Does Shopify Work? A Detailed Analysis

You probably heard about Shopify while looking for online business ideas. That’s because it is one of the biggest e-commerce platforms on the planet. It has enough resources to facilitate both small startups and large-scale online businesses. But does Shopify work like it’s advertised, or is there a hidden catch? 

Shopify does work, and many entrepreneurs profit by using this platform. At the same time, many people fail to see any significant return on their investment. The platform itself is fine, but you need good intuitive judgment to make it big in this market.

Shopify is more like a foundation for an online store. It has tons of different features to help manage a business. It also has a lot of useful add-ons that help with various things, including shipping. We will explain how Shopify works, and the pros and cons of relying on it. Hopefully, that will help you decide whether it is the right platform for you or not.

How Reliable is Shopify?

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Shopify is an excellent platform to start your online e-store. Especially if you are a beginner in this field. But, you need to gain some business knowledge and online marketing skills yourself to make the best of this platform. 

Technically speaking, Shopify is one of the best online platforms in terms of efficiency and features. It offers extensive storefront options and is super easy to set up. Heck, you can get everything up and running in less than an hour. Sounds like the wet dream of every start-up entrepreneur, right?

Not quite. See, all that sounds absolutely fantastic on paper, but you need to have extensive knowledge about the market and your customer base to make it work. However, you will see amazing results if you can manage the business side of things. But not many people can do that, that’s why a lot of the Shopify users do end up not making any profits.

But you need to remember that Shopify is just a platform. It will not help you get more customers, nor will it help advertise your product. All the other Shopify users get to choose from the same storefront options as you did. So, your success largely depends on how persuasive you can be with your product.

In short, Shopify is a legit & safe e-commerce platform with a slightly steep learning curve. You can set everything up by watching a ten-minute YouTube tutorial by some Indian guy, but you will need to experience the technical stuff first hand to improve your marketing strategy. There are also Shopify apps like AAM, to help your business grow. 

Benefits and Drawbacks of Shopify

Most people come to Shopify in the hopes of a real side income or even primary income. You can’t jump straight to being a millionaire, but a stable revenue generation is very much in the realm of possibility. 

Pros of Shopify

Shopify has a very easy-to-use interface. It’s a very clean and convenient platform, but you do need to spend some time checking out all the available options to select the optimal setup for your business.

Shopify has a very low startup cost, so many beginners can realistically hope to make use of it. You don’t have to be a top-tier tech junkie to figure it out either. The editing tools, themes, support options, add-ons, and apps are all very useful.

You can alter the shop layout to a very large degree with zero programming knowledge. Shopify also lets you sell almost all kinds of merchandise, except live humans, nuclear warheads (It’s a shame, really). You can sell physical objects to intellectual properties on this single platform, while Shopify helps you manage the transaction process.

The biggest selling point of Shopify is that it brings everything together in a single cohesive platform. The server stays up 24/7 so you don’t have to worry about a crash during peak traffic. Also, it is arguably one of the best platforms for drop shippers. That is largely due to its integration compatibility with other platforms.

Cons of Shopify

Shopify has an extensive collection of templates and themes. But, it is, in the end, a set of standardized collections of preloaded formats. These are more than enough for a small business to take flight, but it does not offer complete creative freedom. 

Every new entrepreneur has new ideas and requirements, and one can’t pick them out from a set of standard settings.

Shopify does try to circumvent the issue with add-ons but those cost extra money. Granted, your shop will see significant improvement once you do get some compatible add-ons, but it’s often not that easy for a start-up store owner. 

You also need to pay a certain amount of transaction fees for your sales, unless you use Shopify Payments. It’s a decent transaction processor, but there are better ones out there. Shopify payment also has a bad history with customer support, so many people choose to avoid it.

How To Make Your Shopify Store A Success 

So, what does one need to do to make it big on Shopify? Is it completely a trial-and-error process or can you avoid some pitfalls by following some expert advice? The reality is somewhere in the middle. Yes, you can avoid the pitfalls, but your success ultimately depends on your creativity and how much information you can access.

Here are some helpful tips that will help your shop succeed:

1. Persuasive Headline

Headlines are crucial because it leaves the first impression alongside the image of your product. However, you cannot be excessively creative with the headline. It needs to be something that entices the customer, something they are looking for. There’s a fair bit of psychological persuading involved in it, but most experts get an intuitive feel for it after a while.

It is best to pick the headline from the search terms people often use. That will make it easier for people to find your product.

2. Persuasive product description

This is where you need to fire your creativity on cylinders. A descriptive, well-written product description will land you more sales than any advertisement. See, anyone can write a persuasive description, but the hard part is writing one that includes all the necessary keywords.

The internet runs on keywords, people find what they search for, not what you want to sell them. That is why the description needs to be keyword-friendly enough to come up in people’s searches, and persuasive enough to make them feel they need it.

3. Visual Representation

People like looking at pretty things, and they like buying pretty things. As long as it looks good, you can bet there will be a market for it. You need to present your product in the most appealing way possible to draw people's attention.

Do your best to make the visual representation appear non-DIY. People like professional-looking product photos rather than some hastily taken pic on a crumpled bed sheet. You don’t have to get a DSLR and a professional photographer, any decent phone can help you get a good shot. There are plenty of apps that can help you with this.

On the topic of visuals, you also need to stick to a set color scheme throughout your storefront. Too many colors will make it confusing, too few will make it look bland. Try to match 2-3 compatible colors and stick with that.

Another part of visual representation is actually showing your products to your customers. The more they see your product the more they will be interested to visit your website and eventually buy something. Affiliate programs are a great way to increase brand awareness. 

And starting an affiliate program is much easier now with the advent of new automated technologies. For example, using our Ambassador Affiliate Marketing app you can easily create and manage your affiliate programs with ease.

‍Conclusion

Does Shopify Work? Yes, it does, as long as you know some online marketing strategies. There are plenty of benefits of using this online e-commerce platform. But, you also need some good marketing and other business knowledge yourself. Just setting up your e-store is half of the whole process.

So, do some research to ensure you make intelligent and educated approaches when starting your Shopify store.