How To eCommerce The Easy Way With Shopify

So you want to start selling your amazingly cool product online but aren’t sure where to start or what tools you’re going to need – don’t panic, this article is here to help!

It’s 2018 so setting up a brand new website completely from scratch isn’t as scary as it used to be, especially not when you consider all the options you have available to you – one of which is Shopify, a market-leading eCommerce platform that uses cloud-based software to build your store.

If you want a way to sell things online with almost everything taken care of for you, Shopify is a great choice. It covers all the key ingredients a successful site needs like payments, inventory, product management and legal aspects too. There are approximately 600,000+ sites built on Shopify already and that number is continuing to rise.

Ironically founded as a store itself, Shopify appeared in its original form back in 2004 and was made freely available as an open source program a couple of years later in 2006. The competition back then was as fierce as it is now, with the likes of Wix and Magento all launching around that time.

Since then, it’s blossomed into a very usable platform that is perfect for anyone that wants to jump online and start selling.

Pros & Cons

Like everything, Shopify comes with its own set of pros and cons.

Perhaps it’s greatest advantage is that the setup and installation are dead simple, making starting a new business online fast and straightforward for anyone. Unless you’d like the complete customisation of your theme or specific features that require additional development, you can focus on just getting the business off the ground.

Alongside this simple installation, you also benefit from Shopify support – when you use their software, you basically enjoy this free of charge as it comes as part of the service. This can be incredibly useful for things like site security and data protection issues, all of which the Shopify team can assist you with.

Another big plus is the availability of multiple payment options for your customers, with Shopify supporting the likes of PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay and more recently cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Following on from this, you may then wish to integrate other functionality like QuickBooks or Xero to make tracking your sales really simple.

On the downside, Shopify is simple to use but that is often highlighted as its weakness. When your store really gets firing and sales become consistent, you may find that additional functionality you need simply isn’t possible due to the limitations of the Shopify platform. That’s where an alternative like Magento, with its flexibility and scalability, becomes a much more viable option in the long term.

The Beauty Of Dropshipping

The term ‘dropshipping’ refers to running an online store without actually holding any of your stock. The products you sell on your site are not delivered by you – this is handled by either a manufacturer or supplier.

As a dropshipping business, you have it easy. All you have to do is run your store and make sure you keep the sales rolling in. The only downside is that you give up any control over customer satisfaction in terms of delivery because you cannot influence the supplier.

If this sounds good to you, Shopify is one of the easiest ways to set up a drop shipping business online. There are automated interfaces that organise your online store orders through to delivery, offered by partners like Oberlo. This is a great alternative to the larger dropshipping methods provided by eBay or Amazon as the costs involved are significantly less.

eCommerce Made Simple

Shopify is a fantastic option for anyone looking to sell online without much hassle and get a store operational quickly. A simple, fast and efficient platform with everything you need to sell at an affordable low price.

It’s fair to say there are more suitable alternatives if your business grows exponentially, however, such as Magento, but Shopify is a perfectly viable platform for any startup looking to take that first step online.