Shopify Software Reviews

“nice templates”

Pros

Starting with a small budget was a big plus and the tools available really helped bring in more sales for my store. The templates looked very professional and were genuinely helpful for my customers and the analytics made it simple to understand everything happening in the store.

Cons

A few of the software options are paid but it feels acceptable since they can help boost sales.

“powerful platform”

Pros

Right away, it struck me as one of those rare platforms that manages to balance being simple to use with still offering full functions and customization. It lets you get an online business up and running quickly without a lot of friction but when you bring in a skilled developer, the level of customization you can achieve is huge. It really removes a lot of the usual barriers to entry while still giving you room to build something more advanced. Top notch.

Cons

Finding truly expert developer support can be difficult. Because of that, it helps a lot to use marketplaces where you can connect with a few different developers so you end up with multiple people who understand your business and codebase and can step in later when bigger projects come up.

“has flexible apps”

Pros

One thing that really works well is how accessible the platform feels, plus there are tons of apps that connect nicely with this platform. The pricing feels reasonable and it lets me build and manage my e-commerce site on my own without needing extra help.

Cons

Nothing major has come up that I've disliked. I'm using a free theme right now so it does have some limitations but there are paid theme options available if you want something that fits your business better.

“solid order handling”

Pros

Gives a lot of flexibility and covers most of what a simple shop needs with its free themes and apps. Once you want deeper customization though, you either need some IT knowledge or you end up paying for more specialized apps. Day to day, it does a pretty good job when it comes to managing customers and orders, sw online or through the POS app.

Cons

Customer accounts still can't be merged which comes up all the time when people change their email address or enter the wrong one during checkout. Even more frustrating, merchants have been asking for this for more than seven years through support tickets, feature requests and plenty of community forum threads and it has basically done nothing about it. Since my business is mainly built around magazine subscriptions, keeping the customer database clean is really important.

“fitting templates for developers”

Pros

One of its biggest strengths is its flexibility. There are plenty of ready-made templates available and on top of that, you can access the template core itself. If you have programming skills, you can customize and improve the template on your own.

Cons

It is still one of the fastest ways to launch an online store but it does come with a downside. You can't host it yourself so you end up paying more for anything related to hosting and if their servers ever go down, all you can do is wait until they resolve the problem.

“strong support”

Pros

Using it is very easy and the developer community and support resources are excellent. The platform keeps expanding its functions over time and it comes with a lot of really useful built in tools right out of the box.

Cons

That flexibility does come with some trade-offs. Depending too much on add ons can make the site slower and introduce bugs and the master data import/export process still has room for improvement.

“useful integrations”

Pros

Building a site with this platform wasn't overly difficult especially with the wide selection of well-designed templates available. There are also plenty of app integrations that make it really helpful for managing and running a business.

Cons

Certain data tracking couldn't be done when customers reached the shopping cart through the Facebook pixel. The support team was excellent but in the end, it still wasn't something that could be implemented.

“ecommerce game changer!”

Pros

just about everything with this platform feels like a major advantage. It has completely changed the eCommerce space and any business that wants to stay competitive with online sales should seriously be using this platform.

Cons

There really aren't many downsides to mention. It took me a few days to fully understand the dashboard but the effective features along with the huge selection of apps and themes, easily justify the price.

“polished stores”

Pros

Once you land on a template that fits your site, this is an excellent way to put together a polished, fully functional ecommerce store quickly. It's established enough to work with most popular add ons and it's also fairly easy to use.

Cons

On the other hand if your business needs more than what the templates provide, you'll probably have to bring in a programmer. And if that programmer isn't particularly good, the code can become messy very quickly.

“accessible to use”

Pros

Running a store on it feels very accessible whether I'm working on the customer-facing side or managing things in the back end. Any time I run into questions about the platform or one of the many apps it connects with, I can usually track down a detailed answer online in an article or discussion. The reporting and data it provides are incredibly useful when it comes to making business decisions and it has really become my central hub for information and customization.

Cons

In the less common situations where I can't figure something out myself, getting a clear response from Customer Support can be frustrating. There have also been a handful of glitches that their team either couldn't or wouldn't resolve and the platform does go down from time to time. It doesn't happen often but when it does, being left without a storefront is definitely stressful.

“no need to be tech savy”

Pros

Growing a business with this software feels very manageable even without being very techsavvy. I don't have to stress about hosting and there's a pricing option that fits almost any budget. The live chat support has also been really helpful whenever I needed assistance. Another big plus is the wide range of payment processors available.

Cons

Issue that only a small selection of templates is truly free. Also, setting up sub-categories isn't directly supported unless you use a workaround.

“Pros and Cons”

Pros

One thing it does really well is offer plenty of free templates that can be deployed quickly and customized to fit your storefront. There's a wide range of choices available which gives you a lot of flexibility.

Cons

At the same time product launching often isn't instant and the servers don't always hold up well when there's a heavy surge in traffic.

“Generous trial”

Pros

It lets me dropship products from pretty much any website I want. On top of that they offer a 90 day free trial which gives plenty of time to try the platform properly and decide whether it's the right fit.

Cons

Honestly I don't have any complaints. The software has been useful and reliable and I've been using it for more than two years without running into any problems.

“flexible site control”

Pros

It's a fairly user friendly platform overall and one thing I really appreciate is being able to make changes to my site on my own instead of needing to hire someone every time.

Cons

The cost can get pretty expensive especially once you start adding extras. I also really dislike that all billing is handled in USD even when the store is based in Canada and the service has an office there as well.

“powerful analytics”

Pros

Right from the start, it kept the whole process simple. It gave us a easy way to build, run and manage our own online store without a lot of trouble. The monthly cost feels fair and the transaction fees are low compared with selling through Amazon which gives us another sales channel with better margin potential. On the design side, the themes and built in tools helped us put together a site that looks clean, polished and professional. Behind the scenes, store management is also very clear and easy to handle. Another big plus is the detailed analytics which give us a much better view of customer behavior and useful ideas for improving sales. It also connects smoothly with our existing workflow, integrating with Stitch for inventory and then syncing to Shipstation for shipping. For anyone wanting to sell online, it is absolutely a strong option.

Cons

Discount code management gets complicated when recurring or subscription orders are involved. Since subscriptions require the Bold plug in, discount codes are handled differently there than they are in this solution for one time purchases. If you want the same promo code with the same discount, to work for both regular and subscription orders, you have to create it separately in both here and Bold. On top of that the way discount calculations are entered in each system is different so it adds extra work. Another frustration is that once a discount code is created in Bold, it can't be edited later while the discount codes for this option can be changed after saving. The other issue with Bold comes up when updating an existing subscription customer's order. You can't immediately push that updated order through for processing. Instead, you have to wait for Bold's automatic order cycle which for us happens close to midnight local time. That makes it hard when you're speaking with a customer and want to confirm that the changes are done and the order has already been processed for immediate shipment. As it works now, the fastest the order usually moves forward is the following day.

“flexible integrations, pricey extras”

Pros

One thing I really appreciate about this software is how well it connects with so many different platforms and tools.

Cons

What I don't care for is the cost of having to add certain features just to get everything working together properly. Once the free trial ended it honestly left me feeling a bit disappointed.

“polished templates”

Pros

Getting an online store up and running is really simple and selling online feels very easy. The templates also make it possible to build a professional looking website within just a few hours.

Cons

I do wish the sites offered more flexibility for customization. When a client wants carousels, there are restrictions on how many images can be added and where they can appear.

“affordable ecommerce”

Pros

When the pandemic shifted how our boutique needed to sell, it turned out to be exactly the platform we needed. We were able to get products imported and launch our online store within just a few days which let us start offering e-commerce to our customers right away. The platform was a pleasure to use especially from the customer-facing side and the basic plan has been more than enough for our needs while staying very budget friendly. We'd absolutely recommend it!

Cons

Getting started with product imports through the platform's CSV upload can feel pretty complicated at first. The spreadsheet has very specific formatting requirements and everything needs to be set up correctly for the products to import properly. That said, it provides plenty of helpful support articles that explain each part of the spreadsheet line by line. It definitely took a bit of time to figure out but once we learned the process, building the spreadsheets and importing products became very manageable.

“quick setup”

Pros

Its one of the simplest store builders I've worked with and the huge app selection lets you make your site do almost anything you need. It makes getting a decent looking online store up and running feel very approachable so anyone can start selling without much trouble.

Cons

It isn't open source like some other e-commerce platforms so if they decide they don't approve of what you're selling, they can remove you from the platform. That happened to us a couple of years ago when we were selling CBD. They shut our store down without any warning and it seriously damaged our business.

“global selling without limits”

Pros

Switching to this platform last year turned out to be one of the best decisions for my business. It connects with my inventory software which lets me sell online without a trouble. When COVID-19 caused shutdowns, my business didn't feel completely stuck because I was still able to keep sales going. Being able to offer my products to customers around the world without needing them to walk into my physical store has made a huge difference and I'm genuinely thrilled with that.

Cons

There really isn't much I dislike about it. The only challenge has been getting familiar with all the ins and outs since there's been slight difficulty adjusting to everything.