Shopify Plus for mid-size, global, multi-brand & multi-channel retail store
April 04, 2017
Shopify Plus for mid-size, global, multi-brand & multi-channel retail store
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Shopify Plus
We have a relatively interesting use case for Shopify Plus. We use it in conjunction with our backend ERP system, NetSuite. We also use a third party system, FarApp, that links the two systems (products, orders, inventory, pricing, etc). As a result, we use Shopify as somewhat of a "container" that houses the digitally purchasable versions of our in-store products (since we link the in-store inventory and the online inventory). We are constantly working in Shopify and also in the other systems to try and make it as efficient as possible.
Really Shopify excels in its ease of use and its focus on forward looking web technologies (responsive website, linking with analytics software, ability to use on mobile) and it struggles at some of the heavy lifting (content laden website, advanced product options, API is crappy).
Really Shopify excels in its ease of use and its focus on forward looking web technologies (responsive website, linking with analytics software, ability to use on mobile) and it struggles at some of the heavy lifting (content laden website, advanced product options, API is crappy).
- Ease of use - you can basically start using Shopify out of the box with very little training. It's self explanatory and the resources for help are fantastic.
- Support - if you are a Shopify plus merchant you have dedicated account representatives that will really go the extra mile to help or create a fix for you. They do a good job making sure that you are taken care of to the best of their ability and frequently work with engineers for quick fixes to common problems.
- Customization - this is something Shopify is going to sell you on with Plus. You can create your own checkout, you can create custom pages that link in, and you can link in other systems through their app store and also custom coding.
- Partnerships - Shopify DOES link in with some systems great (Shipstation, Uber, CreateSend/MailChimp) and that is a huge positive.
- API - unfortunately, given the amount Shopify talks about the ability to customize, they conveniently leave out the fact that their API is notoriously weak and also undocumented. It makes building custom solutions on top of Shopify cumbersome.
- Advanced Product Options - simple things like adding additional images into products with multiple variants doesn't exist! You have to install Apps to get some of this done. Inventory management is very basic and things like collection organization are light years ahead of other systems but can still use improvements.
- Mixing product and content - Surprisingly, Shopify isn't as strong here as you'd think. Oftentimes, people use entirely separate programs like Squarespace and Wordpress to run their content section of the website. This is fine except they are missing a critical component of linking the content to the product. I think Shopify should focus on this A LOT going forward.
- It's definitely made it easier for us to manage the website and their SEO appears to be strong which is great since we have changed our website so much. Also, allowing integration with Paypal and Apple pay seamlessly has definitely made a positive impact.
- The ability to sync with Shipstation and CreateSend has definitely improved business efficiencies.
- The poor API has hurt us with our integration software, FarApp, fairly significantly as it takes longer to push products online.
- Magento and Brightpearl
Shopify is definitely more intuitive and easier to get running than Magento. Think of it as Shopify being built for the user and Magento being built for the developer. Overall, they both have similar capacities but I would choose Shopify every time over Magento. Brightpearl has no eCommerce built in functionality but we used to use it similarly to how we use Shopify and FarApp and we run into the same issues (although the product sync is a built more stable on the FarApp side).