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A non-tech user opinion of Shopify Basic for the new eCommerce user and startup.
October 08, 2019

A non-tech user opinion of Shopify Basic for the new eCommerce user and startup.

RICKY NG | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Basic

Overall Satisfaction with Shopify

We run Shopify Basic for eCommerce as a second storefront for our luggage business. It is used as an independent store platform alongside our BigCommerce platform. Given Shopify is a top eCommerce platform, we decided to try it and test out its performance compared to our BigCommerce store.
  • The pool of available premium themes for different sellers to purchase is deep.
  • Storefront speeds.
  • Comprehensive and deep pool of customised apps.
  • Default, out-of-the-box SEO with basic subscription is very poor over time (over 18 months) for search engine crawling.
  • The control panel speed for the merchant is very slow and nothing like the storefront speed.
  • Product creation listing is not fast or simple enough.
  • Negative ROI for out of the box store launch and set up over time without engaging a Shopify expert.
  • Bad organic ranking means few sales over time.
  • Only positives were the fast storefront speed and the neat screen adjusting mobile experience.
  • Bad design when using default order and invoice management template.
We selected Shopify because of the competitor reviews as one of the top 3 eCommerce platforms globally, but Shopify Basic performs poorly for the new and non-tech capable users compared to other top-ranked eCommerce platforms. The reviews and dominating brand exposure of Shopify do not reflect its performance and features expected for the basic plan.
Shopify Basic is good for users with some level of coding knowledge who want minor theme adjustments and have SEO knowledge. For anyone completely new to Shopify, it is daunting and complicated to launch an eCommerce store without paying a professional to help set it up properly.

Shopify Feature Ratings

7.2
Product catalog & listings
7
Product management
6
Bulk product upload
7
Branding
8
Mobile storefront
9
Product variations
7
Website integration
6
Visual customization
8
CMS
7
8.0
Abandoned cart recovery
7
Checkout user experience
9
9.0
eCommerce security
9
4.0
Promotions & discounts
7
SEO
1
7.5
Order processing
7
Inventory management
8
Shipping
7
Custom functionality
8

Using Shopify

1 - 
  • Online sales
  • Online payment
  • Online checkout and marketing
1 - Any non-tech background people would find it challenging to launch and set up a new store using a free or purchased theme in the most optimised way for store product management and search engine setup and submission. The extensive Shopify help and support forums are a plus for anyone who can spend excessive time in learning the technical aspects of Shopify Basic.
  • Online selling
  • Global exposure and payment
  • Instagram and Facebook channel integration
  • Instagram integration is constantly improving.
  • Shopify updates and case studies to generate new sale ideas.
  • Deep pool of Shopify paid apps that are available which can reduce store customisation needs and investment.
  • Run multi-currency stores.
  • A/B testing against other eCommerce platforms.
  • Upgrade to Shopify professional if sales performance is satisfactory.