“E-commerce is not an industry; eCommerce is a tactic”. Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify
Shopify monopolizes the eCommerce world today. It’s one of the leading eCommerce platforms, holding almost 20% market share with a staggering count of over 1.7 million merchants on the platform.
Indeed, Shopify’s dominance in the eCommerce world grows with each passing day. What’s even more impressive is that among all 370+ eCommerce platforms, only Shopify and WooCommerce have managed to expand their market share in the past three years.
So, what’s so special about Shopify? How does it work? What benefits does it hold for your brand? Let’s get the answers in this blog.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is an eCommerce platform launched in 2006. It is a cloud-based commerce platform that enables merchants to build online stores. The company headquarters is located in Ottawa, Canada.
Besides, it has offices in six countries around the world, including the United States, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Ireland.
The popular eCommerce platform allows businesses to sell products online. Currently operating in more than 175 countries worldwide, Shopify offers over 70 different types of plans for both small and large business owners.
Top Benefits of Choosing Shopify for eCommerce business
Many eCommerce development platforms are available in the market, but why is Shopify winning hearts? Here we are going to discuss some of the USPs (unique selling points) that make it different from its competitors. Have a look.
1) Ease of Starting & Managing an Ecommerce Business:
Starting up a business is challenging and demands proper planning, research, and consulting. Shopify provides complete assistance for new entrepreneurs by providing tools like Shopify Exchange and Capital (funding assistance), making it easier for first-time users and small business owners to conduct their online business.
Let’s understand these popular tools in brief:
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Shopify Capital
Shopify provides easy access to capital. New entrepreneurs looking for funding assistance can apply for a loan through its financing program “Shopify Capital,” a secured business loan provided to merchants who have a proven track record on the Shopify Platform.
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Shopify Exchange
Shopify exchange offers a wide range of products from over 70 vendors to help merchants with their daily challenges when starting an online store. The platform is perfect for new entrepreneurs looking to kickstart their businesses.
2) Wide Selection of Themes & Apps:
Choosing a suitable theme for your eCommerce store is essential for its success. Shopify provides some of the best-coded themes available in the online market.
It also offers an extensive range of apps that can be used across all its platforms, making it easier for merchants to run their business smoothly without getting into any technical glitches.
Have a look at some popular Shopify apps:
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Order Printer App:
The Order Printer app allows users to print a packing slip and postage from right inside their Shopify admin. Now you can make shipping more accurate and efficient by having all shipping details at hand, including tracking numbers or notes for the customer.
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SmartTabs App:
SmartTabs app organizes multiple products into tabs, making it easier for users to view the information in a single go. With it, you can create separate product categories listed on your store’s home page and implement them all over your site. It becomes easier for customers to find relevant products, as they will all be located in one place.
3) Fast & Secure Payment Processes:
We live in a world where customer expectations are growing higher by the day and that too within seconds. So, if your business is not equipped with the right payment solution, then it’s undoubtedly going to affect your sales, especially when you’re selling online.
Shopify’s payment processing solutions can be accessed through a wide range of renowned and trusted payment gateways (PayPal, Apple Pay, and Stripe). Thus, it becomes easier for merchants to grow their business smoothly without worrying about multi-faceted security issues.
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Shopify Payments:
The Shopify Payments account is powered by Stripe, which provides one of the simplest ways to accept credit cards securely.
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Shopify Pay:
Merchants can also opt for Shopify pay to receive payments without leaving their site. It’s a secure and flexible payment gateway that allows customers to make direct online payments without worrying about the safety or security of their information.
4) Drag-And-Drop Ease of Use:
Shopify offers a wide range of pre-set options and features, which can be conveniently added or removed. The drag and drop feature, added to Shopify in 2013, has made its usage extremely simple for beginners. This feature makes it easier for new users to start their business on Shopify without any hassle.
Let’s understand some important options of the Drag & Drop feature:
- The product variation option allows you to create variations such as size, color, etc., of one specific product. This feature saves a merchant’s time as they can skip adding the same information repeatedly for each variation of one product.
- The SEO content option allows you to create custom Meta descriptions, keywords, etc., for your products without being an expert in SEO or copywriting. It helps merchants focus on their day-to-day tasks and manage their stores seamlessly.
5) Advanced Analytics To Track Business Performance:
Analytics tools provide merchants with precise insight into how their business is performing, allowing them to make essential and accurate decisions that can help them grow their business exponentially.
Shopify’s advanced Analytics tools offer complete details about customer behavior, including which products are popular, how much traffic is coming in from different sources, and where exactly your customers are located.
For example:
With Shopify’s built-in analytics tool, merchants can analyze their customer behavior in detail, with insights into how much time visitors are spending on the site, where they are coming from, what pages they are browsing, how many times they have visited, etc.
6) Free & Fast Shipping for Improved Customer Satisfaction:
An important factor for online businesses is delivering their products to customers. The faster you can get your product to them, the higher your chances of retaining that customer.
Shopify’s free shipping has made eCommerce easier than ever before. It provides customers with the convenience of getting their orders delivered to their doorstep within no time.
Merchants using Shopify also get free shipping through a wide range of shipping carrier options, including regular mail and courier services.
For example:
Shopify merchants can easily integrate their online store with popular US domestic delivery carriers & 3PLs, such as USPS, Canada Post, FedEx, DHL Express & OnTrac.
This integration makes it possible for merchants to offer their customers free shipping on higher-value orders within the US. Shopify also provides its users with access to over 25 couriers in over 200 countries, which can get products delivered anywhere across the world.
7) 24/7 Customer Support Service for Dealing with Customer Queries:
With Shopify’s merchant support service launch, merchants can now access top-notch customer care services round the clock, all year long. Shopify’s customer support service offers merchants self-help resources that are easy to understand and effective in helping them resolve common issues that can occur while using the platform.
Shopify also provides its users with direct access to their account managers, trained to resolve issues and assist them using various platforms, apps & themes.
For example:
Shopify’s customer care service offers multi-channel help through phone, email, or chat, during which merchants can ask questions. They receive on-demand assistance on various topics, including site setup & configuration, product sales & marketing, theme & app usage, etc.
8) Comprehensive Support for All Your Online Business Needs:
Shopify provides users with complete access to an array of reliable services that can help them manage their business more efficiently. The service covers a wide range of essential aspects for online businesses, including product fulfillment, shipping & delivery methods, taxes & regulations, payment processing solutions & security, among others.
The support services allow merchants to easily manage their eCommerce business without worrying about the various complexities involved in running an online store. It helps them focus on managing their business more efficiently than ever before while also enabling them to scale the company rapidly, leading to increased returns for their business.
For example:
Shopify’s advanced infrastructure offers reliable hosting & storage solutions to give merchants peace of mind knowing that their sites are being hosted on highly secure & dedicated servers.
9) Free Mobile Applications for Enhancing Customer Experience:
Shopify offers an app store that allows users to choose from various apps installed on their sites, helping them take their business to the next level. With these apps, merchants can simplify & automate various business-related tasks, manage multiple stores from one dashboard and quickly access help buttons to resolve any immediate problems.
The platform also provides its users with entirely free mobile applications that they can download & use on their iOS & Android devices. All the apps are optimized for various screens, making it easy for merchants to keep track of business-related activities.
10) SEO Expertise to Help Merchants Beat Competition:
Shopify provides a range of tools & resources that help merchants learn about the latest SEO tactics so they can optimize their e-stores for search engines and stay ahead of their competitors in terms of visibility.
The platform offers access to various guides, courses, tutorials & webinars that cover all aspects of improving visibility, such as keyword research & analysis and implementing best SEO practices.
For example:
Shopify’s SEO tools include an SEO section within the platform that uses Machine Learning to generate insights about keywords, domains & URLs and helps users make informed decisions about their online store.
11) Free Trial Period for Assessing Platform’s Capabilities:
Shopify offers a special 14-day free trial period that gives merchants the ability to test drive the platform before making any financial commitment. It helps them assess how well it can support their business needs, find out if it is customizable enough for their specific industry and decide whether they are ready to invest in a full-fledged business solution or not.
As part of this free trial period, users get access to the full range of Shopify features, including advanced apps & integrations, robust hosting infrastructure & advanced security options. They can use this period to explore all these features without any financial commitment or risk before signing up for a paid subscription-based plan that matches their requirements.
12) Mobile-friendly Checkout Process to Increase Conversion Rates:
Shopify uses a custom-built backend system that optimizes the checkout process by using lightweight & responsive HTML5. All this helps merchants manage their stores more easily while offering users a streamlined shopping experience that makes it easier to complete transactions, thus drastically increasing conversion rates.
It also gives merchants the ability to offer customers a mobile-friendly version of their store, thus helping customers make purchases on the go & boosting sales.
Thus, users can complete purchases from anywhere on any device as the Shopify platform offers a fully responsive checkout process that’s optimized for mobile screens.
13) Built-in Advertising Solutions for Boosting Revenue:
Shopify provides its users with built-in advertising options that help them promote their products & services more effectively. With these solutions, merchants can quickly boost sales & revenue without any additional investments, thus saving both time & money.
The platform’s built-in advertising solutions include:
- Product ads that enable merchants to promote individual products in search engine results and social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram;
- Beautiful Banners that give merchants the ability to add eye-catching banners to their store, blog & social media accounts;
- Pop-up forms help merchants collect email addresses and create targeted lists for future promotions.
14) Free Shipment Tracking Feature to Increase Customer Satisfaction:
Shopify makes it easy for merchants to offer their customers free shipment tracking by simply adding a ‘track order’ button to their store. These options are completely free & easy to set up, which means merchants can offer this feature without investing in additional hardware or software.
For example:
The platform delivers a shipment tracking code for each order that customers receive in real-time via email or text message, giving them peace of mind about the status of their shipment. By providing users with easy access to this information, merchants can increase customer satisfaction ratings while driving more sales and revenue.
15) Inventory Management Solution for Streamlined Business Operations:
Shopify’s online accounting platform comes with an integrated inventory management solution that helps merchants manage their product inventories across all sales channels in one place. It makes it easy for them to find out when they need to order more products to meet growing demand, when they need to markdown discounts on specific items and how much stock is still available in their warehouse.
The platform allows users to:
- Add & edit product and inventory information;
- View daily sales reports and performance metrics;
- Manage inventory by locations and channels and monitor product sales & recommendations.
16) Comprehensive Security Measures for Enhanced Protection:
As a Shopify merchant, users can benefit from all the security features that this platform provides to help them protect personal information and funds from possible cyber-attacks.
These include:
- Two-factor authentication for better user access security;
- Secure payments through Shopify Payments powered by Stripe, a certified PCI Level 1 service provider enabling merchants to process credit cards without storing customer data;
- Advanced fraud protection to detect potential fraudulent customers & transactions.
Conclusion:
Overall, Shopify is a comprehensive eCommerce development platform that can meet the requirements of any business size. It offers a wide range of features and benefits and excellent customer support service.
With a wide range of themes and apps, fast and secure payment processing, advanced analytics, free shipping, and 24/7 customer support service, to get a professional eCommerce development company in India. Shopify has everything you need to create an online store that outperforms the competition.
Additionally, if you need assistance with eCommerce development, the Shopify development company can help. They can create your store exactly how you want with utmost perfection.