Shopify Software Reviews

“versatile platform”

Pros

Whether it's a brand-new shop or a full enterprise operation, it offers a setup that works well for just about any type of store. The available templates help each site feel more unique and branded instead of generic and the built in checkout on it's side avoids a lot of problems and outages that can happen when less experienced developers try to tinker with such an important part of the sales funnel.

Cons

More recently, around fall 2019, it has experienced a noticeable amount of downtime. Since they host such a large number of stores, their servers seem to get overloaded during busy periods which leads to slower performance and, at times, stores going offline. Because so many stores are connected within the same ecosystem, these outages can affect a wide range of businesses at once, resulting in lost sales and damage to customer trust.

“anyone can use!”

Pros

You don't need much technical knowledge to build a solid storefront because it guides you step by step, from choosing a theme to adding products and handling orders. The customer support has also been excellent. Whenever I've run into an issue or wasn't sure how to get something working, their team responded quickly and helped me sort it out.

Cons

The only frustration is that when I need more technical details like access keys for email setup and similar settings, that information can be a bit hard to track down.

“lovely storefront”

Pros

It makes launching a small business feel very manageable for a new owner. I'm also really pleased with how polished my site looks and how simple it is to handle day-to-day tasks. Pulling the reports I need is easy too.

Cons

Something that could be better is setting up or deleting a new tab or collection since you have to jump between several different sections to finish the whole process.

“useful features but pricey”

Pros

The platform is easy to use, connects with most apps, highlights the latest results and keeps getting updated with new and useful features for e-commerce.

Cons

The biggest downside right away is the cost. There's the monthly subscription, PayPal fees since you need it to let customers pay online, plus paid apps and paid templates. I've also run into some bugs with the Facebook product linking.

“fun storefront tools”

Pros

Running our website and online store through the platform has helped my company in a lot of different ways. We use it to manage the site, handle ecommerce and keep track of all our website metrics in one place. It works really well and feels very easy. Updating the website is simple and the whole process is actually enjoyable.

Cons

A small setback is that the website builder can feel a little generic at times but it is still really enjoyable to use. I've had a lot of fun building and managing our website with this software.

“increased convenience”

Pros

Everything feels very easy to use, from the clear search tools to adding new products, updating quantities and getting in touch with customers. It makes day-to-day store management really convenient.

Cons

The bulk order fulfillment feature only lets us process up to 20 orders at once. That definitely slows us down although we've managed to work around it with an external solution.

“Has a lot of perks”

Pros

Customers can access everything without any trouble and the academy does a really good job of keeping you current on the latest marketing trends. It Capital, the shipping discounts and the app store are all valuable extras that make the platform even better.

Cons

Payouts aren't instant and usually take a few days to arrive but I'm completely satisfied with the website overall.

“top app ecosystem overall!”

Pros

If we were starting from scratch again, it would still be my pick without hesitation. Its app ecosystem is easily the strongest among the e-commerce platforms out there and that alone makes it a standout choice.

Cons

My biggest frustration with this platform is that the listed base price is rarely what you actually end up paying. To get the functions most online stores need, you almost always have to add extra apps. I also really dislike their .liquid coding language. It makes things feel far more complicated than necessary and can easily double or even triple the cost of bringing in someone to work on your site.

“launch a site quickly”

Pros

It really works right out of the box. The initial setup takes about five minutes and after that you can jump straight into adding products and starting sales. The app marketplace also helps extend your store's functions, often with just a single line of code needed.

Cons

One limitation is that you may not always find the exact solution you need. If there isn't an app for it, then it becomes a real issue because you can't simply add that functions yourself.

“best platform for my business”

Pros

Out of all the online platforms I've used for my business, this has easily been the most user friendly. There's also a huge range of apps available so it covers just about every business need I can think of.

Cons

It does cost more than a lot of other platforms but the customer service and how user friendly everything is make it well worth paying for.

“Helpful features”

Pros

Has been a huge help for my small business. The platform is very simple to figure out and it comes with a lot of useful features that help keep my business moving in the right direction.

Cons

My only complaint is that the site occasionally goes down which affects my store and how I use it. It doesn't happen often but when it does, it's definitely frustrating.

“great all in one storefront”

Pros

Running a store on this platform feels very easy. The interface is clean and user friendly and most actions are accessible enough that you can usually tell where to go next. There are plenty of free themes to choose from and the platform feels well worth the price. Having payment processing, web hosting and the website itself all handled in one place is a huge plus.

Cons

A drawback is that a lot depends on the theme you choose and the apps you add. To really get things set up the right way, you end up doing quite a bit of reading and often need to talk with other users to figure out the best path forward.

“perfect for design merch sales”

Pros

Managing a design and merch shop on this platform has worked out really well for me. The Instagram and Facebook integrations let me market on both platforms automatically so I do not have to keep downloading and re-uploading products to separate feeds. The free templates are also simple to set up which makes it possible to launch fairly quickly without hiring a developer though I do have a web design background so that probably helps. Another feature I genuinely value is the PayPal option. For those of us using POD, credit cards usually get charged the moment a customer places an order which keeps printing and shipping moving but I do not enjoy having my card hit every single time. With PayPal, the payment is sent straight to the printer automatically and I just receive my profit after the deductions are taken out. That setup feels like a real win-win.

Cons

Something that has definitely been frustrating is not being able to combine promotions like "25% off and free shipping over $40" without paying for an extra monthly app. From what I have seen, it is usually one discount or the other. I was also disappointed by the 15 day trial period because it felt too short. There are a lot of steps involved in building a store, getting everything configured and then thinking about promotion and advertising on top of that. For someone new, that can feel overwhelming. I would have felt much more comfortable with a 20 day trial instead of 15 because the shorter window made me feel rushed and I ended up making mistakes during setup.

“my thoughts”

Pros

Really shows its experience in ecommerce. They've been doing this long enough that most of the major pain points for online store owners have already been thought through. There's also a wide range of apps available which makes it easy to add more functions to a store. One of the standout features is their shipping account. The rates are very good for customers and it's easy to manage on the backend. Shipping calculations have always been a major headache in ecommerce and it has handled that challenge pretty well.

Cons

Support feels a bit underwhelming at times. The tech team is always polite but too often the response is basically "we don't support 3rd party themes" which can feel like a brush off. I understand they shouldn't be expected to fully troubleshoot problems caused by custom or third party themes but it would still help if they offered at least some basic guidance on where to start looking instead of immediately sending you back to the theme developer. A lot of the time, themes are bought through membership sites like Envato and those often come with little to no support. That leaves store owners stuck and it's an issue that really needs a better solution. I'm disappointed that this hasn't taken a more proactive approach to addressing it.

“Top notch!”

Pros

Right away, the back-end interface feels very user friendly and easy to work in. The servers are fast and I rarely run into any problems with them. One thing I really appreciate when working on themes is being able to quickly duplicate one for a staging environment before sending changes live. Installing and setting up apps is also simple. The built in back-end code editor is a huge plus because it lets you avoid dealing with FTP or something like cPanel File Manager. As a managed SaaS product, it really is top notch.

Cons

Coming from open-source platforms like Magento and other standalone systems where I had full access to everything, this required a bit of a mindset shift. It was frustrating at first not being able to get into the code beyond what the UI and APIs allow. After adjusting to that different way of working though, I was able to see the real value of how approachable and well-designed the platform is.

“Love the mobile app”

Pros

Putting together an attractive online store with this platform was very easy. The analytics are excellent and give a clear picture of how many people visit the store, what pages or products they view and whether they add items to their cart. The built in remarketing tools are also really useful. If someone starts checkout and doesn't finish, you can have them automatically send a follow-up email to encourage them to complete the purchase, as long as they entered their email during checkout. The email features for shoppers are helpful too with built in automation that's simple to configure. Stores are already optimized for mobile and look very polished on phones and tablets. It also connects to social media without much trouble. On the customer side, the shopping experience feels smooth throughout the online store. Also the mobile app is very capable and can send notifications based on whatever preferences you set.

Cons

For the way we used it, we really didn't run into any negative issues. If I had to suggest one improvement, it would be to offer a larger selection of ready-made website and email templates.

“clean reporting”

Pros

Keeping tabs on our site performance has become much more easy with this platform. It gives us clear organized data on everything from daily visitor counts to orders and revenue which has been incredibly helpful for our team. Switching to this option turned out to be a decision we're really happy with.

Cons

Quite a few features rely on third party apps which adds to the overall cost. That's fairly common with website builders and online stores but the app fees can start to feel expensive when several monthly subscriptions begin to pile up.

“valuable tool”

Pros

Adding products, setting up customer codes and connecting the store with Facebook were all things I really enjoyed. Duplicating items when uploading multiple products made the process much faster and customizing the storefront was easy too.

Cons

When I tried to connect Instagram, the setup was confusing and hard to follow. There were too many options and none of them seemed to provide the shopping cart setup I was looking for. The tutorials only made it more overwhelming instead of clearing things up.

“Quick updates”

Pros

Seasonal changes along with adding or removing products, are simple to handle. It doesn't require any technical skills and there's also a wide variety of templates to choose from.

Cons

The issue is that some industries can't really use the platform to build and host their websites especially legal businesses.

“beginner friendly”

Pros

Doesn't take much time to pick up because the platform is simple to pick up. At the same time, it still includes more advanced options for users who have stronger technical skills while overall feeling designed with the average person in mind.

Cons

It really only feels worthwhile when used in an internet browser. The mobile app is pretty disappointing and doesn't include the same features you get from the online version.