#1 most frequent
United States of America
51.1%447,194 installations of 874,492
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a commerce platform designed for both online stores and retail locations. Shopify offers a professional online storefront, a payment solution to accept credit cards, and the Shopify POS application to power retail sales.
Categories & Use Cases
Videos
Top Performing Features
Order processing
Includes tools or integrations for order processing.
Category average: 8.2
eCommerce security
Security measures are in place to prevent a breach of sensitive payment information.
Category average: 8.3
Product catalog & listings
Products are easy to browse; listings include descriptions, photos, 360-degree views, and/or videos.
Category average: 8.4
Areas for Improvement
Shipping
Includes tools or integrations for order fulfillment of physical products.
Category average: 7.8
SEO
The platform & templates help users create the right website infrastructure (pagination, page headers, titles, meta tags, url structure, etc.) to increase the site’s visibility in search engine results.
Category average: 7.7
Multi-site management
Administrators can manage multiple storefronts or websites under one umbrella.
Category average: 8.1
Who Buys & Uses Shopify
#1 most frequent
Retail Trade
8.8%76,881 installations of 874,492
#2 most frequent
Manufacturing
6.0%52,206 installations of 874,492
“Making a website on Shopify helped us build a strong brand identity not just locally but also globally.”
#3 most frequent
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
2.7%23,953 installations of 874,492
#2 most frequent
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
8.1%70,886 installations of 874,492
#3 most frequent
Canada
6.3%55,505 installations of 874,492
Pros
- User-friendly interface and simple UI
- Extensive customization options with templates and personal editing
- Robust plugin and integration ecosystem with verified applications and flexible API
Cons
- Additional costs for essential features often requiring plugin purchases
- Limitations in core functionality for complex tasks or detailed discount management
- Occasional user interface issues, such as freezing or difficulties with content updates
Shopify Delivers But With Some Drawbacks
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Shopify as one of our main e-commerce platforms for our supplements. We chose to use this platform because of it's variety of (semi) easy to use features, connectivity, and trusted partners (such as ReCharge and NoFraud). Shopify allows us to easily sell to our retail customers without the hassle getting too complex with backend code, especially security related. It's admin user interface is simplistic and easy to use for our CSR's on everyday orders.
Pros
- It's base security and integration with trusted security partners (such as NoFraud) is a game-changer when it comes to reliability and a "hands off approach" for our IT department. The up-time is also very good.
- It offers a wide range of verified plugins that are (for the most part) easy to install and use for any specific scenario you're looking for.
- It's Analytics area in the admin is actually nice and offers a wide variety of reports that you can run.
Cons
- They nickel and dime you for everything. They also purposely do not add very "typical" features to their core because they want you to purchase plugins (which they get a cut of each month).
- Unless you're willing to pony up and pay for Shopify plus, they lock you out of the checkout page code (so, no installing apps there, either).
- Their UI sometimes will randomly freeze or not allow you to update something. The only thing we've figured out in those cases is just to wait 30 minutes.
- You can't get too "cute" with wanting complex functionalities (esp if there's not a plugin that does exactly what you're wanting to do).
Return on Investment
- Shopify has allowed us to easily make retail sales with normal customer operations while being pretty hands-off.
- Shopify has taught us that our more complex and custom integrations need to be done on a different system.
- Shopify makes you realize that the more "cute" you want to get with integrations, the more you'll pay monthly for everything.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
WooCommerce, WooCommerce Subscriptions and Adobe Commerce
Other Software Used
Adobe Stock, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe InDesign
Best website builder for eCommerce brands
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Shopify helped us to create a website for our brand. As an ecommerce brand, it was essential for us to have a website through which we could sell our products online to our target customers.
Pros
- Shopify helps brands create high converting ecommerce websites.
- It is quite affordable.
- It is SEO friendly meaning there are higher chances to rank on Google with a Shopify website.
- They have the best support team ever.
Cons
- I would love it if Shopify built an in house app which helped us post UGCs and social proof from platforms such as Instagram, Youtube etc. more seamlessly on our website. Right now, we are able to do it through third party apps but the look and feel is just okay.
Return on Investment
- Making a website on Shopify helped us build a strong brand identity not just locally but also globally.
- We were able to get so many orders even without paid marketing because our website was SEO responsive.
- We are able to keep track of all our inventory easily because of our Shopify store.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
GoDaddy
Other Software Used
Google Search Console, Google Business Profile
Not ideal for digital download variants
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I manage an online store and used Shopify to sell products.
Pros
- Marketing
- Online store appearance
Cons
- Digital downloads
- Multiple digital download options
Return on Investment
- Neutral to negative
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Squarespace and Wix
Other Software Used
Squarespace, SketchUp, Adobe PhotoShop
My experience using Shopify
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Shopify to process all of our order, refunds, payments and inventory. This helps our business sell our devices and process orders in a timely manner.
Pros
- Process orders
- Maintain a good record of processes
- Inventory Management
Cons
- Support could be faster
- Integration with more systems
- Dark Theme
Return on Investment
- We've managed to increase our productivity by 75%
- During Peak season we managed to sell more than 20,000 units with Shopify
- Due to our increase in revenue, we been able to hire more employees
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Wix
Other Software Used
CRM and Deals for Zendesk, Linear App, Amazon Web Services
So Glad I Chose Shopify
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I've been using Shopify to run my ecommerce store since 2017. It gives you a seamless way to launch and run an online store, even if you have zero coding experience. Their app marketplace is robust. I do miss the customer service phone line...right now, it's rather cumbersome to get help. But there is no better platform on which to build your online store.
Pros
- App integrations
- Easy to use interface
- Affordability
Cons
- Customer service
Return on Investment
- Good SEO
- Attractive design
- Trustworthy checkout experience
Other Software Used
Klaviyo
