Shopify is now one of the most popular e-commerce website builders out there, particularly for technically challenged small businesses. Its easy customization, reasonable rates, and thriving plugin ecosystem have made it the platform of choice for businesses that want to provide a top-tier online experience without having to invest heavily in web development.
If you’re wanting to build your own e-commerce store on Shopify, don’t just simply dive head-first into adopting it. Here are some of the things you should first know if you plan on using the platform for your e-commerce business.
1) Getting Paid Is Easy on Shopify
Yes, Shopify does offer useful payment gateways out of the box, but it won’t necessarily be optimized for emerging e-commerce markets like the Philippines. Thankfully, accepting payments online in the Philippines is now even easier, thanks to the Maya Plugin for Shopify.
The Maya Plugin for Shopify offers a quick and easy way to incorporate Maya Checkout, a Philippine-focused Shopify payment gateway, into your site, allowing you to process local payment methods like QR Ph as well as popular digital wallets like Maya, GCash, GrabPay, and ShopeePay. With its ease of installation, the Maya Plugin is perfect for startups and small-to-medium enterprises with limited access to web designers and developers.
2) Shopify Restricts Certain Business Types
Shopify’s terms of service restrict a long list of items and services from the platform. You can’t even offer things that appear similar to the items on their restricted list. That said, there may be some exceptions for each category of restricted items, so when in doubt, make sure to get in touch with Shopify to verify if your offers are a good fit for the platform.
3) You’ll Want to Audit Your Content
At the minimum, you need to make sure that all content assets you’re planning to use meet Shopify’s technical requirements. But if you’re already doing an audit, you may as well make sure that your content helps contribute to a positive customer experience.
Get into the habit of using a particular editorial style guide (such as MLA, CMOS, or APA), and always consider the perspective of site visitors who may come in contact with your content. Also make sure that your technical SEO is up to scratch. In particular, ensure that your links work and your site and content assets display properly across all devices.
4) Shopify Offers Extensive Digital Marketing Support
Shopify is built to offer website owners a full range of email, SEO, SMS, and social media marketing functions right from the get-go. Creating promos, discounts, and coupons is a breeze and you’ll usually find plugins to give you any out-of-the-ordinary digital marketing capability that you might need.
5) There Are Limits to Shopify’s Customizability
Shopify’s bundled website builder is quite powerful, so giving your site an on-brand look isn’t going to be a problem. But while Shopify does theoretically offer infinite customizability, some features are more difficult to change than others.
For instance, Shopify’s blogging features can be finicky to work with and third-party extensions for blogging aren’t always a straightforward addition. If a needed feature is not available out of the box or through a third-party plugin, adding it yourself could be challenging.
6) Shopify Doesn’t Offer Email Hosting
While Shopify does have a lot of support for email marketing, it does not host emails. This isn’t necessarily a problem but it can be inconvenient. If you do experience problems with your marketing emails, you’ll probably need to check with both Shopify and your email service provider.
Accept Any E-Commerce Payment with Maya Plugin for Shopify
If you decide to set up a Shopify store for the Philippine market, the most important thing is to make sure that you get paid. Maya Checkout is the Shopify payment gateway Philippines’ startups and SMEs depend on for flawless transaction processing. In minutes, you can integrate a payment gateway Shopify site visitors can use with payment cards, digital wallets, and QR codes relevant to the local market. Create your Maya Business Manager account to activate the third-party payment gateway Shopify storeowners trust.
Signing up for Maya Business Manager also lets you get hold of the exclusive Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle. Maya 1-2-3 Grow offers you a 1% MDR (merchant discount rate) discount on all QR Ph transactions for 3 months after signing. That’s equivalent to PHP 14,600 in transaction fee savings for every PHP 1 million in QR Ph sales.
This exclusive bundle also gives you access to a Maya Business Deposit account for settling transactions on your Shopify site. Maya Business Deposit comes with an industry-leading 2.5% per annum interest rate, boosting your business’s earnings by PHP 25,000 each year for every PHP 1 million deposit. Maya Business Deposit’s zero maintaining balance and free transfers via InstaPay and PesoNET also save you more on your daily business banking.
Maya 1-2-3 Grow also qualifies you for a Maya Flexi Loan offer as large as PHP 2 million in just 3 months, enough to expand your e-commerce operations however you wish. To receive a bigger loan offer, simply use Maya solutions daily.
Sign up for Maya Business Manager today for e-commerce payment solutions like Maya Checkout for Shopify as well as growth bundles like Maya 1-2-3 Grow.
