It’s news to no one that eCommerce continues to grow at a breakneck pace. Consider this: the average revenue per online shopper in the United States is $1,804; in the United Kingdom, $1,629; and in Sweden, $1,446.
If that doesn’t get your brain melting, then how about this: we expect to have 300 million online buyers in the US alone by 2023. That’s 91% of the entire country’s population!
What’s behind this rise in popularity? One of the main factors driving the eCommerce boom has been the pandemic lockdowns. Millions of people worldwide are enjoying the retail experience online due to COVID-19. Will consumers ever return to stores? If yes, when? No one knows for sure. The best estimate is that the return to what we call “normal” will most likely take place in the second half of 2021.
The theory is that if you use Shopify to launch your own online store, you can reap the benefits of the growing industry of online commerce.
Why Shopify?
Well, let’s face it: we live in the 21st century, the century of colossal technological advances.
The market is changing rapidly. There is always something new, so you have to adapt quickly and make the right decisions at the right time.
Predicting trends, sourcing from the right vendors, and assuring the quality of the products are, indeed, the essence of being an eCommerce company. And that’s the hard part.
The best strategy here is something in between continuing on a path that’s going well and experimenting and looking for new touchpoints for the custom engine—especially when new technologies are coming up. You cannot just do everything by default. That’s defocusing and often not even possible.
The right business model and the proper platform in place are what counts. So, Shopify it is. It’s not about what you do as a business but how you do it.
Shopify: From Snowboards to Multinational eCommerce Success
Today, Shopify is the leading eCommerce platform in the USA, with a 23% market share. It can bolster your online success. More importantly, the business model itself is genius.
It goes without saying that this store builder has a tenacious hold on the market, but it hasn’t always been this way. The widespread company has come a long way, from the average startup to one of the main competitors of BigCommerce, Magento, and WooCommerce.
A little background: Some 15 years ago, Tobias Lütke, the founder of Shopify, was trying to open an online store to sell snowboards. He imagined that setting up an e-store would not be a problem. He was wrong. So wrong.
It was at that point that he learned that no one had really thought about people starting a new business in the online environment. That was most regrettable. To do away with this injustice, the future billionaire decided to create software to run the store he wanted. He took a very complex thing and wrapped it into a single, well-crafted, easy-to-understand product.
After raising $200,000 from friends and family and receiving $250,000 from angel investors, the “lord of boards” introduced the world to Shopify, today’s linchpin of eCommerce.
Why is Shopify Right for Your eCommerce Venture?
- Dropshipping-Friendly: Dropshipping allows you to sell products without storing any of them in your own warehouse. Create a purchase order and send it to a supplier. They will deliver the goods to your customer. You just watch.
- Extremely Easy to Use: Shopify is designed for a non-technical audience. You don’t have to install any software on your PC. All you need is a web browser and internet access. Building a professional-looking store with Shopify is a no-brainer. From an operational standpoint, it’s a breeze. It’s super easy.
- Beautiful: The company offers over 100 free, professionally designed eCommerce website templates. Find inspiration, discover styles, and start building your brand. Don’t like the free options? There is an extensive range of premium themes available too.
- Abandoned Cart Saving Tool: Abandoned cart saving lets you identify visitors who nearly bought something from your store only to change their mind at the last minute. Once you know who these users are, you can then send them an email with a discount code that encourages them to complete the purchase.
- Live Support: Contact Shopify support by chat, email, or phone. A quick tip: if you get on the phone with them, they will pretty much build out your store for you on the phone. Whatever problem you have, don’t just get an answer to solve it. Have Shopify support solve it for you right then and there.
- Automatically Collect Sales Tax: Taxes are not the most exciting topic to talk about. Luckily, meeting your tax obligation with Shopify is surprisingly simple. You can set the platform to automatically handle the most common sales tax calculations. You can also set tax overrides to address unique tax laws and situations with minimal headaches.
Who Uses Shopify?
This leader in the eCommerce space is the perfect solution not only for small- and medium-sized businesses but also for public figures and celebrities.
Jenner’s startup, Kylie Cosmetics, is worth about $800 million, according to Forbes. The reality television star’s company reached such heights by using Shopify. Radiohead, an English rock band, promoted its latest album through Shopify.
Hip-hop god Kanye West even uses the eCommerce software to sell his fashion. Shopify’s clients also include biggies like Google, GE, and Tesla. They have already felt the full force of Shopify Plus, the advanced version. What about you?
Shopify Development and Integration Challenges
Shopify can be compared to a social media superstar: hip and in-demand. It is very popular for one simple reason: it works. However, it has some drawbacks you should be aware of. Here is a quick bullet-point list of the cons:
- Stores can be uninstalled as quickly as they’re installed.
- Shopify uses a subdirectory in the asset folder.
- The load latency can be unacceptably high.
- Shopify restricts access to editing FTP and robots.txt files.
- There are problems with integration with other Shopify apps.
These disadvantages are not fatal but can be very annoying.
How can you meet the challenges? Sometimes, the number of possibilities you have as a company is overwhelming, and you need to choose the right one.
Everyone is telling you this or that is the best solution or service for you. But to be quite honest, that’s not true at all. Don’t worry, we’ll get you help. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Here is the killer tip: Uran, a technology solutions company, has a critical mass of expertise in building Shopify stores, apps, and themes.
Our team has successfully implemented a number of eCommerce stores, and now we’re maintaining them. Uran will take care of all the details if you choose to take advantage of our service.
We'll handle all the cycles of Shopify store development, from theme design to search engine optimization. Mark our words, we will help you to establish a business you are happy with.
eCommerce Development: Outlook for the Future
Where is technology taking us? It is taking us to the comfort of our own homes.
Fewer people are making regular visits to physical stores. The challenge for some companies will be keeping customers as we move from a health crisis to an economic one.
We are probably going to see a whole new version of the consumer in the aftermath of this pandemic. That new consumer is going to be looking for your products online.
There will be some profound changes in individuals’ behavior. It would be presumptuous at this stage to say that we know what exactly those changes will be, but some tendencies are showing themselves today as we study behavior patterns.
As restrictions are imposed, we are witnessing a structural shift toward eCommerce. This shift is massive. People still need brands and products.
The economy still needs to continue. To break the stalemate, the world has started to adopt a more comfortable type of shopping. Shopify seems to be right on that path of where things are going.
Final Words
The retail and commerce world of 2030 has been pulled into 2020. COVID-19 has been a strong catalyst for consumer adoption of eCommerce.
In light of the difficult and often tragic situation people are finding themselves in, shopaholics are shifting their spending from in-store to online and eCommerce.
That’s why you need an online presence to reach your potential customers and maximize your ROI. That presence has become critical for businesses just to stay afloat.
Ready to open your online store? Build a strong web presence with the right eCommerce solution today.
Contact us to learn more.
