What is Shopify and why should I care?

BY CHRISTINA GWIRA

Shopify seems to be the darling of the tech world at the moment. It’s stock price and valuation has been in the news constantly as they work tirelessly to bring the best in e-commerce to their expanding client base of dropshippers, clothing stores and multi-million-dollar boutiques. It’s fast becoming one of the web’s preferred platforms for those looking to start selling their wares online, fast. Here are some reasons as to why you should consider the platform, if you plan on selling products online.

It’s easy.

Coding is hard. Building a website is harder still. Coding an online store to sell your shea butter mix? Forget about it. However, with the advent of Shopify, this is very possible. Shopify provides you with a variety of themes, apps, tutorials and more importantly support that enables you to do just that in record time. No need for coding, no need to hire a web developer. You can do it yourself. It’s because of this that many people are turning away from using expensive web design companies and courses to go and build their online store on their platform. Their point-and-click setup of everything from products to shipping make it easy for anyone to be able to start selling online with ease.

It’s scalable.

Fast forward one year from this article: you’ve launched your Shopify store. You’ve partnered with a company in the US who will market your shea butter mix across the United States. Guess what? You still don’t need to call that web design company because Shopify has got you covered. Whereas in the past and with other platforms, any high increase in traffic and sales could result in the halt, or at worst the crashing of your website. With Shopify, you’ll be able to take on hundreds and thousands of orders without having to hire more people to build out your website. Shopify grows with you and with no limits on orders, products, shipping and more, you can grow your online company as big or small as you’d like.

It’s secure.

Getting hacked is every website owner’s worst nightmare. Ransomware is fast becoming a part of the internet and with little to no recourse, securing your website is just as important as designing it. Shopify hosts all it’s websites so the security is in their court. With high grade services and security, you can sleep peacefully, knowing that your website will be safe and sound. You no longer have to worry about keeping the bad guys out of your website. No need to update plugins and install firewalls. Shopify keeps your store and ultimately your online business safe.

It’s fast.

When Instagram first rolled out shoppable feeds back in November 2016, one of the first platforms that were able to access them at the time were based on Shopify. Before Bigcommerce, Squarespace and even my beloved Woocommerce, Shopify was allowing brands across Instagram, another channel for them to sell their goods to the world. Shopify is constantly on the cutting edge of bringing improvements to the way that online shop owners provide their products and services to their clients. If you want your business to be the first to access and use new technology for selling online, Shopify will help you get there.

It’s beautiful.

All Shopify provided themes create beautiful websites that are mobile-friendly, editable and look good. Customize the colors, logos, fonts and sections to create a one-of-a-kind store for your business with no coding skills. Lacking photos? Shopify comes integrated with over 1,000 royalty free, high resolution photos for you to use to decorate your website. Choose accessible Google Fonts that allow you to bring your brand to life through your website.

It’s affordable

For you to start building your Shopify store, monthly plans start from $29/month (as of September 2019). With this, you can launch a dropshipping store, sell your courses and ship your shea butter mixes all across the world. With both free and paid apps, you’ll be able to extend the default Shopify features and add elements like sliders, testimonials, popups and the like to improve your customer’s experience on your website, as well as your bottom-line.

Shopify continues to beat expectations not just in the stock market but for their clients as well. With a solid platform, ever-changing technology and beautifully crafted websites, consider using them to launch your business onto the internet today.