Do you want to sell products online?
With so many e-commerce systems out there, our clients often ask us which platform to use and the packages to choose.
This is often a case of preference, as well as how large your product catalogue/offering is and how much turn-over your company makes monthly… For this blog post, I decided to focus on SMEs.
al digital has clients who use various e-commerce platforms, including, but not limited to, Magento, Shopify and Woo-commerce. I have done a lot of research over the past year and my conclusion is that Shopify might be the best option for you. Let me tell you why…
Shopify
Shopify is easily installable, offers amazing customer support and can be customised and edited without previous website development experience. There are a few pricing options available, starting at 29USD per month for the Basic Shopify Plan. The various options provide different functionalities and support. I normally recommend SMEs to go for the 79USD option per month, but rather consider your needs and choose what you believe to be the most suitable for your company.
You can choose between paid and free themes – again, this is based on preference. Go through a few themes and remember to look at the functionality you need and want before making a decision. You can preview themes on your store before installing them. As mentioned above, you can often easily customise themes for your brand and colours.
Shopify also offers an extensive range of supported plugins and apps that you can use. I recommend to read some reviews and look at the number of times the app has been installed. Also keep an eye on when the application or plugin was last updated to determine if the provider is keeping up with the latest development.
Shopify offers support through community platforms, an extensive help section on their website, as well as constantly sending out new content on the latest developments and useful resources. I would recommend for you to sign up to their blogs, join the Facebook Groups and attend the meet-up events nearest to you.
Shopify has recently started focusing more on other countries and the integrations available in South Africa have improved significantly.
Go ahead…
I hope that this article has given you more insight into whether Shopify is the correct e-commerce platform for you. You can always contact us for further queries in this regard. al digital can gladly develop and design your e-commerce store.
