Author: Giles Thomas

Giles Thomas is the author of AcquireConvert.com. He is an experienced ecommerce expert.

He is the CEO of Whole Design Studios an official Shopify expert and partner agency since 2014.

He is also the Executive Director of FOE.Global, where he runs a merger and acquisitions fund for web 2 digital assets.

He was previously the head marketing mentor at the Google Launchpad accelerator where he helped incubate many ecommerce brands.

He is also a member of the Shopify commerce coach progam.

You can find him on Linkedin and the agency Whole Design Studios on Linkedin as well.

You can also follow Giles on his AcquireConvert profiles on Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.

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What is Dropshipping? Free Ultimate Guide for Beginners [2024]

Post author By Giles Thomas
Post date July 24, 2018

What is drop shipping?

Drop shipping is a business model that allows a company to run an online retail business without actually owning, stocking, or shipping the products it sells to its customers. In other words, drop shipping businesses accept product orders at their online retail store, while an entirely separate entity (the drop shipping supplier) maintains and warehouses the inventory, and then packages and ships orders directly to the customer.

So, what are the pros and cons of operating a drop shipping business?

What are the advantages of drop shipping?

Because dropshippers need only a computer and internet connection to run their retail store, there are several benefits to using this business model for your ecommerce business.

Low start-up costs

One of the main advantages to running a drop shipping business is the low start-up cost. Because dropship retailers neither buy nor own the products they sell, the dropship model eliminates the high cost traditionally associated with buying and storing inventory. Dropship businesses therefore need only pay for the setup and maintenance of their website.

Low overhead costs

The dropship model also sidesteps the high overhead costs of operating a physical storefront or warehouse. Without a brick-and-mortar space, overhead costs such as rent, utilities, security, equipment, packaging, and inventory tracking and management are avoided. Your monthly costs are simply the fixed costs of running your website, which often amount to less than $100 a month.

Low risk

A dropship business only buys a product once it’s been purchased and paid for by the customer, so there’s very little risk involved if a business fails to sell products off its site. This model offers business owners the low-pressure flexibility to experiment with selling new products or tapping into new markets.

Location-independent

Running a dropship business requires only a computer and internet connection, making this business model an especially attractive option for entrepreneurs interested in travel, or those seeking to maximize their profits by relocating to a city with a low cost of living.

Wide product selection

Another advantage of the dropship model is the wide array of products available for sale. By now, you can find a dropship supplier for almost anything, and this variety gives you flexibility as you develop and grow your business. For example, you may choose to sell a wide selection of products, or you can instead choose to attract a niche market with your store. Either way, if you can imagine the product, you can almost certainly find a dropship supplier who stocks it.

Easily scalable

With traditional retail businesses, more orders equates to higher profits, but it also means more work: more time spent filling, packaging, and shipping orders. This time spent fulfilling orders necessarily means time diverted from the management and growth of your business.

Under the dropship model, more orders means higher profits, but without the attendant time commitment. Instead of managing the time-consuming operations of order fulfilment, you can relegate these tasks to your dropship supplier, meaning that the increased workload associated with your growing business is borne by someone else. Relegating these tasks to your supplier means that you’ll have more time to focus on customer service, marketing, sales, and scaling your business.

What are the disadvantages of drop shipping?

At this point, running a drop shipping business probably seems like an attractive option. But be aware that there are also disadvantages to this business model that you should consider before getting started.

Highly competitive

A low barrier to entry means high competition. It is precisely because of the advantages of the drop shipping model that competition is high: because virtually anyone with a laptop and wifi connection can operate an online drop shipping store at a very low cost, this has become a popular option for online retailers, causing many markets to become oversaturated with merchants offering very low-priced products. The best way to avoid this problem, especially for new businesses, is to conduct adequate market research to better understand which niche markets and segments are less crowded, and therefore afford you an opportunity to establish and distinguish yourself without getting lost in a sea of competitors.

Low profit margins

The profit you make as a drop shipping business is the difference between what your customer pays you for a product and what you pay your drop shipping supplier to ship that product to your customer. Because drop shipping is such a competitive industry, this profit margin can often be pretty small, especially if you sell high-end niche items that are expensive to buy from suppliers.

While it’s unlikely you’ll ever make a 100% profit using the drop shipping model, you can best maximize your profit margins by choosing a market segment that is well-suited for the dropship model and finding suppliers with fair prices.

Minimal brand control

In the ecommerce world, where businesses are already somewhat estranged from their customers, the personalized details of an order can make a huge difference in building customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Unfortunately, however, when you entrust a drop shipping supplier with the task of filling, packaging, and shipping your orders, you lose control over product presentation. Because drop shipping suppliers are filling huge numbers of orders from multiple sources daily, there simply isn’t the time or incentive to include personalized packaging or customized notes with customer orders. Those suppliers that are willing to package orders with your logo will charge a pretty penny for that service. The benefit of offloading order fulfilment onto someone else comes at the cost of entrusting your brand’s reputation to a third party. (Yet another reason to choose your suppliers wisely; more on this below.)

If your main goal is to build your reputation and grow brand recognition, then drop shipping is probably not the best business model for you.

Retailer liability for supplier errors

Another downside to being a dropship retailer relates to liability for supplier errors. Under the dropship model, the customer buys directly from the retailer without ever interacting with the supplier. As far as the customer is concerned, the entire transaction occurs on the retailer’s website, meaning that the retailer will always bear complete responsibility and necessarily accept fault for any packaging or shipping errors on the part of the supplier. Because it will always be the retailer’s reputation at stake, it’s crucial that as a retailer, you work exclusively with experienced and high-quality suppliers.

Inventory management issues

Building on the last point, it’s worth discussing the complications of inventory management, which can sometimes create huge headaches for retailers. As a dropship retailer, you neither own nor stock the items that you sell. Because you’re sourcing these products from a variety of suppliers, who themselves are fulfilling orders for a variety of other retailers, you can expect supplier inventory to fluctuate daily, and tracking these changes can be very difficult.

While software does exist to monitor the warehouse stock of your suppliers, this technology is expensive, not always accurate, and in some cases not supported by your supplier of choice. System errors or miscommunications can give rise to problems that force you to cancel an order or place it on backorder. Again, as the retailer, you will bear full liability for these mishaps.

Is drop shipping viable?

So, exactly how profitable is the drop shipping business model?

As we’ve discussed so far, drop shipping is not the golden egg of ecommerce. While it certainly has many advantages that make it an attractive option for new entrepreneurs looking to whet their appetite for new online business opportunities, it is also comes with its share of complexities and practical difficulties that are worth considering upfront.

According to our friends at A Better Lemonade Stand, the average profit margin for a standard drop shipping business ranges from 15% to 45%, with profit margins soaring up to 100% for businesses selling luxury items and consumer durables. The keys to success are finding your niche within a less competitive market and sourcing from a reliable, experienced supplier. Of course, if you can work directly with the product manufacturer, you can cut out the supplier and thereby increase your profit margins.

If you’re still not sure whether drop shipping is right for you, check out Richard Lazazzera’s comprehensive drop shipping 101 Guide and read more about what type of entrepreneurs drop shipping is and isn’t for.

The drop shipping supply chain

Understanding the players in the drop shipping supply chain will help you conceptualize how a product changes hands on its way to your customer, and will give you a better understanding of your options for buying and reselling products.

Who’s who in the drop shipping supply chain?

Manufacturers

The manufacturer is the entity responsible for producing the actual product, and the large majority of manufacturers do only this: produce goods. They do not also sell these goods to the public. Rather, they sell the products they create to wholesalers/suppliers and/or retailers.

The best way to increase your profit margins as a dropship retailer is to buy directly from the manufacturer, thereby cutting out the middleman supplier. However, manufacturers often have minimum purchase requirements, meaning that you’ll need to buy in bulk, store the products, and ship them yourself to customers. Buying directly from a manufacturer in many ways undermines the key benefit of the drop shipping model–the fact that you can operate your business without the expense and risk of buying and stocking inventory.

Some manufacturers do have drop shipping programs, and if you can find one operating within your niche market, you’re in luck!

Wholesalers/suppliers

Wholesalers and suppliers are interchangeable terms indicating the party within the drop shipping model who purchases one type of product in bulk from the manufacturer, and then packages and ships that product directly to the retailer’s customers for a marked up price which is charged to the retailer. For the purposes of this article, we’ll refer to this entity as the dropship supplier.

The supplier is the middleman between the manufacturer and retailer and therefore stocks products from a large number of manufacturers. Suppliers usually operate within a specific niche industry, and rarely sell their products directly to the public; instead, they sell their products to the retailer, who then resells those products to the customer (though under the drop shipping model, the retailer never actually handles the product).

Aggregators

A dropship aggregator is a type of supplier who purchases a variety of products from several different manufacturers in order to give a retailer an array of products to sell to its customers. Aggregators are the golden children of the drop shipping world because they help retailers avoid the problems that typically arise when dealing with multiple suppliers. For example, using an aggregator eliminates the problem of paying and managing several different suppliers’ shipping costs. It also helps streamline the order fulfillment process because retailers need only work with a single supplier. Do note that the convenience of using a dropship aggregator comes at a higher cost, meaning lower profit margins for retailers.

Retailers

Retailers sell products directly to the public at a marked up price. If you plan on running an ecommerce website through which you sell products to customers via a drop shipping supplier, than you’re the retailer.

What does the order fulfillment process look like?

Now that you understand the roles of each of the parties in the supply chain, let’s quickly outline the order fulfillment process, from start to finish. We’ll use the fictitious example of a customer, Jane, who is buying a hair straightener from the company Locks’R’Us. Locks’R’Us runs an online retail store selling hair styling accessories. The wholesale supplier that Locks’R’Us uses to supply its hair straighteners is Solely Straighteners.

Step 1: Customer purchases product from retailer’s website

Jane has had curly hair her whole life and wants to try straightening it. She shops around and finds Locks’R’Us’s website, which sells, among many other hair styling products, the hair straightener she has been looking for.

Jane places an order via Locks’R’Us’s online store. Once she completes the purchase and the order is approved, Jane is automatically sent an email from Locks’R’Us confirming her order of one hair straightener. The purchase price of the hair straightener that Jane ordered is $120, and this amount automatically deposited into Locks’R’Us’s bank account.

Step 2: Retailer places order for product with supplier

After receiving Jane’s order, Locks’R’Us forwards the order confirmation email to its contact person at its hair straightener supplier, Solely Straighteners. In most cases, this email is forwarded to a specific sale representative at Solely Straighteners that is assigned to Locks’R’Us’s account. Solely Straighteners has a credit card on file for Locks’R’Us, and upon receiving the order confirmation email, Solely Straighteners bills Locks’R’Us’s credit card for the wholesale amount of the straightener ($80), plus any shipping and processing fees ($5).

Step 3: Supplier ships product to customer

There’s always a risk that a supplier’s item is out of stock, but assuming this is not the case here, Solely Straighteners packages the straightener and ships it directly to Jane. Even though this package is boxed and sent by Solely Straighteners, it includes an invoice with Locks’R’Us’s name, address, and logo.

Once the package is out for shipment, Solely Straighteners sends an email to Locks’R’Us including an invoice and tracking number for Jane’s package.

Step 4: Retailer contacts customer to confirm shipment of product

Once Locks’R’Us receives Solely Straightener’s email with the tracking number for Jane’s package, it emails Jane directly to alert her that her package has been shipped and to provide her with a tracking number to track her order.

This completes the order fulfillment process. Locks’R’Us has made a profit of $35 on the sale of the hair straightener to Jane.

Choosing your products

So, you’ve decided to start a drop shipping business. But what should you sell? If you haven’t already gathered this from the discussion above, it’s worth reiterating: product choice is vital! In fact, it is perhaps the most important question to consider when starting your business.

What products should you sell?

Finding the right products to sell is not necessarily a simple or straightforward task. Choosing the right niche and products for your drop shipping business requires in-depth market research into product trends and consumer demand. To get you started, we’ve included some criteria you should consider when determining the best products to sell.

Retail price

As a dropship retailer, the wholesale and retail prices of your products are essential considerations, because the profitability of your business will depend on how well you strike a balance between profit margins and customer expectations. While low prices may drive sales on your site, lower-priced items will also generate smaller profits for you. On the flipside, selling more expensive products, though more profitable, may lead to fewer sales, and might also require more pre-sale customer support for people wary of paying big bucks to an unfamiliar online retailer for a product they’ve never purchased from. Our trusted friends at Shopify recommend setting prices to at least 20% profit margin on top of variable costs to get the most out of the product.

MAP pricing

MAP stands for minimum advertising price. MAP prices are set by manufacturers and function as price floors for certain products being re-sold by retailers. MAP pricing serves to eliminate the type of fierce competition within an oversaturated industry that typically prevents retailers from making a reasonable profit on the products they dropship to customers. Because MAP pricing ensures that all retail competitors sell the manufacturer’s product at the same minimum price, retailers can focus on generating sales by building an information-rich website, rather than engaging in price wars and losing business to low-quality competitors.

Size and weight

Smaller, lighter items mean cheaper shipping costs, which for you, means higher profit margins. At least to start, choose products that are can be packaged and shipped easily and economically. In 2021, many consumers have come to expect free shipping, so choose products that can be shipped at a low enough cost that you are willing to absorb it in order to offer free shipping to your customers. Even if you do decide to charge for shipping, make sure that your that shipping costs are not so high that they are prohibitive, thus driving customers away. The best way to keep shipping costs low is to sell products that are small, light, and easy to package.

Shelf-life

If your products have a short shelf-life or require regular replenishment, your customers are more likely to reorder them, and this will not only increase sales, but also help you build a loyal customer base. Retailers who sell renewable or disposable products often create discount subscription services for their customers, which not only guarantees repeat orders, but incentivizes customers to continue buying from their site.

Related products

Consider choosing products that you can sell as a set. By cross-selling related products, you will drive sales, maximize your revenue, and provide your customer with the convenience of buying several related products in one place. For example, if your site dropships hair straighteners, you should sell hair brushes, styling gel, and hair clips and accessories as well. When it comes to cross-selling products, put thought into how to price these items so that you can profit while also offering great value to your customer. Some retailers achieve this by selling their main product at a lower markup, while making a higher profit margin on the related items.

Turnover rate

Product turnover rate is the rate at which a product is modified, updated, or discounted. As with all ecommerce business, the quality of your dropship website will drive sales. Because your site’s photos and copy are the content with which the customer is interacting, it is crucial that your content is both high-quality and up-to-date. Content creation is a time-consuming, arduous process, so by choosing to sell products with a low turnover rate, you will minimize the time and expense involved in updating your website content to reflect product changes.

Local availability

Choose products that are not readily available at local brick-and-mortar shops. If a customer can run down the street to find a product, they’re not likely to buy it online and wait for it to be shipped. On the flip side, if a customer is looking for a more obscure product, they’re likely to turn to Google to find it. By selling hard-to-find, niche items, you will therefore increase your likelihood of success as an dropshipper.

Product trends in 2024

The last factor to consider when choosing which products to dropship is current trends. Product trends are always changing, but luckily the folks at Printful have written a great blog highlighting 2024 product trends.

Who is buying your products?

Once you’ve chosen the right product to dropship, it’s necessary to learn more about your target market. This understanding can only be gained by conducting thorough and adequate market research into both your target market and niche industry. There are several things you can do to familiarize yourself your target market. Put in the time to do this work: it is absolutely crucial to your success as a drop shipping business.

Product demand

What is the current demand for your product? One way to measure product demand is by using the keyword research tool KWFinder. This tool will tell you how many people are searching for your product each month by giving you information about how your product’s keyword ranks. Monthly keyword searches in the thousands are what you’re looking for here; if your product’s keyword was searched less frequently than that, you probably won’t have much success selling it online.

Seasonality

Is your product a seasonal commodity? How would you even know? Using Google Trends to determine whether there are high or low search seasons for a product will help you answer this question. Predicting your customers’ purchase patterns is one of the best ways to understand your market and plan for changes in sales.

Demographic

Understanding the demographics of your target audience is crucial. Where in the world are your customers located? What is their income bracket? What language do they speak? Is your audience predominantly male, female, or a mix of both genders? Answering these questions will help you answer additional questions about the pricing and shipment of your goods.

Age

People of different ages have different spending patterns. What is the age range of your audience? This is an important question to answer not just for pricing purposes, but when considering the viability of your drop shipping business. If you plan on selling a product typically bought by seniors, you’ll probably have difficulty selling it online, as people over 60 are far less likely to shop online. Similarly, if your products target students, you should consider that they are typically not willing nor able to pay for expensive goods.

Who else is selling your products?

Observing how your competitors operate within the market is essential to building any business, but understanding competitor behavior is especially important in the drop shipping world, where competition is steep.

Visit your competitors’ websites

How much traffic do your competitors’ websites get? Online tools like SEMrush will tell you how your competitors’ websites rank, simply by entering the site URL. You should also peruse and order from your competitors’ websites, to identify their strengths and weaknesses. A little web surfing can go a long way in helping you recognize gaps in service and how to meet unmet customer needs.

Track your competitors’ social media channels

Visit your competitors’ social media platforms to observe how they engage with their followers and market their products. What types of posts receive the most interaction? Do they run giveaways? Do they use influencers to drive sales? What other accounts are their followers engaging with?

Analyze your competitors’ marketplace presence

Pay particular attention to how your competition engages with customers within online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. How often do customers leave product reviews? What do the reviews say? How well is the product rated? What are sources of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction? Answering these questions will help you identify where there is room for improvement so that you can fill those gaps and gain an important advantage over your competition.

Choosing your supplier: What makes a top-notch drop shipping supplier?

The importance of finding the right dropship supplier is second only to choosing the right product. As discussed above, dropship retailers bear full liability for supplier mistakes, so choosing an experienced, reliable, and high-quality supplier is essential to building and maintaining a positive reputation as an online retailer. There are several factors to consider when choosing which supplier/s to work with.

Experience

In the world of drop shipping, experience is key. Find a dropship supplier with experience in your industry, who is knowledgeable about different products, knows the ins and outs of the drop shipping process, and is willing to speak with you about common industry pitfalls. More experienced suppliers are generally more adept at handling problems that come up, which will help your business run smoothly and bring you peace of mind.

Availability of sales representatives

A stellar dropship supplier will provide you with access to a sales representative responsible for answering your specific questions and walking you through any issues that arise. Having a direct line to a sales representative will help you resolve problems quickly and easily. This key benefit is often overlooked, but truly invaluable.

High product quality

A few times now, we’ve mentioned the risk of entrusting your brand’s reputation to a supplier. The best way to minimize this risk is to choose a supplier who provides high-quality products. High-quality products are less likely to be returned, and more likely to meet your customers’ expectations and generate positive product reviews. To ensure that the quality of your supplier’s products is up to snuff, you should always order product samples from your supplier before making a commitment to work together.

Tech savviness

This may not be immediately obvious, but finding a technologically-savvy supplier will make your life as a dropship retailer much easier. The types of technological capabilities you’re looking for are: real-time inventory tracking, online access to a searchable order history, customizable data feeds, and a complete online catalog of products.

Centrally located

Faster shipping times mean happier customers. If the majority of your customers live in a large country like the United States, Canada, or China, it can take upwards of a week for them to receive a product shipped from one coast to another. By choosing a centrally-located supplier, you can cut shipping times down by days. This will not only leave your customers satisfied, but will also minimize the shipping costs you pay as the retailer.

Timely shipping processes

Finding a centrally-located supplier won’t mean much if the supplier takes days to fulfil and ship the order. Look for suppliers who are prompt with their shipping processes and can promise to ship orders within 48 hours. Make sure you place a test order with potential suppliers before working together, to assure that products are shipped in a timely manner.

What questions should you ask potential suppliers?

The best way to vett potential suppliers is to ask specific questions that will indicate whether they’re a good match for your business. We’ve borrowed the following list from Richard Lazazzera of A Better Lemonade Stand, who suggests sending an email with only the first three questions, to start:

Do you manufacture customized items if required?
What are your pricing terms and are they negotiable?
Are there any other additional costs besides the direct costs? (Always check for hidden costs.)
Do you have a return policy?
Are you also a retailer/direct seller?
What kind of profit margin can I expect?
Will the prices ever fluctuate?
Do the products come with a warranty or guarantee?
Do you have a dedicated representative that will answer my questions that may arise?
Do you have and use a data feed?

Sending your supplier an email will also help you gauge the responsiveness of their sales representatives.

How can you find a drop shipping supplier?

Google

Google is a great starting point for your research into dropship suppliers. A simple Google search will yield several results, many of which will link you to directories of dropship suppliers that are contactable using the information provided. We’ve included links to our favorite directories below, but feel free to search around for suppliers in your niche industry.

Attend a trade show

Attending a trade show is a great way to network and connect with both manufacturers and suppliers within your industry. Face-to-face interactions will give you access to knowledgeable players in the field, and provide you with prompt answer to any questions you may have. This will also fast-track the process of researching new and emerging products in your niche market.

Use a supplier directory

As discussed above, supplier directories are a quick and efficient way to search for dropship suppliers operating in your niche industry. Shopify, AutoDS, and Bigcommerce have all compiled lists of recommended dropship suppliers, and provide a great place to start your research.

Avoiding fraudulent suppliers

The boom of drop shipping businesses has unfortunately opened the door to several scams and “fake” suppliers who try to take advantage of naive and unknowing retailers. Be cautious as you search for a supplier, and always do your research: check the age of the domain to ensure it’s not a new site; check supplier reviews to see if anyone has reported a scam; and ensure that the supplier has a registered business with a commercial address. Finally, pay attention to the following red flags that may indicate a scam.

Recurring fees

Legitimate suppliers don’t charge ongoing membership or service fees to the retailers they work with. If a supplier asks for any such fee, be wary.

Note however, that there are some fees that are legitimately part of doing business as a dropship retailer.

Directory fees

Sites that compile and manage supplier directories will often charge a fee (sometimes even an ongoing fee) for access. This fee is completely normal; in fact, it is buying you access to a list of vetted and legitimate suppliers.

Minimum order sizes

Some suppliers have a minimum order size for retailers making their first order. This fee can sometimes feel prohibitive, especially if it is several times the amount you expect your average order to be. In this case, offer to pre-pay the supplier the minimum order amount to build a credit, which can then be applied against future drop shipping orders. In this way, you’ve met the minimum order size without placing a large order before you’ve built your customer base.

Per-order shipping fees

Per-order shipping fees are standard for many suppliers. These fees are typically under $5, but may be higher if the product is large or bulky. This fee covers the costs of packaging and shipping one-off orders, which is always more expensive than the cost of shipping in bulk.

Sales to the public

If a potential supplier sells products to the general public at a “wholesale price,” this is just a retailer in disguise. Wholesale prices are only offered to legitimate retail businesses who have set up an account with a supplier.

Running your drop shipping business

Now that you’ve chosen your products and supplier, it is time to get to the fun part: running and operating your drop shipping business!

What platform should you choose?

There are a few platforms on which you can run your drop shipping business, but as the leading ecommerce platform, we’d be remiss not to recommend using Shopify. Shopify’s site is simple, straightforward, and easy to navigate, even for those without a technical background. For those new to the drop shipping world, Shopify offers a hassle-free way to get started, so that you can spend less time setting up your website and more time marketing your brand.

How should you market your drop shipping business?

There are several different marketing strategies you can use to market your drop shipping business. Marketing is an important aspect of your growth as an online business because it will garner trust in your brand. Especially if you are just getting started as an entrepreneur, building confidence in your brand will be a key factor in selling your products.

Email marketing

Email marketing is a simple and effective way to keep customers in the know about new products, price changes, sales, and developments within the industry. There is no shortage of software to help you automate and streamline your email marketing tactics, but Klaviyo is an easy place to start.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing is an indispensable piece of any business plan. For a drop shipping business, running dynamic social media accounts will put your customers in touch with an additional “face” of your brand, beyond your website. By creating engaging content, you can potentially reach a huge audience, to whom you can advertise your products and convert into loyal customers.

If you’re interested in how to successfully market your ecommerce business on Instagram, or many of the other social media platforms out there, check out our friends at Whole Design Studios.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads

Many popular social media channels allow PPC advertising, which is a a digital marketing model in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. With PPC ads, it’s important to do your research to ensure that the ads you are paying for are in fact driving traffic to your site. Facebook ads and Google AdWords are popular platforms for PPC advertising, though almost every social media channel will offer PPC ads.

Customer reviews

When was the last time you made an online purchase without first reading customer reviews? Customer reviews happen to be especially strong deal-makers and deal-breakers in the drop shipping business model, because where the competition is intense, customers can easily find your product elsewhere. For this reason, it is essential to consider the ways in which you will build customer satisfaction through your business practices: Do you offer reliable and helpful customer service? Are your shipping times quick? Do you offer upgrades for out-of-stock items? Beyond these standard procedures, considering following up with customers after they’ve received their purchase to ensure their satisfaction.

Growth hacking

Finally, growth hacking is another cost-effective and efficient way to creatively market yourself online. Some ways to growth hack would be to guest post on a popular blog within your niche industry or use influencers marketing strategies to grow your business.

How do you manage refunds, returns, and replacements?

Return process

The return process for dropshipped goods is more complicated than that which accompanies traditional businesses, but as long as the customer’s return is covered by the supplier’s return policy, it should be fairly straightforward. There are four steps to returns for dropshipped goods:

First, the customer will call or email your retail business to apply for a refund.
Second, you contact the supplier to request a return merchandise authorization number.
Next, and only once the customer has mailed the product back to the supplier, the supplier refunds the wholesale price to your account.
Finally, you initiate a refund in the amount of the retail price to the customer.

Note that some suppliers may charge a restocking fee, the payment of which is the responsibility of the retailer. When choosing a supplier, be sure to ask questions about their returns and refund policy so that you can communicate these terms to your customers and so that you are not surprised with hidden costs down the line.

Defective products

Product defects are likely the result of a manufacturing error. Because neither the supplier nor the retailer–and certainly not the customer–is responsible for the defect, the question of who will bear the cost of returning the product is an important one. This should be discussed with your supplier in the contract negotiation phase, and if it does fall on you, you may just need to look at it as the cost of doing business.

If the defective item is inexpensive, consider shipping you customer a replacement product without requiring that they return the defective product; this will really wow your customers and boost customer satisfaction.

Supplier errors

If you operate your drop shipping business for long enough, you are bound to run into a problem where your supplier botches an order. In most cases, suppliers will either reimburse the customer or replace the product at no cost. This is another practicality that should be discussed with your supplier upfront and confirmed in writing.

Because your customer doesn’t even know that your supplier exists, it will always be your brand reputation on the line, regardless of the fact that the error was the supplier’s fault. This means that you need to own the mistake. The best thing you can do in this circumstance is apologize to the customer and offer to remedy the problem, and maybe even offer an additional bonus, such as a refund of the shipping costs or store credit.

On the backend, you should seek reimbursement from the supplier for its error. Ideally, you and your supplier will have already negotiated how to manage such situations, so the transaction should be straightforward.

How do you manage inventory?

There’s nothing worse than needing to contact a customer to tell her that the product she ordered is out of stock, yet this is one of the most common challenges for drop shipping retailers: inventory management across several suppliers. Because supplier inventory is constantly changing, even the best technological tools may fail to accurately track inventory, especially if your supplier lacks real-time data feeds.

We’ve included below some of the best ways to track and manage your suppliers’ inventory so that you can limit the number of out-of-stock items sold to customers.

Multiple suppliers

Using multiple suppliers with overlapping products is a great way to avoid the problem of out-of-stock items. If one supplier doesn’t have the item you’re looking for, you can simply call on the next.

Generic items

If you can ensure that the products offered by each of your suppliers are similar enough that a generic product description on your website will accurately describe them both, then you needn’t worry about which supplier you use to fulfil an order. This is an especially useful practice where the products you sell are accessories and add-ons. It should go without saying that you should never dropship a a generic product as a substitution for a well-known name brand item.

Out-of-stock products

Even with multiple suppliers, you will almost certainly run into cases when a customer has purchased an item that is out of stock. In this scenario, communication is key. Simply explain to your customer that you’re unable to fulfil the order at this time, and offer them the option of waiting until the product is restocked, refunding the purchase, or if you’re really interested in boosting customer satisfaction, sending a similar but upgraded product.

Drop shipping in 2024

If you’ve read this far, then consider yourself well-equipped to start, run, and grow your drop shipping business. By following the steps and tips above, and with some time and dedication to keeping up-to-date with market research, you will be well on your way to running a successful drop shipping business.

One of the main benefits of the drop shipping business model is the low risk, meaning that if at first you don’t succeed, experiment! Consider changing your market, selling different products, and testing alternative marketing approaches. With enough motivation and virtually no expense, you can build a business from scratch and join the thousands of other entrepreneurs who have grown their brands using this model!

Ecommerce Tools

Shopify Review: (December 2025) Ecommerce Platform Pros & Cons

Post author By Giles Thomas
Post date April 30, 2018

Whether you’re just starting out on an exciting new venture, have a new idea for an ecommerce store that’s going to change the world, or you already have a Shopify store or use another platform and just want to take your business up a notch, this Shopify review will answer all your main questions.

We take you through all its main features. We cover its major strengths (and a couple of weaknesses). And we show exactly what you can and can’t do with it.

You’ll see how the platform has risen dramatically because it manages to balance simplicity (you can use Shopify with very little technical know-how) and functionality (it does everything that most stores need). All that at a very reasonable price point…

By the end of the review, you’ll have a clearer idea of whether the platform can serve your needs; and, if you’re already a Shopify user, you may pick up some new ideas about optimizing your store.

Shopify review: A little background on a big player…

In the most basic terms, Shopify is software that allows almost any one to sell almost anything online in a variety of different ways. But you probably know that already.

What you may not know is that Shopify started life in 2004, near the start of the rise of ecommerce. The company is based in Ottawa, Canada.

The idea was to provide a platform for people who knew almost nothing about the technical side of the deal (programming, coding, development) but who had products and services that they wanted to get out to the marketplace.

In short, they wanted to make online selling easy so that store owners could focus on what they’re best at – and leave the technical side to others without it costing the earth.

So Shopify created a fully integrated e-commerce solution that has become a market leader: a comprehensive platform that is flexible and customizable enough to be scaled up or down with your business – no matter which model you use.

It is affordable for almost any business, and can help you market, promote, and track sales of your products and services, as well as handling the purchase transactions.

And it’s still growing and becoming more sophisticated each year…

Shopify’s standout features: Ease of use & flexibility

Before we delve deeper into Shopify, let’s focus quickly on its real standout features.

Take a look around at the most successful types of businesses in 2018. The likes of Apple, AirBnB, Uber and so on. The one characteristic that connects them all is simplicity.

People increasingly demand ease of use: make it overly complicated and you’re just not going to get very far. But while almost every new tool, app, or piece of software claims simplicity, not many actually walk the talk.

Shopify does – and has it covered on two main fronts:

A Shopify store is easy to SET UP and ADMINISTER – for you, the business owner
It’s easy to SHOP – for your all-important customers (including on mobile)

This ease of use is combined with a flexibility that also makes it highly customizable. You get:

A choice of design structures – so you can get the ‘nuts and bolts’ right;
Design templates – for the look you need;
Mobile responsiveness – for a great user experience;
A product/service catalogue that’s simple to manage efficiently;
A choice of online payment options.

There is more on each of these features below. For now, let’s just observe that Shopify sits in the ‘sweet spot’ of ecommerce platforms. It’s simple enough for first-time users to create a fully hosted store out-of-the-box from 100-plus optimized store designs and to manage it from the standard dashboard; but it also carries enough ‘extra’ features and apps that it also supports more sophisticated functionality. So more advanced store designers also tend to love it.

And performance remains consistently good for customers (uptime, load times etc.), no matter which setup your store requires.

Bottom line: most stores can get the setup, themes, and branding they’re after without having to jump through hoops to get there. But if you enjoy hoop-jumping, be our guest!

Who’s Shopify designed for?

Because of its flexibility and ease of use, Shopify is suitable for almost any store owner and any business: new or established, big, small, or medium-sized, product-based, service-based, subscription-based, Amazon-based, and so on.

In fact, it’s difficult to come up with a type of ecommerce business where you’d think: “Shopify’s not right”.

You’ll see from the pricing plans detailed below that there really is something for everyone – from the smallest of startups to Lady Gaga and beyond.

So, to summarize, Shopify is designed for:

Sole traders with little or no experience in ecommerce and little technical expertise
Small startups just setting out with an idea for a store and a few products
Small businesses wanting to keep a tight handle on costs
Medium-sized businesses looking to grow with their market but keep development costs down to a minimum
Larger businesses wanting to scale up to the next level & boost revenues
Offline ‘pop up’ stores or booths looking for a POS system

Most readers will be in the first three categories above: and you’ll find most features of Shopify ideal for what you want to achieve.

Different store options supported by Shopify

Shopify supports all of the following ecommerce business models:

Dropshipping – where you don’t keep the products in stock but fulfill orders by purchasing them from a third party, who ships them directly to the customer. Shopify makes it easy to use this low-cost way of selling – no need to invest in inventory.
Subscription models – Shopify allows for recurring orders to be placed with a simple app integration (Recharge).
Blog post or Facebook BUY buttons – simply add a BUY button to blog posts or to Facebook pages to instantly turn your hard work into revenue. The entire customer experience takes place there rather than through a separate store.
Amazon & eBay – a Shopify dashboard is all you need to connect to the huge markets available through the Amazon, eBay and Facebook channels – and you can easily manage listings, sales, revenue, and inventory from one central place.
Affiliate selling – another effective way of selling from your own store but without the investment in inventory. All it takes is a Shopify app integration to make it happen.
Enterprise selling – for high-volume enterprise-level stores, Shopify Plus offers a scaled-up version of their store and additional growth strategies.

POS store options – you can also use Shopify offline, as POS software at your pop-up store or event booth. Take credit card payments for products and these sales will integrate with your online store sales records and inventory. This is all aided by the iPad app, which is included and which allows you to swipe customer credit cards.

Multi-channel sales models are supported by Shopify, potentially expanding your reach. You can sell on Facebook, Amazon, your blog, and from a pop-up booth, as well as from your online store, while keeping all the management and sales information centralized in one place.

Getting your store set up with the Shopify wizard

It’s actually possible to set up a new Shopify store within minutes. Even if you don’t really know what you’re doing, it’s really easy, thanks to the setup Wizard.

Here’s a step-by-step way to create your store:

Tell them what you’re planning to do on Shopify…

2. Provide a few contact details…

3. Start the trial & create your online store…

You’ll be prompted to select your plan here – but you can start creating your store without clicking on a plan and providing credit card details.

4. Choose a design for your store by selecting & customizing your theme

Your choice of Shopify themes

Getting the look right is important as you set up your store. It needs to represent your brand, be eye-catching, and showcase your products in the best light possible.

You’ll find over 100 different designs, with more on the way. Most of these are for sale but there are also more than 20 free themes. All themes are optimized for viewing on mobile as well as desktop and provide a slick user experience.

Do yourself a favor and get a paid theme as they are generally more customizable.

The templates save you from having to build your store entirely from the ground up. They are customizable in terms of colors, typography, headers, footers, home page elements (which products to feature, for instance). Simply use the template editor or use Shopify Sections (see below).

This set up allows store owners of any level of technical expertise to create a completely unique store. And nobody will ever know that you didn’t design it yourself – because there is no Shopify branding on it.

Here’s an example of one of the free ones available right now:

And here are a couple of the paid ones:

Customize using Shopify Sections

Using Shopify Sections, you can insert and position the elements you want on your homepage, with simple drag and drop technology.

This relatively recent addition (2016/2017) helps you insert the desired content into your homepage at the click of a button. You’re in control of creating the look and feel you want – whether it’s a certain type of product carousel, a slideshow, or something else.

A very customer-friendly Interface

If you want a challenge, find an interface on an ecommerce platform that’s easier to use than the Shopify one!

For those used to the WordPress dashboard, this might remind you of it a little.

The Shopify interface makes it simple to manage all the key aspects of your Shopify store from one central location. It consists of a number of menu sections, listed down the left-hand side of the page:

Home

Provides a store overview, including today’s sales and visitors, recent activity, and Shopify announcements. A load of valuable information on this page.

Orders

Manage, track and view all orders (fulfilled and unfulfilled) according to date/time. Create orders for phone-based customers. Also check and manage abandoned checkouts.

Products

Add products, import existing product inventory, manage and track inventory, organize products into collections and sell gift cards: everything to do with your products all centralized and arranged neatly.

Customers

This contains every customer’s details and their purchase history – all neatly arranged. You can segment lists into repeat customers, highest spending customers (over a certain amount), those that accept marketing, etc.

Analytics

This is where you track sales, refunds, taxes, and payments, as well as visitor numbers and conversion rates etc. More about these reports below.

Discounts

Here you can create discounts and view all active, scheduled, and expired discount promotions that you have set up in your store.

Apps

This section lists all the apps you use on your store and provides access to the Shopify App store, where you can download other innovative apps to help you with marketing & sales, social media, inventory, accounting, and shipping. More about this below.

Online store section

This section of the dashboard manages some important functions – including actually making your store visible to the world (if you haven’t yet done that).

The overview section will include an UNLOCK MY STORE button, which takes you to a page where you select the plan you want – more details about these below in the Pricing Plan section.

If your store is already ‘live’, the Online Store menu allows you to add additional features to your store that add depth and appeal for your customers and help you create new sales channels. These include:

Review & customize themes

Add blog posts & moderate comments

Add new pages such as About Us (and edit existing pages)

Set up menus and simplify navigation of your store

Manage your domains

Set preferences for SEO, Analytics etc.

Administer your channels like Facebook, Pinterest etc.

Settings section

In this section, you also get to customize the following aspects of your store, amongst others:

Payment gateways – see below in detail;
Checkout settings – refund policies, language, user accounts only or guest accounts allowed?
Tax preferences – the more tedious financial stuff;
Shipping details – shipping costs, international shipping arrangements, etc;
Notifications – how you contact customers, message preferences when a new order arrives, etc.

To host or not to host?

For sole traders and startups especially, another useful aspect of Shopify is that it can host your domain name, as well as your website.

Small and medium businesses may want to look after these aspects themselves or use a third party web hosting service. But most small stores won’t want the hassle and will be busy enough without worrying about technical matters.

Besides, there are other advantages to keeping it all in one place, especially with a large player like Shopify, which runs powerful, secure, cloud hosting servers with excellent uptime, bandwidth, and speeds.

How customers pay for purchases: Shopify Payments

How is your store able to accept payments from customers? You need a payment gateway that connects your store checkout to the merchant account.

Shopify Payments allows customers to easily, conveniently, and securely make credit card payments for purchases from your store.

This will involve just the standard gateway fees and merchant account rates – but no additional commission fees from Shopify.

Shoppers simply enter their email address and a 6-digit verification code (which expires), thereby shortening the checkout process. All other information will be pre-filled, saving time for the customer.

Shopify Payments is the simplest, most cost-effective, and most popular way to accept online payments from your store.

Being already integrated with your store, there’s no need to set up any third-party payment gateway or merchant account if you go down this route. Everything is managed in one place using the in-built system.

Using Shopify Payments, you can:

Accept all major credit cards from day one;
Align your card rate to your Shopify plan – change it as you become more established and more aware of transaction volumes;
Easily view order values and associated charges;
Track pending payout balance and payout schedule;
Use chargeback responses compiled by Shopify to recover lost sales.

In some locations, you may be liable for additional transaction fees on top of the card rate but this is not the case if you are based in the U.S., Canada, Australia, or the UK.

The Payments page allows you to set up manual payments (such as bank transfers, COD, etc.) and PayPal payments, as well as accepting credit cards through a variety of gateways.

Rather than using Shopify Payments, store owners can choose a third-party payment processor from the 100-plus international external gateways.

However, this will incur not only merchant account provider’s credit card fees and subscription fees (more details in the Pricing section) but the following commissions, dependent upon the plan selected:

Basic – 2% commission
Shopify – 1% commission
Advanced Shopify – 0.5% commission
Shopify Plus – 0.25% commission

Pricing plans

Shopify has competitive and flexible payment plans – which make running a store no more expensive than running a smartphone for many small business owners!

The basic pricing ranges from $9 per month (a simple BUY button) to $179 per month and includes four plans designed for small and medium businesses:

Shopify Lite (No online store) $9/month

Shopify Basic (includes online store) $29/month

Shopify Pro (more features for your store) $79/month

Shopify Unlimited (unlimited features) $299/month

Of course, these are the basic monthly fees – other costs are based upon transaction volumes.

Let’s take a closer look at what this could mean for you below…

Overview of the pricing plans

Shopify Lite: $9/month

Shopify doesn’t heavily promote this option – you may not even be aware of its existence on the Shopify website!

This option is for those who want a BUY button added to a blog, a WordPress website or Facebook page: it allows you to monetize your content by enabling visitors to buy whatever it is you’re featuring.

There is no store or shopping cart – simply the ability to accept credit card payments and provide support. You get one user account only.

Basic Shopify: $29/month

This option is probably the most popular amongst startups. $29 per month (plus 2.9% and 30¢ per transaction) gets you a fully-fledged Shopify store where you can showcase and sell unlimited products and services. It handles payments and all the back-end stuff.

It’s a good option for small businesses that need a website-based store (whether or not you already have a domain name), needing no more than 2 staff accounts and a cost-effective, smooth operation without having to think too much about the day-to-day workings of the store.

You even get access to the POS system for offline sales integration with your online store, as well as the ability to add a BUY button to your Facebook page.

Shopify: $79/month

This option for $79 per month (plus 2.6% and 30¢ per transaction) is great for growing ecommerce businesses that need to take a step up from the ‘entry level’ plan. You can upgrade from the Basic plan easily when you get to this stage.

It’s a good option for businesses with sales of over $5000 (lower transaction fees) and that need up to 5 staff accounts.

It allows the sale of gift cards, as well as abandoned cart recovery emails, shipping discount packages, and professional reporting – plus all the features of the Basic plan.

Advanced Shopify: $299/month

The $299 per month advanced option (plus 2.4% and 30¢ per transaction) includes more advanced analytics, as well as access for 15 users, and third-party calculated shipping rates.

It’s ideal for larger ecommerce businesses generating over $10,000 per month in revenue – that require unlimited space to grow traffic and sales and prefer to calculate shipping rates through a third party rather than through the Shopify partners (DHL, UPS and US Postal Service).

Note: Shopify Plus

We won’t cover this one in much detail. It’s the enterprise plan that will be overkill for most readers and for which you need to apply to Shopify for pricing (starting at $2000 per month).

It’s worth noting here that every Shopify plan comes with unlimited bandwidth so your store should remain slick and fast-loading no matter the volume of traffic you receive.

Discounts and free trial

With the four main pricing options from Lite to Advanced, it’s easy to switch between plans as required. Simply upgrade or downgrade from month to month. Again, the Shopify Plus plan is different – you are locked in for 12 months minimum.

Note that Shopify offers a 10 percent discount if you commit to an annual payment with the four main plans.

Also note that there is a free, 14-day trial before committing to any plan. You will get access to all the features so that you can test the platform and decide which features you need at present – and what can wait.

Add-on app options

In addition to the main pricing plans that cover the general requirements for online stores, Shopify offers an impressive array of apps that integrate seamlessly with your store, as required.

It offers more apps than most other ecommerce solutions; hundreds of free and paid apps to enhance the look, feel, and functionality of your store – notably in the areas of marketing, social media, sales, shipping, and customer service.

Most apps in the app store can be trialed first so if they don’t work how you expected, you can simply uninstall and move to the next one.

New features always being added…

To give you an indication of the constantly evolving nature of Shopify, here are a few of the features that have been added in the past 12 months or so:

Shopify ‘Burst’

This feature provides free stock photos for commercial use, conveniently arranged into collections. It makes it easy to find the right images for use your website – without worrying about copyright infringements.

Shopify Burst also has nice little ‘value adds’ like marketing tips and business model insights.

Search bar on the dashboard

Shopify added a search bar at the top of the dashboard to make it easier to find what you’re looking for – like a particular product or customer.

Shopify Mac app

To access your Shopify dashboard from a Mac computer, you can simply launch the app rather than having to login through a browser.

BuzzFeed sales channel

Get your products and services in front of a new audience with BuzzFeed sales channel integration on Shopify. By tagging products, BuzzFeed editors can locate them easier and this potentially opens up a huge new audience of 200 million users.

Checkout on your own domain

The customer checkout process was made easier and more seamless when, last year, Shopify enabled checkout from your store domain rather than the “checkout.shopify.com” domain. This was a free addition for all Shopify stores.

Google autocomplete for Shopify checkouts

Another improvement to the store checkout process was made last year when Shopify introduced Google Autocomplete. Again, this was a free improvement that speeds up the process and which was made available to all Shopify stores.

Selling on Amazon and eBay

As mentioned earlier, Shopify store owners can now sell seamlessly on Amazon and eBay. New product categories have been created to help you create listings, manage inventory and fulfill orders to Amazon customers from your dashboard.

Shopcodes

Shopify has also introduced Shopcodes. These are QR codes that can be generated from an app and scanned in order to direct shoppers to a specific product on your Shopify store. Great for packing inserts, pop-up stores, and offline ads.

Monitoring & tracking store performance

Any ecommerce software worth using must be able to show you how your store is performing.

From the Analytics section of the Shopify dashboard, you can generate arrange of clear, concise reports showing (amongst others):

Gross product sales by product
Gross product sales by month
Gross sales by payment method
Gross sales by traffic referral source
Order sales by month/hour/billing address/customer/referral source etc
Payments by method/channel

Built-in Shopify SEO & marketing tools

Shopify helps ensure that your store is found through organic search, with its built-in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features. This SEO is also customizable, allowing you to add your own keywords for each page and change URLs to make them more SEO-friendly.

You may even receive periodic offers of free AdWords cash in your account, due to the partnership between Shopify and Google: another indication that Shopify stores are well-favored by Google.

To aid marketing efforts on the social networks, consider using the discount code coupon generator available with all the paid plans from Basic to Advanced.

You can also connect Shopify with your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts (buttons are available via apps); and an email form is provided. However, you can be more effective with your social media and email marketing by downloading the appropriate apps from the App Store.

While Shopify helps you make a good start with SEO and marketing your store, you’ll probably want to implement more of a comprehensive marketing strategy to generate more interest and traffic.

Security

Security is understandably a big deal for ecommerce store owners and customers.

The Shopify payment system is hosted on a Level 1 PCI DSS compliant server and all pricing plans include 128-bit free SSL.

In short, this means that your data (and your customers’ data) is secure. What’s more, you can demonstrate security to your customers by displaying a security badge – this helps alleviate customer concerns about their data.

The vulnerability management area provides protection from fraudulent activity and you can limit access to your dashboard by granting or removing access privileges for staff.

Shopify also creates secure backups of all your data so that, in the event of a big disaster and your store completely crashing, it can be restored.

Customer support

You choose Shopify so that you don’t have problems – but all software can run into issues from time to time. What separates the best from the rest is how well these problems are dealt with.

The Ecommerce University provides access to eBooks, videos, and guides to help beginners in ecommerce get to grips with the basics.

Shopify also educates its customers on how to get the most out of the platform, via its blog. It also runs extensive support pages, with FAQs and tutorials. This is where you can get help in setting up your store and may be able to find solutions to other questions you have and instructions for optimizing your store, once you’re up and running.

Additional paid-for assistance for more complex issues is provided through its experts directory, if you have exhausted the other web-based options.

24/7 customer support is also available via phone, chat, and email.

Any negatives?

The above Shopify review has been almost entirely positive. Surely there must be some negatives about Shopify?

In the interests of balance, the following aspects may be ‘minus’ points for some store owners:

The costs may mount up if you don’t choose Shopify Payments as your payment gateway. When you compare packages makes sure you compare like for like – what’s it actually going to cost (rather than just the stated monthly fees).
Your level of control over the site is hindered by the lack of an FTP client and the proprietary Shopify coding. For most store owners, it won’t matter, as they will get all the features they want either out of the box or through the Shopify App store. For people with advanced coding and web development skills, who want more control over their store, this may be perceived as a negative.

Why we recommend Shopify

Ecommerce has changed the game in recent years. No longer does a store owner have to take out a bank loan in order to cover the overheads involved in getting products and services to market.

Software development companies like Shopify have made it very easy – and very cost-effective.

Who would have thought that you could set up a basic store for less than you spend on coffee every month? Or you could sell from a blog or Facebook page using the Lite plan for less per month than some people spend on coffee in a day!

By making a few smart choices, you can reach your market quickly and effectively – keeping costs down and profits up.

And, while there are other platform choices out there for you, Shopify is recommended for most readers because of its ease of use, flexibility, and range of features.

WordPress or Magento require some development knowledge; in the case of WordPress, it is a content management system that is not specifically designed for ecommerce, like Shopify is. WIX and Weebly may be a little too simple for your requirements and more difficult to scale.

Shopify occupies that ‘sweet’ middle ground that will suit most store owners and their customers.

You probably don’t have the technical expertise and/or motivation to develop a custom site yourself – and hiring professionals can get expensive. Besides, the monthly and annual payment options make Shopify affordable – and the ability to scale up as you grow without changing platform is attractive.

One of the standard Shopify pricing plans should work for most readers and will have all the features you could ever need. Whatever’s not there already built in, you can probably install with the optional apps.

And, with Shopify’s 99.94% uptime guarantee, robust security, and great load times, you can sit back, relax, and focus on growing your business without worrying too much about the tech side of your store.

Shopify provides a solid foundation to work from with all the necessary nuts and bolts in place. From there, the success of your store will depend on the effectiveness of your store’s marketing strategy.