-stop solution for all your website requirements.

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Here, let us take a look at the yays and nays of Shopify.

THE UPSIDES

Let u begin with what makes Shopify one of the most sought after ecommerce solution providers across the globe.

Pros of Shopify

CONSTANT SUPPORT

It is not easy to find an online solution provider that is really always there to answer your queries. And it can become immensely frustrating when you have to wait for hours or even days to hear back from the customer service or the experts. Most 24/7 support claims only translate to the working hours and days. Shopify, on the other hand, is at your beck and call 24/7, literally. And their extensive FAQ section covers a lot of potential questions about pricing and troubleshooting. If you have to shoot an email instead of chat or call, you can safely expect to hear back within 24 hours.

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HIGH SECURITY

Customers often have to make online payments to make an online purchase, which means they have to expose sensitive financial information to the website owner, the developers, and the third party payment gateway, if any. That is definitely a daunting idea for customers, and a single mistake leading to financial hassle for the customer can spell doom for the company. By providing seamless integration of third party payment gateways, and the new Shopify POS that accepts almost all gateways, Shopify ensures hassle-free transactions for both parties. Apart from this, Shopify double checks its security system through security researchers to make the platform hack-free.

HUGE REPERTOIRE OF APPS AND THEMES

Shopify’s App Store and Theme Store are veritable treasure houses for the new business. You have a wide array of themes and tools to choose from to ensure that when your business opens, it is glitch-free. There are over a hundred paid and free themes to choose from, catering to businesses ranging from clothing and makeup to education and miscellaneous products. The App Store has every conceivable app you may possibly need to make your business easier, from discount coupons to promotional pop ups. The apps and themes are developed by independent developers and designers, and undergo a stringent quality check by Shopify before they are put up in the Stores.

THE DOWNSIDES

Shopify does leave much to be desired in the following areas.

Cons of Shopify

THE JARGON

An easy-to-use interface is necessary for every ecommerce platform, and Shopify does fall somewhat short on that account. Some of the jargon used by Shopify can be pretty misleading and even downright incomprehensible for the user. For instance, instead of calling them ‘Categories’, you need to categorise your products into ‘Collections’, something that might not be comprehensive right away to the novice user. While this is not a huge con, it can become disconcerting if you have to spend time on understanding which word means what.

THE CHARGES

Shopify charges are pretty steep, staring at the basic package for $29 and going up to $299 for the advanced package. You also have to be careful with the themes and apps you choose to add to your platform; not all of them will be free, and some will run a monthly bill. Besides, Shopify also charges you a transaction fee in case of sales, which might be less than desirable for a new business. This is not applicable to all plans, so read the fine print carefully before committing to anything.

CUSTOMIZATION IS TOUGH

Unlike most other ecommerce solution providing companies that use CSS and PHP- universally known coding language- to create their platforms, Shopify uses Liquid, their own coding language. This makes it considerably difficult for the user to make small changes to the system when required, without having to resort to asking for help from Shopify. The language is fairly easy to learn, and the experts on the Shopify team are willing to assist, but it still makes for a rather irritating experience.

Thousands of happy customers and the revenue sheet make it quite clear that Shopify is, indeed, the ecommerce solution provider to go to. There are certain drawbacks, but there are ample good things to offset them. In the end, a lot of it is in the user’s hand, and there is no bypassing the fact that Shopify dos make life easier for new entrepreneurs.