What is Shopify?

Shopify is a hosted online platform with comprehensive solutions for setting up your online business and selling products worldwide. The solution comes with multiple packages, which will relieve you from the hustle of having to do the business setup yourself.

Shopify also has a Buy Button, a feature that customers can use to purchase products on other online and offline platforms, such as Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, trade shows, etc. You can get the button as part of the Shopify Lite Plan.

And if you are wondering if Shopify is legit, you need not worry because it is a publicly-listed company with top-notch security apparatus. Still, you should be aware of all manner of issues facing eCommerce businesses today, such as chargebacks and fraudsters.

Simplicity of usage

Pros: The main goal of a business owner is to increase their sales without having to be bogged down by technology and other tedious administrative tasks. Significant advantages Shopify provides that other e?ommerce platforms don't include assistance with managing the store’s technological needs, a clear interface, and access to several useful ones. Shopify is a powerfully hosted platform that will also take care of your the transaction processing time.
Cons: Shopify is an excellent platform for less tech-savvy people. If you’re looking for more functionality for your store you might consider some of Shopify’s competitors, such as Magento or WordPress, because they’re self-hosted platforms that are challenging to work with, but also more flexible with theme customization and with managing larger stores.

Big choice of storefront themes

Pros: Among Shopify’s top advantage are the beautiful storefront themes they provide. They make a website look beautiful and professional, which helps you retain customers. Shopify provides merchants several theme options for their store. Themes are broken down by industry: Art & Photography, Jewelry & Accessories, Food & Beverage, Furniture, and much more. You have the option to filter them and choose whether they are mobile-only or responsive as well as use free or paid themes.
Cons: There are only ten free theme templates. If you don’t have any of the free templates you will need to pay a one-time fee to use any of the other themes. If you want extensive customization you will need to understand Shopify’s Liquid code or hire an expert if you don’t.

Shopify app store

Pros: Shopify’s plugins are one of their strongest aspects. Shopify has over 1,200 different apps that can help you automate your tasks, which allows you to focus on other important such as marketing or increasing your sales. There are several apps available to assist you with accounting, customer service, inventory, reporting, shipping, and more. These tools will simplify your life by providing you with the technology to scale your store.
Let’s take a look at what Shopify apps have to offer. Shopify apps will simplify your accounting flow an integral, and tedious, part of running a growing business. Without an accounting plugin integrated to your website you’ll first need to take export your sales figures and transaction details, and then manually import them into your accounting software or give it all to your accountant.
What Shopify does for you is invite other tool providers, like accounting software developers, and integrates their software into Shopify. All sales and figures will automatically be transferred to the accounting software which, saves you money you would have spent on an accountant.
Cons: You will need to pay fees associated with using these apps. However, without these apps you will need to manually insert your data into your own software which takes time. You can choose to hire someone, which will cost over $50 to $300 a month, or you can pay a monthly app subscription.

24/7 support

Pros: Shopify has an incredibly dedicated support team. They are available to you via live chat, and email. You can also call them 24/7 via four different numbers, depending on your region.
Cons: If you are having technical issues you may not always be able to receive direct help from the general support. Instead, you may need to post your question to a forum in order to receive an answer from a developer. Support service phone numbers are only listed only for the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.