Today, there are many Content Manager System (CMS), i.e. content management platform on the market. These different platforms allow you to create an online store or launch an e-commerce site. Each of them has, of course, advantages and limitations. Among the various existing CMS such as Prestashop, Woocommerce, WiziShop, Magento, there is one particularly known for e-commerce. This is Shopify. Why choose Shopify CMS among so many others? What is so special about it? In this article, we’re going to explain what Shopify is, and why to use it.
About Shopify CMS
Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce platform created in 2006. He assists thousands of e-merchants in the management of their activity in Canada, the United States, or Great Britain. Today, Shopify offers its services in more than a hundred countries around the world. CMS Shopify is an e-commerce platform that works with Software as a Service (SaaS). For those who don’t know, this is a software distribution model running through cloud hosting. In other words, it is a model of commercial use of software. With this model, this software is installed on servers that are remote from the user’s device. The applications are therefore hosted by the service provider. SaaS is different software than open source software.
Shopify is developing its e-commerce platform by operating in SaaS mode. This means you don’t need to install Shopify on your own computer in order to use it. It is already installed on remote servers. In addition, you will have to take a subscription to use Shopify CMS and keep your e-commerce site operational.
In addition, Shopify CMS is a complete solution that offers the possibility to create a store with a professional look. Even without technical skills, you can make it happen. Very intuitive and offering many features, this platform actually takes care of the technical part of your store. In addition to its quality and many features, Shopify is also appreciated for the simplicity of its interface.
Why consider using Shopify CMS over other solutions?
Here are a few reasons that will lead you to use Shopify over other CMS.
Use Shopify CMS to quickly and easily set up a store
Shopify is an easy CMS to set up and use. Its easy handling is one of the reasons why it is suitable for beginners as well as advanced. It makes it easy and fast to launch an online store without worrying about server constraints. It offers a neat, ergonomic and quite intuitive back office, because everything is structured in a logical way. You’ll also find extensive documentation and plenty of tutorials on the Shopify CMS site. In addition, from the back office, you have the possibility to add pages, modify them and make them look like your company. This e-commerce platform makes your job easier by saving you time. All you really need is a product to sell.
Use Shopify CMS to free yourself from technical constraints
Shopify offers the ability to launch a classic Shopify store without having any technical skills. All software, hosting, updates, and more are supported by Shopify. This makes it easier to set up and operate. On the other hand, Shopify’s hosting offering will be more secure than what you could get without help. Plus, it easily adapts to the traffic spikes you might receive. So all you have to do is focus your efforts on selling.
Create a professional store that reflects your company
Shopify CMS offers over a hundred professional themes. You can modify them to your liking by customizing the HTML codes. Thus, you change the aesthetics or design of your store. For more customization and to stand out from the competition, Shopify offers paid themes. Free themes are also beautiful and already allow you to create a store that makes your e-commerce credible. Thanks to the paid version, you have access to several templates, pretty and original.
It should also be noted that Shopify is very responsive. Highly optimized, it adapts to m-commerce. The goal is for customers to be able to view your products in a suitable format. Then, they will be able to make the purchase of the products directly on their Smartphone or tablet.
Use Shopify CMS for its multiple features
Shopify offers a large number of features to allow you to grow your online business.
The inventory management tool
This function is very useful and allows you to track your products so as not to fall into a stock shortage. Best of all, this feature can allow you to categorize your products and assign images to each item.
Abandoned cart recovery
This feature allows you to send cart recovery emails to those who have abandoned items in their cart. This helps to remind them to make the purchase.
Widget integration
For more diversity for your e-commerce, Shopify offers a multitude of widgets. This feature of Shopify CMS allows you to proceed with the integration of your Shopify store into any page on the web. In other words, you now have the ability to sell your products through Shopify without your customers having to leave your existing site.
Data Sheet
Thanks to Shopify’s back office, you can easily complete your product listings in minutes. What’s more interesting is that you can do it even from your tablet or smartphone.
Purchase history
You have the possibility to have access to information about the orders placed. In addition, thanks to a tool, managing the profile of customers and analyzing their purchasing behavior becomes possible. This feature also allows you to manage drop shipping through an app, and also to customize the emails you want to send to a customer.
SEO and marketing tools
Having an online store with a beautiful design is not enough. Users need to be able to visit it. To optimize your SEO and make you more visible, Shopify provides you with SEO tools. These will help you rank higher in search results so that customers can find you.
On the marketing side, the Shopify CMS App Store gives you access to an array of marketing tools. These include the integration of social networks. In fact, Shopify makes it easy for you to sell on Facebook and Instagram. The people targeted during your advertising campaigns on Facebook, for example, will be able to order your products without leaving Facebook. In addition, you can launch promotional campaigns and promo codes. Integrated marketing applications allow you to manage all your webmarketing actions: e-mailing, Google Shopping ads, product evaluation, etc.
Web hosting included with Shopify CMS
When it comes to hosting, you don’t have to worry. With Shopify, the host is included. This is included in Shopify plans. Plus, with Shopify hosting, you no longer have to worry about your store’s loading speed. You actually get high-performance hosting. This also entitles you to the SSL certificate. This way, your customer information and business data will be secure.
Multiple payment options
Shopify provides you with many payment modules. The platform also has its own payment solution. This is Shopify Payments which is not currently available in all countries. For the French-speaking market, the platform offers payment solutions by virtual wallet, credit card, check, bank transfer, etc. You can add the payment options from your back office. Your business will be able to grow because you offer payment solutions adapted to each market.
Offers tailored to your business needs
Shopify offers different rates depending on your needs:
- Basic Shopify: Allows you to use a default theme to quickly launch your site. You can create and sell an unlimited number of products ($29/month).
- Shopify: Allows you to create discount codes, automate your tasks, optimize your performance, retrieve abandoned carts, offer gift cards, etc. ($79/month).
- Advanced Shopify: Useful if you have a high sales volume and a large business ($299/month). With this plan, transaction fees fall (0.5%).
In addition, Shopify offers the Lite plan that costs $9/month and allows you to sell exclusively on Facebook. There is also the business offer if your company has specific needs. In addition, you have 14 free days to enjoy the demo of your site.
Using Shopify CMS to dropship
Shopify is a reputable platform for creating a dropshipping site. Those who want to get into dropshipping can do so with Shopify. To do this, you will need to download the Oberlo extension. This is a plugin owned by Shopify CMS. Once downloaded and configured, Oberlo allows you to sell only products from AliExpress. So you can import products directly from AliExpress into your Shopify store. When you sell your products, AliExpress will ship them to the end customer. To download the app, you can go to the Shopify App Store or Oberlo’s website.
A multitude of applications
The platform offers several free and paid applications. These allow you to print invoices, manage carriers, simplify inventory management, integrate email addresses of new customers into newsletter lists, and more. In total, you get 3,700 apps to modify your site to your liking.
Support available at all times
Shopify support is available 24/7. Shopify CMS places great importance on customer support. The response time from customer support staff is pretty instantaneous, which means you’re never alone. You can contact them by phone, email or web chat. In addition, there are a number of forums and extensive documentation in Shopify’s Help Center. Striving to conquer more of the French-speaking market, Shopify also makes available to its merchants resources in French available in the Help Center.
In short
The simplicity of the interface, the diversity of plugins, and the multiple features of Shopify CMS will seduce you. This platform makes it simpler, faster and easier to create your e-commerce site. So you save a considerable amount of time. Besides its simple and intuitive interface, you don’t have to manage hosting. Your customers, your site and your payments are secure. In reality, when you have an ecommerce store, you’ll be dealing with sensitive customer information, including credit card data. Being a hosted solution, Shopify offers you reliability.
Due to the diversity of its offers, Shopify CMS is aimed at any type of e-merchant: individuals or companies, beginners or confirmed. One of the things that might limit your choice to use Shopify is, of course, the monthly price of its plans. However, this should be understood by considering the quality of the services offered, the exceptional time saved for the implementation and hosting of the site, the management of updates and other parameters.
Another point that could be a hindrance is Shopify’s proprietary solution that is not always adapted to specific needs. Even Shopify CMS’s API offers the ability for developers to create specific solutions to address the lack of native features, more advanced customization might be expensive for you. In fact, for further customization, you will need to use the services of a developer who specializes in the shopify cms language Liquid. Either way, Shopify has the advantage of adapting to all e-commerce projects.
