What is Shopify?
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Shopify

What is Shopify?

What is Shopify?
Cedrik
Co-Founder
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7
min.
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December 10, 2021

Table of contents


It all starts with a high-potential business idea that indisputably can no longer do without the reach of the Internet. Due to and after the corona crisis, customers will order online even more often, and the future growth course is set. “Only” a functional technical basis is required to sell quickly online, even without expert knowledge. If you're in this situation, you should learn more about Shopify for your business idea here.

<h2 id="Was ist Shopify" data-headline="Was ist Shopify?"><span class="first_id_number">1.</span> Introduction: What is Shopify?</h2>

The name 'Shopify' says it all and summarizes very well what interested parties are getting into with this globally successful e-commerce platform: It is a powerful cloud-based software as a service solution to launch a professional-quality online shop. What's more: By using Shopify, it is possible to expand brick-and-mortar retail with a future-oriented and growth-oriented variable.

It is a website builder that is specifically designed to meet the requirements of online shops. Shopify is sold as a so-called subscription service, which gives users the advantage of a holistic solution. Hosting and various web development tools are included so that no costly coordination effort is required.

The Shopify subscription provides many tools to ensure an individual level of use. Tools for financially successful payment processing are already included, meaning that users don't have to worry about this important milestone right from the start. ‍ ‍

<div class="rtf-blog-element"><div class="icon_area"><p class="rtf-blog-heading cc-tip">Good to know:</p></div> <img src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/620a7cdcd7f0ed9792867991/627c29a301fa389fd8f12485_info-icon.svg" loading="lazy" alt=""><p>Shopify is an e-commerce platform that helps companies create and operate online stores. The platform offers a wide range of features, including website design, product and inventory management, payment processing, and</p></div> shipping options.

<h2 id="Shopify Merkmale" data-headline="Was zeichnet Shopify aus?"><span class="first_id_number">2.</span> What makes Shopify stand out?</h2>

A look at a success story of how quickly a business idea can grow on the Internet shows the success story of Shopify itself in an impressive way! When Tobias Lütke developed Shopify in 2006, the current global success was not yet foreseeable. Originally, this e-commerce platform was developed to sell snowboards.

Today, start-ups and self-employed people can sell just about anything via Shopify. In just a few years, Shopify should become one of the largest e-commerce platforms, being used in more than 170 countries. More than 1 million companies all over the world now use the powerful cloud-based omnichannel shop system.

In this respect, with Shopify, you are not relying on just any solution for your online shop: You rely on a tried and tested and very reliable system to quickly achieve sales success on the Internet. The fact that global players such as Tesla or Red Bull rely on Shopify speaks for itself.


With just a few clicks, you can start right away!

With this' all-inclusive 'shop system, you can use online and offline sales opportunities for your products across channels, which can be both physical and digital. With great flexibility, Shopify offers the opportunity to reach customers at any defined point of sale. Shopify has a very user-friendly interface that allows quick progress for sales activities.

The first products can be sold in a short time or with just a few clicks: The platform provides all the necessary tools. Overall, Shopify is catchy, which means that no expert or programming knowledge is required for a functioning and visually appealing online shop. The good usability of Shopify applies not only to the users themselves, but also to the user experience for customers: In this regard, you are ideally positioned with this solution.

<h2 id="Shopify Eignung" data-headline="Für wen ist Shopify geeignet?"><span class="first_id_number">3.</span> Who is Shopify for?</h2>

In principle, Shopify is suitable for anyone who wants to sell online quickly, securely and in a scalable way, and flexibly on multiple channels. In this respect, Shopify is recommended for self-employed people and start-ups as well as for local retailers who want to position themselves more digitally and sales-stronger for the future thanks to the experiences from the corona pandemic. With Shopify, not only can various products be marketed to a wide range: Payment processing is also handled professionally right from the start. This is an important criterion, especially for start-ups, as it is important to focus all available resources on the actual core competence (and this will not lie in managing payments).

Shopify is generally recommended for start-ups or small and medium-sized companies that want to launch a high-selling online shop quickly and without specialist knowledge. This solution is also highly recommended for beginners in e-commerce and for brand-oriented retailers with their own products, as a sustainable solution for a growth-oriented future can be quickly implemented even with a small budget. Through various themes and customization options, there is an opportunity to specifically stand out from the competition with your own offering (to which the usable marketing tools can also contribute to measurable success).

Let's take a look at potentially limiting technical details: The standard tariffs can accommodate up to 15 new employees, which is completely sufficient for small companies, solo self-employed people and up-and-coming start-ups. Large companies with high sales figures can use Shopify Plus powerful solutions that go far beyond basic usage.

In this respect, the tool offers the opportunity to grow with the business model or to adapt the scope of services to the necessary resources. Are you now curious and generally open to comparing alternatives? Then we offer you an interesting comparison of Content management systems. ‍

<h2 id="Shopify Vorteile" data-headline="Shopify Vorteile"><span class="first_id_number">4.</span> Advantages and Disadvantages of Shopify: What you should know</h2>

Time is money! From a business perspective, the biggest advantage is clearly that you can launch an online shop very quickly with Shopify. The system offers working solutions to immediately discontinue the first products. You don't have to talk to web designers first or laboriously set up the shop: A functional basis including payment processing is immediately available, it just needs to be filled with company-specific content. Since the system is cloud-based, you will always be able to act extremely flexibly.

Thanks to cloud-based hosting, the new online shop will be able to load quickly worldwide. Shopify provides numerous apps for shop-specific extensions to ensure an individual scope of use. Automatic updates ensure reliable and secure operation. As I said, time is money! It will therefore be extremely important that the online shop is always available.

You don't need to be afraid of contact, because Shopify allows even laypeople to quickly launch a functional online shop. You don't need to be a programmer or a web designer to sell successfully with Shopify. In addition to these basic advantages, let's take a compact look at many other options that can be used.

Overview of the most important benefits of Shopify:

  • View all sales in one overview
  • More than 100 professional designs ensure an effective appearance
  • Responsive design for optimal display on all devices
  • With Shopify, you can sell physical and digital products indefinitely
  • The cloud-based solution enables a high level of scalability
  • Automatic updates and updates
  • Clear dashboard for customer information and all business processes
  • Reliable performance even with high traffic
  • Reports and statistics available for optimization measures
  • More success through visibility: SEO functions are integrated
  • Through interfaces, new sales channels can be used with Facebook and Co.
  • All common payment methods are supported
  • More than 2,000 apps for individual use
  • Comprehensive and free support in case of problems
  • 14-day free trial

<h2 id="Shopify Nachteile" data-headline="Shopify Nachteile"><span class="first_id_number">5.</span> These disadvantages must be examined for the business model</h2>

One undeniable drawback is that Shopify is not automatically GDPR-compliant. The numerous apps offer the prospect of an individual scope of use. It should be considered to what extent these are compatible with strict European data protection regulations, as most of the development takes place in the USA. For the online shop itself, optimization is available with regard to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), so that legal planning security can generally be expected in this regard. Design adjustments are possible within the given selection options, which should also be completely sufficient for the vast majority of users.

If changes to the shop are to be more far-reaching, cooperation with a designer may be necessary. However, this is not really a problem with regard to potential costs as a result of the expansion course. From the point of view of programmers, it is a critical or rather limiting factor that Shopify is a closed system. Changes to the admin interface or general data processing are therefore only possible to a very limited extent.

With apps, the range of functions can be specifically adapted and expanded. However, problems can arise if the desired workflow deviates from the specified standard. In this respect, it is clear here that flexibility is limited with such a holistic solution. Ultimately, this supposed disadvantage is not severe due to the high level of reliability. The less IT expertise users bring, the less strongly they will even think about this aspect as a disadvantage. You'll be more likely to be happy to have access to a complete solution. The disadvantages must therefore be weighted very individually in view of the entrepreneurial situation and the desired goals.

Many users will see the costs of using Shopify as the biggest economic disadvantage. However, blanket judgments are of little help here. In the specific case, it must be calculated to what extent the basic fee and the participation become a charge with a commission of up to 2%. On the other side of a possible offset, there would then have to be costs for IT, hosting and regular maintenance. And failures or delays in development can be really expensive, especially in the initial phase.

In this respect, individual calculations show in the majority of cases that the expenditure on Shopify is justified in terms of the sales achieved and achievable. Above, we recommended Shopify for start-ups, self-employed people, and small businesses.

Shopify is likely to have an advantageous cost-benefit ratio for this target group. A disadvantage that can be solved quickly by means of forwarding is that Shopify does not yet offer email hostings. It is therefore not possible to host a domain-based info email address that is focused on the shop name.

<h2 id="Shopify Fazit" data-headline="Fazit"><span class="first_id_number">6.</span> Conclusion: A test phase is definitely worthwhile!</h2>

Thanks to Shopify, there is no reason to delay launching an online shop anymore. From an economic point of view, no company or start-up can afford to do without the Internet as a high-reach sales channel anyway. The experience of the corona pandemic in particular has shown that many business models urgently need a digital update for greater strategic flexibility.

This update could be called 'Shopify' and quickly improve sales figures, even in times of crisis. With Shopify, we have presented a functional basis for quickly launching a professional online shop without lengthy planning and lead time.

Without a large budget and without having to take risks beforehand, sales activities can be put on a new, wide-reaching basis with a modern online shop. Of course, Shopify is not standing still either, but is constantly being developed. This will constantly open up new growth opportunities in line with the targeted scalability. In this spirit, we invite interests to learn more about our successful models and to deepen one or the other aspect.

Get to work! If you want to see for yourself and get started right away, you can use a 14-day test phase. This shows how quickly you can work with Shopify. With the smallest range of functions, up-and-coming start-ups are definitely not taking any risks in terms of cost. Quite the contrary: Depending on the product and profit margins, this investment can pay off immediately after a purchase.

<div class="rtf-blog-element cc-filled"><p class="rtf-blog-heading cc-white">Need Shopify advice? We are happy to advise you!</p> <a href="/de/kontakt" class="c-button cc-border w-inline-block"><div class="c-button-text cc-mr15">Get in touch</div> <div class="c-big-arrow-link_icon w-embed"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="14" viewBox="0 0 20 14">
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