Video: Shopify Review

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Video review transcript

Hey, it’s Chris from Style Factory here.

In this Shopify review, I’m going to show you the key things that you really need to know about the platform.

I’m going to highlight eight really good things about Shopify and seven bad things you absolutely need to watch out for.

So stay tuned to find out if Shopify is the right ecommerce platform for you. 

Let’s dive right into the good stuff first. 

One — Shopify is easy to use

Shopify has been designed for a non-technical audience.

You don’t need to install any software on your computer — all you need is a web browser and access to the internet. 

The interface is pretty user friendly, and you can use Shopify to build a very professional-looking store without any coding being necessary. 

Two — the templates are good

There’s a decent selection of free templates included with Shopify, and they look great.

They’re all responsive, meaning they’ll display nicely on any device.

And if you don’t like the free options, there’s a wide range of premium themes available too.

Three — abandoned cart saving is available on all plans

Abandoned cart saving lets you identify visitors who nearly bought something from your store, only to change their mind at the last minute. 

Once you know who these users are, you can then send them an email with a discount code that encourages them to complete their purchase.

The good news is that unlike many of its competitors, Shopify includes this important functionality on all its plans, even its entry level one.

Four — it’s great for dropshipping

Dropshipping lets you sell products without keeping any of them in stock. You take an order, send it to a supplier and they deliver the goods to your customer.

Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms for merchants who want to dropship, because it offers a really wide range of dropshipping apps that let you sell lots of different goods from lots of different suppliers.

Five — it performs tax calculations automatically

One of the challenges of selling online is that you can end up making sales in places with different tax rates — something you have to reflect in the pricing of your products.

Thankfully, Shopify applies tax rates automatically, and unlike other ecommerce platforms is particularly good at meeting the EU’s complex requirements on applying VAT to digital products.

Six — it has built in email marketing

In addition to letting you build an online store, Shopify lets you host a mailing list and send e-newsletters to it, and it lets you do this very cheaply too.

Seven — it’s good for selling in physical locations.

Shopify has one of the most comprehensive point-of-sale feature sets available.

You can integrate the platform with a wide range of point-of-sale hardware, like card readers, barcode scanners, receipt printers and tills.

This lets you sell products easily in retail outlets, pop-up shops or market stalls, and keep all your inventory in sync.

Eight — it’s great for selling internationally.

Unlike a lot of competing ecommerce platforms, Shopify is a brilliant option for selling internationally.

Its ‘Shopify Markets’ feature makes it easy to sell using multiple currencies, multiple languages and  multiple domains.

OK, so that’s the good stuff.

Now let’s look at seven things that might make you think twice about Shopify.

But before we do that, it would be great if you could just give this video a thumbs up, hit the subscribe button and click the notifications bell. This lets you access our ecommerce videos more easily.

Right, so let’s discuss where Shopify gets the thumbs down.

One — you can only have three options per product

Shopify is a lot more restrictive than other platforms when it comes to product options: there’s a limit of three, so if your products come in lots of shapes and sizes, you might need to think about using a different platform or paying extra for a Shopify app that lets you create more options.

Two — adding custom fields is hard

If you’re a merchant who needs to capture personalized information at checkout — for example, text for an engraving — then you might get a bit frustrated by Shopify.

Adding custom fields involves either adding some code to your site or again paying extra for a Shopify app that provides this functionality. 

Three — professional reporting costs extra

If you’re somebody who loves to pour over sales data, you’re going to have to pay extra to get it with Shopify.

Full reporting features are only available on the more expensive plans.

Four — you pay extra to use a third party payment gateway

If you don’t want to use Shopify’s built in payment processor, Shopify Payments, you’re charged a transaction fee on each sale.

This can make things more expensive, particularly for users in countries where Shopify Payments isn’t available.

Five — full point of sale functionality is expensive

Although you can do a lot with the built in Shopify point of sale functionality, to get the most out of it, you’ll need to pay quite a lot extra every month for a Shopify POS Pro add on.

This lets you use POS in multiple locations, print custom receipts, add unlimited members of staff and more — but it’s pricey.

Six — you often need to buy an app to obtain a key feature

Some key features that you might expect to be built into Shopify are either missing or a bit inadequate, and you will often have to resort to using an app to gain the functionality you need.

For example, selling digital products, adding GPDR compliant cookie banners and allowing users to upload files when purchasing products will all require you to install an app on your store.

Seven — real carrier shipping is only available on the most expensive plans

If you want to automatically display carrier shipping rates on Shopify, you’ll need to be on one of its most expensive plans, pay for a monthly add on or subscribe to the platform on an annual basis.

Many competing platforms offer real time carrier shipping at a lower price point.

So there we have it — the main good things and bad things about Shopify.

There’s a lot more pros and cons to discover, however, so do check out our full review on the Style Factory website. 

You’ll find the details for this below this video along with a link to a free Shopify trial.

If you enjoyed this Shopify review, please do give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest tips on ecommerce and running an online business.

And finally, if you have any questions about Shopify, make sure you add a comment below — I do my best to answer all of them.

Thanks for watching.