Basic Shopify also grants you access to Shopify Payments

Basic Shopify also grants you access to Shopify Payments, which doesn’t charge any transaction fees. This is a big plus as these fees can add up over time and affect your bottom line. However, if you choose to use PayPal or another third-party payment gateway, you’ll be responsible for additional payment fees.

Lastly, you get access to Shopify support. Although Shopify is pretty straightforward and easy to use, questions are sure to pop up and there are times when a helping hand may be needed. So, access to store support is a big plus.

If you have a physical store as well, Shopify also offers an add-on retail package for $49. It can help you manage your Shopify POS (point of sale) system, tills, barcode scanners, and even your staff.

You can also create discount codes and place orders manually

Furthermore, you can also create not one but two staff accounts, so two people can log in and work on the site at any given time. That’s right; someone can handle orders while someone else works on the design or updates products. This makes it an ideal solution for any small business.

With Basic Shopify, you also benefit from unlimited bandwidth and storage, so you can upload an unlimited number of products to your store. This makes it great for scaling up.

You can also create discount codes and place orders manually, which is particularly useful for customers who prefer to order over the phone rather than online. That being said, the plan comes with SSL certificates and built-in fraud and payment analysis tools for peace of mind for both online shoppers and shop owners.

We’ll dive into the features of Shopify and what you can do with the platform shortly

We’ll dive into the features of Shopify and what you can do with the platform shortly, but let’s first have a look at its pricing and the various plans it offers.

Shopify Pricing and Plans
Since Shopify is a business, just like yours or the one you’re creating, they don’t offer any free plans. However, knowing the features and value their platform offers, they do provide first-time users with a free 14-day trial to test the waters and experience all it can do. Read our Shopify Pricing Guide for more detailed pricing information.

Shopify Pros and Cons

Pros:
• Extremely popular
• One of the least expensive ways to begin selling online
• Zero transaction fees with Shopify Payments
• Clean and easy-to-use interface
• Excellent for dropshipping
• Abandoned cart saver
• Ability to sell from Facebook and/or an existing site
• Wide range of appealing themes and templates
• POS, AMP, and VAT MOSS functionality
• Huge selection of apps
• Built-in blog included
• On-the-go management via mobile device
• Ability to purchase profitable pre-built stores

Cons:
• Only three product options
• Some functions require app investment
• Professional reporting requires a higher plan level
• Shopify Payments is only available in certain countries
• Unavoidable fees for third-party payment gateways
• No MailChimp integration
• Image aspect ratios may need adjusting
• Only sends one abandoned cart follow-up email
• Difficult to export blog posts
• Lack of technical support

most notable users include Tesla Motors

In fact, according to Shopify, it’s currently powering nearly a million online stores, and some of its most notable users include Tesla Motors, General Electric, Encyclopedia Britanica, Amnesty International, and the Foo Fighters, just to name a few. Needless to say, if you’re searching for an easy-to-use, feature-packed ecommerce solution to sell physical or digital products, Shopify is definitely worth a try.

While it has some cons, which we’ll get into below, it’s an ideal platform for selling online. For some businesses, a physical store may still be the way to go. However, more and more people are shopping online each and every day. Shopify allows you to jump on this trend and focus on creating new products while your online store does all of the selling for you. From payment gateways to shipping rates and inventory management, it does it all.

The Shopify Story

The Shopify Story
Based in Canada, Shopify was launched in 2006 by Scott Lake, Daniel Weiland, and Canada’s CEO of the year, Tobias Lütke. Since the company’s launch, its ecommerce site builder platform has grown leaps and bounds, transforming from a small player into one of today’s leading ecommerce solutions.

website builder that allows you to design and launch your very own online store

Shopify is an SaaS, software as a service, website builder that allows you to design and launch your very own online store for a monthly fee. Developed for users without advanced design and technical skills, it features point-and-click functionality and an endless range of templates to get any ecommerce site up and running in no time at all.

Since Shopify is a hosted ecommerce solution as well, there’s no need to worry about hosting or anything else. It provides you with everything you need to create and manage your Shopify store right ‘out of the box.’ As you’ll see in this Shopify review, all you need is access to the internet and a web browser.