What Is Shopify? A Beginner’s Guide to Building an Online Store

Shopify is an eCommerce platform designed to help businesses sell their products online.

If you’re looking to expand your operations into the online space or streamline your eCommerce sales, a platform like Shopify has all the tools you need to help you scale.

In this blog post, you’ll learn more about what Shopify is, how it can help you generate more online sales, and whether it’s the right option for your business.

Receive Shopify payments
With Wise Business

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an eCommerce platform used by millions of people who sell their products online.

The simplicity of the platform is what appeals to many business owners, as it can host the online branch of their business and become their one-stop eCommerce shop. Customers range from aspiring entrepreneurs to global enterprises, and everyone in between.

As a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, users pay a monthly or annual fee to use Shopify. Each Spotify pricing plan includes different features, which can involve mobile POS sales, purchasing buttons, and a branded online store.

You’ll also have access to tools you can use to better manage your business operations, such as:

• Payment processing
• Inventory tracking
• Marketing features

Shopify also has ‘Shopify Apps’, some of which are free, which you can use to get more out of your account.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is a fully customizable eCommerce platform, launched by Shopify in 2024, which is suitable for large enterprises or fast-growing businesses.

With Shopify Plus, you can access online selling tools that allow you to tap into industry trends and sell your products on social media and other marketplaces. The more advanced plan also offers omnichannel solutions so you can seamlessly blend your in-store commerce with online sales.

Shopify Plus can handle thousands of transactions per minute, and has no restrictions on storage or bandwidth. It also offers unlimited product listings to accommodate businesses with an ever-growing catalog of products.

What is Shopify Payments?

Shopify Payments offers lower card rates and no transaction fees when using Shopify Plus. You may save money if investing in the plan makes sense for where your business is right now and where it’s heading.

From the customer experience to the technical backend features, Shopify Plus is a more complete eCommerce platform tailor-made for scaling businesses.

🔍 Read the guide to Shopify Payouts to find out how to get paid from Shopify

Key Features of Shopify

Shopify is built to make managing your business and selling your products easier, through seamless payment processing, website design, and streamlined inventory management.

Payment processing

When you sign up for Shopify, you’ll get access to ‘Shopify Checkout’, which gives you a way of receiving customer payments when you sell online.

This simplified checkout process accepts all major payment methods so you can launch your website and start selling from day one.

‘Shop Pay’ is an additional feature of Shopify’s payment processing, which gives customers the option to make a purchase with a single click or tap.

Website design tools

One of the main reasons business owners sign up for Shopify is to build their own online store from which they can market and sell their products.

Shopify has a store editor which allows users to create a website quickly.

You can add headers, banners, and more, using Shopify’s templates to speed up the process. Themes are also available for creating a certain aesthetic for your store, and every element is customizable without any coding knowledge.

‘Shopify Magic’ is a built-in AI tool that can help you write product descriptions and manage your content.

Inventory management

Shopify’s utility also extends to inventory management and order fulfilment.

When you set up your store, you can automatically generate labels for shipping, provide your customers with tracking information on their orders, and get significant shipping rate discounts.

The ‘Shopify Fulfilment Network’ allows you to offer local delivery for customers located near you.

What Can I Sell on Shopify?

You can sell a wide variety of goods and services through Shopify, including:

• Physical products - everything from handmade goods like jewellery to home and garden furniture
• Digital products - e-books, online courses, and music
• Services - any professional advice service such as personal development, memberships, or event tickets
• Print-on-demand products - custom apparel or home decor with personalised designs
• Subscription boxes - curated boxes with recurring deliveries such as monthly coffee bags
• Experiences - workshops or classes you host virtually or in-person and travel packages
• Rentals - short-term rentals or event supplies

Why Choose Shopify for Your Business?

Shopify is an excellent eCommerce platform if you’re looking to scale your business and expand your online retail operations.

It’s a simple solution that offers a variety of plug-in-and-play tools, templates, and themes which make creating a website and selling online straightforward.

Compared to many of the other eCommerce solutions available, Shopify is one of the most comprehensive solutions that lets you build out your own eCommerce website and store from scratch quickly and effectively.

Whether you’re a small business owner looking to sell to a broader customer base or an enterprise owner consolidating your sales efforts, Shopify can be a great choice for eCommerce.

If you’re looking to understand what Shopify dropshipping is, it can also be an option for selling products from your store without needing to worry about inventory and order fulfillment.

Pros and Cons of Using Shopify for Ecommerce

Main benefits

Possible considerations

Ease of use - Shopify is suitable for small business owners and enterprises alike, and provides fast and effective solutions for online selling on day one. Seamless POS system - Shopify’s POS system works well online and in-person, so you can manage all of your sales in one place Competitive pricing- Shopify offers competitive pricing and various plans to cater to business owners at every stage of growth. Simple order fulfilment - Shopify has a comprehensive order fulfilment and inventory management system so you can take payment from customers straight away. Marketing support - Shopify can help put your business on the online map with email marketing features and mobile-friendly social network features.

Fees - You’ll have to pay transaction fees on sales made by credit and debit cards should you use a payment processor that isn’t Shopify Payments. This is true for many eCommerce platforms, however. Limited SEO - One of the main ways customers find business websites is through search engine optimization (SEO). Shopify doesn’t offer much in the way of SEO support, but does have some options. Lack of advanced customization options - Shopify does provide basic themes, but those with coding experience will be able to get more out of the site.

Alternatives to Shopify

As comprehensive an eCommerce platform as Shopify is, it might not necessarily be the right fit for your business needs.

Here are some alternatives you might consider:

Etsy

Etsy is a popular platform for selling products online, particularly for artisan makers and creators.

When you set up an account with Etsy, instead of creating your own website as you would with Shopify, you’ll be granted a page that forms part of a larger online marketplace. There aren’t as many customization options with Etsy as with Shopify, and in some ways it’s more like owning a window display for your products rather than the entire store.

Etsy offers fewer integration options with third-party websites and apps than Shopify, but allows you to use email marketing software like Mailchimp, accounting software like QuickBooks, and referral solutions like ReferralCandy to help you manage online sales and market your business.

Etsy also features integration with Wise, meaning you can receive payments from overseas customers in their local currency, cutting out exchange rate fees and currency conversion fees.

To reiterate, Etsy is best for arts and crafts sellers, but it can also be a great option for occasional sellers and newer business owners looking to dip their toes into online selling.

Wix

Wix is a website builder that has eCommerce functionality and tools to help you sell your products online.

Unlike Shopify, Wix doesn’t offer transaction fees, and offers dropshipping on some of its plans which you can only do with Shopify using third-party apps.

However, the tradeoffs are that there are far fewer integrations (300+ compared to Shopify’s 8,000+), fewer payment gateways (70+ compared to Shopify’s 100+), and a product limit of up to 50,000 compared to no limits with Shopify.

Wix features basic inventory tracking labelling products as either “in stock” or “out of stock” whereas Shopify provides advanced inventory tools on premium plans including analysis options and multi-location tracking.

Wix has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface which is accessible to anyone, meaning it’s a great option for getting started.

Amazon

Amazon is an online retailer which acts as a marketplace for both buying and selling, meaning you can add your products to the marketplace rather than owning your own website with Shopify.

One of the main advantages of using Amazon to sell online is that your product can be seen by thousands of people every day, whereas with Shopify you’ll have to do more heavy lifting to get eyeballs on your products.

You can place products on Amazon straight away and start selling, making it the ideal choice for individual sellers who don’t have aspirations of creating a strong brand.

Amazon also offers integration with Wise, so you can withdraw earnings from across different currencies directly into your Wise Business account without the conversion fees.

You can receive payments in more than 8 currencies for free. Use Wise Business to manage your earnings from Amazon, transfer money in more than 40 currencies, and seamlessly pay expenses and invoices.

Discover Wise Business for Receiving Ecommerce Payments

Wise Business is the easy way to receive eCommerce payments without unexpected fees.

If you want to receive customer payments in different currencies as if you were a local, you can use Wise Business to pair with Shopify, Wix, Amazon, and other eCommerce platforms.

Get paid with Wise Business

Wise is not a bank, but a Money Services Business (MSB) provider and a smart alternative to banks. The Wise Business account is designed with international business in mind, and makes it easy to send, hold, and manage business funds in currencies. You can get major currency account details for a one-off fee to receive overseas payments like a local. You can also send money to countries.

When you use Wise Business, you’ll benefit from:

• No monthly fees
• International payments at the mid-market rate
• Easy batch payments
• Simple QuickBooks integration to track bill payments
• Managing multiple currencies in one place
• Free invoicing tool for business account holder
• And more…

🔍 Read the guide on how to open a Wise Business account