I absolutely love Shopify, would NEVER use anything else ever again.
October 09, 2019
I absolutely love Shopify, would NEVER use anything else ever again.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Other
Overall Satisfaction with Shopify
Shopify Plus is the version that we are using and it is the best online platform that we have found, bar none. We have used several different systems, including but not limited to OFBiz, Magento, and BigCommerce. Each of those other platforms have severe limitations or problems, and we have encountered none of them with Shopify. The best part for us is that we are saving thousands of $$ per month, from just hosting and general fees for merchant accounts to developers and server issues. And between the 3 active sites that we have on Shopify Plus, we are doing around $20M in sales. We love the app store and that really provides so many quick fixes or plugs gaps that we need and most of them cost little to nothing to add into your store. We couldn't be more pleased with Shopify and it has changed how we do things for the better!!!
- Much more cost effective than any other platform that we have found.
- Speed, speed, speed. The load times are much better than any other sites that we have used or found.
- The app store provides solutions for any of the little changes or things that we want to do on our sites.
- Customer service is fantastic, very helpful and quick to resolve issues that we have.
- None that we have come across yet.
- Positive within the 1st month, even with switchover development costs. We ended up saving several thousand dollars per site because of the pricing that we worked out with them because we brought over several websites to their ecosystem.
- Ongoing dev costs are way down, because of the simplicity of using Shopify.
We left BigCommerce and immediately were thrilled. BigCommerce worked fine but we saw immediate savings of several thousand dollars per month. The site speeds and page load times were way better and the app store is very comparable. Many of the features are similar between the two, but we much prefer the interface and backend of Shopify. The customer support is also much better. The overall experience between the 2 is not even close, in our mind.
Shopify Feature Ratings
Using Shopify
10 - Everything from order, shipping, inventory management, CMS, fulfillment, customer service, etc. We try and do as much as we can within the Shopify platform and it syncs perfectly with every other system that we use.
2 - Depending on the levels of customization that you have going on, you may want or need to have a person familiar enough with HTML/CSS to handle what you want done on the look and feel of your site. There are plenty of tools and themes that you can use which eliminate the need for in-house help, if you aren't doing anything major to your site. We have several sites and do quite a bit of customizing, so we have a team of people dedicated to maintaining and running the sites.
- Online Sales
- Order Management
- Wholesale Ordering Portal for B2B customers
- Totally customized the site to meet our design needs. We aren't limited to using simple themes or basic designs. It has been nice to have the flexibility.
- Wholesale and retail customers, all served within the same online site. Makes for simple ordering for all customers, B2B and B2C.
- More websites.
Evaluating Shopify and Competitors
Yes - BigCommerce, Magento, OFBiz
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Third-party Reviews
PRICE. The cost for our organization dropped by several thousand dollars per month to get more features, faster websites, and better support. How can you not jump on something like that???
We wouldn't change a thing.
Shopify Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Yes - First we designed the sites and got all of the assets in place. API was setup for warehouse and order management. Everything was in sandbox mode and we made sure that everything functioned exactly how we needed it to. Then, we migrated all order and customer data over from old platform and then went live. Once that shift was made, we then started to integrate other systems and applications that weren't essential for launch, such as accounting, email management tools, etc. Everything went smooth.
Change management was minimal - That we are a well oiled machine and that Shopify just made things run even smoother and more effectively! Not sure that I understand this question, but moving to Shopify was a painless experience for our organization and we would do it over again, exactly the way that we did it the first time.
- Getting small design features exactly the way that we wanted them, both for mobile and desktop users. We are very particular on certain elements and we did a lot of customization work that many other organizations probably wouldn't do, so that took more time and fine-tooth combing to ensure that it was up to our standard.
Shopify Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - Because we are on the Plus platform, we already get the highest level of support included. It is awesome and just baked into the price that we are paying to run all of our websites.
Just the other day, we were having an issue with a bot subscribing customers to our account that weren't real customers. They offered a quick solution and encouraged us to enable CAPTCHA on the newsletter signup page, and that solved the issue. It took 5 minutes and we were all set and have not seen any more issues since then.
Using Shopify
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Order management works great.
- Many features are just built right into the system and simple to customize and add your personal touch to, such as notifications, cart abandonment emails, etc.
- API is fantastic and easy to use for warehouses, accounting, analytics, etc. Everything ties into other products so seamlessly and just works.
- Still haven't found anything that was particularly troublesome or hard for us.
Yes - It provides a lot of the basics that you need. I can respond to customers or update orders or discounts or site messaging right from the golf course on my phone. Some of the more comprehensive things, like changing up product page content or changing the theme variables and design isn't really all that easy to do on a phone, but I wouldn't ever attempt to do that anyways. The mobile app is perfect for the simple things that we are likely to do on the phone.