What is Shopify?
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that businesses of all sizes to quickly and easily begin building their online presence.
Examples of other ecommerce platforms we’ve come across are Amazon and Etsy. Each option has tradeoffs depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
Why do I need to use Shopify?
The first step is figuring out whether it aligns with your goals and what stage your business is in. There isn’t a strict formula to follow, so we’ll be sharing stories and motivations from other stores’ journeys.
A lot of our partners started off with Etsy for the following reasons:
- Easy and convenient
- Low-investment way to advertise and test the market
- Helps answer the question “Does anyone actually want to buy my product?”
They found initial success and validated their market. This excited them to see where this eCommerce adventure would take them.
Although their first digital home was on Etsy, it lacked the ability to customize the appearance of their brand. They looked for other solutions and through the grapevines they heard of Shopify.
Shopify provided similar ease of use but also allowed customization for branding.
Although the recurring cost appeared to increase, the cost of staying on Etsy outweighed the benefits.
For the monetary cost, there was a breakeven point where store owners could justify the $30 a month. And the added benefit is now they could take their brand into their own hands.
Shopify provides a 2-week free trial to see if it’s right for your store.
So… do I really need Shopify?
Again, this really depends on your business goals. But if you check a few of these boxes, then it’s likely that Shopify would be a good fit as your next move:
- You’ve tested the market and got initial interest
- You want more flexibility and control over branding.
- You’re willing to experiment with different sales strategies with your store
- The cost of your current platform is outweighing the benefits
Thank you for reading, please let us know if it was helpful or not. Hope this helped share some insights and parallels to your own business’s journey.