Adventures in Ecommerce with Shopify

We started using Shopify and developing our store in July 2007 before launching the store to the public in September of that year.  Based on what we were expecting, I think we have built a relatively successful business.

I’m a full time web developer and was considering writing our store from scratch using PHP before I stumbled upon Shopify.  I can’t remember where I first came across it, but I’m very glad that I did!

I had looked at some other options, such as the so called “cheaper” osCommerce and Magento solutions.  I also looked at the more UK centric Actinic but I had resigned to doing it myself.  Then I found Shopify which really opened my eyes and seemed to stand out from the crowd.

One of our main requirements was for total control over the layout of our store.  Many other solutions either do not provide this level of customisation or make it so difficult that it feels more like voodoo magic.  To customise Shopify you do not need to be a ninja at PHP and non-programmers can pick it up easily.  I’ve introduced Shopify to a number of my designer friends and they all love it.

The liquid templating system used by Shopify is very easy to learn and whilst it does not allow you to do everything, I think it is plenty powerful enough for most people.  The Shopify wiki and forums are great resources for learning how to create your own theme or modify an existing one.

For a brand new business, we were also attracted by the pricing options available.  We were a brand new start-up and did not want to spend 1000s on a system and then have the business fail shortly afterwards.  Paying monthly and with no contract was an excellent alternative.  Paying a fee per transaction also means that if you don’t sell anything then you don’t end up paying a lot of money for the privilege!

Another major problem with most ecommerce solutions is that they are extremely hard to install and then even harder to maintain and keep them working.  Because Shopify is fully hosted for you, there is no worry of upgrading when new security patches come out and there is nothing to do when the server goes down as the Shopify team will soon be on it.

The backend administration of your store is a breeze and setting up an initial collection of products can be done very quickly.  You literally could have a store up and running in a matter of minutes using one of the out of the box themes.

I’ve think I’ve made Shopify smell of roses so far…  There are some things missing though.  Or, maybe not missing, but requiring some creative thinking (and a bit of work) to achieve.

Shopify provides all the tools necessary to setup and sell products but that is where it stops.  There is not really any detailed reporting to help you run an ecommerce business.  For instance, how many of product x have I sold this month?  How do my December takings compare to the same month last year?  What are my best selling products?  However, these questions can be answered with the correct usage of Google Analytics or by making use of Shopify WebHooks.  Both of these will be topics for future blog posts.

Another minor stumbling block has been with SEO.  Let’s get one thing straight – Shopify stores are search engine friendly.  You just need to coax your theme’s template into doing what you need it to do.  For instance, there is no way to configure the HTML title or meta description tags for individual products.  Improving the SEO of your Shopify store will be another blog post.

There are of course many other feature requests that popup repeatedly on the Shopify forums, but I admire the jadedPixel team for trying to keep the product as simple as possible and not heeding to every “little” request.  I think a lot of people are so wrapped up in their own little worlds that they forget about the bigger picture.  Shopify is used globally and by all sorts of different stores.  What one person wants, another can do without and what maybe appropriate for a US store, would render a store such as ours in the UK useless.

There is also a growing community, if that is the right word, of Shopify extensions.  These include Basesync, Fetch and Extendify to name a few.  I have even got my own offering in the pipeline which adds some of the tools that I feel are necessary to successfully run an ecommerce business after the initial order has been taken.

If you are new to ecommerce or looking to switch platforms then I would definitely recommend you give Shopify a try.  You can signup for free to have a play around with it and see if it meets your expectations.

In my opinion, Shopify was and still is a breath of fresh air.  With ongoing improvements to the core product and new community extensions, I can only see Shopify going from strength to strength.