Many businesses, especially startups, are finding it difficult to determine which platform to use for their e-commerce site. There is a lot to learn about each platform; however, we are here to make things easier for you and highlight each platform’s key features and why you may favor one over the other specific to your business. With that being said, hopefully by the time you reach the end of this, you will have a better understanding on which one to choose to better serve the needs of your business.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a platform that allows users to build and launch their very own online store, providing you with the sales features to start, run, and grow your business. The platform provides a variety of templates that can be customized, making it easy to match your businesses’ branding. Whether your business sells physical or digital products, Shopify is a platform that allows you to do both.

The great thing about Shopify is that you don’t need to have any coding, technical or design skills to create your own website. However, if you do have the experience, then Shopify also allows you to edit the HTML and CSS of your webpages. Therefore, those with experience can customize their stores to their own specifications.

Another perk about Shopify is that it runs on its own servers and is considered a ‘hosted’ solution. This means that Shopify users do not need to purchase web hosting or software, as everything you need to create and run your own store is available all through the platform. Instead, users pay a monthly fee to use.

Shopify is a web application–this means that it runs in the cloud. The great thing about that is as long as you have access to the internet and a browser, you can access and manage your store from anywhere at any time.