What is Shopify?

Shopify is a web application that allows you to create your own online store. It provides you with several templates that can be customised to meet individual users’ branding requirements, and the system allows physical or digital goods to be sold.

Because Shopify is a hosted solution, There is no separate server hosting needed, it is all kept, run and backed up by Shopify themselves. The idea is that (nearly) everything you need to build and run your store happens out of the box, so to speak.

 

Key differences between Shopify plans and features

 

Tier	Price (PCM)	Features
Shopify Lite	$9	Plugin for Facebook selling page Plugin for Facebook Messenger Plugin for WordPress or other Blog to sell products.
Shopify Basic	$29.00	2 Staff Accounts 24/7 support Fraud analysis Manual order creation Discount codes Website and blog Free SSL certificate
Shopify Standard	$79.00	All features of Shopify Basic with the addition of; 3 Staff Accounts Gift cards Professional reports Abandoned cart recovery
Shopify Advanced	$299.00	All features of Shopify Basic and Standard with the addition of; 10 Staff Accounts Advanced report builder Third-party calculated shipping rates
Shopify Plus	Negotiable dependent on features	Enterprise level product, features are negotiable

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key features to watch out (and not miss by selecting the wrong plan!) are:

Reporting – professional reporting functionality is only available on the $79 ‘Shopify’ plans and up. This allows a greater access to reports on sales, trending products, shipping costs and will allow greater ease with any accounts side of things for tax etc.

Abandoned cart recovery – this allows you to send automatic emails to customers who nearly completed an order and see if you can persuade them to follow through, and is only available on the $79 ‘Shopify’ plan and up.

Gift cards – these are only available on the $79 ‘Shopify’ plans and up and self-explanatory.

Real time carrier shipping –  this is only available on the most expensive ‘Advanced Shopify’ plan allows you to provide real time order tracking to Customers so they know where their order is every step of the way.

Staff accounts – these allow you to give different members of your team different permissions (which is useful for restricting access to sensitive data and/or editing anything within the store itself); you are allowed 2 staff accounts on the ‘Basic Shopify’ plan; 5 on the ‘Shopify’ plan and 15 on the ‘Advanced Shopify’ plan

 

Shopify pricing

There are five Plans to choose from:

‘Shopify Lite’ – $9 per month

‘Basic Shopify’ – $29 per month

‘Shopify’ – $79 per month

‘Advanced Shopify’ – $299 per month

‘Shopify Plus’ – fees are negotiable

Shopify represents one of the cheaper ways into selling online. It’s starter plan, “Shopify Lite” costing $9 per month and allowing you to sell an unlimited number of goods. However, it’s important to note that this plan does not actually allow you to construct a fully-functional, standalone online store. rather, it is a ‘plugin’ for Facebook and other sites that allow a shop/store to be added to a page/site.

As you move up the pricing scale, you encounter the ‘Basic Shopify’ plan for $29 per month; the ‘Shopify’ plan for $79 per month and the ‘Advanced Shopify’ plan for $299 per month. Unlike the ‘Lite’ plan, all of these plans do allow you to host a fully functional online store; unlimited file storage and bandwidth is also included.

When it comes to paying for their service, you can pay on an annual or biennial basis – Shopify offer a 10% discount on an annual and a 20% discount on a biennial plans, when they are paid upfront. However, it is only worth choosing one of these options if you are 100% certain that Shopify is going to meet absolutely every business requirement you’re likely to have for your store over the next 1 to 2 years – otherwise, a monthly plan is a safer bet, even if slightly more expensive, it may save you money in the long term should your business outgrow the platform.

We can assist you with choosing the right plan. As part of our service, we can also work with you to create a bespoke site design that is striking and functional to increase conversion of your site, along with help on SEO and data to ensure the potential customer see’s what they need to. Click here to have a chat about with us about our services. Alternatively,  click this link to be taken to Shopify’s ‘FAQ’ page for more information.