Advantages of Shopify

When it comes to shopping, there’s hardly any way round online shopping. Ordering items online saves time and reduces stress. Despite the ease with which products can be accessed, the focus remains on product quality and the reliability of the retailers.

Consequently, the most important aspect of the shopping experience is the design of the online shop. It has a significant influence on our purchasing decisions. If, for example, a shop does not appear professional enough to us, we would prefer to look for the product on another website first and buy it there. To prevent this from happening, companies that rely on selling products must really pull out all the stops when it comes to their online shop.

But this is where the next problems can already arise.

You may not have enough knowledge of programming, or you may not want to spend a fortune on web designers. And, of course, you don’t have the time to deal with matters such as server hosting. But perhaps you’re not quite ready to give up on the dream of running your own business and the online shop that goes with it quite so easily. Shopify offers a solution to precisely these problems.

But what exactly is Shopify?

What is Shopify?

Put simply: Shopify is a service that enables anyone to set up their own online shop in no time at all and as easily as possible. The Canadian company provides a cloud-based shop system. You could also say it is what is known as a ‘Software as a Service’ system.

This means that “Shopify” can be regarded as a service and is also offered as such. Shopify is therefore offered on a subscription basis. As a result, Shopify takes care of all additional tasks itself in order to take as much of the burden off the customer as possible. These tasks may include server hosting, the integration of HTML elements, programming, or the installation and verification of updates.

But let’s take a closer look at the benefits of Shopify.

Shopify is straightforward

Shopify enables even users with little technical know-how to set up their own online shop. To this end, Shopify offers what is known as a ‘modular system’. This makes it very easy to add backgrounds to your shop, change fonts and much more. All this can be done with just a few clicks on labelled fields. For example, you can change your background colour by clicking on the ‘Colours’ sub-item.

If you want to add products to your own shop, this is just as straightforward. All you need to do is enter a few product names and descriptions into the pre-defined text fields, upload a few product images into a pre-defined image field, and your online shop will immediately have its first products, complete with accompanying images.

By clearly labelling the selection options, Shopify creates a very user-friendly and easy-to-navigate editing interface. It is also convenient to be able to see all the settings at a glance, without having to search for them in several sub-menus first.

Now, one might be tempted to assume that Shopify is unsuitable for those with programming experience, but that is not the case.

Shopify also offers users who have the necessary knowledge the opportunity to put it to use. For example, the system allows users to view the front-end code (design) at any time.

So you can access the HTML and CSS code here. This option then allows you, for example, to manually edit or insert the position of images, the size of images, the text colour, the font, the font size, links to other websites, background videos and images, and much more.

So, whilst you can rely on Shopify’s design template for your final design, with the necessary programming knowledge you’ll be able to get a bit more out of it.

Nevertheless, the template provided by Shopify is perfectly adequate for an initial shop design, enabling you to create a professional and clearly laid-out online shop.

Trustworthiness

Shopify is trustworthy! Over 1,000,000 users worldwide now place their trust in the company. These users include all kinds of businesses, from large to small. Among them, however, are also giants such as Red Bull, Tesla and Budweiser – companies worth billions that entrust their online shops to Shopify. Shopify now employs 5,000 staff.

Even if you have any questions about the online shop, you can rely on Shopify. You can contact the ‘Shopify Help Centre’ directly via the service’s official website to get advice on your issue.

Shopify also takes a sensible approach to data protection. Shopify analyses which data is genuinely required from the user and stores only that. All other data is either deleted or anonymised by the service.

Furthermore, Shopify does not pass on your data to third parties. Should a third party attempt to access your data, Shopify will not permit this without your consent. In this way, Shopify not only safeguards your data from others, but also protects your privacy.

But Shopify doesn’t just support users with privacy issues and queries about their shops – it goes beyond that too.

The current coronavirus situation illustrates just how much one can rely on this support. In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the company has recognised that many retailers are struggling with financial difficulties. Shopify has therefore decided to make certain features from its more expensive subscription plans available on its more affordable Basic plan as well.

So you can really rely on Shopify!

Accessibility and time savings

Shopify not only makes it easy to manage and edit your own project, but also offers a wide range of access options. Thanks to the cloud-based system, users do not need to install anything. This means that you are not tied to a specific device, let alone a particular location, when using the service. You can access Shopify from any device, at any time and from any location, as long as you have an internet connection.

In addition, the cloud system saves users a great deal of time, as there is no need for hosting (the management of servers). Hosting is monitored and managed by Shopify itself. This saves individual users a great deal of time. On top of that, there is also the option of automatic updates. So you don’t have to worry about how secure these updates are or how to install them, as all this work is handled by the Shopify team.

Stay up to date

In a rapidly changing world, retailers may well find themselves worrying about being left behind technologically. However, when using Shopify, you don’t need to worry about that. Shopify is constantly being developed. The system’s development is far from over – quite the opposite! In fact, Shopify keeps a close eye on the current market and the latest trends in e-commerce.

Shopify is constantly offering new and improved ways to enhance your online shop and adapt it to current circumstances. This is essential if you are to ensure your shop always remains up-to-date and modern.

Conclusion

For anyone wishing to realise their dream of running their own online shop, Shopify offers attractive and user-friendly options. Whether you want to set up your shop using the drag-and-drop builder or customise the code yourself down to the smallest detail – Shopify gives everyone the chance to set up and run a professional online shop with minimal effort. 
This makes Shopify a good choice for both complete beginners and medium-sized shops. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. As a Shopify agency, we’d be happy to advise you.