Last updated - December 11, 2020
When the pandemic caused every small business to close their brick-and-mortar stores, the internet materialized as their saving grace. Given the current circumstances, it’s very hard for businesses to sell products and make revenue since customers can’t visit physical storefronts anymore. Luckily, Shopify is offering a helping hand to enterprises thanks to its e-commerce platform.
Whether it’s an existing business or a startup, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to launch their online stores and restore earnings. Since lockdown, partial or complete, is in effect across the globe, businesses need to shift to digital platforms to stay afloat, and Shopify is a natural choice for several obvious reasons.
The reasons are:
Easy to Operate and Get Started
It’s expected that not all aspiring entrepreneurs and business officials are technically-inclined. Thus, it’s helpful for them to start with something easy-to-use and manageable such as an e-commerce platform like Shopify. Shopify is designed to support people with minimal to no coding and development know-how and help them seamlessly set up an e-commerce platform for the first time.
The platform takes care of the hosting that’s required to effortlessly launch the website, so all you need to think about is the name and uploading all the product info. Once you’ve registered on the Shopify website, you can begin customizing your store and upload all the details about your product listings, images, etc. You can conveniently supervise your inventory from the main dashboard and track orders, sales, and payments.
One great example of small businesses using Shopify is World’s Window, clothing, and accessories store ran by Jan Buerge. Buerge was forced to close doors to customers after the coronavirus outbreak. She’d been running the store for 35 years and never once considered going online until the crisis hit Kansas City. After enlisting the help of her husband and nephew, she went live on Shopify and is flabbergasted at how easy it was to setup. It has helped her business thrive amongst these tragic times but also assisted her in reaching out to loyal customers who enjoyed coming to her store.
Packed with Features to Build A Brilliant Online Storefront
When it comes to building visually appealing and exciting e-commerce stores, then Shopify is the ultimate solution. Not only is it incredibly lucrative for its price, but it also offers multiple features, even for a ‘basic’ package, which is enough to get your online business started. Designers and developers with coding knowledge can customize the user interface to appear however they want.
This helps them stand out from other storefronts on the block and give them the leg-up they need to capture the attention of prospects. Business owners can choose layouts and themes that work best to define the aesthetic and style of their brand and products, while also ensuring that they develop a compelling user interface. For instance, Beardbrand is a rising business, specializing in grooming techniques that use eye-catching visuals and graphics to deliver information and managed to raise $120k in sales in less than a year.
Ideal for Mobile Consumers
Nowadays, most of us do window-shopping on smartphones or tablets; thereby, it’s vital that websites are responsive to smaller screens. Shopify is an excellent choice for setting up your e-commerce store as it intensely prioritizes website responsiveness for all screens. With more people accessing the web on mobile phones than desktop, there is no other choice but to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. If your website fails to integrate this vital component, then you are guaranteed to lose leads and customers.
Shopify caters to mobile consumers so that all the themes are designed to be adaptable to smaller screen sizes and are regularly upgraded according to the website’s requirements. Essentially, storefronts that are mobile-friendly deliver better shopping experiences and drive sales, resulting in increased customer satisfaction. To top it all off, when your website is responsive and adaptable on any screen, it will rank higher on search engines and gain massive exposure.
Due to the pandemic, clients are excessively cleaning and disinfecting their homes to prevent the spread of infections. This has led to a rise in carpet cleaning appointments via mobile devices since people can’t physically visit stores anymore. A cleaning company is taking full advantage of this feature by creating its mobile website through Shopify.
Secure and Quick Payment Gateway
E-commerce stores that want to earn the trust of their customers need to ensure that they’re offering a secure and reliable payment procedure. Shopify specializes in providing its clients with a variety of payment options so customers can pay for items the way they want. The company supports Stripe, which facilitates smooth and easy transactions, so customers don’t have to worry about paying any additional fee. Customers can also pay from PayPal if they don’t use credit cards.
Insanely popular and high-end cosmetics brand, Kylie Cosmetics, is also using Shopify to establish its own online presence and connect with customers on a deeper level. Brands are stepping out of their comfort zones and aiming to sell directly to customers through their own portals, and Shopify is helping them accomplish those objectives.
24/7 Customer Support
Shopify enables clients to benefit from 24-hour support via phone, email, or live chat. This way, customers know you’re available at any time to handle their queries and concerns and direct them towards the right information. The quality of your customer service is fundamental for the success of your business as it helps you build understanding and trust with your clients.
Final Thoughts: Shopify To the Rescue
Shopify has been a beacon of hope during these dark times; it has shown entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses that they can get through this. The platform is constantly modifying and improving its functionality to provide the utmost ease and convenience to businesses. It’s currently introducing new tools to its dashboard that can aid small businesses to grow revenue and stay afloat even after the crisis settles down. All in all, Shopify has empowered merchants in a time of uncertainty and fueled them to not go down without a fight.
