Shopify Review: Pros & Cons

After completing three websites built on Shopify I thought I would share some of my experience with the e-commerce solution. As with any software there are good and bad sides. If you are a fellow web designer or a shop owner considering Shopify, this Pros and Cons list will help you decide to sign up with them or not.

Pros

Many features to get you started.
Hosting, SSL, SEO, and all the basics you need to quickly start selling.

Well designed themes.
The Theme store has plenty of great themes available with attractive designs.

Apps.
If Shopify doesn’t have a feature built in that you need there is often an App available that will do the job.

Point of Sale system (POS).
If you have a physical store you can sell your products using an iPhone or iPad.

Cons

Theme updates add cost.
If you purchase a theme and the theme developer makes an update, there could be a lot of work involved. Any changes made to the purchased theme has to be redone after the theme upgrade. This includes any settings and style changes. Shopify should take a page from WordPress and use a child theme system. A child theme would allow customizations without editing the main theme.

The cost of Apps can be high.
If you are budgeting for a new online store, take this into consideration when doing your cost benefit analysis. The cost of Apps can add up, with some like recurring payments even charging a percentage of your store’s earnings, so be sure to check what Apps you may need and their pricing on the Shopify App Store.

Reports are only available on Pro and Unlimited plans.
If you are on the Basic or starter plan you’ll be restricted to the past 90 days of a limited amount of statistics. Without these stats you will miss out on some very insightful information about the sales your website is generating. I recommend the upgrade.