If you are selling a business or product or service with product inventory, Shopify must be on your radar. The platform makes it easy to build a digital storefront for customers, whether they purchase directly, online or through social and digital markets. Shopify plans start at $29 a month billed annually, with additional tiers of $79 and $299 a month. More expensive plans come with lower processing fees, discounts on shipping, and additional staff accounts, which means that if you have more sales volumes and large inventory, savings can easily offset an increase in annual fees. There is also a $5/month starter subscription for users who sell their products via social, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. There’s no completely free tier on Shopify, but it’s offered for $1 a month following a 3-day free trial, so you can try it out before committing.
Also: If you want to count Amazon affiliate links, don’t do this
Shopify’s website builder is less intuitive to use than some other platforms and isn’t easy to customize. There are almost 240 themes to choose from, but only a handful are free. There is a guided setup wizard for adding products, designing storefronts, setting up payment and delivery, and basic AI tools for generating text and media for your site. If you need additional help to launch and run, you can hire an expert through Shopify’s partner directory.
All plans have unlimited bandwidth and storage, page cache, SSL certificates, and robust marketing and e-commerce features, both in-person and online sales, including inventory tracking, sales points, abandoned cartridge recovery, and email marketing. Shopify promises 99.99% uptime and 24/7 customer support over live chat if you experience any issues.
Shopify Features: SSL Certificate | 99.99% Uptime | Basic AI Tools | 24/7 Customer Chat Support | 3 Day Free Trial
