Shopify allows you to set up and run your own online store. List your products, customize your store’s design, accept credit card orders, and ship your goods — all with a few clicks of the mouse. Shopify is easy to use and there’s no software to download or maintain.

You get your own online store, you can accept credit cards, use your own domain, customize your store’s design and we host everything for you.

All stores powered by Shopify include level 1 PCI compliance web hosting and shopping cart software. Rest easy knowing customer data is secure.

Shopify was the first hosted e-commerce system that offers a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN is a large network of servers placed across the world to ensure your customers can load your store as quickly as possible, wherever they are. Our CDN is operated by CDNetworks, one of the most reputable CDN companies.

When it comes to e-commerce, there are literally hundreds of options available to sell products online. Everyone seems to offer some kind of e-commerce system which they say is easy to setup and use. So how do you choose which system to use? Each one has it’s strengths and weaknesses, however for simple, straightforward e-commerce Shopify is an ideal solution.

Cost – As always, the cost is always an important factor when determining which e-commerce solution to use. Shopify has multiple plan levels each with their specific cost, but in general the average website will be paying a monthly fee of $24 and 2% per transaction. Many other (decent) shopping cart systems can cost around $500 just for the software. Shopify is a hosted solution meaning you don’t need to pay for web hosting and they have their own SSL certificate. With hosting being $10-15/month and SSL certificates about $10/month, that basically covers the monthly Shopify cost meaning the only thing you really pay them is the 2% per transaction fee. For smaller shops with few transactions or small transactions, this 2% is not very much and can easily be overcome with a slight shipping cost increase.

Simple setup – With Shopify, you can literally have a new store up and running in just a few minutes (using one of their default, basic templates). Just create an account like you would on any other website and you’re basically ready to start selling.

Easy to use administration – Novice web users can usually figure out the administration area of Shopify. Adding collections, products, managing orders, etc. is very easy compared to many of the overly complex and poorly organized interfaces you typically find in other solutions. Most other shopping cart administration areas take weeks of fiddling with before an average user gets the hang of it.

Simple update process – When Shopify releases updates to their system, you don’t have to do anything. Because they are a hosted solution, they make the updates to the core and it automatically applies to every website using their system. With other shopping cart systems you have to update your own cart when the makers release a new version. For many online retailers, this means paying their web developer to do this. With Shopify, updates are free.

Templating system – Shopify is hands down the easiest e-commerce system to customize the look and feel of. This is why we can setup a Shopify store much cheaper than any other solution available. With some cart systems we have used it has taken upwards of 30-40 hours to apply a design to whereas Shopify is significantly less.

Although Shopify does have it’s limitations, it does not mean it should be written off. The cost, ease-of-use and simple templating system make it an ideal solution for startup online retailers looking to get the most bang for their buck. Shopify allows new stores to have a solid system that can look great and be easy to use without a huge investment of many thousands of dollars.