Shopify & ecommerce

Shopify is an all-purpose, hosted ecommerce platform which is specifically designed to suit the needs of independent businesses and SMEs.

Why?

Because it’s an easy to set up, simple to manage Cloud-based platform which allows sellers (or in Shopify-speak, ‘merchants’) to customise their own online store with the minimum of fuss but maximum flexibility, selling internationally across multiple channels.

In 2020, 457 million people made a purchase from a Shopify store, an indication of its wildfire spread across the globe as a leading ecommerce platform.

The reasons why are clear: because the software was devised especially for smaller retailers and businesses, it cleverly combines complex functionality and versatile creativity with a dead-easy set up and super-secure hosting.

What this means is that even the basic template for start-ups has all that’s required to run a decent online shop; as a business grows, layer upon layer of additional features can be added as and when, so the store can develop organically, never outgrowing the platform but capitalising on all it has to offer as the nature of the business and customer base changes.

The speed of initial build is one of the main advantages Shopify has over other CMS like WordPress and Magento which tend to be more complex and therefore more expensive to set up.

Everything is centralised, with a single dashboard making order management, shipping and payments a cinch to handle; so a business owner can literally manage their store on the go from a phone app.

This Cloud-based centralisation also provides a reassuring level of stability and scope, with limitless bandwidth and reliable servers (no need for back ups).

Shopify offers powerful tools, especially financial features. The encrypted payment system provides the same level of security used by banks and Shopify can automatically handle sales tax and VAT tailored to location.

Crucially, no third party is needed to link buyer and seller, with a whole range of payment options possible, from credit cards and Amazon Pay to Paypal and even bitcoin. What’s more, there’s a multi-currency system in place meaning merchants can accept payment from all around the world, making it a truly internationally platform.

This really sets Shopify apart as does the flexibility around shipping rates and options, giving a choice between fixed price, tiered rates, prices based on location or weight.

Shopify can handle all or any of these, which is incredibly useful for global sales.

Customer service is also right up there as a major Shopify selling point for a fledging or expanding retail business. Creating a customer account, storing profiles and order history, tailoring automated marketing emails to a unique design, along with a quick refund tool (which also updates your inventory when something is due to be returned) combine to create a dynamic and proactive marketing relationship with anyone buying from your store.

While it’s true to say that the beauty of Shopify lies in its simplicity, to maximise all that the platform offers it’s worth hiring an agency to fully exploit Shopify’s potential for your brand.

At The Lane Agency, (one of Scotland’s leading brand and marketing agencies), we create beautifully designed online stores from scratch using Shopify, and can also revamp and migrate existing stores from other platforms.

As a Shopify agency, we’ll develop and optimise your bespoke store to reflect your visual brand; this is fundamental to getting your online store to look right because Shopify’s template sites means lots of ecommerce stores tend to look the same.

To reinforce the look and feel of your brand and make an impact in the marketplace, get an agency involved to take the design of your digital store to another level.

The sheer number of additional features and capabilities of Shopify can be bewildering; by commissioning a Shopify agency like The Lane to handpick and install the elements that will genuinely be useful for your sales, marketing and analytics goals, you’ll save time and money, knowing that the customer experience will be relevant and visually enticing, and transactions speedily completed.

When you’ve outgrown your existing CMS and want to move your system to Shopify, or upgrade to Shopify Plus, or need a re-design and some extra features integrated, The Lane Agency can take care of the process from start to finish, while your current site carries on trading with no risk to data stores or site stability.

We’ll manage any transition with zero hassle for our clients, adding a good dollop of creative and commercial experience to the ecommerce mix while we’re at it.