Pros and Cons of using the Shopify platform for building eCommerce stores

Shopify is a SaaS based web application used to create online stores. Non-technical users can create a store without the involvement of a design agency or web developer, however, one would need to take help from developers if customization is needed.

Shopify has been used to power over 800,000 stores with over 1,000,000 active users and has generated over $100 bn in sales.

Pros of using Shopify

• Shopify is a hosted platform (web, server space is provided within the license fee). Also, Shopify manages server maintenance, server hacking and security breaches themselves.
• There is no transaction fee if Shopify Payments - the in-built payment processing system is used.
• Shopify offers a clean, easy-to-use interface, a built-in blog, multilingual capabilities and a wide range of design templates.
• Shopify's POS hardware allows one to sell in physical locations also. A wide range of hardware is available (barcode readers, receipt printers etc.) helping the users achieve this.
• Allows developers to build custom apps, custom storefronts and embedded apps that interact with Shopify.
• Users can manage their stores using iOS and Android apps.

Cons of using Shopify

• Whilst the users can create 100 variants of a product, these can only involve up to 3 product options.
• Professional reporting functionality is available only on the more expensive Shopify plans.
• Transaction fee is applicable if a third-party payment gateway is used.
• Shopify Payments allows the users to sell only from certain countries. To sell from others the users need to use a third-party payment gateway.
• To get a GDPR compliant website, a third-party cookie banner app needs to be used.
• It is not possible to automatically ensure that product images are displayed using the same aspect ratio. This can result in poor presentation of products unless the user has cropped all the images in advance of uploading them to Shopify.

Aress Software is a Shopify Partner company and provides advice to its customers who aspire to build online stores. Please write to me at info@aress.com to know more.