If you are weighing up where to put your online shop, Shopify is usually on the shortlist, and with good reason. It is a hosted platform, so somebody else looks after the servers, the security updates and the checkout while you get on with selling. Here is an honest look at what it does well, what it costs to run, and where it is not the right answer.
Three good reasons to choose Shopify
- Ease of use. Shopify is genuinely user-friendly, even if you have never run an online shop before. The admin is straightforward to navigate and there is no shortage of guidance to get you started.
- Scalability. You can grow without moving platforms. As orders increase you move up a plan rather than rebuild the shop.
- Features out of the box. A good deal of what you would otherwise bolt on is already there:
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Gift cards
- Marketing and email automation
- Shipping integrations
- Multiple payment gateways
Other things Shopify does well
- Support around the clock. Help is available at any hour, mainly through chat and a large help centre, which matters when the checkout misbehaves on a Sunday evening.
- A large, active community. Plenty of other merchants, developers and partners have already hit the problem you are about to hit, and written about it.
- A secure, reliable platform. Hosting, SSL and card security are Shopify’s responsibility rather than yours. For a lot of owners that alone justifies the monthly fee.
- Sells almost anywhere. Shopify is available in most countries and handles multiple currencies and languages, so selling abroad is closer to a setting than a project.
- Works on a phone. Current Shopify themes are built mobile first, which is where most of your shoppers will be.
- Sound technical foundations for SEO. Clean templates, quick hosting and automatic sitemaps mean the basics are handled. Being on Shopify will not make you rank on its own, but it does stop the platform getting in your way.
What it actually costs to run
It is worth going in with your eyes open. Beyond the monthly subscription there are two costs people routinely underestimate. The first is payment processing: if you use a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a transaction fee on top of whatever your processor charges. The second is apps. The app store is one of Shopify’s real strengths, but most useful apps are monthly subscriptions, and five or six of them can quietly cost more than the platform itself. Before you commit, write down what you need on day one and price that, rather than the shop you hope to have in three years.
Where Shopify is not the right fit
We would rather say this up front. If you sell a handful of products alongside a site that is mostly pages, a blog and enquiry forms, a full Shopify subscription is more than you need, and WordPress with WooCommerce will usually do the job for less. Shopify also keeps you inside its own checkout and its own way of working. That is a benefit when you want fewer decisions to make, and a constraint when you need something unusual: a complicated product configurator, awkward tax or shipping rules, or a tight link to a system you already run in the business.
If you are moving an existing shop rather than starting from scratch, treat the move as a job in its own right. Products, customers and order history all have to come across, and your existing web addresses need mapping to their new ones so you do not throw away the search visibility you have already built.
FAQ
Is Shopify better than WooCommerce?
Neither is better in the abstract. Shopify suits you if you want the hosting, security and checkout taken care of and you are content to work within its structure. WooCommerce on WordPress suits you if the shop is one part of a larger site, or if you need unusual rules that a hosted platform will fight you on.
Do I need a developer to set up Shopify?
Not to open a shop. You can set one up yourself with a stock theme and be taking orders fairly quickly. A developer earns their fee when you want the shop to look like your brand rather than like the theme, when you are importing a large catalogue, or when the shop needs to talk to another system you use.
What will Shopify really cost to run?
There is the monthly subscription, then two costs people forget. Payment processing is one, and Shopify adds a transaction fee if you use a third-party gateway rather than Shopify Payments. Apps are the other: most are monthly subscriptions, and a handful of them can add up to more than the platform. Price what you need on day one.
Will moving to Shopify hurt my search rankings?
It can, if the web addresses are not handled properly. Shopify uses its own URL structure, so your product and category addresses will change. Map every old address to its new one with permanent redirects before you launch, keep your page titles and content, and expect a short dip while Google reprocesses the site.
Contact Strand Creative to find out how our Shopify developers can build you an ecommerce website that is both beautiful and functional. We are based in Sale, in South Manchester, and if Shopify is not the right platform for what you are selling, we will tell you.
