Why Shopify is Considered the Best eCommerce Platform for Small Businesses?

Summary

If you are interested in the eCommerce industry and have done your research, there’s no way you haven’t heard of Shopify! It is a platform that allows small to medium-scale businesses to set up their online store and manage it effortlessly.

And no, it doesn’t only help with the online store setup. But also extends its services to offline stores for managing, marketing, and setting up POS for payments. With its multiple facilities, it seems quite beneficial to use Shopify for small businesses.

But, is it really a reliable platform? Or, it will add more financial burden on your business in the long run?

Here, I will help you decide if Shopify is the right platform for your business.

So, let’s get started!

The state of Shopify in 2022

• Shopify earned a revenue of $1.2 Billion in 2022, Q1.
• A minimum of 3.9 million live websites use Shopify.
• As of April 2021, Shopify is the third-largest eCommerce platform in the world with a near-11% market share.
• Based on gender demographics, about 52% of Shopify users are female, and the rest 47% are male.
• About 87% of businesses leverage the Shopify app store which features over 7k applications.
• As per predictions, Shopify-built stores will likely have more than 500 million buyers in 2022.
• You can find more than 160 Shopify free and premium themes in the theme store.
• The gross merchandise volume of Shopify for Q1 2022 is $43.2 Billion.

Is Shopify Good for Small Businesses?

If you are wondering, ‘is Shopify worth it for a small business?’, then this is what you have to know!

Shopify takes the pain out of setting up and managing eCommerce stores with its easy-to-use interface and multiple functionalities. There are more than one reasons why a small business would prefer Shopify to build its store. Here are some of them!

All-in-one platform

Shopify serves as a single platform to help businesses start their online store, set it up digitally, and market it to build a digital identity. It provides business units with immense capabilities right from its branding and creating an online presence to store setup.

With the help of the Shopify platform, businesses can sell anywhere and everywhere

• Online stores.
• International commerce.
• Shopify POS or point of sale.
• Sales channel.
• Buy button.
• Custom storefront tools.
• From a website using the Checkout page.

Small businesses get the right exposure they need to sell their products as they wish through their desired channel. Or, they can choose to invest in more than one channel.

The Shopify eCommerce platform doesn’t limit its use to setting up online stores and selling only. It also helps businesses leverage various marketing opportunities such as email marketing, Facebook Ads, business chat, marketing automation, and customer groups.

To conclude, businesses don’t have to search for multiple tools and applications while setting up their online store as Shopify brings all the facilities to them under one roof.

Easy-to-use interface

Unlike other technologies like Magento, WooCommerce, and Laravel for eCommerce, Shopify doesn’t require you to be tech-savvy. You can follow basic instructions as provided on the website and successfully complete setting up your online store.

You can Set up your domain, choose from over 100 Shopify themes, customize your store’s design, and add/ modify/ remove products at your convenience. With expertise in HTML and CSS, you can further customize your store’s design as per your unique needs.

Starting a small-scale business? There’s nothing easier than Shopify! You can get started in a matter of minutes.

Best pricing

Shopify charges affordable prices for its use compared to other eCommerce platforms. It provides businesses with a 14-day free trial option to help them get acquainted with the platform and see how it works.

Later, they can choose a plan befitting their budget and needs. It extends three pricing options to businesses as mentioned in the table below.

Besides the plan you opt for and a transaction fee applicable on each order, you don’t have to pay for anything else. Shopify is extremely transparent about its charges and the facilities they extend for each plan.

Small businesses or startups can kick-start their business with a plan as low as $29/month, and a transaction fee of 1%. Furthermore, they can expand their business anytime they wish by opting for a better plan.

Mobile friendly

In today’s age of indispensable digital needs, smartphones are irreplaceable. They are handy and can save a lot of time. Leveraging the numerous benefits of smartphones, Shopify can literally help you manage your entire store from a mobile device.

You get order notifications on your mobile in the form of texts or emails. And, you can use applications to manage inventories, fulfill orders, check prices, and more anytime anywhere.

Managing your store remotely can’t get any simpler than this! For example, you are starting a cosmetic business. There is a range of products with different prices you can’t remember. You don’t have your system with you as you are traveling back home after a vacation.

But, you have your smartphone to quickly check for the prices and even offer a discount to your shoppers. A minimal effort can boost your sales significantly. That’s just the tip of the iceberg you can achieve with the convenience of mobile devices.

Widened customer reach

Whether you start an online clothing store business or a store for handcrafted items, reaching a wider audience segment has always been a matter of concern for small-scale businesses. With Shopify, it can be simpler.

You can widen your customer base with a lot of options that Shopify offers

• Offering discounts, coupon codes, or gift vouchers to promote your products and accelerate sales.
• Social network integration to reach a wider audience or prospective customers.
• Facebook or Instagram selling opportunities.
• Targeted email marketing.
• Product reviews to boost product demand and create transparency.
• Ads to widen customer reach which can’t be attained organically.

24/7 support

For a Shopify small business, it extends many support and learning opportunities. The site features blogs, guides, free tools, podcasts, and research for self-help. Entrepreneurs can access any of these materials to strengthen their knowledge about the platform.

The Shopify Help Center further categorizes all the business operations into sections like start, sell, manage, market, and expand. One can also access the necessary help from here.

In case it doesn’t solve your problem, you have access to the Shopify community to seek the necessary help for launching your Shopify store successfully.

Comprehensive App Store

Along with its in-built eCommerce features, Shopify also enables businesses to use apps from its app store or to build custom ones. These apps can further expand your store’s functionality. As of 2022, there are about 2,200 apps in the Shopify app store.

A few noteworthy Shopify apps are – OptinMonster, TrustPulse, PushEngage, and OctaneAI. These apps can be used for directing traffic to product pages, re-engaging with visitors, recovering abandoned carts, recommending products, and more.

These apps can help optimize your store’s performance substantially. For instance, simplified site navigation. Seamless navigation and impressive UI/UX are the key elements of a successful eCommerce store. If your store can be navigated easily, shoppers will find the products faster and more conveniently. It would require minimal effort on their part and you will have more chances of conversion.

With Shopify apps, achieving these things would be easier. Companies can hire dedicated Shopify developers to integrate these apps or custom-create ones that suit your unique business needs.

Dropshipping

Shopify removes the pain of storing inventories, managing them, and sending products for delivery with the drop shipping option. Businesses can now directly deliver the products to shoppers from suppliers without having to go through the hassle of arranging warehouses and managing inventory. This could be quite beneficial for small to mid-scale businesses.

How Does Shopify Work for Small Businesses?

You can sell almost anything on Shopify as long as it is legally admissible and doesn’t fall under the list of Shopify’s prohibited items. A few items on this list are alcohol, drug, video game currency, tobacco, fireworks, e-cigarettes, weapons, and firearms.

Make sure you check out this list before you start your business.

Now, the question is – how does Shopify work for small businesses?

You can either sell products online or offline. Here are some known ways of selling your product with Shopify.

i. Through offline store

You can start selling your products through offline stores with the benefits of Shopify. Its POS tool can help diversify your payment facility. You can also use features like a pop-up shop to display your range of products to customers and increase your sales significantly.

You can also create an online store or promote your store through the digital medium to drive more customers your way.

ii. Via online store

The cloud-based Shopify platform can help small businesses set up a functional website. They can create their online presence by getting web hosting and a unique domain name. It also enables them to use the offered shipping features and inventory management systems.

Besides, business units can choose from numerous templates, drag and drop elements, and customize their digital storefront. Once the application is ready, they need to launch it and start using it conveniently.

iii. Sell on social media

It is also possible for businesses to sell on certain social media platforms with the help of a Shopify button. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook Messenger are some common examples of such social media platforms.

It can be very convenient for shoppers as they get to shop directly while browsing social media feeds. They get to purchase without having to leave the site at all.

Shopify has emerged as one platform for all your eCommerce needs. And, if you are just starting your business or have a small-scale business that you want to take online, Shopify is the perfect tool for you.

However, if you want to start a b2b eCommerce business, you may have to resort to any other technology where you can host your site independently.

As far as small to mid-scale businesses are concerned, Shopify provides an excellent amount of support to these businesses. And they can leverage more of its benefits by reaching out to a reputed Shopify development company.

Final Thoughts

Today, the eCommerce industry has revolutionized the customer experience. The more seamless your store’s customer experience is, the better you engage with your customers and convert. Shopify realizes the core importance of customer satisfaction and user experience.

Thus, they have brought numerous tools, apps, and themes that can support your online store business sufficiently. Their diverse features will continue to help small to mid-scale businesses earn more profit and widen their customer base.

However, it will be interesting to see if Shopify can gain the interest of large enterprises and b2b eCommerce agencies in the coming years.

In any case, having professional assistance from a reputed Shopify agency will be of great advantage to your business. BiztechCS, with its renowned eCommerce developer capabilities, can be a good option for your business growth. We can assist you with the customization of your online store so it can stand apart from many of your competitors.