Shopify: E-commerce With Options

This is the fourth application in our series of e-commerce reviews. For an introduction to this category, including a rundown of features common to all four applications reviewed this week, please see: Web 2.0 and E-commerce, Creating An Online Store.

Selling services or products online has been made simple with Shopify, the e-commerce site with customization and selling options to appeal to any seller. The customization begins with the setup, which offers the chance to select a theme which can be edited later with a theme editor.

Customers may not be able to appreciate it, since a majority of Shopify’s features are for the seller, but Shopify navigates easily, with a simple to follow tab layout that can guide sellers through the setup and later the management of their online stores. Divided into Orders, Products, Collections, Blogs & Pages, Navigation, and Marketing, the tabs break apart the tasks well and each page has information (or links to help) should the user need help.

The strong point of Shoppify is the range of options for customers and sellers. Customers can RSS your products, see an online catalog (collections), and shop by tags through the public portal (yourname.myshopify.com or at the higher subscription rate, your domain name). Sellers can change everything from the themes, the product types and vendor, or the SKU, which allows them to customize the inventory and tracking as they need to. This is especially useful with stores that operate a storage facility, where keeping track of inventory is crucial.

Keeping track of orders, from order status to shipping status is an integral part of the online shop, and Shopify has made space for this too within the application. From the product page, payments, orders, and shipping status can be monitored, and exported with an RSS feed or into csv format. Under the Products tab there is an inventory page to track inventory numbers, and on each page of the seller’s pages there is a warning for low inventory stock. Analytics (Google or Crazy Egg) give users the option to track visitors and customers as well.

Promotion is handled through the Marketing tab, which offers sellers the opportunity to list their products at Chictini, and be found through the Shopify.com product search. Customers can sign up for email updates, and sellers can use the Marketing tab as a link carnival to many of the promotional services they need, including links to viral marketing services, bookmarking applications, and advertising networks.

Pricing is based on volume, and while a free account will get you as far as 10 orders and unlimited bandwidth, the Enterprise account can accommodate up to 10,000 products (SKUs) for a .5% transaction fee and $299 a month.

For users with mid-ranged e-commerce needs, Shopify is a good resource. If you would like to find out more about Shopify and applications like it, there is the Listio search: ecommerce+web2.0.

Previously in this series: FlyingCart: E-commerce, SEO, And Product Management
Next in this series: Comparing E-commerce Applications: Shopify, ShopIt, FlyingCart, and Cartfly

Application: Shopify
Listio Profile: http://www.listio.com/web20/app/Shopify/
Website: http://www.shopify.com

Build your own online shops with Shopify. Shopify is a hosted application that allows you to set up an online store to sell your goods. Shopify lets you build shops with as much style and flair as you see fit. With Shopify, you can choose from one of a number of custom-made designs or you can also ... Learn more

New to Listio? Our tag cloud search offers an easy way to narrow your hunt for the perfect web application or service. No more second guessing of search terms. Just click on one tag, then as many more as you'd like to narrow your search results. It's easy and ensures you get to the listing you want. Finding web 2.0 was never so easy.

Tags: Add new tag, buy, create, E-commerce, manage, shopping
Posted in: E-commerce | Respond
Bookmark & Share: