15 Pros and Cons of Choosing Shopify for E-commerce Store (Latest Guide)

Are you considering Shopify as the platform to power your e-commerce dreams? With its reputation as one of the top e-commerce platforms, Shopify offers a wealth of features and tools. Starting a Shopify store in 2025 is totally worth the effort to enter the crispy market.

Shopify powers over 5.1 million websites worldwide. According to a study, Shopify merchants contributed over $444 billion in global economic activity. These numbers showcase Shopify’s influence in the e-commerce world.

But like any tool, Shopify has its strengths and weaknesses. Let’s dive into this latest guide to explore 15 key pros and cons of using this platform for your e-commerce store setup. So that you can make an informed choice.

So, are you ready to unlock the opportunity to showcase your e-commerce store as a customer-loving company?

Let's get straight to the point.

Pros of Choosing Shopify for Your E-commerce Store

When selecting an e-commerce platform such as Shopify, its advantages are outstanding. Think you have a right ingredient to cook a delicious meal for your guests without worrying more about the taste.

Here take a look at the Shopify benefits:

1. User-Friendly Interface

If you’re new to the e-commerce world, setting up an online Shopify store might be a tough task. However, thanks to Shopify’s user-friendly interface. They have simplified the new store registration process for the entire platform management.

This easy-to-use e-commerce platform comes with its intuitive, unified, and easiest navigation functionality. Handling the online store is easier for anyone without any prior technical experience. With the drag-and-drop tools and pre-designed themes, you can set up the store quickly and easily.

A small business clothing brand with no experience in e-commerce can use Shopify’s easy editor. They can create a nice website in just a few hours and start selling products online. You can easily add products and payment gateways.

2. Scalability for Growing Businesses

Every e-commerce store likes to sell maximum products, whether it's a small product catalog or luxurious products. Shopify designs its infrastructure to grow as your business.

This online store platform built its cloud-based system not just to handle increased traffic. But simultaneously, larger product catalogs, and higher order volumes without slowing down or requiring significant changes.

A scalable e-commerce solution for Shopify helps you grow your business. It also shows you how to maintain your brand reputation.

Take a local bakery, for example, that’s transitioning to nationwide delivery. This platform’s robust solutions can easily manage an increase in orders and product listings, and order shipment as well. This allows the business to focus on expansion without worrying about platform limitations.

3. Extensive App Ecosystem

One of Shopify’s standout features is its diverse pool of app stores. Shopify app stores provide different kinds of top e-commerce tools. These tools are helpful for online shops to extend their functionality and stand out from others.

You can find tools related to marketing, and shipping management with CRM. Ultimately, this platform covers every aspect of running an online business.

For instance, a fitness equipment store can benefit from apps like Klaviyo for email marketing. Oberlo tools can be a perfect choice for dropshipping products directly to customers.

These apps not only simplify daily operations but also help enhance the customer experience. So, you can run your ecommerce business effectively.

When talking about the best Shopify apps for e-commerce stores keep in mind the reviews and functionality. Check how these apps can help your store to maintain its run without any distractions and affecting user experience.

4. Robust Customer Support

Shopify offers 24/7 customer support through various channels, including phone, chat, and email. This means if you run into an issue, you can get immediate assistance.

Also, the help center and community forums are full of solutions to common problems. This makes it easy to find answers, even when support is not available.

Suppose you’re facing an issue regarding accepting payments during a holiday sale. Shopify’s support team can step in to resolve the problem quickly. This minimizes potential revenue loss.

5. Mobile-Responsive Themes

According to the report, over 60% of e-commerce purchases have been done through smartphones. So, it’s obvious to have a mobile-friendly online store, no matter whether you’re selling fancy Genz clothes or unique lifestyle gadgets.

By creating an e-commerce store with the Shopify platform, you will get a responsive website. This is important from the perspective of a better user experience.

Shopify’s mobile-responsive themes ensure that your store looks great and functions smoothly on all devices.

For example, an online retail store may have more holiday sales. This is because its mobile-friendly design helps customers browse and buy easily while on the go. This simplicity improves the user experience and maximizes your sales potential, especially during peak shopping seasons.

6. Flexible Pricing Plans

When choosing an e-commerce platform to set up a store, many entrepreneurs focus on the cost. They want to run their online store with low expenses and keep track of their spending.

As most online platforms are promising they're the best. How do you decide which one perfectly fits your business requirements with flexible pricing options?

Shopify is the best choice. It caters to businesses of all sizes with its suitable pricing plans. Whether you’re a startup on a tight budget or a large enterprise needing advanced features, Shopify offers plans to suit your needs.

A fitness product startup began with a Basic plan. They chose this because they only operate in tier-1 and tier-2 cities. Once they got more attention and orders, they moved with the advanced plan to get an advantage of exclusive features on hand.

7. Built-in SEO Features

One of the prime advantages of selecting Shopify as an e-commerce platform is built-in SEO features. In e-commerce, a strong online presence is like a magic tool. It helps you get organic website traffic and improve order volumes without needing digital ads.

But do you think why Shopify SEO has the upper hand compared to other platforms?

With a Schema Markup addition, search engines will understand your content easily. While major search engines do not state this, it helps improve search rankings.

For more better results, you can go with a professional SEO optimization service for Shopify stores. They will help your store to get its relevant rank and start getting more leads.

In addition, Shopify offers web hosting services with its all plans with their own servers. It means a store owner does not have to Google the "best web hosting provider for e-commerce stores."

With this e-commerce platform, you have access to:

• Customizable meta tags: For adding relevant keywords in titles and descriptions.
• Clean URLs: Access to make URLs clear, concise, and keyword-rich.
• Fast loading speeds: With in-built code optimized with the best practices improve the core web vitals.

Ultimately, building your e-commerce store on Shopify is actually a worthwhile investment. As an online business owner, you want to make money. But you also want to build a strong brand.

Apart from this, you will access a POS system that boosts your sales and revenue comprehensively. Shopify POS is available in major countries and regions like Australia and Europe. So, if you're a solopreneur and like to boost your e-commerce presence, start with Shopify.

Cons of Choosing Shopify for Your E-commerce Store

If you think using this e-commerce platform is a great choice for an online store setup. Hold On. You have to know what the probable Shopify disadvantages exist:

1. Transaction Fees

As most of the e-commerce platforms are charging transaction fees, Shopify is no exception. If you go over certain limits, you must pay extra to the platform for processing your transactions.

While Shopify offers integrated payment gateways like Shopify Payments, using external payment providers incurs additional transaction fees. For high-volume stores, these costs can quickly include.

Here's the structure of Shopify transaction fees according to their plans:

• Basic plan: 2.9% of the order plus 30 cents for each online credit card payment
• Shopify plan: 2.6% plus 30 cents for each online credit card payment
• Advanced plan: 2.4% plus 30 cents for online credit card transactions
• International and AMEX cards: 3.4% to 3.9% for in-store payments

Imagine an online store that has a payment processing $10,000 in monthly sales with a 2.9% transaction fee. That’s $290 lost to fees alone.

Shopify Payments can help with this problem. However, it is not available in every region. This forces some businesses to pay extra costs to set up payment methods.

2. Dependence on Third-Party Apps

Shopify’s app ecosystem is a double-edged sword. While it adds flexibility, reliance on multiple third-party apps can increase costs and create integration issues.

For example, an online clothing store that uses different apps for shipping, accounting, and customer reviews may face issues. They might face issues with functionality or pay higher subscription costs.

This dependency can also make troubleshooting more complex, as resolving an issue often involves coordinating with multiple app developers.

In other words, if a store owner does not have any technical knowledge he might face a problem in running a successful business.

3. Limited Customization on Basic Plans

Shopify’s lower-tier plans have some limits on customization. This can be frustrating for businesses that need specific designs or functions.

Every business has a unique selling point (USP). If a business lacks a USP, customers will forget its name. They may even remove it from their search history on Google.

It’s a fact.

Running a Shopify store with a basic plan limits your ability to add unique features. This means your store may not stand out as much.

Let's understand with an example.

You have a boutique store in California city with a target audience of 20-38 age. With Shopify's basic plan, you can only optimize your store for younger audiences, not for a mature audience.

To build a custom homepage design may have trouble reaching your goal. You might need to upgrade to a better plan or hire a developer.

These limitations are manageable for small businesses. However, they must give up some creativity and growth. This is especially true for those who want to stand out in a competitive market.

4. Complexity in Advanced Customizations

You need Shopify’s core coding language, Liquid, for significant customizations. This adds a layer of complexity and often necessitates hiring a developer.

If your store is no WordPress or BigCommerce platform you can easily build a professional store. There's no need for any custom programming language to be learned.

For example, you have a fashion website to sell online clothes for women. Your store needs a custom filter. This will help customers shop online easily. They can sort by price, reviews, and shipping days.

However, the addition of Liquid programming language required Shopify to integrate a functionality. This may not be a significant issue for all businesses. However, it can be a challenge for those without a budget for professional development services.

5. No Email Hosting Provided

Unlike some competitors, Shopify does not offer email hosting as part of its package. This means you’ll need to use third-party services like Google Workspace, which comes with additional costs.

Email marketing is the most important part of any online store to reach out the potential customers. If the hosting provider doesn’t exist on the e-commerce platform you have to additionally integrate other apps. It means managing the email marketing campaigns and measuring campaigns will take time.

For example, a business owner might pay $6 per user per month for professional email hosting. While this cost doesn’t matter, it’s an extra expense that some businesses might not anticipate when choosing Shopify.

6. Basic Blogging Capabilities

Having a blog section on a website is just like a boon not only for improving the search rankings. With that to establish a loyal brand identity, blogs are important.

Content marketing is becoming more important for SEO. Its limitation could harm a business's ability to attract and retain customers.

If you choose Shopify to build your online store, don’t expect a strong and flexible blog section like many other websites have. WordPress a CMS platform has better capabilities than Shopify’s blog editor.

A mobile accessories store may discover that Shopify's blogging tools do not boost its search visibility. They might need better tools to create engaging multimedia content for their audience.

7. Challenges in Migrating Away from Shopify

If you are leaving Shopify, you can move your store to another platform. You might choose BigCommerce or WooCommerce for a WordPress site.

Data migration and redesigning your store on a new platform can lead to downtime and potential data loss. It ultimately affects the sales figure and customer experience. With a small team, it can be a nightmare for online startups and they will trapped in liquidation.

In other words, once you choose Shopify it’s one-way traffic, there’s no option for reverse entry.

8. Limited Multi-Currency Functionality

To accept and process the payments on your e-commerce store you have to add a multi-currency converter app. It often requires additional apps or coding. Shopify doesn’t have its own app or system, but it supports multiple currencies for global payments.

According to a study, 92% of online shoppers like to purchase their local currency. This means having a currency converter is work as a key aspect of increasing sales.

To offer localized prices, which adds to the overall complexity and cost. This limitation can be a problem for businesses that want to reach international customers. It may impact the shopping experience for people in different areas.

Conclusion

Shopify is a strong e-commerce platform for businesses of all sizes. It has a user-friendly design, can grow with your needs, and offers many tools. However, it’s not without its challenges, such as transaction fees, customization limitations, and reliance on third-party apps. By weighing the pros and cons outlined in this guide, you can determine whether Shopify is the right fit for your business.

Ready to take the next step in your e-commerce journey? Start your free trial on Shopify today. You can also reach out to our team at Rankoptim for help with setting up your store! Contact us.