Shopify Software Reviews

“your store, open nonstop”

Pros

Put the time and effort into uploading your products properly and naming them well and you can sell just about anything on this platform. It really feels more like a mall where it brings in the shoppers and you run your own individual store inside it. That setup is one of the things I enjoy most. You can keep a tiny shop with low-cost items or build it into a much larger store with a wide range of products at different price points. It's open to anyone and your store stays available 24/7 which means you can still be making sales even while you're asleep.

Cons

The part I like least is that it is only free for the first 30 days and after that you do have to pay a monthly fee to keep your store on the platform. That said the charge is fairly small and considering everything that comes with it, it still feels like good value for the money.

“clean design”

Pros

Being able to set up filters is a big plus and the order page is incredibly easy to use. The whole experience feels cohesive and the interface is visually polished and appealing.

Cons

After using it for a little over a year, I honestly haven't had any real complaints. It's very user friendly overall. Once in a while, there's a slight bit of lag but it's nothing major.

“my review”

Pros

Running our online store through the platform has been a really positive experience! It gives our customers a user friendly storefront while connecting everything nicely on the backend. The app ecosystem adds a ton of flexibility and we use it for shipping and inventory, bundle discounts, upselling, random coupon offers, email collection and plenty more. Because there are so many apps available, it's usually possible to find one that fits exactly what your store needs. On the admin side, our support team can quickly view and fulfill orders and we're also able to manage customer service directly through the site. Setup is easy, updates are frequent and the platform has made ecommerce much more manageable for both our internal team and our customers.

Cons

With so many apps to choose from, it can take a while to sort through them and figure out which one is the best fit. Some apps also offer less customization than others. The site building platform can be a little tricky to learn at first although this platform and many app developers do provide very helpful support. Another thing I wish it had is true drag and drop widget placement like Wix since making certain edits sometimes means teaching yourself a little HTML. That said those are fairly minor frustrations compared with how much functions it offers overall.

“helpful branding”

Pros

Managing an online business feels much more manageable! It helps with building an e-commerce website, offers themes and even takes care of branding support based on what you want. You basically tell them what you need and a lot of the work is handled for you. It also lets you sell your products directly while helping create a strong online presence. Once you get started, much of the setup and store functions is already taken care of so there's no real need to hire a developer or put together a separate team to build and manage the website.

Cons

One downside is that the theme selection is not very broad and the customization options are fairly limited. You have to work within restricted interactions and editable features which can feel limiting at times. It can also be a bit expensive for some users.

“Easy to use”

Pros

Working with it is easy and the platform is simple to use when you're ready to start selling and making money, assuming you already have customers. It connects with a huge range of software, apps and built in features. The themes look polished and attractive whether you choose free or paid options and the app store is packed with add-on tools that can help improve and optimize an e-commerce business.

Cons

It can get fairly pricey if you choose one of the mid-level or top-tier plans. There's also some learning involved when it comes to fully optimizing your store especially if you're running a dropshipping business.

“has everything!”

Pros

Handling customer orders every day has been much simpler with this platform. It lets us search using filters and a variety of search options so there's no need to dig around to find what we need because everything is in one place. We also use several apps within this platform and whenever something stops working or we need help, their support team is available and responds quickly.

Cons

The one improvement I'd really like to see is stronger fraud protection. It would be helpful if it could fully take care of fraudulent orders.

“selling is quick”

Pros

Setting up plug-ins was easy which made it quick to get sales going and manage product add ons and inventory.

Cons

Bringing over a large BigCommerce store wasn't really practical because the migration came with pretty hefty fees.

“strong sales tracking”

Pros

The setup process doesn't take much effort. Templates are affordable, visually appealing and have a clean look. It's also simple to understand your store data and keep track of sales and there are plenty of apps available that can help boost sales even further.

Cons

The problem is that the price can climb quickly once you start adding the apps and extra features you really need to make the business profitable so it can end up being quite expensive. Also the basic tools and templates feel more focused on presentation and by themselves they don't really do much to actively support business growth.

“versatile ecommerce setup”

Pros

Setting up an e-commerce site with this platform is easy because it comes ready to use right out of the box. It's flexible enough to connect with ERPs and inventory management systems and it supports a wide range of payment and shipping options. Another thing I appreciate is how customizable it is along with the efficient way it helps developers work with commerce businesses that want an online presence while still keeping the experience simple for everyday users.

Cons

Issue is that some of the more advanced and powerful features are only available on the higher-priced Advanced or Plus plans.

“poupular option”

Pros

Among ecommerce platforms, it is one of the most popular and widely adopted options for taking a physical store online and increasing sales and revenue. It also comes with a broad selection of modules and extensions that help add specific features and address particular business needs.

Cons

Compared with WordPress, it is not open source and instead runs on monthly plans that can become expensive depending on the size of the business. It also does not give full access to its core files which makes customizations a bit more challenging when trying to customize the platform to specific requirements.

“Simple to work with”

Pros

Doesn't require any technical or software knowledge. Uploading products is easy, editing product images is simple and selling to customers can be done without much trouble.

Cons

The pricing feels too high for startups. It really should be closer to half of what it costs now especially since other platforms offer similar features at a lower price.

“Don't hesitate like me!”

Pros

I hesitated before trying this for my e-commerce startup because of all the hype around this Canadian platform but giving it a shot turned out to be worth it. I was genuinely impressed by how quickly I could put together a professional looking, visually appealing online store. Using the prebuilt templates and stock images makes the process even faster and it can honestly be done in just a few hours. Since I have little to no coding background, the drag and drop builder felt very comfortable and easy to use. In fact planning the site took more time than actually assembling it. Another thing I appreciated was the option to add its store features into an existing website if you only need the shopping component. For a small business, the monthly pricing seemed comparable to other platforms I looked at although I wasn't able to tell whether the costs would scale in my favor if the business grew significantly.

Cons

Getting started does come with a bit of difficulty. I came in with a lot of assumptions about how it would work based on using Squarespace, WordPress and similar tools and that actually made the adjustment harder than it probably needed to be. I still think even a complete beginner to websites or online stores would get the hang of it pretty quickly. The bigger concern for me was the sense of being locked into its ecosystem. I understand that building an ecommerce site from the ground up would cost far more but I also knew that once I committed to this, moving away from it later would likely be difficult when the time came.

“widely used”

Pros

Pretty easy to use especially if you don't have any website-building experience. It's widely used by dropshippers and the cost to launch a business with it is fairly affordable. Once you have an idea and a name for your store, you can put together a layout fairly quickly and customize it the way you want. Running an e-commerce business comes with a lot to handle and it makes the whole process much more manageable. Their support team is also excellent and available 24/7 whenever you need help.

Cons

There are quite a few apps you may end up needing to buy which can raise your monthly store costs. Since I'm not very familiar with coding, I often have to reach out to support when installing new apps because they don't always appear on my store right away. This likely won't be much of an issue for brand-new stores but it's still a good idea not to make too many changes to the code or you could run into problems like that.

“standout features”

Pros

A big plus is the 2 week trial which gives you enough time to test things properly before committing. It also includes its own built in blog and the point of sale features are really solid which helps set it apart from a lot of competitors. There's a nice selection of simple yet distinctive templates and the interface is clean, easy and user friendly. Another benefit is that there are no transaction fees if you stick with the built in payment system. Also extending the platform is quite convenient thanks to the huge range of third party apps available. The Android and iOS apps are also very handy for managing the store on the go.

Cons

If the abandoned cart feature allowed more than one automated follow up message it would be better. There's also no option to check whether uploaded product images all have the same aspect ratio which can leave the storefront looking uneven and less professional. Transaction fees also can't really be avoided if you choose to use a third party payment application. Exporting large blogs isn't very convenient either. Adding custom options such as file uploads or extra add-to-cart choices, is fairly complicated right now and really should be simpler. Also some important features require installing third party apps instead of being included out of the box.

“user friendly”

Pros

Using this has been a really positive experience because the platform is very user friendly and simple to figure out. I use it regularly and everything feels clear and easy which is a huge improvement over the system we had before.

Cons

There are still a few limitations that could be addressed through future software updates and I do wish the app included more functions.

“solid integrations, pricey customization”

Pros

Built for online retail, it connects with all the major payment gateways and shipping services right out of the box. Most of the foundation is already in place so you mainly just need to layer your own code on top.

Cons

Custom themes and added functions through apps are harder to implement than they should be. The file structure is locked down too so you can't create subfolders beyond the ones it already provides. The pricing also feels too high and I really wish there were a "pay as you sell" model. On top of the base subscription, you end up paying extra for a lot of plugins, themes and features and sometimes those charges unexpectedly show up in the monthly bill.

“shipping workflow needs work”

Pros

Fairly manageable to get a site up and working and there are at least a few free options to start with even though the platform clearly feels designed to push you toward paying eventually.

Cons

Handling order updates for mailed purchases is more complicated than it should be and for some orders you have to use another program just to mark them as sent. It would make much more sense to have built in options for packing slips and printing customized shipping labels as a standard feature. The overall experience could be much better for businesses that are already paying for the service. Website layouts also should not be so expensive since more reasonable pricing would probably encourage businesses to buy more of them.

“affordable storefront”

Pros

Even on a small business budget, it lets you build a polished and professional online presence.

Cons

I just wish it had a way to "bank" sales so the monthly fees could be taken out from there instead. Having everything hit my credit card makes the bill look messy by the end of the month.

“my opinion”

Pros

Getting an online store live with this platform is pretty easy and doesn't require much coding or trouble. The pricing is quite reasonable and it's simple enough for non-technical users to manage and maintain without much trouble.

Cons

It starts to feel limiting once you need anything beyond the most standard e-commerce functions. A lot of commonly wanted features depend on third party community apps instead of being built into the platform itself and those extra add-on costs can pile up fast.

“stunning templates”

Pros

Setting up an eCommerce site with this platform feels very accessible and customer-friendly. There are lots of stunning templates to choose from and they can also be adjusted so your online store looks exactly the way you want.

Cons

You can't upload your WordPress site to this host. Also, if you want to customize the template beyond the basic options, you'll need some coding knowledge. Aside from that it's an excellent choice for a first eCommerce store.