Venturing into the e-Commerce territory can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t have any technical expertise. While some may struggle breaking into the market, others can be found struggling to reach their targeted demographics. So, if you are looking to set up shop online, but similar concerns are keeping you from realizing your dream, then you can make use of Shopify to alleviate the situation.

What is Shopify?

Amidst the plethora of e-Commerce platforms, Shopify is a highly customizable platform which allows you to set up an online store in a matter of minutes. It doesn’t require any coding experience. You can manage your products, track inventory and manage orders, without any hassle.

Shopify makes the whole process of selling online, very easy. There are no additional programs or applications that you need to download for maintenance.

How does it work?

As mentioned before, Shopify is very easy to use. How it works is that you need to

• upload good high-quality pictures of your products,
• add descriptions,
• the product quantity, &
• shipping details along with any specific instructions that you have about your products.

After that, you can select marketing channels, where your product is going to be displayed. Getting the most out of these channels will require more work since each could have different ways on how you can get highlighted. Here is a link to the official checklist that will help you traverse all the steps with good detail.

When you’re just starting out with your e-Store, Shopify is great. You can let it take care of the technical stuff, while you focus your energies on more pressing matters. As you advance, Shopify allows you to try out a more extensive range of customizations which can easily give you leverage over the competition.

If you are new to the eCommerce domain and want something serious for your business, you cannot go wrong with Shopify

What is the cost of using Shopify?

The pricing for Shopify mainly depends on the type of business you are running.

There are 3 pricing tiers for Shopify which are aimed to cater to all types of entrepreneurs, may they be new or seasoned professionals.

For startups, the basic plan offers all the features you need to set up your shop online. With it, you get two staff accounts, fraud analysis services, 24/7 support, product listings and unlimited storage among many other features.

For a small or medium enterprise, the standard plan provides a great opportunity to establish brand loyalty programs and offer rewards such as coupons or discounts. It comes with an added feature of shopping cart recovery, which allows you to review the orders and improve your efforts to recover any lost revenue.

For the established organizations, the advanced plan provides with all the features of the other two plans with added features on top. It comes with advanced reporting tools to allow for a more granular control and the best shipping and credit card rates.

There is yet another tier for the tech-savvy merchants with their stores already available online.

Shopify Lite is for those merchants who wants to leverage the power of the platform to drive more revenue.

The Shopify Lite plan is for anyone who wants to sell products without maintaining an online store. Sell on Facebook and chat with your customers on Messenger, add products to any website or blog, and accept credit card payments.

Yes! For a meagre $9 per month, merchants get the option of showcasing their products on Facebook. It is seamlessly integrated into the Facebook messenger which allows for real-time communication with the customers.

How long does it take for you to get your money from Shopify?

To receive payments in Pakistan, you need to connect your Shopify store to a third-party payment gateways, like 2Checkout, BitPay, Skrill, GoCoin and Coinbase Commerce. Depending on the amount, the transfer will take some time getting to these operators and from here you can get the money into your bank account.

Internationally, it varies from country to country, and it also depends on your payment gateway. For instance, if you have setup Shopify Payments and hooked it up with your bank account, it will take 2 days in the United States from the moment the order is paid to have the money deposited into your account. Similarly, in Canada, Australia and New Zealand you have to wait for 3 days.

Shopify vs other eCommerce platforms

While each platform boasts their own pros and cons, the choice of the platform mainly depends on your needs. For instance, WooCommerce requires quite a bit of setup when starting up. You need to purchase hosting space, then download the installer, install it and then configure it appropriately to make it run. For Shopify, it’s all hosted and maintained in the cloud. As discussed, all you need to do is enter the details about your store and your products and you are good to go. Other platforms like Magento and 3dCart, require some coding knowledge to go with them. Platforms like Wix are good for trying out as a hobby, but if you are new to the eCommerce domain and want something serious for your business, you cannot go wrong with Shopify.