Shopify

"Amazing eCommerce platform for novices and developers alike!"

Vorteile: I've been running an eCommerce shop for 5 years on Shopify. Easy setup and easy import of products from a CSV file. The app store has a large variety of free and paid plugins that deal with all the edge cases and shortcomings of Shopify. I've been able to import multiple other platforms and convert a Shopify store in a matter of hours. The user interface is intuitive and simple to navigate.
In the last few years, adding channels to sell on such as Houzz and Facebook have made a big difference in being able to get visibility into our products.
The ability to quickly change themes and customize using the Liquid language is quite nice for developers using this product.

Nachteile: The pricing between the middle tier and advance is a big leap. The middle tier plan only allows 5 staff accounts, which can be limited, to people using development consultants and virtual staff.
The ability manage redirects (from a previous site) is limited but can be fixed by using a paid app from the Shopify app store.

"Why I chose Shopify (but also use other platforms, too)"

Kommentare: I'm a fan - their customer service is excellent, and I've never had any issues with downtime or anything like that.

Vorteile: I have an online shop to support my podcast on Tudor history. I originally set up my shop thinking I'd sell some fun leggings using print on demand vendors. And it's grown into a bit of a behemoth. Which is great! Here's the thing - lots of creators use Redbubble and Spreadshirt and other places like that, which is fine, but the difference is that when you do that, they handle the entire sales process. This is fine if you don't want to know your customers, but if you're running an online business, then being able to capture that sales information, and get mailing list sign ups, is crucial . You can still use print on demand vendors, only this time you control the entire sales process. Everything is branded for your business. The tags in the leggings are branded for you. The mailing address is your company. It's all yours. Of course, the downside is that you also have to handle the customer service questions that would normally go to the Zazzle equivalent. But if you are really wanting to build a business around your customers, you want that touch point. And you get to keep all the profits. With all the apps, you can have a store that really expresses who you are, and lets you control the entire sales process.

Nachteile: I'm not a fan of how much is only included in the more expensive options, and how much is only available through paid apps. Of course it's great to have the options at all, but it's very easy to start to run up high bills. At one point I was paying close to $100/mo for all my various apps! I also still use other marketplaces like Etsy because it's the distinction between selling at a church craft fair and setting up your own shop. At the church craft fair you're pretty much guaranteed some kind of traffic. With setting up on your own you have more control over the feel, and ownership of the shop, but it's up to you to go out and get all the traffic.

"Consistent"

Kommentare: We are happy to use Shopify and feel comfortable with what it has to offer for our business.

Vorteile: Shopify has maintained a fairly constant and consistent set up for a while now and while that can feel frustrating, they have done a good job at keeping what they do have functional and helpful. Apps allow further customization and allow for some unique options and they are good at helping out when there are issues with my store, fairly rare, but when needed it's important. Customers are used to using Shopify as it has become a standard for online shopping.

Nachteile: I wish they would rely less on Apps sometimes as that can quickly increase the fees my shops ends up paying every month.

"The only platform I would use for Ecommerce"

Kommentare: I work with a lot of websites that are ecommerce-based, and the headaches you'd expect to come with complex ecosystems are so much less frequent with Shopify than they are with Magento, BigCommerce, etc.
While other systems frustrate me to a point where I say "eh, I just won't even try to do 'task x' ", Shopify has a simple enough engine and vast enough app store that I feel like very few tasks are insurmountable.

Vorteile: From startup stores to enterprise solutions, Shopify has a structure that any site can use (and excel with). The templates available give each store a 'custom' feel, and the platform-side checkout solution prevents a lot of hiccups and downtime that would be caused by inexperienced developers trying to manipulate that crucial step in the funnel.

Nachteile: Lately (fall 2019), Shopify has had quite a bit of downtime. Because they host so many stores, it appears their servers can get overwhelmed during heavy seasons, causing slower responses and even causing stores to crash. Since the stores are all somewhat linked, this can cause issues for a large amount of stores, killing sales and harming customer reputation.

"Thought I was signing up for an Integrated POS System and Website"

Kommentare: Feels like Shopify sucks you in and is not transparent. When you realize what the system doesn’t do...they apologize and are very kind but not very helpful. There are a bunch of awkward apps you can buy to fix the problems but they don’t work very well. Wish someone would just make an easy functioning system that met business that sell inventory on line and in person.

Vorteile: It is easy to get a website up and running. Adding products is easy.

Nachteile: WHERE DO I BEGIN:
-inventory records only go back three months...I was horrified to find out I lost 4 months of inventory records.
-to print a receipt...you need to buy and download an app...it is awkward to use and takes a couple minutes for the receipt to upload before you can print it.
-to have employees log in you need to download and app and pay monthly
-you can not do a credit on someone’s account if they return something...You need to either return their money or give them a gift card it is awkward and difficult to use.
-if you mark an order pending payment you cannot take payment on the POS system.
-you cannot add any vender information that is not visible to your customers.
-the duplicate feature when adding products doesn’t work properly....to hard to explain what should be duplicated and what shouldn’t but trust me it wasn’t created by someone that understands business