What is Shopify? A Guide to the Best Ecommerce Platform (2024)

In today’s age, where ecommerce has become an essential part of doing business, Shopify has consistently come up on top as one of the best ecommerce solutions for building and managing a business online. So, if you’re looking to start an online business or expand an already existing one, Shopify is a popular and versatile choice that caters to businesses of all types and sizes.

In this simple yet comprehensive guide by Ecommerce Pro, we provide you with a wide overview on what Shopify is, giving you its top features, and pricing, and letting you in on how to get started.

Ready to start selling your products and services online? Let’s begin.

What is Shopify?

We’re starting from the beginning by answering what Shopify is. Shopify is one of the world’s leading ecommerce platforms and solutions, running on a cloud-based infrastructure that makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to create and manage their online stores.

Shopify is an easy choice because the platform is built specifically around ease of use for merchants, and you can use the platform to easily build, manage, and grow your online store. It offers a user-friendly interface, a wide range of features, and integrations with various third-party apps and services.

All-in-all, you can think of Shopify as an out-of-the-box solution, providing you with everything you need to run a stellar online business whether you are a startup or a mega brand.

Today, Shopify powers over 4,124,890 live websites in over 175 countries. Familiar brand names using Shopify as their preferred ecommerce platform include:

• The North Face
• Kylie Cosmetics
• Swarovski

How Does Shopify Work?

One of Shopify’s selling points is how they simplify the process for merchants, down from building, to running and growing your online store.

With Shopify, you can select from pre-built website templates that you can customize. You also get inventory management tools, secure payment processing, and order fulfillment capabilities.

Adding products and inventory tracking is simple. You can also connect Shopify to a multitude of marketing and sales channels. Selling both online and in person? Track all of your sales through Shopify POS for a seamless and unified commerce experience.

Key Features of Shopify:

• User-friendly interface: Shopify is lauded for its intuitive interface that is perfect for beginners to create and manage their online store.
• Wide range of features: Shopify’s set of features is comprehensive, giving you everything you need to run an online business, inducing product management, inventory tracking, marketing automation, and analytics.
• Mobile-friendly: Shopify stores are optimized for all screens, including mobile, desktop, and tablets, giving your shoppers a seamless shopping experience across all devices.
• Integrations with third-party apps: Flexible and customizable, Shopify integrates with a vast ecosystem of third-party apps. These third-party apps allow you to extend functionality and customize your online store experience. Explore Shopify’s extensive App Store.

Shopify Pricing: How Much does Shopify cost in 2024?

Shopify offers four main subscription plans of different price ranges and functions to suit your business size and operations.

• Shopify Basic: $39 per month, 2.9% transaction fee + 30 cents.
• Shopify: $105 per month and 2.6% transaction fee + 30 cents.
• Shopify Advanced: $399 per month and 2.4% transaction fee + 30 cents.
• Shopify Plus: From $2000 per month

Each Shopify plan offers different features and pricing, so it's important to choose one that meets your specific needs and budget.

What Products Can I Sell on Shopify?

Shopify can pretty much support the sale of virtually all types of products across all major sales channels, including physical and digital products and services:

• Physical products: Clothes, electronics, home goods, packaged foods, and more.
• Digital products: Ebooks, music, software, online courses, digital art, tickets and more.
• Services: Consulting, freelance work, and other professional services.

Where Can I Sell Using Shopify?

With Shopify, you can sell in more than one place and not just on your Shopify store. That’s because the platform supports multiple sales channels so that you can get the most for your online business while keeping all data unified under one platform. Overall, their multichannel system makes for a seamless experience that you’ll be able to appreciate.

Sales channels that you can tap into with your Shopify online store include:

• Your Shopify store: Your online Shopify store can act as a central hub for all your ecommerce operations, whether you decide to take the multichannel approach or not.
• Social media: Connect your Shopify store to your social media pages to sell directly to your followers on social media, like as Facebook or Instagram.
• Marketplaces: List your products on the world’s most popular marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy to reach a wider audience.
• In-person: Use Shopify's POS system to accept payments and manage inventory at pop-up shops, retail stores, and other events. All data gets synced directly to your Shopify dashboard so you never lose track of your in-person and online operations.

Learn all about Why Brick-And-Mortar Merchants Choose Shopify POS.

Shopify Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Ease of use: Shopify is known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive setup process that is beginner-friendly to work with.
• Seamless integrations: Shopify integrates with a wide range of third-party apps and services, allowing you to extend the functionality of your online store and customize it as you please.
• Scalability: Shopify is a great ecommerce platform for growing an online business, giving you plenty of room to scale and take things to the next level, no matter the size of your business.
• Customer support: Shopify provides 24/7 customer support to help you with any issues you may encounter. They also have an active community that you can reach out to, including many resources that you can consult.

Cons:

• Cost: Prices can add up depending on your budget and how many paid third-party integrations you wish to add.
• Transaction fees: If you don't use Shopify Payments, you'll incur transaction fees on every sale. This can easily be mitigated by using Shopify payments, however.
• SEO limitations: Shopify's SEO features are not as robust as some other ecommerce platforms, although they provide a suite of built-in SEO features that are easy to take full advantage of.

Setting Up and Managing Your Shopify Store

Setting up and managing your Shopify store is straightforward. Here's a breakdown of the key steps involved when you set up your own Shopify online store in 2024.

1. Create a Shopify Account

To create your Shopify store today, begin by signing up for a Shopify account and taking advantage of their free 3-day trial. After the 3-day free trial is up, Shopify costs $1 per month for the first 3 months. This allows you to get familiar with the platform and build a full-fledged online store without any substantial financial commitment.

2. Set up Your Store

After creating an account it’s time to set up your store by following Shopify’s easy step-by-step Setup guide. Shopify will first encourage you to “Add your first product ”to your store,  but you can always add products at any point in the process.

3. Add Your Product

Before customization, it’s best to upload your products. Upload high-quality product images, detailed product descriptions, and pricing for the items you want to sell.

4. Customize Your Theme

Select a theme from Shopify's Theme Store, there are many free and paid themes to choose from. After selecting a theme, customize it to match your brand and store. Don’t forget to add your brand logo.

5. Get a Custom Domain Name

Don’t forget to get a custom domain name for your store. You can either connect to an already existing domain or purchase a new one directly from Shopify.

6. Add Pages to Your Store & Navigation

Add all the essential pages, like About Us, Contact, FAQs, and Policy pages. Create navigation menus so that customers can find their way easily around your store

7. Connect Your Sales Channels 

As previously mentioned, Shopify seamlessly integrates with various sales channels, including social media, marketplaces, and in-person selling. Link all your social media accounts to promote your products and start selling directly to your followers.

8. Test Before Launch 

Before you take your store live, it’s best to test before launch, making sure that everything runs smoothly, with every element needed to run an online business in place. 

While there are steps you can follow, sometimes there may be different build and design processes for various Shopify online stores depending on the merchant’s needs and wants. Above we list some of the essentials that every Shopify ecommerce store needs, while the fine-tuning process in between may differ from store to store.

The Best Ecommerce Website Audit Checklist Template in 2023

Bottom Line

When it comes to choosing between the top ecommerce platforms to build your online business in 2024, Shopify is a solid choice that you can rely on to build and grow your online store.

Shopify is a great choice for businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to mega enterprises, giving you all the room you need to grow to take your online brand to the next level. Its user-friendly interface, wide range of features, and flexible integrations give you the flexibility that you need to run your dream online business, whether you’re selling products or services, online or in person.

Ready to build an online business? Let’s build your Shopify Store together. Fill out the contact form to get in touch and receive a quote.

Get in Touch

At Ecommerce Pro - Shopify Web Developers Agency, we help entrepreneurs and business owners build better and more successful Shopify businesses. Have a question or a project in mind? Get in touch with us today!