Shopify Review
Fast online stores & converting checkouts99.9% uptime globally during sales events
10K+ checkouts & no transaction limits
Resilient app: 1000s of service partners
100+ product updates every 6 months
Pros & Cons
- Getting started is super easy and fast
- Data encryption, fraud and bot protection
- Shipping integrations with major vendors is easy
- Certified Level 1 PCI compliant
- Powerful analytical features
- Not a multi-lingual platform
Plans & Pricing
Special offer: Try Shopify for free, no credit card required. Then pay only $1 for the first month.
Shopify offers various plans that suit different business needs. You can choose between the Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plan.
Basic
This plan is a well-rounded choice for solo entrepreneurs seeking to establish their online presence with a manageable budget. Priced at $39 USD per month, this plan provides substantial value with key features tailored to small-scale operations. Users can benefit from competitive card rates, starting at 2.9% + 30¢ USD for online transactions, and enjoy up to 77% in shipping discounts. Additionally, the plan includes 10 inventory locations, localized global selling across three markets, and 24/7 chat support to ensure continuous assistance. For those who prefer in-person sales, the plan also includes POS Lite, making it a versatile option for entrepreneurs aiming to grow their business without overwhelming costs.
Shopify
The Shopify plan is ideal for small teams looking to scale their business with enhanced features and support. At $105 USD per month, this plan offers a great set of tools designed to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Users can take advantage of lower card rates, starting at 2.7% + 30¢ USD for online transactions, along with up to 88% in shipping discounts and insurance—an asset for managing logistics. The plan also includes 10 inventory locations and localized global selling across three markets, making it easier to expand your reach. Additionally, it provides 24/7 chat support and allows for the addition of five extra staff accounts, ensuring that your team can collaborate effectively. With POS Lite included, this plan is a comprehensive solution for small teams aiming to grow their online presence and operational capacity.
Advanced
This plan is designed for businesses that are ready to scale and require more sophisticated tools to manage their growing operations. Priced at $399 USD per month, users benefit from reduced card rates, starting at 2.5% + 30¢ USD online, and can gain access to up to 88% shipping discounts, insurance, and third-party calculated rates. The plan also includes custom reports and analytics, allowing for deeper insights into business performance. With 10 inventory locations and enhanced 24/7 chat support, businesses can efficiently manage their operations across multiple fronts. Additionally, the plan supports localized global selling in three markets, with the option to add more for $59 USD per month each, and includes 15 additional staff accounts, making it suitable for larger teams. The Advanced plan also offers 10x checkout capacity and includes POS Lite.
Plus
The Plus plan is tailored for complex businesses with high-volume operations and the need for advanced customization. Starting at $2,300 USD per month on a 3-year term, this plan is a premium offering designed to meet the demands of large enterprises. It provides competitive card rates specifically designed for high-volume merchants, ensuring cost efficiency as your business scales. Key features include up to 88% shipping discounts, insurance, and third-party calculated rates. With 200 inventory locations and priority 24/7 phone support, businesses can maintain seamless operations across a broad geographic footprint. The plan also supports localized global selling in up to 50 markets, making it ideal for businesses with international aspirations. Shopify Plus offers unlimited staff accounts and a fully customizable checkout experience with 40x capacity, providing the flexibility needed for a tailored customer journey. For those in the wholesale or B2B space, the plan also includes 200 POS Pro locations with Shopify Payments, making it the ultimate solution for businesses requiring comprehensive, scalable e-commerce capabilities.
Overview
Offering an easy-to-use interface and an impressive number of tools and features, Shopify.com is one of the most popular online store builders today. The greatest part about Shopify is that it is a one-stop shop that covers all your eCommerce website building needs in a professional and secure manner.
Features & Functionality
Themes
There are more than 100 Shopify themes, and all of them have been created by world-renowned designers like Pixel Union and Clearleft. The mobile-friendliness makes it easy for customers to make purchases directly from their mobiles or tablets.
Products Listing and Inventory Management
Shopify provides online shops owners with professional tools to track all items they have in stock. The platform’s new POS system also enables you to sync online and offline inventory. If you are looking for more advanced features, the App Store has plenty of add-ons to help you improve your online store’s functionality. A central dashboard gives you a holistic overview of your online business by providing you details pertinent to sales, orders, and traffic.
Marketing Tools
When it comes to marketing your online store built with Shopify, you will certainly appreciate its easy integration features, especially the ability to sync between your eCommerce website and popular social media or retail platforms like Facebook, Rakuten, and eBay. This way, you can extend your potential market and benefit from even more exposure without having to invest extra effort or time. Another important feature when trying to sell your products online, search engine optimization is easily performed thanks to Shopify’s built-in tools. You can enter meta titles, keywords and descriptions without having to make special setups. You can create different versions of the same page using canonicals, and check your keywords density on each particular page.
Payment Options
Shopify has a built-in credit cards processing system, which enables you not to go through a 3rd party processor like PayPal, Stripe or Authorize.net. However, their system allows the integration of a variety of payment gateways, including the above-mentioned options.
Safety
Professional and secure, the Shopify system enables eCommerce website owners to build PCI and DSS Level 1 compliant product pages. Your customers won’t have to worry about credit card data being kept and falling in the wrong hands. The safety of all online stores built with Shopify is ensured by the use of 128-bit SSL encrypted technology.
Design & Templates
Building a good looking e-commerce website with Shopify is really easy as they offer a good collection of professional website design templates, featuring different pages and posts formats. Moreover, all templates are easily customizable, providing you with full control over your online shop’s look, including the color scheme and the layout. Only a few of Shopify’s website design templates are free, though. However, they all come with different versions and multiple page formats, which translates in reality into a variety of design options. If you have advanced HTML and CSS skills, you can also build your own website design. Shopify’s resources and documentation are very helpful in both cases. However, if you decide to build your own theme from scratch, you should have some prior web design knowledge and experience.
Ease of Use
Being such a popular eCommerce platform, Shopify.com has set into place a professional customer support system. A comprehensive manual is available on their site, answering many of the questions you might have. There is also a forum, where you can interact with other eCommerce websites owners and developers. Shopify’s agents are also available 24/7 via live chat, email or phone, should you choose to contact them directly.
Customer Support
Shopify is really easy to use and offers the amazing feature of managing your shop from your phone and even your watch. This is available on iOS and Android. The Shopify Storefront Editor is simple to navigate and editing is a snap!
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24/7 Help & Support
The Shopify support team is available 24/7 by email, live chat and phone. -
Phone Support
You can give them a call using either their North America, UK, Australia or New Zealand number. -
Live Online Chat
You can chat directly with Shopify support and get help with your questions. You can also send them a Tweet on Twitter. -
Email
Email support is available. -
Video Tutorials
There are visual guides available as well as many video tutorials. There are also webinars. -
FAQ
The FAQ comes in the form of questions & solutions. You ask a question and a list of possible solutions appear. -
Community Forum
There are many different forums available. -
Blog
There is a large blog available with many useful articles.
Final Word
All in all, Shopify is a powerful eCommerce website building tool, providing good value for your money. An all-in-one platform, Shopify offers online store owners a variety of features that can help to improve the site’s performance and boost sales.