The Pros & Cons of Selling on Shopify
You’ve heard us share the pros & cons of selling on Etsy. A lot of sticker shops and small business owners are considering switching over to Shopify due to Etsy's high fees. However, we understand how it can also be intimidating to switch from Etsy to Shopify. Here are the pros & cons of selling on Shopify from our experience!
THE PROS & CONS OF SELLING ON SHOPIFY
PROS:
1. Ease of Shopify Themes & Interface
Shopify themes are easy to set up and use. It’s also really simple to customize your site as the overall admin user interface is easy to navigate. Unlike other website builders, Shopify is optimized for e-commerce.
2. Lots of Shopify Apps
Shopify has an expansive app marketplace with free and paid apps that can help your business. We use apps for our influencer marketing, referral/reward program, and our banners for sales.
3. Integration with other platforms
Shopify is easy to integrate with other apps that you might already use for your business. Shopify easily integrates with your Instagram account so your audience can purchase directly from Instagram which makes it easy for your customers to get to the product they’re interested in.
4. You have your own domain name with Shopify
Unlike with Etsy where you could be shut down at any time and lose access to your business, product listings, and customers, with Shopify you have your own domain name through Shopify and maintain control over your shop.
CONS:
1. Lack of analytics
Shopify offers you basic analytics like conversion rates, percentage that made it to the carts, etc. But even the more expensive plans don’t offer much in terms of analytics. We definitely don’t recommend getting the higher-tier plans for the analytics alone. Instead, we recommend setting up Google analytics with your site for free.
2. Less support with marketing
Unlike Etsy which has its own search engine, with Shopify you are completely on your own with Shopify when it comes to SEO, marketing, and promoting your products on social media. It can definitely be a challenge at first to move your customers over from Etsy to Shopify.
3. Higher fees/pricing
The most basic Shopify plan is $29/mo. We used the basic plan for a long time but recently switched to the mid-tier plan which has more analytics and user accounts and lower transaction fees. However, it is more expensive than Etsy which can be a deterrent.
4. Not using a theme that is aesthetically pleasing or user friendly
You may be losing potential customers if your site takes too long to load, or if the theme you used to set up your shop doesn’t look good. Your website needs to be easy to navigate and offers a good user experience for your customers.
QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE:
Should I use Shopify’s email marketing instead of Mailchimp or Flodesk?
If you’re just starting out with email marketing, Shopify’s program is a good place to start. It allows you to send up to 2,500 emails a month for free. Mailchimp can get expensive real quick. Flodesk is our fave, it's affordable, and has the best looking email templates.
Even if you are only on Etsy and plan on staying, you need to have an email list. Your Etsy, Instagram, or Facebook could be closed in an instant without warning and then you’d have no way of communicating to your customers. To build your email list, direct people to a signup page, and give them a promo code or freebie as an incentive to sign up.
I want to switch, but I’m afraid that no one will visit my website and that I won’t be able to make back the money I spent to switch to Shopify.
You can still keep your Etsy open while you have your Shopify. Work on preparing your customers to let them know that you’re moving your website to Shopify by posting about it on your social media, include a note to your customers in their orders, etc. Make a conscious effort to direct people to your Shopify instead of Etsy: like offer lower prices on Shopify, not offering promotional sales on Etsy, and only link to Shopify in your social media bio. It doesn’t have to be expensive to start on Shopify! There are free apps and themes, and so your base cost would be $29/month (that is what we did for a long time).
We hope you’ve found our insights of selling on Shopify to be helpful. Regardless of the e-commerce site you choose to sell your products on, one of the most important things we encourage you to consider is the customer experience on your website and the ease of navigation.
Be sure to listen to the full podcast episode for all the details!
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xo, Lisa & Lucy
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