8 Reasons to choose Shopify for small business success in 2023

Whether you're just getting started with a new business venture or you've been at it for a while, you probably already know that the quicker you have an accessible website or online store, the better.

Many ecommerce platforms on the market today claim to offer small businesses a quick launch, easy set-up, and customization. However, none of these platforms really hit the nail on the head quite like Shopify.

For small business owners, Shopify checks every box.

With features that are designed to ease your existing pain points, mobile-friendly templates that are ready for immediate implementation, and payment processing that is secure and compliant, Shopify truly does make launching an online store a walk in the park.

In this article, we highlight all the key reasons that Shopify is the crème de la crème for small online stores.

Whether you're on the fence about which ecommerce platform to select or you're just learning about Shopify, we're confident this article will show you why Shopify can help take your small business to the next level.

• Shopify's ease of use and wide range of customization options drastically improve store setup and customer experience.

• Mobile-friendly websites and stores yield higher conversion rates, sales, and repeat customers.

• The security and compliance that Shopify offers its users meet all industry standards and best practices.

When growing an online presence, a reliable and powerful ecommerce platform is an essential piece of the puzzle. There are so many behind-the-scenes factors to consider when choosing a platform to run an online store, and we'll cover all of them in this section.

Here are the primary benefits of choosing Shopify for any small business.

As one of the largest ecommerce platforms available, Shopify's ease of use is a significant factor for small businesses to run their businesses.

Set-up

Setting up a Shopify store is easy to do in just a few minutes. The paid and free themes offer unique customization options, so your brand's personality can shine through and build credibility with customers. The setup process is mostly guided and simple to follow, so store owners don't have to do extensive research or heavy lifting to launch their online store.

Support & resources

Shopify understands that not every business owner is tech-savvy, and offers 24/7 phone, email, and chat support. This level of customer service empowers businesses on the Shopify platform to grow their online stores with confidence.

Shopify's partner blog offers tons of beneficial resources, including helpful articles and how-tos for the platform. You'll find tips on customizing the customer journey, how to optimize ads in the store, trend forecasting, and much more.

The ecommerce platform also has a help center and offers various valuable guides that will help business accounts with everything from customizing Shopify themes to properly utilizing marketing tools to bring customers in droves.

Lastly, the Shopify community helps sellers to keep up with the latest updates and learn from each other. Sellers can attend virtual events and join community groups via Facebook and Slack. There are blogs, forums, and resources to leverage for sales, development, and marketing tasks and projects as well.

When creating your own online store, customization options are key, so you can create distinct visual elements, build customer loyalty, and establish your brand. We already know customization wins with customers, so your site design, templates, and customer experience should follow suit.

Theme customizations

Shopify's customization options allow Shopify merchants to select a template for their store and modify it as they see fit. You can drag and drop various design and visual elements to match your branding and the overall feel of your store.

Don't stress; you won't be starting from scratch! Creating a website or online store can be an overwhelming task for small business owners who aren't web developers and don't have any experience in that world. You will still have total creative freedom and control over how your store looks. This contrasts greatly with marketplace platforms like Etsy, where the seller has minimal control over their storefront.

Payment processing

Shopify offers more than 100 different payment options, depending on the location of the store and the customers.

The payment options Shopify supports include ShopPay, the platform's mobile-friendly version, and other third-party apps that can be built into your checkout process for an improved customer experience. These include Apply Pay, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and even text-to-pay functionality.

Shopify offers various pricing plans to suit a wide range of businesses and their unique needs. There are no hidden fees or long-term contracts, which is ideal for many Shopify merchants that are just building their storefronts and need to cut costs wherever possible.

Shopify pricing plans are as follows:

Kostenlose Testphase

Sign up for an account and get started with a free trial. After the trial ends, Shopify stores can pay $1 a month for the first three months when billed monthly.

Basic plan

The Basic plan is $39 per month and includes everything you need to create a store, ship products, and offer complete payment processing. Credit card rates are 2.9% with 30¢ transaction fees.

Shopify plan

The Shopify plan is $105 per month, with credit card rates at 2.6% and 30¢ transaction fees. Shopify stores that select this pricing plan receive professional reporting functionality and five staff accounts.

Advanced Shopify plan

On the Advanced Shopify plan, businesses pay $399 per month with 2.4% credit card rates and 30¢ transaction fees. Businesses have access to custom reporting and the lowest transaction fees, more staff accounts, and impressive shipping discounts.

As many facets of the world continue to function effectively online, mobile-friendly sites are essential for the survival and success of any online store. Mobile-friendly sites and stores yield better sales and conversions, more exposure, and more repeat customers.

As an ecommerce platform, Shopify understands this concept better than most.

Shopify has designed many responsive themes for online selling that are suitable for any device, making shopping online a total breeze for Shopify users.

Additionally, Shopify allows its merchants to set up Apple Pay in their checkout process. This streamlines the entire shopping experience for Apple users and makes completing a purchase simple and seamless.

Marketing an online store is absolutely critical to its success.

In order to help small businesses get traction with potential customers online, the Shopify App Store has an assortment of marketing tools and apps that can be used within your shop. From email marketing to retargeting and SMS, there are various Shopify apps that can help businesses stay top-of-mind with customers online.

The Shopify App Store offers apps for the many other facets of running an online store, from order tracking and customer reviews to unique landing pages, print on demand services, invoicing, and much more. Increase your productivity, customer experience, and operations by integrating these apps into your Shopify store.

The app store also has built-in integrations with Google Analytics, WordPress, and social media channels like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, so you can connect with your audience through your shop.

When choosing the right ecommerce platform for your online store, platform security should always be top of mind and of the utmost importance for both online stores and their customers.

Security

Shopify’s secure platform is demonstrated through various industry certifications and standards. The platform complies with all privacy and data protection laws around the world to build trust and credibility with Shopify users.

PCI compliance

Shopify is PCI compliant, which means the platform meets the standards for protected transactions and the secure storing of payment information and business data. From crypto to credit cards, customers can shop confidently through any Shopify store, knowing that their information is secure.

Shopify strives to protect cardholder data by regularly monitoring and testing its networks, maintaining a vulnerability management program, and implementing strong access control measures.

If you aren't measuring the success of your online store, you'll never know what changes should be made or how you can improve. Shopify Analytics tools can significantly improve the trajectory of your success.

Detailed reports and analytics provide insight into your store's recent activity, demographics, store speed, and transactions.

All of the Shopify plans offer some level of analytics and reporting, but the more you spend on the platform, the more insight you'll receive in reports.

Gain valuable customer insight through behavior reports, how you're driving traffic to your shop in marketing reports, critical sales reports, and product analytics.

You've got big dreams for your online store, and you need an ecommerce platform that can grow with you.

Fortunately, that's the whole idea behind establishing a Shopify store - it's built to scale. Conveniently add new products, grow your staff, and add new features to your online store with a few clicks of a button and zero stress about whether or not the platform can handle the changes.

As an ecommerce solution, scalability is one of Shopify's most significant sales features for small and larger businesses. For an ecommerce store with big goals, you want to partner with a platform that can grow alongside you and help you effectively scale without ever having to leave the platform.

As you launch your own online store, choosing to partner with Shopify is a wise investment for any small business. From its simple setup to customized templates that provide a smooth store launch, Shopify is an excellent platform for starting an online business. Where other ecommerce platforms have complicated sign-up processes with multiple hoops to jump through before you can start selling online, Shopify offers a streamlined process.

If you're thinking of the big picture, Shopify is also designed to scale alongside a growing business. Whether you add staff to help manage inventory or need access to SEO tools and analytics, Shopify offers many plan upgrades and features that will propel your business to the next level.

According to Shopify: There are no transaction fees for stores using Shopify Payments.

If you choose a third-party payment provider, there will be additional fees of 2%, 1%, or 0.5% for Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans.

If you choose to offer Shopify Payments as the primary payment option in your ecommerce store, you won't have to pay any transaction fees. If you use other third-party payment providers like PayPal, Apple Pay, or Amazon Pay (among many others), you will be charged one of three transaction fees, depending on your pricing plan.

Shopify understands the pain points that small businesses encounter and the solutions they need to get off the ground and running.

From simple, mobile-friendly templates and a website builder to marketing tools for increasing store exposure and visibility, Shopify offers many features and functionality that small business owners can implement in their stores. Businesses will grow their brand presence online, create repeat customers, and make a consistent profit by using Shopify.

In 2022, Shopify released more than 100 product updates to its platform that are designed to help small businesses showcase their products in new ways, drive sales, grow organically, and even expand into physical stores.

For an ecommerce platform that is loaded with features, reporting, and functionality for a small business to flourish, Shopify checks every box. With affordable pricing and impressive scalability, it's a popular and effective platform for small businesses to launch, grow, and scale.

For small shops creating custom designs and products for their online stores, Gelato's integration with Shopify makes everything much more seamless. When a customer makes a purchase in your Shopify store, Gelato automatically sends the order to the nearest production fulfillment center, where it's printed, packed, and shipped.

With this convenient integration, small businesses can reach global audiences in a sustainable way and scale their business without having to worry about maintaining inventory, paying for storage, or across-the-world shipping.

Ready to create your dream online store? Create a print on demand business on Shopify using Gelato today.