Shopify vs. others?

It seems like I have an opinion on everything in regards to eCommerce.

I'll first start off by saying Shopify is very user friendly. Shopify was intended to reach out to people wanting to start a small website as a part of a small or new business and created it's entire system around this demographic of user (which is not a bad thing.)

If you plan to sell maybe a couple hundred different things, then Shopify is great at getting you started without making you feel overwhelmed by options you don't understand.

Beyond that, you will eventually need features that Shopify isn't willing to provide and will have to hire a developer to assist you.

I've read mixed reviews about them in regards to SEO.

I tested Shopify because I wanted to go from have 1 big store, to having 1 big store and 30 smaller stores because I sold many niche items based on past sales data on eBay where I was also running a couple large accounts. When I hired my staff to start launching these niche sites as well as sites designed around the items offered by specific suppliers that I could dropship from, we all sat down and debated on which shopping cart to use that would allow us to pump out nice and neat customized websites that worked well with SEO... and because none of us knew much about SEO, we went with Shopify because their entire service is pretty much based on Fast, Simple, and SEO friendly. Sounded like it was something we wanted.

Unfortunately we later decided to move them from Shopify to another cart because we didn't have the ability to export .csv's or something to that nature, meaning we couldn't communicate data between our small websites and the much larger one (and eBay and Amazon as well) which were the ones making us money at this point in time. When I spoke to someone at Shopify, I was told to hire a developer to assist me further and that they would take any other questions I might have. Last time I spoke with someone who was using Shopify, they fixed this and you can now export .csv's.

I have no bad feelings about them, we simply outgrew them at the time.

The one you learn and are comfortable with is the best. I tried Shopify but since I had my experience in Volusion and BigCommerce, I decided not to go the route of relearning a new platform. If any one you choose does not pass the "help test" (meaning easy support, knowledge base, fast response to questions), try another. In the long run, the quicker you can get around when building or rebuilding a site, the quicker you can get back to earning money.

Something to take a look at: layered navigation and filterable attributes. I do Magento Go and Magento CE buildouts daily for my income, and we are moving a client from BiCommerce due to Magento's expandability. One of their primary reasons for moving was that BigCommerce does not have attributes! I was shocked!
I also started dabbling in OpenCart because another prospect wanted some freelance work on it, and after installing it, I found the documentation and support very lacking. I was also shocked to find out that there's no way to import products on that system natively- you either create them one at a time or the official KB recommends several 3rd party extensions. I thought that was a native feature of all mainstream carts!

What is an attribute? An attribute allows you to set different options for a product. So, if you have a Red T-shirt, the attributes would be the different sizes, such as Small, Medium, Large, XL. The main Red T-shirt would be a "configurable product", and the sizes would be the simple products of that main product. they are hidden from search engines and the cart by default, and are accessible via drop down menu on the main product. This is how 99% of clothing store ecommerce sites work. On carts without attributes, each size would have to be its own product, which is confusing to customers, because now they'll see 4 identical looking Red T-shirts in the T-shirt category, and bad for SEO, since you'll have 4 duplicate items.

Depending on what you're offering, Shopify could be a very good fit for you. I'm not sure if they have filterable attributes or not, but if you only sell one size, one color products, like info products or whatnot, it is probably a very good beginner store.

Hi---I know you asked me on another thread how I was feeling with Shopify---I am a bit overwhelmed with all the shopping carts, but found this one the most simple for me to use. I am slowly learning more about it each day. I paid for a year in advance to avoid the Shop fees associated with this set up.

Hello

Yeah It totally depends on your needs. It is easy to set up the Shopify platform. It offers great responsive design means you can easily build a website which looks good on desktops, tablets and mobile devices. While Big commerce is easy to navigate and includes best SEO configurations.

I would advice Big commerce because if you want to succeed in eCommerce, good SEO is absolutely essential.

I wrote a detailed review of Shopify for those wondering about some of its features:

Shopify Review: Ecommerce, Only Simpler

I highly recommend it.

As many people have posted on here, it truly depends on your needs and which system you feel comfortable with. I would honestly trial 2-3 of them to see which you like and use—although this may seem a little superficial, it's better to choose a system that you'll use rather than one that has more features which you simply can't get your head round.

Shopify for me is a very user-friendly system and if you're starting out in ecommerce, it will be more than adequate for your needs. If you outgrow it due to large sales and the need for more features, I would worry about that detail further down the line—the most important thing when you're starting out is to actually get set up and selling. Concentrate on that first, and best of luck!

This original post was actually almost a year ago, and, yes, I did go with Shopify. I was pleasantly surprised to find the customer service was beyond measure. The theme I chose for the store was from a third party, easy enough to manipulate. If I had to do it again, I would go with one of Shopify's house themes, and hire a designer to do the changes that I could not handle. Clean Themes (third party) wanted pints and pints of green blood to tweak the most basic things on my site; I still may make the change to another theme later.
As for the store itself, it does everything I need...but I'm a small shop.

Shopify is also more advanced in terms of technology/innovation/updates. Their POS product is an excellent example, and could well be a game changer in the coming days.

P.S. - Link

I recently received an email from cj asking me to promote Shopify but I hesitated as I wasn't sure. I am so glad to read this thread. Now I am assured.

I offer something identical with shopify... Pro Eshop - Complete ecommerce solution (hope it is doesn't taken as an advertisment)

I was and still consider myself to be a complete beginner when it comes it eCommerce. I did have a go with Shopify as a free trial and honestly i loved everything about it apart from inventory control. Because i didn't like the inventory control i decided to go with BigCartel just because of how user friendly it is, right now i think it is was a good choice but i have a feeling as a delve into more complicated things like SEO i might start to struggle and long for something a little more advanced.

I use bigcommerce for my online shop.
When I'm selecting my shopping cart provider, I was thinking to use shopify, but they take commision on sale, so it drive me away.
I'm thinking to have another online store, and would like to try bigcartel or storenvy.

Another thing to consider; integrations. The largest platforms integrate with other applications i.e marketing, accounts, shipping etc so be mindful of whether or not your chosen platform works with other apps.

You don't have to start integrating from day one but as your site grows you'll want to extend it's usefulness using third party apps. Only the really big proprietary systems e.g WebSphere, Hybris etc can offer an all in one solution.

I visited shopify yesterday, this is a amazing website for ecommerce solution compare to other websites.

are there carts that integrate with quickbooks accounting? Would be great to have them talk to each other for costing/reporting/pulling product database info etc/CRM etc.....

Shopify is a powerful ecommerce website solution that allows you to sell online by providing everything you need to create an online store.