In recent years, the Shopify market size has increased massively. From $2.05 billion in 2015 to $96.35 in 2024, these figures show that Shopify is a suitable e-commerce platform for launching your dropshipping business.
For dropshipping, Shopify is a perfect platform with an easy-to-use interface. The platform also integrates with other software and apps, making running your store easy.
Before launching your dropshipping business on Shopify, you need to weigh the Pros and Cons Of Shopify For Dropshipping
In this article, we will walk you through the main pros and cons of Shopify for dropshipping.
Table of Contents
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) sales platform and subscription platform for e-commerce businesses. It offers a package with everything needed to start and run a successful e-commerce business.
One advantage of using Shopify for your dropshipping business is the platform is easy to use and doesn’t need any coding language to launch your store. Furthermore, customizing it to meet your business needs is easy.
Pros of Shopify for Dropshipping
Shopify is a great e-commerce platform for launching your dropshipping business. It is risk-free and has an easy interface, making it suitable for this type of business. Here are some of Shopify’s main pros for dropshipping.
Easy to use
When choosing a platform for your dropshipping, one factor you need to consider is ease of use. The main reason for this is to be able to launch your business in hours.
Shopify understands the importance of this. Thus, the platform allows users to launch their businesses online without technical or coding expertise.
With Shopify, customizing and launching your store online is simple, even for beginners. Shopify uses the drag-and-drop feature to make it easy for users to customize their store. Every functionality with Shopify is easy to add or design to meet your business goals.
Seamless Integration
Gone are the days when running your dropshipping business required you to handle everything manually, from customer support to managing orders, tracking inventory, and shipping.
With advancements in technology and the introduction of AI tools like chatbots, today, it is easy, as these tools automate every task.
Shopify understands the importance of third-party software in running your business, so integration with this app is seamless. The platform supports software for marketing, sales, customer support, and inventory management tasks. However, a chatbot like Ecommercebot makes it easy, as it handles the above functions from one setup.
Shopify offers different apps for users to run their dropshipping businesses. Additionally, the platform offers seamless integration with other apps. The integration process doesn’t require coding knowledge because it is easy, and Shopify has guides that can help you.
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Hosting and Security
Hosting your business and purchasing SSL certificates is expensive, as you need to commit to paying for the subscriptions either monthly or annually.
With Shopify, it is a hosted platform, so you don’t need to pay for any hosting. Using Shopify is affordable, as the store is hosted on the Shopify platform, so there is no hosting cost.
The security is also top-notch, as you will use advanced security features commonly used in big companies such as Shopify. For example, PCI-compliant features ensure that all credit card transactions on Shopify are secure.
With the platform having more than 1200 apps and accepting integration with third-party software, it means this platform is highly secure. Before accepting integration, the platform ensures they can sync quickly and are bug-free.
Variety of Themes
One determinant of how your dropshipping store will appear is the theme. Buyers can easily trust and purchase from a store with an appealing and unique appearance.
Your lead conversion rate will also increase once your store increases the number of visitors.
Shopify knows the importance of unique themes for your store, offering users over 150 unique themes. The themes on the Shopify theme store are divided into two categories: paid and free. Shopify offers only 12 free themes, while the other themes are premium ones.
Marketing and SEO
After launching your dropshipping business, you must tell the world about your new store. This helps drive new traffic to your business, thus increasing your brand awareness and sales.
To achieve all this, you must do heavy and strategic marketing on different platforms, such as Google Ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), SMS Marketing, and social media.
With Shopify, running your marketing campaigns on the platform is easy. The platform has landing pages that incorporate your marketing campaigns. Shopify also allows users to create store credits and coupons and offers discounts to attract more customers to your Shopify store.
Low Risk
Dropshipping is one of the most popular types of e-commerce business today. The sector is booming because this type of business requires little capital. Starting a dropshipping business on Shopify is risk-free, as the company needs a small amount of capital.
One thing that makes it cheap to own a dropshipping business on Shopify is that the company doesn’t need you to hold inventory. In dropshipping, you are a reseller; your supplier will manage the inventory and ship the products directly to your customers.
To launch your dropshipping store on Shopify, you must pay a small subscription fee, starting from as little as $5 per month. You can add premium themes and apps to make your store appealing and automate different activities. Some of these are expensive, but you can opt for affordable ones like Ecommercebot.
Smooth Customization
Shopify helps users design their stores from the start until they launch them online. However, some templates, features, themes, and settings must align with your business. Therefore, you might need to customize it to meet your goals.
You can also utilize the Shopify apps to help users add new functionalities and features to their Shopify store. These apps help make your store appealing with all the features you need without programming knowledge or special skills.
Changing your Shopify store’s overall look with Shopify themes is easy. You can also include other parts to your Shopify store, such as banners, headers, footers, and collections. With the apps and features, you can design elements and personalize the overall layout, making it appealing to your customers and aligning with all your brand needs.
Easy Scalability
Before starting your business, you must understand that it will expand with time. Shopify is a platform designed to accommodate your business in every stage. It is also suitable for launching both small and big dropshipping companies.
Unlike other platforms, which make it challenging to manage a growing business, Shopify makes it easy for users since the platform can handle any increase in your industry. Additionally, Shopify supports third-party software like Ecommercebot, which helps automate your Shopify customer journey.
24/7 Customer Support
Shopify’s customer support is reliable, as the teams are available 24/7 to assist users. Customer support on Shopify begins at the Help Center. It gives detailed information for all questions, from opening an account to closing it. The support team offers assistance in 21 different languages.
If your questions are complex, you can contact the support team via live chat, email, or even a call. However, the Shopify Community Forum should be excellent for technical support.
The forum comprises experienced people in all areas, especially in coding and operating a Shopify store.
Reliable Payment Methods
Receiving payments or paying for a subscription on Shopify is no longer a hassle. The bot supports two main payment methods, which makes the payment process easy.
The first payment method is third-party payment Gateways such as PayPal or AmazonPay. The second is Shopify Payment, an in-built system on Shopify. However, this method is only accepted in some countries.
The Shopify Payment option is convenient and cost-free. It is already connected to your account, so you don’t have to worry about connecting it. The choice is convenient because you don’t have to use third-party apps, it has first-rate data encryption, and it doesn’t have a processing fee.
Cons of Shopify For Dropshipping
The platform is suitable for your business and has all the above pros of Shopify for dropshipping. However, nothing is perfect. Shopify has its disadvantages. Here are some of the cons of Shopify for dropshipping.
Expensive Pricing Tiers
Whether you are new to or an expert in dropshipping, Shopify might be expensive for your business. Thus, you need to decide if the platform is worth it.
The platform has three primary pricing tiers: basic, Shopify, and Advanced. Furthermore, Shopify has two other plans: the starter plan for $5 per month and the Shopify Plus for $2,000.
The starter plan is perfect for testing the waters in Shopify. Its features are limited, especially for beginners. This plan is suitable for selling on social media with a link that sends buyers to your primary store.
For more advanced features, you will be forced to upgrade to a premium plan like the Basic or even the Advanced plan to get features such as blogs or themes. As a drop shipper, deciding how to proceed with the subscription is up to you. You can opt for a cheaper plan and advance as your business grows.
Lacks Email Hosting
Email marketing is an essential tool for running a successful dropshipping business. You need to communicate with your customers through email, market your store, update them on the latest trends, and notify them about their orders, among other tasks. Therefore, an email marketing tool is essential for all this.
However, Shopify doesn’t support email hosting, limiting your dropshipping business from the benefits of email marketing. Your business will be limited to using emails with domain names from well-known email providers like YahooMail and Gmail.
The disadvantage of lacking email hosting is that buyers are less likely to trust your brand, as your email needs a professional name that represents your brand. With Shopify for dropshipping, building trust with your buyers is complex due to the need for email hosting.
Difficult to Quit
Even though many people have never considered quitting, the few who have tried to leave the platform have found it hard. One challenge users encounter when trying to quit Shopify is that there needs to be a straightforward way of deleting their accounts directly from the dashboard.
Go to the Help Center for instructions on deactivating or deleting your Shopify account. However, no specific categories are set for quitting Shopify.
One good about Shopify is that it gives helpful guidelines that help ensure your data is recovered. You can transfer customer data, gift card codes, product information, orders, financial information, and discount codes.
Before quitting Shopify, you must remember to cancel any subscription you receive with third-party invoices. Clear all the pending subscriptions with things like themes or monthly apps. Leaving Shopify isn’t easy, but with the help of the support team, it can be easy.
Shopify Processing Fees
In some countries, Shopify Payments is not available. However, these payments are available in 23 countries, including New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong SAR, and most European countries.
If your country doesn’t have Shopify Payments, you must opt for third-party payment tools like PayPal, which can cost up to 2% more. Furthermore, you will be charged a processing fee for your credit card.
To offer an exceptional e-commerce business experience, you must pay for templates, apps, and chatbots like Ecommercebot.
All these software programs are paid for, and some are costly. This makes it expensive to maintain an exceptional overall experience.
Complicated Customizations
Although Shopify has easy customization features thanks to the drag-and-drop builder, there is a catch. Shopify isn’t just like any other platform that utilizes PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) to customize templates; it uses Liquid coding language, limiting some customization features.
Liquid language is a complex coding language that can be mastered regardless of expertise level. Mastering it takes a lot of time.
Every customization feature in Shopify requires coding knowledge, making it too complex for standard features.
Final Thoughts on Pros and Cons Of Shopify For Dropshipping
Before launching your dropshipping business, weigh the pros and cons and see if it suits your business. In this article, we have discussed both the pros and cons of Shopify for dropshipping, and it is clear that the pros outweigh the cons, making Shopify a good ecommerce platform for your dropshipping business.
You can try Ecommercebot for free; no credit card is required. You agree to turn your E-commerce business into a success story by clicking the image below.
To manage your Shopify business, Ecommercebot is a chatbot that makes it easy for drop shippers on Shopify. The bot automates sales, inventory management, marketing, and customer support services, giving you and your team enough time to handle complex tasks.
You can integrate our bot with your Shopify store and watch it manage the store in your absence, enhancing customer support and increasing sales through marketing.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which Shopify plan is best for dropshipping?
The basic plan costs $25 per month and is the first stage of your dropshipping business. You can advance to the premium Shopify plan as your dropshipping business expands.
Is Shopify dropshipping oversaturated?
No, Shopify dropshipping is not oversaturated, but the competition is stiff. Thus, you need strategic marketing to be successful.
What are the disadvantages of Shopify for dropshipping?
Although Shopify has many advantages for dropshipping, it also has disadvantages, such as complicated customization, difficulty quitting, lack of email marketing, Shopify processing fees, and expensive pricing tiers.
Is Shopify the best for dropshipping?
Yes, Shopify is the best platform for drop shipping. It offers customers many pros and features for running a thriving dropshipping business.
