Shopify is a popular ecommerce platform which powers over 600,000 businesses across the world. It has some great features and a very well designed admin that makes running your store a breeze. But, what make’s it so good?
Shopify is a well designed ecommerce platform.
I like the way Shopify is built. It’s a very polished piece of software, but looks aren’t everything. From a web designer’s perspective, there are many features I like about Shopify that make it easy to work with without having to install additional apps.
Shopify is fully customisable.
Shopify is a platform that offers complete customisation. A good designer can give your storefront personality, make it look professional and maintain your brand identity.
There are also a good selection of pre-made themes available for those who aren’t quite ready to invest in a professional Shopify web designer.
The Shopify admin has the key features to manage your store.
The admin has a well-built user interface that makes it easy to manage inventory, stock, orders and customer details as would be expected. No technical skills are necessary.
Email templates can be styled up and customised. There is a good level of reporting and analytics too.
Bulk inventory editor
Shopify provides a spreadsheet style editor that enables you to edit product details quickly in bulk.
Product collections
These are categories, but can be made up of manually or automatically selected products. An automatic set of products can be selected by type, tag or keyword.
Order management
The order screen allows actions to be applied on multiple orders through a few clicks. You can even save filtered order views. There is even a fraud check on each order so you can pick up on any orders that don’t look right.
Abandoned checkouts
You can quickly see who didn’t complete checkout and send them a follow-up emails if necessary.
CSV product import
Ecommerce databases are naturally complex, so the import feature is a huge time-saver. They provide an Excel template that you can use to populate your products with.
Discounts
Shopify provides a good set of discount features from the simple percentage off to “buy 1 get 1 free”.
Shopify can be extended with integrations.
Third-party apps and integrations, such as Zapier, can easily extend your store with additional features and services.
Shopify is flexible out-of-the-box.
Ecommerce has always been an evolving industry. Over the years I’ve built all sorts of features to extend my clients stores - things like “customise and buy” options, product level VAT exemption, buy together and blog template designs.
Shopify has great support.
I’ve had the pleasure of using support a few times over the last couple of years, and every occasion has been a pleasant experience. The Shopify “Gurus”, are very knowledgeable about the platform and are available 24/7.
There is also a large community forum for store owners, designers and developers to get help and discuss features and requirements.
Shopify handles all the and SSL certificates.
A feature that is often overlooked is that Shopify takes care of all the hosting and SSL certificates.
Hosting costs and SSL can easily amount to over $1,000 per year, but with Shopify, this is all included in your monthly payment which provides access to the entire admin and 24/7 support too.
Shopify integrates with social media.
Shopify comes ready to connect with Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. It also has built-in connections for Google Shopping and Google Analytics.
Conclusion
Shopify has many great features, so I’d recommend signing up for a free trial to experiment with. Or, get in touch if you’d like to discuss your project. If you already have an existing Shopify store, I can also provide a UX audit that identifies any usability issues.
Signup for a free Shopify trial
I built an ecommerce platform over 10 years ago due to limitations with all the off-the-shelf systems at that time. So I know a lot about ecommerce systems, what’s required for businesses and essential features. I’m aware of what Shopify offers, its features, limitations and restrictions and therefore can provide you with valuable guidance.