Don't Shop Around, Shop-ify!

Overall, Shopify has been good to me. They made me a Partner because of the – you know I can't actually recall what the criteria was to become one – maybe you just apply to become one. But if you are a Partner, you can develop stores at no cost, and then get paid a referral fee and a residual for transferring it to a paying client. A very nice gesture towards us store-builders – I wish all creative software or SaaS platforms were as fiscally friendly. They also make it easy for devs looking to expand into Shopify App creation – so they can be on the receiving end of that sweet, month-to-month autocharged booty.

Pros

Shopify is where it's at if you want to get involved in the whole Direct 2 Consumer craze! You could literally have a store, up and running and transactional in 10 minutes assuming you're computer / web literate, have a bank account, and a product to sell...For getting up and running with hundreds of attractive themes to choose from (not all on Shopify.com, there are online stores that sell themes...) you really can't beat the ease of Shopify – with just the right amount of freedom, and automation to make sure you can get your products and logo looking their best, and not accidentally break the whole thing. And if you know a little HTML/CSS, the sky is really the limit in terms of customizing the theme. Plus there's a Shopify "App Store" that offers every possible function you could imagine if you wanted something not natively offered such as pop-ups, rewards clubs, or wholesale pricing.

Cons

In the beginning, I found it a bit cumbersome to deal with large catalogs with lots of variants (color / size) per sku. But Shopify and their lightning-fast chat support are nothing if not good listeners and they've made editing part of, or your whole catalog, much easier than ever before, with tons of filters for tailoring your product selection on the back end, to making almost any variable from Title, to Inventory, to Weight, easily bulk editable. So the thing I'll say that still stinks, is that all the apps charge subscription fees, which is super annoying, especially if you rely on a bunch of them. I would much rather pay a one and done license fee as opposed to $3 a month for my mailing list manager app, $16 a month for my Wholesale price tiering app, and $5 for my abandoned cart retrieval system. It adds up to a big, never-ending headache.

Shopify makes everything easier

I love using Shopify because it’s user friendly and thus saves me a lot of time. The theme choices and app options are excellent do you can really enhance your website and make it look professional.

Pros

It’s very user friendly with lots of options to help business growth and development. Customer service is fast and efficient. They are very helpful and friendly and easy to get a hold off. Constant updates and apps to add to your site means you stay up to date with new trends and features. Also Shopify integrates easily with a lot of things you need like Facebook catalogue, other wholesale sites etc. You can basically transfer over your inventory in 1 click. You also get great discounted rates on shipping.

Cons

It is more expensive than other options plus to integrate anything eg. Instagram, email newsletter function, galleries etc you need to pay for an app. Some apps are free but very few. A lot of features are only available on the more expensive pro plan.

Thought I was signing up for an Integrated POS System and Website

Feels like Shopify sucks you in and is not transparent. When you realize what the system doesn’t do...they apologize and are very kind but not very helpful. There are a bunch of awkward apps you can buy to fix the problems but they don’t work very well. Wish someone would just make an easy functioning system that met business that sell inventory on line and in person.

Pros

It is easy to get a website up and running. Adding products is easy.

Cons

WHERE DO I BEGIN: -inventory records only go back three months...I was horrified to find out I lost 4 months of inventory records. -to print a receipt...you need to buy and download an app...it is awkward to use and takes a couple minutes for the receipt to upload before you can print it. -to have employees log in you need to download and app and pay monthly -you can not do a credit on someone’s account if they return something...You need to either return their money or give them a gift card it is awkward and difficult to use. -if you mark an order pending payment you cannot take payment on the POS system. -you cannot add any vender information that is not visible to your customers. -the duplicate feature when adding products doesn’t work properly....to hard to explain what should be duplicated and what shouldn’t but trust me it wasn’t created by someone that understands business

Best e-commerce Website Hosting Platform

Our clients are extremely happy with Shopify as a website hosting platform and have seen positive increases in their business from having a platform that works so well.

Pros

Shopify is extremely user friendly and is designed to not break with updating like many of the other website hosting platforms. It is easy to update and page load speeds are quick. Their reporting is also user friendly.

Cons

Cost is slightly higher that their competitors like Wordpress or similar. This cost is easily recouped in the website performance and lack of need to continually update things.

Shopify has no competitors

Nothing but good and more good. Every issue I have ever had was resolved properly

Pros

Ease of use and by far the best customer service I've have had with an online product and I have used them all.

Cons

It can get pricey with app you could use but dollar for dollar It suits me best and is the best fit for the sites I manage as well