Do you want to start dropshipping but are you not sure if you should go with Shopify or not?
Awesome! In this article, I will cover all the pros and cons of dropshipping with Shopify. Let’s figure out together if Shopify is still a great ecommerce platform to host your dropshipping store.
Tip: Did you create your Shopify account already? If not, sign up by clicking this link here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!
The Pros & Cons of Dropshipping
This article will mainly cover the pros and cons of dropshipping with Shopify, not if the dropshipping business model is good or not.
But if you’re wondering if you should start dropshipping or not, then I suggest reading the article I linked to below. That article will cover all the advantages and disadvantages of dropshipping:
The Pros and Cons of Dropshipping in 2023 (Is It Still Good?)
The Pros of Dropshipping with Shopify
Let’s start this article with the positive things of dropshipping with Shopify!
1. Very user friendly
If you’re a total beginner in the ecommerce space, and you don’t know much about WordPress or something like programming, then opening your dropshipping on an ecommerce platform like Shopify is perfect for you!
The entire platform was built around being easy to use, all the images are drag and drop and the interface is broken down into slides which you populate with content. Each slide also had a few minor customization options which can make your site unique.
You can literally open your Shopify store in a few minutes and have it up and running in not more than an hour (if everything goes right).
Shopify also boasts an incredible customer support team that will help you with anything you need.
2. Reliable hosting
Yes, in the case of Shopify, you will pay around $29 per month, but the hosting you will get in return is great! It will be fast and reliable, and it’s specifically built for ecommerce stores.
If you host your dropshipping store on an ecommerce platform, then you will probably not have any downtime.
3. A huge app store
Whilst Shopify does provide you with the essentials to get started with your dropshipping business, not every single business need is provided right out of the box and this is why third party apps are essential.
The Shopify app store currently boasts an absolute whopping 3,200 third party apps. Just about every possible business requirement can be found in this store, be it currency converters, analytics, upsell applications, to name but a few.
An added bonus is the app reviews are by verified Shopify users, so they are very trusted.
We also have a full article where we cover the 13 Best Shopify Apps for Dropshipping if you want to learn more about this.
Let’s face it, social media is a huge topic deserving its own article, so we will stick strictly to the integration of social media to your Shopify store.
Shopify connects to Facebook, Instagram, and many other social media platforms with tremendous ease. In most cases, it is simply a case of entering your login details within the Shopify platform, they do the rest.
With Facebook, Shopify feeds all of the products into a catalog for your Facebook store, if you also have a connected Instagram account, this also happens at the same time too.
You are then able to tag your products in pictures and take the viewer directly to the product page in your store. With the right social media marketing, this can be such a powerful tool.
If you’re interested in reading more about the reasons why Shopify is so popular, check out this article here.
The Cons of Dropshipping with Shopify
Alright, now you saw the pros of dropshipping with Shopify, but aren’t you a bit curious now what the cons are of dropshipping with Shopify?
Well, I know I’m!
1. Monthly Costs
Compared to other platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify’s monthly cost will be considerably more. Starting at $29 per month, however, Shopify does provide the fundamentals out of the box for most wannabe entrepreneurs to get started in their ecommerce journey.
With other platforms, you would need to piece together the theme and required features and Shopify certainly takes all the hassle out of that.
It is likely that other sales platforms will be cheaper than Shopify however with them you usually need prior experience or a lot of time on your hands to learn how they work.
It is important to note that for $29 a month, you have a great deal less to worry about with your eCommerce store such as design, automation, and security. It basically comes down to whether you think all of this is worth $29 a month to you.
2. Customization can be problematic
With Shopify, you are very restricted in what you can do outside of your store’s theme. If you have something that you want to customize within your store, you will likely have to either pay for an app or hire a developer to do it for you.
This is where paying for a decent theme will come in handy, as some of the higher end themes come with an incredible amount of customization within the theme.
Yes, they are likely to set you back between $180-$360 but overall much better than paying monthly for unnecessary apps or a Shopify developer who may be able to help you.
Outside of your homepage, customization can be quite difficult with Shopify however some good theme developers such as Out of the Sandbox answer this problem by providing templates to work within the same ‘drag and drop’ method as your home page providing the required flexibility to make you store design unique.
3. Transaction & credit card fees
This is the part that most ecommerce store owners hate, paying charges on sales.
Generally, most third-party payment gateways will charge 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, this is considered a processing fee. This is unfortunately inevitable and something you have to pay regardless of whether you are with Shopify or not when you are using a payment gateway.
On top of this, you will also have to pay a transaction fee to Shopify which, depending on your plan, starts at 2.9% + 30¢.
Shopify offers its own payment gateway which is available in a few selected countries called Shopify Payments.
Luckily, if you are with Shopify payments, then this will be the only fee to pay per transaction which will reduce the fees you pay monthly by quite a lot.
One thing to note is that Paypal should also be considered a third-party payment gateway and charges will apply similarly to that of a credit card payment.
In this case, transaction fees will not apply if you are with Shopify Payments but you will still pay Paypal’s processing fee.
Related article: Shopify Payments: The Definitive Guide (2023)
4. Not multi-lingual out of the box
A common gripe with many Shopify store owners is that there is no out of the box solution to make their store multi-lingual.
Having an online presence means that you have the capability to market your store internationally, by limiting yourself to an English only speaking store, you immediately limit your businesses capability.
Unfortunately, the only solution to this is a paid app, and whilst there are free apps available for this task, they are generally quite basic and it is common for translations to make very little sense in context. A poorly translated store is very unlikely to convert sales to native speakers.
A common choice to solve this little problem is an app similar to Langify. Whilst they do handle automation of translations, they also give you back a little control to make minor tweaks to incorrect translations.
Whilst the decision to download this for $17.50 per month cannot be taken lightly, you only need a few sales from this app to justify using it.
Conclusion
So after looking at both of the pros and cons you should now know whether using Shopify for your ecommerce store.
For an out of the box dropshipping solution, Shopify suits many wannabe entrepreneurs who have little prior knowledge. The community is amazing and there are an infinite amount of resources to learn from prior to taking the leap.
Customization will always be a problem with Shopify and you can easily fall into the trap of creating a ‘cookie-cutter’ style dropshipping store, making it difficult to make your store stand out from your competitors.
Let’s be honest, the monthly charges and fees may appear off-putting however Shopify allows you to focus on your business and not the menial tasks which their automation helps with.
The scalability with this platform is huge, you can create your new business and scale it to the moon all within the same platform. Shopify also has one of the best customer services out there as well, so should you run into any hitches along the way, help is always at hand.
So is Shopify still good for dropshipping in 2023? The real question is, ‘Are you ready to start dropshipping in 2023?’
If you are, then go get your free 3-day Shopify trial here, and get started!
If you are still not sure whether dropshipping is right for you, head on over to our article on Dropshipping in 2023: Is It Still Worth It?
And if you’re not sure if you want to use Shopify, then check out these 14 Shopify alternatives.
