Shopify lets you list products for sale online and fulfill your customer’s orders. It’s an e-commerce platform where you can create a custom, functioning website for your online business without using code.
But is it worth it? And for who?
I’ve used Shopify myself to build an online store but before doing that I looked all around Reddit to read Shopify reviews and make sure that it’s worth it for me.
Turns out that Shopify is only worth it for specific use cases.
The worth of this platform differs depending if you’re doing dropshipping, POD (print on demand), selling digital products, running a YouTube channel & more.
And that’s what this guide will cover.
The short answer is that Shopify is not worth it if you’re selling digital products, it’s worth it for the first three months if you’re a beginner or just trying out dropshipping and it’s fully worth it if you already have an online business that’s generating revenue.
Is Shopify good for beginners?
Shopify is designed for beginners.
They do everything to make it easy for anyone to start an online business.
However, if you’re a beginner, chances are you don’t make a lot of money.
And Shopify can cost you a pretty penny if you don’t have recurring sales.
But there’s a silver lining.
It’s dirt cheap for the first three months ($1/month) and has a free trial for 1 week.
That’s enough time to set up your Shopify website and test your MVP (minimal viable product) to see if you can get customers.
If not – you lose nothing. Well, $3.
So if you’re a beginner Shopify is worth it for setting up and testing out your online business idea.
But after the first 3 months, it’s going to start costing at least $32/month.
Is Shopify worth it for selling digital prodcuts?
You can sell digital products through Shopify but there are cheaper alternatives.
Payhip is one of them.
It lets you create your own store, connect it to a custom domain and sell digital products for free.
I made a Payhip store myself where I sell a digital Notion guide about how to play the YouTube game.
You can see how this product looks here.
Best of all, you can customize the theme of your Payhip store without any coding knowledge just like you would be able to do with with Shopify.
The only disadvantage of using Payhip is that they have a 5% fee on each sale.
But if you’re not going to sell a large quantity of digital products it’s still going to be cheaper than paying for Shopify each month.
So Shopify is not worth it for selling digital products because it has a recurring monthly cost to have your online store running. However, if you sell other products alongside digital products or a large quantity of digital products then Shopify is a great option.
Is Shopify worth it for dropshipping?
Two things make Shopify the best place to start dropshipping.
Their apps and their free trial.
The apps make it easy to connect your Shopify store with popular dropshipping suppliers like Aliexpress and fulfill your customer’s orders.
The free trial lets you test out your store.
If your store doesn’t work out – there’s minimal loss.
Shopify is a great platform for testing various business ideas for three months and seeing if they fail or not.
If they don’t – you can continue with Shopify but if they do fail, you can just close your store and move on to another business idea.
In summary, Shopify is worth it for dropshipping because it has a free trial that you can use to test out your dropshipping store. If the store fails you don’t have to incur a large cost to shut it down. Shopify also has many apps and integrations that make dropshipping from sites like Aliexpress easy.
Is Shopify worth it for POD?
Shopify lets you set up a print-on-demand store by using the Printful app integration.
Print-on-demand means that you design a product and once a customer orders it a print-on-demand company makes that product with your design on it and sends it to the customer.
You don’t have to handle the production, shipping, or refunds yourself.
So is Shopify worth it for POD?
Yes if you have an audience and no if you don’t.
If you don’t have an audience it’s a lot easier to sell print-on-demand products where there already exists a craving audience.
For example Etsy or Redbubble.
If you do have a way of driving traffic to your store whether through Google SEO or a YouTube channel then Shopify is a great place to do POD.
It will let you set up your store with ease and offer print-on-demand products to your audience.
Is Shopify worth it for small businesses?
Shopify is worth it for small businesses for these reasons:
Intuitive Interface.
It has a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate even for a complete beginner.
Comprehensive Features.
They’re an all-in-one solution.
From secure payment gateways to inventory management and order processing.
Shopify eliminates the need for third-party integrations and having to use multiple platforms.
Customization.
The look of your online store is important.
It can directly lead to more sales.
Shopify allows any small business to build its online store in a unique and visually appealing style.
They have pre-built theme templates and a drag-and-drop website builder.
This means that you can do it all without knowing how to code.
Mobile Optimization.
People use their phones to shop online.
Shopify automatically optimizes websites for mobile devices.
This ensures that you don’t have to pay extra and hire developers to it.
App Store and Integrations.
Shopify’s App Store offers a variety of apps and integrations to enhance online stores.
They add extra functionality to your store.
Instead of having all features built-in to Shopify they have made an app store where you can get apps that add extra features depending on the type of business that you’re running.
Scalability.
As your business grows the platform expands with it.
It caters to businesses of different sizes, providing flexibility in pricing plans and accommodating growth.
Most e-commerce platforms run away from businesses that are too large.
But Shopify are different
They invite large businesses to work with them because their infrastructure can handle it.
Support and Community.
Shopify offers 24/7 customer support and maintains an active community of users.
Small businesses can rely on their assistance for technical issues and also benefit from shared knowledge and experiences.
Marketing and SEO Tools.
Shopify includes built-in marketing features, such as discount codes, email campaigns, and SEO optimization.
These tools empower small businesses to enhance their online visibility, attract customers, and drive sales.
In conclusion, Shopify is worth it for small businesses because it offers a user-friendly e-commerce platform with comprehensive features, customization options, scalability, and reliable support. Its marketing tools and SEO features further contribute to creating a successful online presence.
Is Shopify worth it for YouTubers?
If you’re a YouTuber Shopify is worth it if:
- You want to have all of your digital and physical products in one single place
- You have a large enough audience who will buy those products.
Shopify is versatile.
It will be able to host almost any product or service that you want to sell.
However, there are cheaper alternatives for small YouTubers:
- Payhip – for selling digital products
- Skillshare – for hosting courses
- Printful – for selling merch
I recommend checking out my full guide about how to make money as a YouTuber.
It covers many different ways to monetize your YouTube channel (even without being monetized).
Basic vs. Shopify vs. Advanced pricing plans
Shopify has 3 pricing plans:
The Basic plan inlcudes everything you need to create your store, ship products, and process payments.
This plan is best for 99% of users.
It has everything you need as a beginner or a small business owner.
The Shopify plan adds professional reporting and more staff accounts.
This plan is best for mid sized businesses.
The Advanced plan lets you build custom reports and get the lowest transaction fees.
This plan is best for large enterprise businesses.
Shopify top features
Here are the best features of Shopify.
1. Free Trial + 3 months for $1
This pricing model is amazing.
It basically allows you to test out a business idea for free.
You can set up a dropshipping store, test it out, and if it doesn’t work there’s no cost to shutting it down.
The first 3 months of Shopify are only $1/month.
That’s a $3 loss if your business fails.
In exchange, you get a high-quality website and a payment processing platform that can adapt to any business model.
The pricing (for the first three months) is what makes Shopify ideal for beginners.
2. Intuitive interface
Shopify is easy to use.
The platform is designed to be customizable but simple.
You don’t need to know how to code to build a stunning website for your online business.
Their intuitive interface makes it easy to set up a store in minutes and focus on more important things such as acquiring customers.
3. No lag
If you build a website yourself you’re not guaranteed that it won’t break if there’s too much traffic.
But Shopify has many large businesses that operate using their platform.
That means they can handle even the busiest days and high website traffic.
4. Custom website
Trust is important for customers.
People buy from other people or brands whom they know, like, and trust.
Shopify doesn’t force you to use their branding for your business website.
You can get a custom domain from somewhere like Namecheap and connect it to your Shopify store.
This will remove the Shopify branding in your site’s url and make your business look a lot more trustworthy.
5. Easy to get started
All you need is an email.
There’s no long sign up or identity verification process to get your online business up and running.
Shopify makes it super simple.
In fact, you can probably create a store with Shopify in the same time that it takes to sign up to other, similar services.
They just make the whole process frictionless.
What are the disadvantages of Shopify?
Of course, Shopify has some drawbacks.
1. Price
The price for the first three months is amazing.
Just $1/month.
However, if you decide to stick with Shopify after the first three months you’ll find that the cost increases from $1/month to $32/month.
This pricing model can make it hard to maintain your store especially if you don’t have a huge sales volume.
2. Hard to switch
Once you already have your store up and running it’s going to be annoying to switch to another platform.
Shopify has everything built in which means that if you decide to switch you’re probably going to have to use multiple platforms to continue running your online business.
Was this Shopify review useful?
All in all, Shopify is worth it for beginners, dropshippers, and small businesses due to its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, customization options, scalability, and reliable support. However, for selling digital products, cheaper alternatives like Payhip exist. It’s also valuable for YouTubers with a large audience, but smaller YouTubers may consider other cost-effective options for specific products or services.
I’ll leave you with a few resources that will help you start your own online business.
Thanks for reading 👋.
Bonus resources:
Best Online Business Ideas To Start With AI ($12,610/Month)