Shopify is a powerful eCommerce solution that allows every merchant to sell everywhere from one single dashboard. Explore Shopify's features, how it work, benefits, pricing plans and how to create and customize a Shopify store for your business’s needs.
Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms in the world, trusted by over 4.8 million live websites as of 2025. Known for its user-friendly interface, extensive app ecosystem, and flexible customization options, Shopify empowers businesses of all sizes to launch and grow their online stores with ease. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned entrepreneur, Shopify offers powerful tools to help you manage products, payments, and shipping — all in one place. Its cloud-based system eliminates the need for hosting or technical maintenance, allowing users to focus entirely on sales and customer experience. In this article, we'll explore exactly What is Shopify, how it works, and provide a detailed review of its features and performance to help you decide if it’s the right fit for your business. Let’s dive in!
Shopify is a cloud-based, all-in-one eCommerce platform designed for businesses of all sizes to build and manage their online presence. It serves as the foundation for your virtual store, providing all the tools and resources required to showcase products, process transactions, manage inventory, and engage with customers.
The best thing that I love about Shopify is that it eliminates the technical complexities associated with running an eCommerce website. With Shopify, there’s no need to deal with hosting setup, complicated coding lines, and security implementation.
Everything will be fully handled by the platform via a centralized and easy-to-use dashboard, making it easier for e-merchants to create and manage a functional online store.
Shopify operates on a subscription model. This means you’ll need to pay a sum of money to this platform every month or every year to get access to its vault of functions.
With a flexibile pricing structure ranging from $5 to $2,500 per month, Shopify can certainly meets the need of different seller profiles, from entrepreneurs to large corporation.
Shopify works as a “software as a service” (SaaS) solution. It hosts your online store on its robust servers and takes care of all the technical aspects. Then, you can launch your eCommerce website and start selling using Shopify features.
Here’s how:
Here are some key features of selling on Shopify:
Create a store:
Manage products and inventory:
Marketing & sales:
Analytics and reporting:
Payment processing:
Shipping & fulfillment:
Customer management:
Security & reliability:
To give you a quick overview of Shopify, we have a short video that covers every aspect of the platform. More in-depth information is detailed below.
As I’ve mentioned above, Shopify runs on a subscription-based model. This means it will charge users a recurring fees on a monthly or yearly basis, beside other additional cost that may incur along the way.
Below, I’ll summarize all the Shopify pricing plans that you should be aware of before committing long-term.
Starter | Basic | Shopify | Advanced | Enterprise |
$5 month | Billed monthly: $39/month | Billed monthly: $105/month | Billed monthly: $399/month | 1-year contract: $2,500+/month |
Transaction fee: | Transaction fee: | Transaction fee: | Transaction fee: | Transaction fee: |
Key features: | Key features: | Key features: | Key features: | Key features:
|
Best for: | Best for: | Best for: | Best for: | Best for: |
Shopify pros |
Shopify cons |
✅ All-in-one solution for effortless management
✅ Easier setup compared to WooCommerce ✅ Powerful out-of-the-box features to support your business ✅ Extensive app store to further enhance your business's capability ✅ Stronger built-in security features |
❌ High transaction fee (up to 5%)
❌ Limited design flexibility ❌ Potentially higher costs with premium themes and apps ❌ Content limitations within the blog functionality |
💡 For better understand about Shopify, please visit Shopify Review.
Shopify allows you to list several product types, both physical and virtual items, including:
Physical products:
Digital products:
Services (can be sold alongside products):
Other business models:
Though Shopify provides support for a diversity of product types, there are some forbidden items that you’ll need to be aware of before listing on Shopify. Therefore, please check the list of Shopify prohibited products to avoid any consequences.
✅ Looking to boost your sales on Shopify? If you want to move your online store to this powerful platform, LitExtension's Shopify migration services can help you make a smooth transition from your current platform to Shopify.
With Shopify, you’ll be able to expand your business to several selling channels. I believe that by doing so, you can reach a wider customer base and thus greatly increase your sales volume.
Here is a list of places where you can sell using Shopify:
To begin your journey with Shopify, please click the “Start Free Trial” button on the Shopify website. You’ll need to fill out your personal and business information here. If you are in a hurry, feel free to only provide the required fields (bussiness location and email address), and skip the rest.
After all the information was filled, you’ll be directed to the Shopify Dashboard. This is the “heart” of your online store since most of your business activities, from products, customers, and orders to discounts, marketing, and analysis will be managed and executed here.
▶️ Visit Shopify Tutorials to explore Shopify completed guide for beginners.
I guess that when exploring this platform, you might wonder “How to add products to Shopify?” This is a common question that I’ve been asked several times, so I believe I have enough experience to guide you through this.
1. Go to your Shopify Admin and select Products in the left bar.
2. Click the Add product button in the upper right corner.
3. Enter your product’s details.
4. Double check your information, and click Save.
Besides adding items one by one, you can also bulk import products using Shopify CSV. Or, if you are already selling on another marketplace, it’s possible to integrate that marketplace with Shopify and sync your products here.
Now, let’s move on to the next step, which is the most exciting part in my opinion, customize your storefront. This will be the “face” of your virtual store, so make sure to create something that is friendly to users and can express your brand’s personality.
Here are a few simple steps you can follow to customize your Shopify storefront.
1. Go to your Shopify Admin dashboard and go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Choose Add themes and you’ll be directed to the Shopify Theme Store.
3. Select the theme that you like the best and click Try theme.
4. Get back to your Theme library in your Admin dashboard and purchase that theme (if needed).
Shopify offers 200+ well-designed website templates, available in both free and paid version. Thus, I believe that no matter what you are selling and what your aesthetic is, you’ll find a perfect Shopify theme that best suits your business.
Before publishing your store, it’s essential to set up payment option. To get paid on Shopify, you can either use Shopify Payment or integrate with a third-party provider.
1. Go to Shopify Admin dashboard, then select Settings > Payments.
2. Complete your account setup.
3. Activate Shopify Payments by entering the required information.
4. Click Save to finish
1. Go to Settings > Payments.
2. Do one of the following:
3. Select the provider that you want to use from the list.
4. Enter your account credentials for the provider that you selected.
5. Click Activate, then click Save.
Now that everything is ready, it’s time to bring your business to the light. Choose a Shopify pricing plan that best suit your business, then go to Themes > Disable password to publish your store.
Shopify is a platform for building and managing online stores. It provides everything you need to sell products online, including website design templates, secure payment processing, inventory management tools, and marketing features. Whether you're selling physical goods, digital products, or services, Shopify makes it easy to set up shop, reach customers, and manage your business all in one place.
You can make money on Shopify by selling products or services through your own online store. This can include physical goods like clothing or handmade crafts, digital products like ebooks or software, or services like consultations or online courses. Shopify provides all the tools to list your products, process orders, accept payments, and even market your business to customers. Essentially, Shopify equips you with everything needed to run a successful online business, allowing you to focus on creating great products and attracting customers.
Shopify is a platform for building and running your own online store. Think of it like a website builder specifically designed for selling products. You pick a design template, add your products with descriptions and prices, set up payment processing, and you're ready to start accepting orders. Shopify provides all the tools you need to manage your products, process payments, track inventory, and even market your store.
Shopify offers several pricing plans to fit different business sizes and needs. Their monthly cost starts from $39 to $2,500 based on your selection.
Shopify is incredibly versatile, allowing you to sell a wide range of products and services. This includes physical goods (clothing, handmade items, electronics), digital products (ebooks, software, online courses), and services (consultations, online classes, event tickets). You can even sell dropshipped products or use Shopify as a platform for affiliate marketing.
And that brings us to the end of our article on What is Shopify and how does it work. If you want to explore more topics like this, please don’t forget to check out other articles about Shopify in our blog.
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© 2011 - 2024 LitExtension.com All Rights Reserved.