10 Reasons Why Experts Pick Shopify

Many companies are following this lead and now over a million businesses across 175 countries are doing the same. Given that $100 billion in sales have been made on Shopify just last year alone, in addition to an astounding 218 million users, it’s easy to see why.

Shopify is a cloud-based service that enables companies to easily establish an online presence where they can conveniently sell products and services. There are different plans available, each with independent fees and a set of unique features that cater to the needs of different companies.

A range of businesses from small start-ups to huge multinational corporations trust the Shopify platform to power their ecommerce stores. Payment is made through monthly subscriptions, and the ease of use of the service means that new Shopify stores can be up-and-running in no time.

Read on to find out 10 key reasons why Shopify is the expert’s top choice for building ecommerce websites.

1) Easy to Setup and Use

One of the most appealing aspects of a Shopify site for many is its simplicity. Not only is the intuitive user design a big hit with developers that want to concentrate on working their magic, but it’s also convenient for users with little to no prior experience to manage an online store.

In the case that you run into any trouble, 24/7 help from a dedicated customer service team is easily accessible. There is also a wealth of videos, articles, and tutorials available on the platform for further assistance.

In addition to this, the Shopify platform is a self-contained service that requires no other programmes or applications to operate. Website hosting as well as other technical aspects that come with running an online store are all overseen for you.

2) Low Start-Up Cost

Another reason why Shopify is the trusted choice for so many is the low start-up costs. Shopify pricing is structured according to distinct plans that offer different features. The cheapest option, Shopify Lite, costs $9 a month. This only gives your online store functionality for an existing site, rather than the ability to build an entire website.

To get even more out of your ecommerce site, the Shopify Basic plan only costs $29 per month. This provides you with everything you need to have a fully realised website and online store. It allows unlimited products, includes free SSL certificates, and provides access to features such as abandoned cart recovery.

Other Shopify plans are also available, including:

• Shopify for $79 per month
• Advanced Shopify for $299 per month
• Shopify Plus for $2,000 per month

3) Visually Appealing Online Store with A Plethora of Themes

Shopify website developers and merchants alike, can’t get enough of the platform’s striking websites. There are currently over 70 free and premium themes available, giving you a wide range of styles to choose from. These are designed to be device agnostic, so your store will look great whether viewed on a desktop, tablet or smartphone.

The drag-and-drop nature of the Shopify platform allows anyone to easily customise their website so that it looks unique, attractive, and professional. This can be achieved without doing any coding whatsoever. For developers who revel in writing code, Shopify is also an excellent solution to further customise online stores.

4) Mobile Commerce Ready

Research now suggests that in 2021 almost 72% of ecommerce sales will occur via mobile devices. Given this growth in sales via smart phones and tablets, it is vital that your website is mobile commerce ready. This is another area where Shopify websites shine.
Shopify themes are mobile responsive, allowing merchants to easily develop mobile-optimised online shops. This means that customers can seamlessly navigate your website, finding any information they need easily and conveniently completing checkout all from the comfort of their smartphone.

Apps for both iOS and Android devices are also available. This allows merchants to manage Shopify stores from any location on any mobile device.

5) No Tech Worries: Secure and Reliable Websites

A major concern for many ecommerce merchants is the degree of security that comes with their online stores. Shopify takes this extremely seriously and puts a lot of effort into protecting the platform. Over $850,000 is invested in ethical hackers to test the service for weaknesses.

As such, one of the advantages of using Shopify is the access to a highly secure and reliable system. The platform maintains and updates the servers, provides SSL certificates for every site, and looks after PCI compliance. This provides valuable peace of mind and frees up time for more important tasks, like growing your company.

6) Excellent Page Loading Speed

Slow loading speeds on your website aren’t merely inconvenient, they also negatively impact your SEO ranking and conversion rates. However, this is not a problem that you need to worry about with a Shopify ecommerce website. The platform has developed a network with 180 points of presence throughout 80 different countries. This means that no matter where your business is based, you will have superlative loading times.

Additionally, Shopify works hard to empower merchants to better understand their website speed and how they can improve it. Accordingly, tools such as Google Lighthouse-powered speed assessment have been made available to provide useful diagnostic data to store owners.

7) Large and Diverse App Store

Another major boon that merchants who use the Shopify platform receive is access to an impressive app store. In fact, there are now over 4,200 free and paid-for apps available to help improve the functionality of Shopify websites. These useful applications can develop areas of your site such as customer service, shipping, reviews, social media and much more.

Apps afford you unprecedented control over your website’s features, aesthetic, and functionality. If there is a specific element you’ve seen on another site, the chances are you can add it to yours. And in line with the overall Shopify standards, each application is extremely easy to install and use.

8) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Friendly

As with any website, the goal is optimise your online store to rank highly in search results. Optimised sites perform better in rankings, which translates to more targeted traffic that can be converted into customers. Shopify is designed to facilitate SEO-friendly websites by default. Out-of-the-box browser caching and CDN utilisation to two excellent examples of this

Merchants and marketing teams can also handle other SEO elements such as on-page SEO and site structure easily using the Shopify platform. You also get access to sophisticated analytic tools, which can help you further increase your SEO rankings.

9) Cross-Channel Selling

Cross-channel selling is becoming an increasingly important aspect of ecommerce. In order to develop your customer base, and increase sales, it’s important to reach as many people as possible. This is one of the benefits of using Shopify as your platform of choice.
Indeed, Shopify merchants can now very easily sell their products across a whole range of different platforms and channels. One of the best examples of features that facilitate this is the Shopify Facebook channel. It allows you to conveniently offer your goods to users on Facebook and Instagram. There are numerous other channels that are also available to help boost your revenue streams through cross-channel selling.

10) Inbuilt Analytics Dashboard / Store Insights
A vital part of developing a successful company is understanding its performance in different areas. This is the only way to know which elements of your business plan are working and which ones may not be. For merchants using the Shopify platform, accessing such valuable intelligence is effortless thanks to the in-built analytics dashboard.

From the dashboard, you can analyse a range of metrics such as current sales figures and comparing them against previous periods. You can also compare performance across channels, evaluate average order value, and identify where customers are arriving from. This type of data is freely available and essential for making informed strategic decisions

And there you have it! 10 important reasons why Shopify is the expert’s choice for powering ecommerce stores, and the list barely even scratches the surface of the platform’s full functionality. It goes some way in explaining why the Shopify platform is the third biggest online retailer in the USA.

If you’re considering developing an online store for your brand, Shopify should be right at the top of your list.