Think Shopify is just for small businesses and “ma and pa” shops? Nope, in fact, brands including Nestle, Pepsi, Unilever, Budweiser, Tesla Motors and Red Bull rely on Shopify’s advanced offering called Shopify Plus.
To put some numbers behind it, with over 1,000,000 businesses in 175 different countries, Shopify is the third-largest online retailer in the U.S. after Amazon and eBay. Shopify has a large network of independent developers that have created add-ons for use on the platform, making it possible to integrate and connect existing solutions to Shopify, such as ERP, OMS and other third-party solutions.
But, just as if you owned an F1 racing supercar, you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be the driver, and in fact you’d probably want to hire a team of mechanics to maintain the car. Using Shopify takes expertise that is above and beyond that found in most large companies – even those with dedicated marketing and advertising teams. To take advantage of Shopify, it’s essential to hire experts to “drive” for you and provide ongoing optimization and maintenance. We can help. From initial planning and strategy to implementation, testing, optimization and ongoing maintenance, Metova is a leading expert in all things Shopify.
At Metova, we are well-versed in implementing custom Shopify experiences for large-scale companies, generating millions in sales. To learn more about Shopify, we sat down with Cade Colister, VP of UX & Design at Metova, and a Shopify expert. Cade has over 10 years of experience designing and developing in Shopify and has launched ecommerce sites for categories in food and beverage, footwear, fashion and apparel, and more.
What are some examples of the Shopify implementations you are most proud of?
Of all the projects I’ve helped brands and manufacturers bring online, the one that was the most challenging, and rewarding was Dan Post Boots. Dan Post Boot Company started in 1929 and is one of the largest producers of cowboy boots in the world. The company needed to launch an ecommerce site that could showcase and sell all their brands under one site. However, each brand had different items to address for shipping and fulfillment. Shopify didn’t have a solution yet for setting up multiple shops under one account, but with the help of their engineering team, I was able to make it happen. Adding to the challenge, Dan Post has tens of thousands of SKUs across seven brands selling to the U.S. and Canada – all under one site powered by Shopify Plus. Shopify is powerful and flexible enough to make projects like this one a reality.
How is using Shopify better than creating and maintaining an e-commerce store in house?
Shopify has many advantages over creating and developing your own in-house platform. I know because I’ve been a part of a team that created its own in-house platform. A few of the advantages Shopify offers are site speed, availability of add-ons, cost savings, order management, product management, integrated tax and shipping solutions, and most of all, easy and reliable payment processing.
What is the difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is recommended for large/enterprise customers. Shopify Plus provides access to more of the core code, a dedicated support agent, discounted payment processing fees and increased speed and processing.
What are some things a company should ask themselves when considering bringing on a team to handle Shopify?
- Will I be able to access and move my data?
- What are my costs, with apps included?
- How much work will I have to do to maintain the site?
- What code languages do I need to know and what is allowed?
What are some often overlooked but important considerations for companies considering Shopify?
Time to market. Depending on the complexity, using Shopify can increase the time to market.
Is Shopify solely a B to C offering, or is there also B to B activity?
Shopify can be used for B to B, such as, wholesale-only sites with private logins or catalog sites that don’t process transactions. With Shopify, we can load large SKU counts easily.
