Shopify Review

Here in my Shopify Review, I’ll show you how easy it is to create your own online store. eCommerce websites are by far the most time consuming and tedious to create and maintain. In the past, you either needed to hire someone to help you out or try to create one yourself using software such as osCommerce or ZenCart. Even a WordPress solution such as WooCommerce can get a bit difficult. However, with the recent push towards quick and easy website solutions, you now have some nice alternatives for creating an eCommerce site. In my opinion, Shopify is one of the best and easiest way to build a great eCommerce website.

Since our initial review of Shopify some years ago, the push for easier and quicker website creation has continued to grow. Today, there are many more alternatives for creating websites. And, that applies just as much to E-commerce online stores as it does to other types of websites. So, we thought it was time for an updated review of Shopify to see how it compares to other website builders and platforms in 2024.

What is Shopify?

Shopify combines the website building and commerce aspects to streamline and accelerate the process of creating an eCommerce website.

Shopify Background

The creators of Shopify originally wanted an eCommerce store to sell some snowboard equipment. However, they couldn’t find an easy to use platform for their business—so, they decided to create it themselves. That’s how Shopify was born, and now it’s available for anyone who wants to sell online.

What Types of eCommerce Sites Can You Create with Shopify?

With Shopify you can sell your own products or employ drop shipping to sell items from a company such as AliExpress. In fact, there is even a plugin to help you easily add products from AliExpress into your Shopify store.

Why Use Shopify?

eCommerce website are by far the most time consuming and difficult to create from scratch. Even using off the shelf eCommerce software applications still require you to perform a lot of work—including setting up your payment gateway, handle shipping, etc. Shopify helps you take care of all the tasks associated with creating and maintaining an eCommerce website.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify has 3 different website plans:

• Basic
• Shopify
• Advanced

The Basic plan is perfectly suited for new online stores. The mid-level Shopify plan can be used for larger online stores that need a group of team members working on it. And, the Advanced plan is geared for large E-commerce applications.

Signing Up for Shopify

It’s very easy to sign up for a Shopify store. And, you can try it out free for 3 days–without needing a credit card!
You just need to enter your basic information and choose your store’s name. While you can create and preview your store, keep in mind that in order for your website to be available to the public and to sell products, you’ll need to sign up for a paid plan.

Shopify Website Themes

Shopify continues to offer impressive website themes or templates. There is a good selection of free templates that are fine for many types on online stores. And, you can also choose one of the premium themes that are even more impressive in design and functionality. While the premium themes are a bit on the expensive side, if you’re going to have a larger scale store, they are worth the cost in my opinion. However, as I mentioned, the free themes are more than adequate, so you can always just go that route instead.

Creating a Shopify Store

Shopify has really done a great job in simplifying the website creation process. And, in 2024 I’m happy to report that they have streamlined things even more to make creating your online store even quicker and easier.

To begin creating your online store, you select a theme for your site. While there are many premium themes that require an extra fee, there are also a number of free themes that are perfectly suited for those of you that are just starting out with your first eCommerce website. For example, I use the free Minimal theme. Here’s how it looks.

Setting up Shipping Charges

From the Settings area, you can easily set up your shipping fees in Shopify for both domestic and foreign orders. You can set up shipping charges based on prices, weight, or by shipping carrier.

Using Shopify Apps for Added Functionality

For additional functionality, there are numerous apps available within Shopify that can be a great help to you in running your online store. Some plugin apps are free of charge while others will cost you a monthly fee.

As an example, here are some of the apps I use in my Shopify store:

EasyLockDown allows you to prevent access to certain areas of your store.
McAfee Secure provides added security to your shop.
Oberlo is a fantastic app that lets you easily add third party products from AliExpress.
Order Limits lets you specify a minimum or maximum amount of a certain item that can be purchased.

You can purchase apps from the Shopify App Store.

Adding Products to Your Shopify Store

While you can easy add products to your Shopify store manually in the products section, for drop shipping sellers, one of the great features of Shopify is that you can add products directly from AliExpress into your online store via the Oberlo app.

Once you install the Oberlo app, you can browse products at AliExpress and add them to your product import list by clicking on the Oberlo tag. You can then import all of the products in your list into your Shopify store at one time.

Setting up Email Notifications

Also from the Setting page, you can specify when your customers receive email notifications. For example, they can be notified when their order is confirmed, cancelled, or refunded. You can also specify that they receive an email when their order is fulfilled or when it is delivered.

Shopify Website Speed and Performance

Another improvement with Shopify is the website speed and performance you get. While it was okay in the past, our latest speed and performance testing produced some awesome results. Performance, Structure, Speed Index, and Core Web Vitals were all very impressive. And, while the size and design of your particular online store will have an effect on your website speed, the results we received with Shopify were proof that any type of E-commerce website should perform very well there.

Shopify Customer Support

Shopify has done a great job with their 24/7 live chat support. The stated wait time is 5 minutes, but I was connected sooner than that. The support agents are helpful and courteous. And, another great part of their live chat support is that your chats are automatically logged and a transcript is readily available, so you don’t have to worry about requesting one.

Also, the automated bot chat is useful for frequently asked questions. And if you can’t find an answer there, you can easily request live chat support.

Here is a sample of a recent chat support session of mine:

Pros and Cons of Shopify

How Does Shopify Compare with Other Website Builders?

Shopify vs GoDaddy
Shopify vs Wix
Shopify vs WordPress

Recommendation – Should You Use Shopify?

In taking an updated look at Shopify, we were impressed with our findings. While Shopify has always been a viable way to create an online store, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have made even more improvements to streamline the process of building an E-commerce website.

Shopify continues to offer all of the features needed to run a successful online store. But, they have improved the website speed and performance you get, along with an even better guided approach to creating your online shopping website. While that makes Shopify ideal for newbies, they have also continued to improve their advanced plans to accommodate any size of online store as well.

Overall, it’s great to see that unlike some other website builders, Shopify continues to improve and innovate their platform and services—making it one of the best choices for E-commerce websites.

See our Shopify Review Ratings below.

Click Here to Try out Shopify Free for 3 Days – No Credit Card Needed