What is Shopify?

Shopify combines the ease of a content managed website with a robust e-commerce system, allowing users to manage both the content of their pages, as well as their product portfolio, with lots of options for customisation. Shopify has a large library of templates, which can enable users to get an online store up and running quickly. Templates, or themes, are inherently customisable and each provide different ways to manage content, whilst conforming to the Shopify system. However, if you’re looking for a truly unique design, then you may struggle to achieve this with a pre-built theme without expert help.

Gravity can assist with custom design and development for Shopify web sites, as well as managing the entire process from initial design, through to development and marketing after launch.

Who is using the platform?

Currently, around 11% of the ‘e-commerce platform marketshare’ belongs to Shopify, mostly smaller online stores, but there are also several large, recognisable brands using the Shopify Plus platform including Gymshark, WWF and Burberry. This makes Shopify the third most popular ecommerce system with nearly 200,000 online stores (Oct 2019).

Payments

Shopify allows for almost universal compatibility with payment systems, with support for standard credit/debit transactions out of the box with ‘Shopify Payments’, web-based payment services like PayPal, and integration with other payments systems, e.g. SagePay.

This gives you both security and choice with regard to your payments.

Apps

Apps are downloadable extras for your shopify store, ranging in both cost and functionality. Covering security, recovery, SEO, e-commerce and many, many other areas, apps can make a difference to your site/store.

Plans

Shopify requires a subscription, which is split into three main categories: Basic Shopify, Shopify and Advanced Shopify.

Depending on your requirements, you must select the most appropriate monthly plan.

Gravity and Shopify

Gravity can help you to produce a unique e-commerce web presence, all the way from design and development, through to post-launch services such as ongoing SEO and product management (from a website perspective). We can advise on certain apps to use, secure processes for customer and order management, gathering and storing customer details in a compliant manner, and many other aspects.

We have experience in developing Shopify stores, in differing industries, and can help you reach your market using the web.