There are plenty of website solutions out there, so why Shopify?  In fact, why a website at all?

Why build a website

The popularity and ease of use of Amazon and other online marketplaces mean that many brands do not even bother building their own eCommerce site.  Whilst this saves money and time, there are good reasons to have your own site.

Save on fees

Marketplaces charge a commission of 10 to 15%, whereas selling on Shopify only cost the payment process fee charged by your payment provider (usually 1 to 3%)

Access other sales channels

If you sell on marketplaces, you are effectively outsourcing your marketing to them.  This saves much time and also enables you to benefit from their enormous resources.  However, there are many ways of generating sales and traffic which require your own website. These include:

• Search engine optimisation
• Paid search
• Affiliate marketing
• Email marketing

Your customers

If you sell on a marketplace, the customer is not ‘yours’.  That means you have to pay every time you make a sale to them.  With your own website, you can pay once to acquire the customer and then use marketing techniques like email to attract them back to your site.

Why Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce website platforms and fast becoming the industry leader. 

Cheap

Shopify starts at £30/month.

Easy to build

The Shopify website is easy to set up.  The system is hosted on Shopify’s servers and so requires not technical knowledge to set up.  The website can be built using a wide range of library themes that are simple to configure.

Easy to use

Shopify is straightforward to use.  It has an intuitive interface for managing orders and updating the website

Extendable

A leading eCommerce platform, Shopify’ functionality can be extended using hundreds to easy to install apps. For example, you can run your eBay business through Shopify using the eBay app.

Run your whole business

Using apps, you can run your whole eCommerce business through Shopify, including

• Warehousing
• Despatch
• Marketplaces
• Marketing

Take payment

Shopify has a built-in payment option – ShopPay.  ShopPay allows customers to store their information, making it easy to check out on Shopify stores.  You can also add other payment options such as PayPal and Stripe.