These days, a huge amount of trade is done online. Whether you’re selling services, products, or even homes, there is a huge potential when doing business online. In 2020, 431.6 billion US dollars were spent on online stores – a huge percentage of the market.
So, if you’re not already, you need to start selling online! That leaves you with a question or two, where, when, and how are you going to sell your products online? If you haven’t heard of it, Shopify is one of the best places to do so. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using Shopify for your online store.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is one of the leading eCommerce platforms for businesses. It is second only to Amazon in terms of online sales revenue, however, it is not a marketplace like Amazon. Shopify, instead, is a fully customizable online store that allows you to sell your own products on your site. More than a million businesses use Shopify, so it’s clearly a highly rated eCommerce platform.
Shopify 2.0 Upgrades
Recently, Shopify launched its biggest ever upgrade since its inception in 2006. With Shopify 2.0 new features, there is even more power, customization, security, and further benefits to make it an even more appealing choice. Below, you’ll find a list of these upgrades along with some of the most beneficial base features of Shopify as an overall platform.
Checkout Extensions
One of the biggest 2.0 upgrades for Shopify is the addition of checkout extensions. These allow for new features in the basket and checkout phase of customer purchase. For example, you can now create and add your own components such as bonus upselling, loyalty rewards and schemes, or product disclaimers. This can help boost sales, improve customer interaction, and generate higher revenues.
Customization Across The Board
Additionally, while Shopify has always allowed for homepage customization widgets such as banners, videos, and scrolling offers, they are now available on every single product page. Want to boost sales with videos on certain products or place-specific adverts above other items? Easy! Now, Shopify’s customization across the board makes it one of the most amazing-looking products on the market. Once again, these customization abilities can help promote products, generate sales, and simply make your store look extra professional.
Ease of Use
Shopify has always been hailed as one of the easiest eCommerce platforms to use. With each iteration, it just gets easier and easier. New features are easy to understand and access. Customization, themes, designs, and product additions are as simple as a click of a button. Shopify effectively generates as much of a store as you possibly need, allowing you to click and customize with very little expertise or knowledge at all, making it incredibly easy for any company to set up and use.
Security
One of the most important things with eCommerce is customer security. You obviously need to comply with payment card regulations, protect customer data, and all other transactional information. Shopify is indeed PCI compliant, helping you ensure your business is operating safely. It also promises 99.8% uptime, making it easier to ensure all data is online and safe at almost all times.
Mobile Readiness
The majority of internet users and online shoppers now do so using their mobile devices. Some platforms have been slow to catch up on this fact, making sites look unprofessional or sloppy when accessed on a smartphone. Shopify, however, has every theme and customization mobile-ready, meaning that every decision you make is being coded behind the scenes to look great on any device. Your site will look professional to whoever accesses it, however they access it.
SEO & Marketing
Finally, everyone wants their website to be popular. To do this, you need to have expert marketing tactics in place. This can be difficult and hard to understand for new store owners or people who’ve not really done business online before. Shopify has some incredible inbuilt SEO marketing features, meaning that Shopify sites rank higher on Google than competitors’ sites – without you having to do anything. Shopify also provides advanced analytics, meaning you can delve deep into all the data surrounding your customers such as where they are coming from and what they look at most, helping you tailor your marketing accordingly.
As you can see, Shopify is a market leader in terms of eCommerce sites. The security, flexibility, and customization you get in an easy-to-use package is second to none. If you’re about to make the leap into eCommerce or want to freshen up your online store, look to Shopify.
