Immensely popular, is Shopify worth it?
I’ve been working on ecommerce sites for over 20 years, and a lot has changed in that time. Anyone can launch an ecommerce site today, and the speed of deployment is completely different to even 5 years ago. When you’re looking at the available platforms, one will be very near the top for businesses of most sizes – Shopify. That brings about a question I have been asked many times, is Shopify worth it?
Why is Shopify so popular?
I’m not going to do a full review of Shopify. You can find hundreds of those, but, as Shopify is constantly adding new features, they tend to date quickly. Be wary of that and look for the latest review to see if Shopify gives you the features you need. You should also be careful to ensure the review isn’t an “advertorial”. Make sure that the site has no partner affiliation with Shopify.
I feel it is important for me to stress I have no connection or partnership with Shopify. Indeed, I have no affiliation with any ecommerce platform. I avoid associating myself with any provider. I’d find it rather hypocritical to say I was neutral if I then pocketed any money from the platform provider.
I’m going to focus on whether Shopify is good value for money.
Shopify became popular by being one of the first to offer monthly subscription pricing. It combined that with a system that was as close to Turn-Key as you could get. They marketed it as a way to get online quickly without any technical knowledge.
In many respects, that message remains unchanged. It is also reasonably accurate. You can get a Shopify store up and running very quickly. It is a huge attraction for many businesses, particularly start-ups.
How much does Shopify cost?
The cost of entry is low, and at times it is ludicrously low (offer dependent).
At the time of writing, Shopify will let you create your ecommerce store completely free of charge. You then pay £1 for your first month before moving to one of their plans in month 2.
Shopify plans are attractively priced. Their Basic Plan is just £19, the Standard Plan is £49 and the Advanced Plan is £259 – per month.
Beyond that, you’ll pay a variable transaction fee per sale of between 1.5% to 2.0% plus 25p. The higher the monthly plan you subscribe to, the lower the transaction fees. That’s it – you pay the monthly plan fee plus a transaction fee.
You get all the basic features you need to build and launch an ecommerce website.
Do you need a domain name for Shopify?
Strictly speaking, you don’t need to buy a domain name. That’s because Shopify allow you to publish a link directly to your website based on their name structure. It would be something like your-store-name.myshopifystore.com or similar. However, it is fair to say that most people use their own domain name and Shopify make that relatively easy to do.
There are alternative platforms from Squarespace, Wix and others, but Shopify have built a reputation for giving new users plenty of options, designs to choose from, and customisation capabilities. In my experience, Shopify have stayed well ahead of rivals in this respect.
In a nutshell, that is why Shopify is so popular.
Are there any hidden costs on Shopify?
This is where things get a little more complicated. On the face of it, there are no hidden costs whatsoever. You won’t pay any fees you’re not expecting if all you ever do is use what you get with your Shopify plan. However, I’ve yet to work with any business that didn’t incur additional monthly costs.
If you’re scratching your head and asking why I’ve contradicted myself, I haven’t. I’ve been careful with my choice of words. The confusion arises when businesses want their website to do something that their Shopify plan doesn’t include.
Shopify Apps
I’m talking about Shopify Apps. These are add-ons that give your website additional features. Most site owners are surprised by how quickly the need for apps arises.
I might upset a few people when they read the next part of this blog. Increased costs should only be a surprise if you haven’t thoroughly researched what Shopify offers compared to what you need your website to do.
Shopify app examples
Here are a few examples of Shopify Apps and what they add to your website:
- Rapi Bundle – gives you advanced options for building ‘bundles’ of products and applying discounts to them in an attempt to encourage more customers to purchase.
- Globo Product Options – lets you increase the number of product variants you can have (e.g. T-shirts, sizes, colours, designs, and so on) with advanced features for how they’re displayed on the site.
- Zapiet – gives your customers advanced options for picking-up or collecting their order, along with local delivery options that go beyond what Shopify’s delivery options offer as standard.
There are thousands of Shopify Apps. You can view them all, and search for specific features, on the Shopify App Store.
Shopify App trials & Monthly Fees
Most apps give you a free trial period, after which you pay a monthly fee for them. Some of them are completely free to use. The amount you pay per month will vary from app to app. It is all down to how much the app developers charge. The cost is is added to your monthly Shopify charge. You don’t have multiple transactions coming from your account – it is all on a single invoice.
I’ve worked with apps costing £0.99 a month and others costing hundreds of pounds. You’ll find that most cost between £5 and £20 a month. There are some that are exceptional value for money, and others that I find to be poor value.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Apps
However, be aware, there are good apps and bad apps. Most of them are good, some excellent. Once in a while you’ll find that they don’t do quite what you expect. A few might cause issues for customers that become a headache for your business.
I recently worked with a client that used a calendar booking app on their website. It was a well reviewed app from an established developer. However, I discovered it didn’t handle a purchase discount in the way it claimed to. After reporting it to the developer, they replied that no other customers had made them aware of the issue. They made no effort to resolve it. That is not my usual experience of Shopify App developers. Suffice to say, it was swiftly removed from the website.
Beware of Shopify App Costs Mounting
You might not need any apps for your Shopify website, but that is rare. Most stores end up using at least one if not a couple of apps. My advice is to be aware of how quickly the costs can mount.
I’ve worked on another Shopify store where the business owner became addicted to adding new features to their site. Apart from slowing the website down (which isn’t ideal for Shopify SEO to say the least), and detracting from the ease of purchase (and ended up lowering their conversion rates), they soon racked up a monthly charge of £300 in apps – from a starting point of £55 a month when their store launched.
What is Shopify support like?
Surprisingly good is the short answer to this.
They’re not flawless, and can sometimes be frustrating for someone with a highly technical skill set. Trying to explain to them that you know it isn’t X, Y or Z, each of which they insist on checking before you get to the real problem, can be annoying.
Their online chat support is usually quick to react and they resolve most issues relatively swiftly. I can only think of two occasions on which I’ve found them lacking.
Both were in respect of payouts (when you receive your money from them) that I queried on behalf of newly launched site clients. That shouldn’t worry you, they did get their money from Shopify. It was an anomaly in timings for both payouts, and their “we’ll investigate” response didn’t lead to any outcome – other than the client getting their money 2 days later than expected. But it did arrive.
Querying the basics, store set-up, and anything to do with the day-to-day operational aspects of Shopify is usually very straight forward. I’ve also found their staff to be remarkably personable. You don’t feel as if you’re dealing with AI generated answers all the time (although you will be to begin with).
Is Shopify difficult to use?
I’ve had a complex and very aesthetically complex Shopify store up and running in 7 days. However, this is where I’m going to be a lot more honest than most people in my profession will be – you should ignore how quickly I did that.
Power brings complexity
Most people don’t possess the same level of technical skill and haven’t got the experience of Shopify that I do. I think that Shopify has become far more complex for new and inexperienced users over the years.
Keeping Shopify simple
The basics are reasonably easy to get past. If you choose one of the more popular themes and have a fairly simple layout with no modifications, you should get the site to a point where you’re feeling pleased with it without too much pain.
Product configuration
Unfortunately, I’ve found their product configuration, particularly with variants, to have become far more complicated. The user interface has suffered as they’ve added more power and features.
I’ve seen clients get so far down the line of building their product range, collections and so on, and then have to scrap it all and start again – because they’ve misunderstood something in the configuration phase.
There are elements of the Preferences and Settings areas of Shopify that are now littered with options that few people will be aware of or use. Some of them can be very useful, but the addition of so many features has cluttered the user interface just like the product configuration side of the system.
My advice is to use the Help feature and not be afraid to try online support as much as you need it. Take your time, use the online guides and read everything very carefully before ploughing in.
If I was marking Shopify on an ease of use scale where 1 was Simple and 10 was Very Complex, I’d probably give it a 5 out of 10. I know people that have given up because they can’t get the site to look how they want it to, but that tends to be after they’ve been playing with adding Sections to the basic theme design they choose.
Day to day maintenance and order handling
Once you’re up and running, the day-to-day maintenance of the site and handling of orders is reasonably easy. Again, I think Shopify have over-complicated some areas of order handling, but not to the point that it has become too problematic.
Their integration with Carriers and shipping management has developed hugely in recent years, making order shipments incredibly easy for users in the USA. The UK is getting better, although there aren’t as many integrated carriers available, but this is improving each year. Furthermore, you don’t have to use the integrated carrier options. If you want to take an order and deal with the shipping of it manually, which most companies do, you can.
Is Shopify worth it for SEO?
Shopify is one of a plethora of ecommerce platforms that is hosted by the provider – i.e. the website sits on a server that only Shopify control.
SEO disadvantage of Shopify hosting
That limits the control someone like me, and any other SEO consultant or professional, has over hosting – and the hosting of your website can allow SEO consultants to do things that we know make a difference.
However, you shouldn’t let that be a deciding factor. The reality is that this is way the world is going, and it isn’t an altogether bad thing. Yes, it would be wonderful if I could access their servers and do ‘my stuff’ on it. Not being able to do that won’t be mission critical for you. You lose a little bit of the power an SEO consultant can give you, but nothing that is going to be the end of the world.
Additionally, Squarespace, Wix, most Adobe Commerce sites, BigCommerce, and many others operate the same way, so those of us in SEO just have to adapt.
The flip-side of Shopify hosting
You get awesome levels of security from Shopify. They have done an outstanding job of protecting client sites and removed the worry of security as far as any provider could ever do. They deserve praise for this, and it’s a major factor you should consider.
Shopify SEO framework and structure
In terms of other SEO potential, Shopify has a very good foundation and overall page structure. One or two of their themes are far from perfect because of issues they present to SEO (basically they have flaws that do you no favours with how Google reads the site). I wrote about one irritant in a Shopify header related blog. In general though, they include control over the things people like me need to work with.
You get basic control over setting what are known as the SEO Meta Title and Meta Description, but you don’t have some of the options available in more powerful systems such as Adobe Commerce. If you’re not going to use a Shopify SEO service, read up on the use of these fields. They’re the basics of SEO and won’t work wonders for you, but at least they’re available.
Shopify SEO v competitor platforms
You don’t have the complete flexibility you get with a custom hosted ecommerce site on a platform like WordPress, using the Woocommerce plugin, but that is also a lot more difficult to set up – it offers none of the user friendly features that Shopify does. I know a few businesses that moved from WordPress/Woocommerce to Shopify and found it far easier to manage. That said, if you want total control and a huge amount of SEO potential, take a look at WordPress and their Woocommerce plugin.
If you were to compare it with Squarespace, the structure and foundations of Shopify are far better for SEO. Both will obtain excellent Google rankings with the right SEO work performed on them, but if it was A v B and a straight race, I’d back Shopify every time; simply because the framework and what I could do on Shopify would exceed what I could achieve on Squarespace.
Shopify often gets compared to Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) and I understand why. However, the latter is a lot more complex to set-up. Adobe Commerce might also lead to increased technical development costs.
PrestaShop and Umbraco offer powerful alternatives and I’ve found both good for SEO. You will have probably seen Wix’s ecommerce offering too. It doesn’t compare with Shopify in terms of feature-set, but it is very easy to get going with. My advice on Wix is to be careful – you may want to change system sooner than you expect if your store takes off.
Using a Shopify SEO expert
The only caveat I would give is not to expect to achieve your maximum potential visibility online with a Shopify store without using a Shopify SEO expert. I could say that about most ecommerce platforms, but it is interesting how many Shopify clients come to me because they’re disappointed in their store visibility on Google.
To be perfectly honest, they’d have probably found themselves in the same position with any platform, and perhaps it is the sheer popularity of Shopify that means I hear it more often. It isn’t because Shopify is poor for SEO, it is because it needs time, effort and technical knowledge. However, that applies to almost any platform with SEO.
Shopify SEO and sales expectations
You might read one or two of the articles about Shopify that say you can expect to receive your first sale within 2 weeks. There’s one on Quora that suggests ‘within 2 weeks‘. I’m not sure where those statistics come from, but I’d advise that you ignore them. They tend to be related to stores supported by marketing campaigns and significant promotional expenditure. You are not going to achieve huge online visibility for 3-6 months minimum without a lot of SEO work on your site.
If you have a major social media campaign planned, or think your product will be shared by hundreds or thousands of people, you might find that you achieve that first sale within the 2 weeks. I only mention the 2 week scenario because it is something I’ve had said to me several times. A lot of new store owners seem to get taken in by it.
That said, I recently worked on a Shopify based website offering 360 photo booth hire in Newcastle and they have dominated the North East of England search results on Google within 3-4 months, so it is possible to get good results quickly with a ground-up and early approach and strategy to Shopify SEO.
Ultimately, is Shopify worth it?
Regardless of the dangers of mounting app costs, my answer to the question of “is Shopify worth it?” can only be a resounding yes.
The designs you have available to choose from and the features you receive on even the Basic Plan, are excellent value for money.
Shopify fees comparison
Some commentators will point to the 2% + 25p fee on the Basic Plan, but I’ve always been someone that accepts a commission based structure that charges slightly more if it is driving sales for you.
Let me put that another way.
Squarespace charge nothing in transaction fees. Yes, that’s right, not a single penny.
Before you run off and set up a Squarespace store, I’d advise caution – the features it offers are just a fraction of those you’ll receive on Shopify. Bearing that in mind and the importance of the visitor experience when someone comes to your store, would you rather get a single sale of £50 and pay 2% + 25p on Shopify or not get the sale in the first instance on Squarespace because it doesn’t offer the same user experience? In my opinion, Shopify wins hands down.
Another thing to bear in mind is that Squarespace’s ecommerce offering has a higher standard monthly fee (£4 per month more than the Shopify Basic Plan at the time of writing).
Shopify mobile responsiveness and reliability
You get an ecommerce system packed with features that will probably suffice for basic stores selling products online. It is also very good for mobile responsiveness – i.e. working well on mobile phones. That is important for SEO because Google prioritises how a website appears on a mobile phone when ranking your site in search.
Realibility is also good, with very little downtime, although I do think the overall loading time of sites could be improved.
Do your feature research
If you are looking for an ecommerce platform, research your requirements properly in respect of features, and account for any additional app costs on Shopify, it is an excellent system that is well worth the money you’ll pay.
Shopify is used by major brands too
You should also take comfort from the size of many of the brands that use it, and this is overlooked by a lot of businesses that don’t choose Shopify.
Gymshark, Red Bull, Heinz, Hasbro and Kylie Cosmetics all use Shopify, and they’re not brands that take ecommerce decisions lightly.
Bigger doesn’t mean better
I recently read a discussion on Reddit in which a business owner was complaining about being poorly advised by their web company. They’d opted for Adobe Commerce as their ecommerce platform, and he regretted it.
He discovered that Adobe Commerce is very powerful and could do everything his business wanted, and would ever want to do, but the company was incurring a lot of development costs from the web company. It is a lot more difficult to use, and certainly more difficult to add features (with fewer apps on the platform). He investigated what Shopify could do and discovered the business could easily have chosen it at significantly lower cost.
Alas, you can probably guess what is coming next – the web company that recommended he went with Adobe Commerce were in fact partners of Adobe. It was in their interests to recommend it and it was the platform they knew best. I should add that I love Adobe Commerce (formerly known as Magento). It is a superb ecommerce platform, it simply wasn’t the right choice for this particular business.
I’d go as far as saying there is a degree of inverted snobbery about Shopify. I’ve had a good few discussions with businesses that seem to have discounted it from their decision making process without really looking at it. That has been their error in some instances.
Is Shopify worth it in your opinion?
I welcome feedback on all my blogs. If you’ve asked yourself “is Shopify worth it?“, and come to a different conclusion, let me know. I value the opinions of all readers, and in some cases Shopify might not be the right platform.
Knowing your experience, and perhaps you’ve had a bad one (all ecommerce platforms let someone down, sooner or later) adds value and I’ll always take what others say into account if I’m writing about the subject in future.
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