Shopify (Ultimate Website Builder): Pros & Cons (Complete Guide)

What Is Shopify?

Shopify is a reputed website builder that offers monthly and annual plans. You can choose them according to your budget. This act has an all-in-one tool to give you everything you need to start an online website, even if you have no coding or design experience.

All Shopify plans come with unlimited hosting, unlimited storage, and the ability to publish an unlimited number of products, meaning Shopify scales nicely as your business grows. The platform is user-friendly and you can create a search-optimized Shopify online store in hours.

Pros 

• Best Sales featured 
• You have more than 6000 app integrations
• User-Friendly Website Setup
• Up to 88% Shipping Discount 
• AI-Powered
• Abandoned cart recovery
• 24/7 Support Team

Cons

• Customization restriction
• Very Few Free Themes
• Expensive Plans
• Transaction fees for not using Shopify

Shopify’s Pricing

Shopify offers three basic plans, each offering unlimited products, discount codes, 24-hour support, and the ability to promote products through multiple sales channels. You can save 25% by paying for an annual package instead of paying monthly. Start with a plan that fits your current needs and you can upgrade your Shopify plan at any time.

Get started with Shopify. You have an amazing introductory offer, its a three-day free trial, and the first three months for $1 per month. After that, you need to buy a plan.

Basic Plan

The basic package allows you to create an online website to market and sell your products and services. Choose your business theme and create a website that is according to your business needs. With the Shopify basic plan, you can have two people in your account with access to data and administration.

 The basic plan costs $29 per month and allows you to sell an unlimited number of products, although it incurs a small loss as the credit card fee through Shopify Payments is the highest of the basic plan.

The basic plan is suitable for beginners who have not yet decided on a serious sales record. Basic offers most of the features you’ll find in premium plans at a very affordable price for those on a tight budget. 

Mid-Range Plan

The Popular mid-range plan – Shopify – costs $ 79 per month (when billed annually ). The two main benefits of Shopify’s basic plan are lower credit card fees and more employee accounts.​ This one plan on Shopify allows you to have up to five staff accountants, which is useful for large stores that need more support to add and manage complex inventory. Credit card processing fees are slightly lower than Shopify’s basic plan;​ The difference between 0.2% and 0.3% is not important for low-traffic stores but can mean significant savings for high-volume stores. The Shopify plan comes with many additional benefits including built-in e-commerce that simplifies your workflow and offers huge shipping discounts. 

Advanced Plan

The $299 per month advanced package is ideal for those who already have an established customer base for their online business. The Premium plan includes up to 15 employee accounts and Shopify’s lowest credit card fees. Many other special features come with this plan, such as advanced reports that give you a great overview of your store’s performance, automated e-commerce, and the best shipping discounts available on Shopify. 

For those involved in international trade, the High Plan includes estimates of customs and import taxes for verification purposes, which can help clarify costs and benefits for affected clients.​​ If you are interested in the premium plan then you can go with the Shopify Plus plan for only high-volume stores. These plans are priced separately but start at $2,000 per month.

Templates

Shopify has only a few free templates to choose from. At the time of writing, there are a total of 186 templates – 12 of which are free and 174 have a one-time fee ranging from $140 to $400.

All Shopify templates are built to sell and are automatically updated with new features or tools, regardless of the Shopify plan you subscribe to. However, it’s disappointing to see something so little free from a great website builder, especially when others offer its users over 900 free templates.

Among the 12 freestyles, you can Update the style because of its bold and clean look and it enhances the product.

Features of Shopify

Shopify is a feature-rich platform with a solid reputation as a reliable business website builder. The website is specially designed for those who do not have much technical knowledge or experience in website development. Before you decide if Shopify is the right choice for your business, you should carefully consider Shopify’s core features. 

Online Store Editor

The Shopify store is easy to use, but your experience creating a Shopify store may vary depending on your skill level and experience.​ ​​ You may encounter a moderate learning curve if you’re not used to a drag-and-drop editor or have never used a website builder. Those with more experience with the site generally report that Shopify’s editor is intuitive and easy to navigate. The Shopify theme you choose determines the basic look and functionality available on your site;

Additional features are available through third-party applications. Choose from over 100 themes available directly from Shopify, nearly 20% of which are free. Paid themes range from $180 to $360 and can be used in a store.

Shopify’s drag-and-drop editor lets you easily move sections or blocks around your site to create your desired store layout. The editor allows you to change the look and feel of your website while providing the layout integrity you need to make a professional online store. Before finalizing your website design, preview how your website will look on mobile or desktop.

Shopify mobile themes help your online store be optimized for whatever device your customers use. You can change the theme at any time. However, if you have changed a lot from your current theme, it can be difficult to switch to another theme, as the design settings and website features vary greatly from theme to theme.

If you have an idea for your website and you’re having trouble making it happen, you may want to work with a Shopify business development expert. If you want to work with a developer directly you can hire them or you can visit the Shopify Expert Marketplace and just find and hire a licensed and certified Shopify expert. The fees vary from expert to expert but you are expected to pay between $50 and $150 if you want to source directly from Expert Marketplace, and it’s even less if you hire a third-party freelance site. 

AI Shopify

Shopify is no stranger to the world of artificial intelligence and offers business owners an amazing tool called Shopify Magic. Here you will know, how you can use it in your business: , Create, remove, or edit background images to create unique visuals. Customize and edit customer responses to fit your brand – add them to your Shopify Inbox.

Get email marketing support, from creating email content to the best time to send newsletters or campaigns. It was first announced in the summer of 2023, but the AI ​​device will be available early to select retailers.

Checkout

Shopify has been in the e-commerce business since 2006, which means it has almost two decades of experience in developing successful online shopping carts. The main functions of the car cannot be edited, but some functions can be customized.

Check out the Shopify dashboard to design the style of your choice. Use the Checkout Editor to add your logo and customize your wallet with logo colors and fonts. You can edit some payment forms and mark some as required or optional.

There are 27 payment apps available in the Shopify app store that you may want to explore to add more functionality to your store’s checkout process. Billing programs include applications such as sales and marketing, loyalty and rewards programs, age verification, shipping insurance, post-sales surveys, and more.

Export 

Preparing to export products can be a challenge for beginners, but Shopify is your lifesaver. It offers several options to make your work more simple. Once you’ve set up your store, you can manage your shipping settings on the Shipping & Delivery page in your store’s admin panel. For physical products, there are three ways to get products to customers: shipping, local pickup, and local delivery. Enable all processes relevant to your business. 

 When shipping products to your customers, you can choose flat rate shipping, free shipping, or calculated shipping. With the calculated shipping cost, you pass the correct shipping costs to your customers, but for these calculations, you must provide the correct weight and size of the products when the packages are delivered. You can also integrate your website with dropshipping providers to manage Shipping and fulfillment. 

 Shopify offers competitive shipping rates from USPS, UPS, and DHL Express; Save up to 77% on shipping on the Basic plan and up to 88% on Shopify and special plans. Both priority packages include USPS Priority Mail Cubic cost, USPS Parcel Select Cubic cost, and up to $200 in shipping insurance on eligible packages, provided you use Shopify Payments. 

 Shopify integrates with many popular shipping apps, including Shippo, ShipStation, UPS Shipping, ShippingEasy, and Easyship,

Order Management and Fulfillment

Once customers have completed their purchase, you need an effective management system and a comprehensive system to ensure that the right products are picked, packed, labeled, and shipped. Shopify’s order management tools help you with the entire process.

Shopify makes it easy to view all of your orders along with their order status. Go to the Shopify dashboard, and click on the Orders tab to see all orders from all sales channels in one place. Open orders are marked for easy identification.

Update each order with tags or comments to track important information such as order errors, payment status, return status, risk status, or customer interest status.​ ​​​​​ Simplify your fulfillment process by organizing orders based on shipping criteria such as shipping location, shipping method, and fill level.​​​​​​ Shopify saves customer contact information for each order so you can contact customers if you need to ask a question or send the status of the order.

If you don’t want to fulfill your orders, join Shopify’s fulfillment network, which handles warehousing, shipping, and returns for you.​ Websites that use web fulfillment services can post their own Store Promise logo, which guarantees that the product will be delivered within five days or less.​​

Shopify offers a web fulfillment price calculator to estimate your product savings and fulfillment costs. These charges can vary greatly depending on the size, weight, shape, shipping location, and expected shipping volume of the item.

You may also choose to use a third-party fulfillment service provider. Shopify app store has many popular apps, including ShipMonk, ShipBob Fulfillment, Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment, and ShipHero Fulfillment. 

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is an online model where the customer orders from you online while a dedicated supplier handles all aspects of production, fulfillment, product delivery, and, if necessary, handles customer returns. You focus on marketing, promotion, and accepting payment for products, while your fulfillment partner manages the operational data needed to fulfill orders. 

Shopify makes it easy to start a dropshipping business. The platform offers all the tools you need to create and grow your business and partners with dozens of popular dropshipping providers, they also include, Zendrop, Spocket, CJdropshipping, Printful,  Dropshipman,  FashionGo Dropshipping, and DropCommerce.  

Inventory Management

Shopify allows account holders to order products at up to 1,000 locations, including retail stores, warehouses, and pop-up locations. Set and edit your product standards, including different product numbers, such as colors and sizes, in the product section of your Shopify store. 

Shopify does a great job of inventory management, but keep in mind that your inventory numbers are only as accurate as the information you provide in your Shopify account. It is important to be accurate when entering product numbers in the online store. You can alone add inventory numbers manually or in bulk just by using a CSV file. Shopify has all the customization you do yourself.

You can set Shopify to track all products in your store. If you want, you can choose to allow customers to buy or sell in advance. You can also choose to automatically hide out-of-stock items.

Marketing & Sales Promotion

Shopify includes several marketing and advertising tools to help you create a successful online e-commerce presence. The most popular marketing features are: 

• Tools for customer segmentation that allow you to create groups of relevant customers
• Unlimited​ contact, which is essential for building a large customer and potential
• Customer base Marketing​ ​tools such as Shopify Email and Shopify Types​ mailboxes 
• A variety of such as ​ Product Category Discounts, Shipping Discounts, Buy X Free, Volume Discounts, and Save X and X % Dashboard 
• SEO Tools
• Notification to return an abandoned cart 
• Targeted Social Ads
• Customer reviews that can significantly increase product sales 

You can be integrated with popular Mailchimp Google YouTube, SMSBump, and Klaviyo.​ ​

Points of sale (POS)

You can sell online or in person with your Shopify account. If you want to do business in person, you’ll need to download the POS app at Shopify, which is available on iOS and Android. Shopify POS works directly with your online store to track purchases and inventory throughout the sales process.

All Shopify plans include Shopify POS Lite, which allows businesses to sell through special events, pop-ups, retail stores, and pop-up markets. You can turn any mobile device into a point of sale with POS Lite. Collect credit card payments, sell gift cards, send refunds, and sell the same products and services you offer in person online. POS Pro provides greater control over employee approvals, extensive inventory reporting tools, a two-year POS hardware purchase warranty, and multi-channel sales capabilities.

Analytics & Reporting

If you don’t know what’s working and what’s not working in your online store, you’re putting your business at risk. You need access to detailed analytics to make strategic business decisions. Shopify offers several reports that you can access from the Analytics tab of your Shopify dashboard.

Shopify offers three reporting categories: Basic, Normal, and Advanced. Basic plan members can have access to basic reports and have​​ access to standard reports for normal plans, and customers on advanced plans have access to advanced reports. The types of reports are: 

• Behavior reports 
• Acquisition reports 
• Finance reports 
• Inventory reports 
• Marketing reports 
• Order reports 
• Profit reports 
• Overall sales reports
• Customer reports 
• Retail sales reports 

Shopify Advanced Plan customers​ also get access to custom reports to further analyze website performance.​ Each account is available and a detailed analysis of the product. Product analysis provides a detailed overview of product sales over the past 90 days, providing insight into the evolution of net sales over time, channel, and traffic source. 

Security

It’s important to protect your online store from harm, so all Shopify websites come with a free SSL certificate and are backed by PCI-compliant servers, payment data encryption, and Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect traffic to your website.

Shopify also conducts regular audits and security checks, so business owners have one thing to worry about when it comes to running their company.

Shopify Competitors

Shopify is an eCommerce website builder in 2024, and it’s a platform trusted by millions of businesses and celebrities, including Beyoncé and popular YouTuber MrBeast.​​​

If you’re not sure, bomb everything. For this amount of money, there are many other options for setting up an online store for the Shopify package. 

1. Wix is the best website builder, coming in second in their special eCommerce test – it’s a complete website with lots of features and over 900 free templates to choose from.
2. Squarespace is​​​​​ the easiest website builder it’s a grab-and-go editor incredibly beginner – friendly and its modern design is perfect for creative businesses. 
3. GoDaddy is the most cost-effective way to start selling products. 

Shopify’s Customer Support

Shopify works well in your help and support tests, ahead of Wix and GoDaddy because it offers similar support options but at a lower cost.  Go through the Shopify’s customer support modes : 

Live Chat – The technical assistant is at the Help Desk Answers all the questions you may have. They are available 24/7. 

Help Desk​ ​ – With step-by-step instructions and video tutorials

Email Support – You can email them here support@shopify.com 

Mobile Support – You can reach them via mobile.

• US – 1-888-746-7439
• United Kingdom – 0800-808-5233 
• Australia – 03-8400-4750 
• New Zealand – 07-788-6026 
• India – 000-800-100-5786 
• Malaysia – 1800-80-6678 
• Singapore – 800-181-1121 
• Indonesia – 007-803-651-0008

Community forum – Shopify merchants can chat in this community and connect on channels

Social Media – Shopify has social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and TikTok.  

Unfortunately, Shopify does not “Add Tutorial” when you first log into the editor. However,

Conversation live on AI Shopify is an interesting tool. It helped you find relevant resources in no time. It will save you time searching for information myself. The wait time is a minimum of five minutes, but you get the response in just two minutes. Not fast, but on time.

How to get started with Shopify?

Get brief info instead of big examples which can confuse you. Signing up with the trail pack is the first step. Shopify AI asks you several questions about your business, just answer them quickly. Next, you need to follow the steps mentioned below : 

• Purchase the plan
• Select the domain
• Design Your Store
• Add your Products to the store
• Add a Contact Page with Faq’s
• Connect to the payment processor
• Set up shipping
• Set up taxes
• Connect to Social media pages.

Follow the steps and set up your business online without any intermediaries.

Bottom Line 

Shopify works well for small-scale businesses who want to create a real online store instead of just building a website with limited e-commerce features. Shopify allows you can sell physical and digital products in your Shopify store and start selling on online marketplaces, social media pages, and offline at events, trade shows, and also at retail locations. Shopify scales perfectly as your business grows.