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The rapid growth of the eCommerce Industry around the globe is remarkable. We can see a twofold increase in retail sales every year — sometimes the jump is even higher than the ‘twofold’ if that’s even a thing. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the growth of eCommerce platforms and accelerated the transformation from physical to digital. Speaking of which — physical businesses, too, are embracing the ‘new normal’ and turning to online stores to not only ease lives but also to earn a handful of revenue.
So are you one of them? Starting your own eCommerce store or decided to? Then you do need an intuitive yet simple eCommerce building platform to help you make your online store a living reality. Ever heard of Shopify? Well, Shopify is one of the best eCommerce building platforms there is. It has now become the talk of the town, mostly because the benefits of using Shopify are numerous!
Not to brag, but Shopify is redefining global online commercial activities. You can find many eCommerce-building platforms out there in the market — everyone competing to secure the top spot. Sure, they have their strengths and weaknesses, but Shopify offers advanced, flexible, and highly scalable features to get your online business up and running in no time.
Do you want to have what Amazon has? Long way to go, but Shopify eCommerce stores are super reliable, I tell you that.
Building an online store is never easy as a breeze. Many new businesses or startups would just use any pre-made template to launch their platform as soon as possible. Some would actually plan and take years to build from the ground up, which is very costly indeed. Shopify is a mix of both – pre-made templates with a lot of customization options or built from scratch – up to you. It offers top-quality marketplaces, highly functional and efficient yet trendy designs, and more.
The best part – it’s a low-code platform, meaning you don’t need years of programming education or training to build one. All you have to do is a ‘little of this’ and a ‘little bit of that’ and voila, you are all set to make history!
In the most simple words, Shopify offers a platform that enables anyone, from anywhere, anywhere to create and set up an online (eCommerce) store. It’s a subscription-based software that charges a nominal fee every month.
Moreover, it also offers Shopify POS or point of sale – which is an application for Android and iOS devices that lets Shopify owners sell their products through physical locations. Meaning if you are a Shopify owner with both online and physical stores, you can sync and manage your sales, inventory, payments through a single account – Shopify admins in your case, since you are the admin.
Shopify is not your regular eCommerce builder, instead, it offers everything you need through a single platform – seamlessly flaunt your products, engage and interact with your customers, ship products, receive transactions, manage your inventory and routine operations.
Okay, now you must be thinking — why should I use Shopify, what are the limitations, what services does Shopify offers, is Shopify even good for my eCommerce business, is Shopify reliable, why Shopify is the best, how to manage a Shopify store, does Shopify promote your website, blah, blah. I would say, hold your horses human. I am getting there.
In this blog, I will clue you in on some of the convincing benefits of using Shopify for your next eCommerce project: its pricing and everything else you need to know. So, calm down and let me take the reins.
Technology may intimidate those who aren’t tech-savvy. It’s a preconceived notion that startup owners should know all about technology. But what if entrepreneurs starting out in the market lack the knowledge? Then, they’d need a full-fledged development team to get the product right — but again, what if they don’t have the resources or budget to afford a development team? Now, just because they don’t have the resources – doesn’t mean they don’t get to live their idea. This is where Shopify jumps in.
It offers a simplified solution for those with less technical expertise. Shopify not only provides the necessary assistance in managing the technical needs of the store, but also offers a clean, intuitive, and user-friendly interface. Potential startup founders don’t have to have technical expertise – a few tutorial videos can get the job done. Moreover, with a wide range of pre-made templates, small businesses can develop designs attractive enough to woo their customers.
Also, it comes packed with all the features and tools to get you started in roughly 19 minutes – all you have to do is:
Online stores should be easily navigable – they are not supposed to overwhelm store visitors. So if you, too, want your potential customers to stay on your website for longer than 3 minutes, Shopify is the right choice.
Visual appeal is one of the most important aspects that attract visitors to your online store or your website — eye-catching web layouts facilitate businesses to generate web traffic, leads, and ultimately, conversions.
Therefore, one of the top benefits of using Shopify is the beautiful themes and templates that it offers. They not only make the website look eye-pleasing but also very professional and clean. Customers can find themes based on their niche such as art, accessories, food, furniture, clothes and so much more.
You can also search by theme features such as search engine optimization, sticky navigation, wide layout, etc. In addition, choose from paid or premium templates, mobile-only or responsive templates, warm, light, or cold. The options are unlimited. But the sad thing is, there are only a handful of free templates – so if you are looking for a competitive edge in the market, you have to go all the way in!
There are 150+ themes to choose from. Some important features include (are not limited to):
You have a beautiful, visually appealing website, but how good is it if no one pays a visit? One of the most important benefits of using Shopify is its SEO features and in-built marketing tools through which businesses can improve their rank on Google search engine for instant lead generation.
Moreover, business owners can access advanced eCommerce analytics such as they can see where their potential customers are coming from, which page have they visited the most, and their buying patterns to run targeted highly personalized marketing campaigns.
What are other Benefits of Using Shopify In-Built marketing tools?
Online shopping scams are on the rise. According to studies, eCommerce frauds increased by 45% in 2017. This led to losses of $57.8 billion across 8 big industries. Such scams pose the biggest threats to the global eCommerce industry and also to customers.
eCommerce holds sensitive, and most valuable customer data of thousands of people from all around the world — this data, in the wrong hands, can cause irreparable damages to both the business and the customer community. But fret not, Shopify follows advanced security standards to ensure that customer data stay secure at all costs.
Shopify’s security measures include the following:
Additionally, Shopify offers secure and easy to integrate multiple payment gateways such as Stripe, Paypal, credit/debit cards, et al. Secure multiple payment options not only increases the credibility but also improves the number of returning customers.
One of the most powerful benefits of using Shopify is that – it has over 1,200 easily accessible apps and plugins to enhance your customer service and automate administrative tasks, so that you can focus on other more important aspects of your business.
Businesses can manage their shop, orders, payments shipping, and products anytime anywhere straight from Shopify mobile applications. Moreover, either it’s setting up your online store or the application, Shopify’s customer service is always available on chat, call, or email.
I thought you would never ask! As I have mentioned earlier, Shopify is no ordinary eCommerce builder. They don’t only offer pre-made templates — you can either choose to customize just the one section of your website or build the store from the ground up — whatever you prefer. Therefore, the cost of building sites through Shopify can vary based on the initial preference.
If you just starting and want to outsource a Shopify design and development company to get the job done — then let me tell you, a basic Shopify website would cost you somewhere around $1500 – $3000 but if you want to custom-design your pages, it will cost twice the price and can go up to $10,000 or more.
Shopify makes selling more fun and easier — we can help you get started in no time. ARFASOFTECH has worked in the IT industry for over 5 years now (and counting), on more than 100 projects.
Among other eCommerce building platforms, ARFASOFTECH has hands-on experience with developing marketplaces using Shopify technology. Share your requirements with us, and let us help you sell like a pro!
Fahad is PM at ARFASOFTECH but has a knack for writing. He enjoys writing about the latest technologies and evolving trends. Most of his writings revolve around trending technologies and their integration into operations.
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