Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform. However, it has major drawbacks that will force you to migrate to a more reliable solution.
That said, it is easy to use and to set up a clean, professional e-commerce site. It lets people with no e-commerce or web development knowledge get started with great ease.
Even if the drawbacks may be few, they can have a major impact, especially on businesses that want to grow and aim for considerable growth. In that case, this involves multiple integrations, notably two-way web service integration with the company’s ERP systems.
Here are the top 10 factors to consider before choosing Shopify to set up your online store.
1. Transaction fees on sales
In addition to monthly service fees, Shopify also charges you up to 2% on all sales that are not processed through “Shopify Payments”. If your customers tend not to use this service, you will pay the fee on every sale.
As you increase your order volume each month, this is an enormous amount that you will have to pay Shopify regularly. This is completely unacceptable for many business owners.
2. Integrating multiple apps is expensive
Shopify offers more than 1,500 apps that you can use to greatly extend the functionality of your online store. However, many of these apps are not free and can cost around $25-30.
Adding these new features using apps can make your store more interesting and more useful for your customers, but it will generously increase your monthly costs. If you want to avoid these costs, you will have to use a very basic theme with no extra features.
3. Code customization is a problem
If you want to customize your online store through the backend, you will need a specialized developer. Shopify uses its own language called “Liquid” and you will need a Shopify expert to help you with this customization.
It will not be economical for you to do it. However, some Shopify experts are always available, but hiring them is far from affordable for every budget.
4. Limited payment gateways
If you are not based in the United States, you will most certainly have a very limited range of payment gateways for your customers.
This is a problem, because your customers need as many options as possible to choose the best one to make a purchase.
5. Multiple currencies are not viable
When dealing with international customers, you may face high fees, because “Shopify Payments” is only available in North America and the United Kingdom. The Shopify portal will charge you high fees for using international currencies.
6. Shared hosting
As a Shopify user, your online store will be hosted alongside other users, which will make the website considerably heavier. This causes latency problems and makes your store more vulnerable to online attacks by hackers.
7. Multiple stores cannot be integrated
If you have two stores on Shopify, it is not possible to view both of them in the same admin panel. You will have to create a whole new store.
8. Themes are problematic
Even though Shopify themes look professional, they are rather basic. They offer very few options to customize them yourself. In addition, it is not easy to switch between themes, because some features may not be available in the new theme you have selected.
9. Limited shipping options
At the moment, you cannot offer many shipping options on Shopify. You can offer discounts and changes on shipping order totals in terms of total amount or weight. You cannot make any changes to the individual items on the packing slip.
10. Limited automation options
There are no useful options for order automation on Shopify. You cannot win back a customer once they have abandoned their cart. You would not know how many customers you are losing because of this small problem.
Now that you know the various problems with creating an online store through Shopify, you can weigh your risks and make an informed choice about which service to use.
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