Shopify Experts Perth
Shopify’s slogan: Anyone, anywhere, can start a business.
We, here at PWD, help make that a reality.
Shopify is one of the most popular solutions to sell and market products and process payments. But first, you need a Shopify website.
As PWD is Perth’s leading Shopify developer, we work with you whether you want a simple shop set up ASAP or a fully customized one. A tailored e-commerce store will better stand out in the minds of your customers and competitors, as well as on search engines, like Google.
Get our developers to design and develop your Shopify websites in Perth and Western Australia today!
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is a subscription and cloud-based eCommerce platform. It is a leader in website building software and is specifically aimed at those who want to open an online shop for selling products. The platform powers more than 1.7 million businesses all over the globe (or in 175 countries to be exact)!
Founded in 2006 in Canada, the platform was developed in response to the desperate lack of technology to create digital stores. The owners wanted to create and open an eCommerce store, called Snowdevil, to sell snowboarding equipment. They were dissatisfied with the technology available at the time, and so decided to build Shopify.
Since then, Shopify became the preferred and leading eCommerce website builder for businesses all over the world.
With Shopify, you can start and grow a business, build a new website, and sell and manage your products. Shopify allows you to sell both online (through website stores) and offline (through a point of sale, or POS, system). This allows you to give your customers a choice of payment.
As a foundation for your eCommerce business, Shopify websites also offer much more, so keep on reading.
Who Should Build With Shopify?
Shopify web development is ideal for those who have a product or have a place to source products from and who wants to sell online. You can sell any kind of product, physical or digital, by building an e-commerce Shopify store.
Use PWD web development services to build your Shopify website Perth if you have:
- A small- to medium-sized business
- An enterprise business
Shopify Plans
Whether you are a beginner or an expert business owner, Shopify has the right plan for you with five comprehensive plans to choose from. They are Shopify Lite, Basic Shopify, Shopify, Advanced Shopify, and Shopify Plus (which is their enterprise business solution).
Business owners who want to add a “Buy” button to their existing website or sell in-person often prefer the Lite plan. The Basic Shopify plan is best for digital store newbies while the Shopify plan is ideal for a company that has one retail store. The Advanced Shopify plan is perfect when you want to scale your business even more or have two or more retail stores. Shopify Plus caters for high-volume businesses.
With these plans and distinguishing features, you know you are not spending money on items you won’t use or need. As your business grows, you can also quickly upgrade your subscription to match your current needs.
Benefits of Shopify Websites Perth
There are countless benefits of choosing Shopify as your e-commerce site builder of choice in Western Australia.
The first benefit is that you get detailed reports and features to help you manage your Shopify store and evaluate its performance. With these analytics features, you can easily scale your company through plan upgrades and wide-ranging customization capabilities.
Talking about customization, Shopify comes with an abundance of themes so you can customize your store to perfectly fit your brand and core values.
Since Shopify works on a cloud network, it means that downtime is rare and your operations continue as normal. You also get unparalleled 24/7 and great customer service from Shopify should you need help.
However, you’ll likely not need much help as setting up your eCommerce store and using your website is user-friendly for both you and your customers. The quick set-up and launch also means you can start selling in no time!
There are a range of low cost and more premium plan options and features, making Shopify websites suitable to all business owners. The included SEO and marketing tools ensure your store is easily discoverable on all major search engines. So, your customers can easily find you when they need one of your products!
Standard Inclusions for PWD Shopify Web Development Services
PWD’s web development services for Shopify comes with a range of standard inclusions. For your project, you get a dedicated account service team who will work with you from the start through to the end.
Additionally, you also get a 100% custom designed website - we don’t use templates. This means your digital shop will be completely unique. Your site is also built for speed and optimised for maximum PageSpeed performance.
We are a specialist SEO agency, so your website comes with SEO built-in. It will also be optimised for mobile responsiveness and performance.
Live chat implementation and security additions are standard inclusions. Other inclusions are product import/export, email marketing, social media sharing and links features. We also set up a contact form, Google Maps, and Google Analytics.
You will also be trained on how your site works and how it needs to be maintained upon the project handover. You also get 3 months worth of tech support should you need any further assistance.
Headless Shopify Development
PWD is also an expert in headless Shopify web development. But what is headless Shopify and how is it different from the Shopify eCommerce website design and development you just learned about?
What Is Headless Shopify?
Headless commerce is a concept that has been talked about for at least 5 years before it became a reality, with the pandemic spurring it on. It is the most advanced, latest eCommerce web design method currently on the market.
Traditionally, an eCommerce site has a back-end and a front-end. The back-end is what tech support, web developers, and business owners use to build and manage their shop. The front-end is what customers see and interact with. These two layers were packaged together and the back-end controlled both.
In essence, headless commerce means that these two layers are separate. The front-end communicates with the back-end via application programming interfaces or APIs, and the reverse is true as well. Furthermore, any change on the one end will not affect anything on the other end. While the ends communicate with each other, instructions can be actioned individually.
What does this mean in terms of headless Shopify? The Shopify front-end is separate from the back-end, meaning your entire e-commerce store and experience is customized. For one, your customers do not need to visit your online store on the Shopify platform to browse and buy your products.
Freedom is yours. What code you use is no longer restricted and you don’t have to stick to templates that everyone else is using. You finally have the freedom to create the shop you want and have all the functionality you need.
Benefits of Headless Shopify
There are many benefits of choosing headless Shopify. FIrstly, you have total creative control and flexibility over your store’s design and how it performs. Headless Shopify comes with increased eCommerce store optimization, from the design, functionality, and usability of your site to improved UX experience and limitless possibilities.
Improved SEO for your eCommerce site gives you more control over the SEO tactics you use. One example is that you will have custom URL architecture, which helps your domain authority score as it’s not attached to your URL umbrella structure.
Your headless Shopify site is compatible with any CMS and coding language. Furthermore, it is also fully integratable with third-party applications.
As you can scale your business faster and at a more innovative pace, you have the ability to adapt to retail and customer trends. This means your business stays relevant.
Future-proof your business today and enter the world with endless eCommerce store possibilities. PWD is here to help you transition to headless Shopify and reap the rewards of a future-now business.
Shopify Themes
A website theme is a template you use to create your online store’s look and feel. Different themes have different layouts and styles, and therefore, offer a different experience for those who visit your eCommerce shop.
The theme you choose should fit your brand, company voice, and core values. It is what you will display to your customers. The key is to pick a theme that best showcases your products in an aesthetically pleasing way so that shoppers are enticed to click "Buy".
That is the crux of it: a theme is your customer’s first impression when they visit your eCommerce websites. It is also a continuing impression as they interact with your business and marketing efforts.
How Do Shopify Themes Work?
Currently, there are 76 themes on Shopify in total, of which 9 are free and 66 you need to pay for. The free templates are developed by Shopify while the premium ones are created by third-party developers. If you opt for a paid-for template, you should become familiar with the kind of available support as well as what customization types are not supported by Shopify.
On the “Browse all themes” page, you can also filter the themes to more easily see what each option looks like.
Some of the filter options include the number of products you are selling, your website layout style, how you want your homepage and product pages to look, and your industry. Additionally, you can also look at Collections and see themes according to what is trending, fun and lively, minimalist style, or great for small inventories.
Two Options When Choosing A Theme
When you pick a theme, you have two options. Firstly, you can use the theme as is, meaning you just populate it with your business logo, info, products, product details, and prices. Et voila! Your shop is pretty much ready at this stage.
Secondly, you can choose a theme and opt to customize it to better fit your business concept. With your theme, you access complete control of the HTML and CSS. This is great as you definitely want to have more custom options for your web store. However, even if you have some programming knowledge, it may not help you much.
Shopify’s template language is Liquid. Yes, you can probably learn Liquid and how to use it, but let’s be real. Do you honestly have the time to study and master this?
You are a business owner. You are responsible for running your brick-and-mortar and, soon, your digital one. Do you really want and need to learn new code?
It is definitely much easier to let the professionals handle this for you. This way, you don’t need to worry about how your shop will turn out. By leaving your Shopify web development in the hands of trusted professionals at PWD, you can enjoy a beautiful, custom shop design without the stress of creating it yourself.
What About Custom Shopify Themes?
While using Shopify themes may be ideal for some store owners, it isn’t for everyone. You want your shop to look professional and not like every other eCommerce store to have ever graced the digital world. Standing out in a very competitive market where there are tons of e-stores is crucial!
Enter custom theme development.
At PWD, we can design a custom theme just for you. We have a full team of designers and developers in Perth, Western Australia, to build the perfect theme to suit your business's aesthetic. You can get exactly what you want and more!
The top 5 advantages to choosing custom theme creation are:
- A tailored eCommerce store is unique and perfectly suits your branding, product line, and target market preferences.
- Your custom shop can be built effectively for your sales funnel to maximize conversions.
- You can see a mock-up of your site before it goes live and request changes so your site looks how you envisioned it.
- A developer can test your site before it goes live, ensuring it is optimized for desktop, mobile, and tablet use.
- A custom site can be better optimized to perform well on the major search engines, like Google.
PWD’s Shopify websites Perth WA can assist you in creating custom Shopify stores that don't look like all the cookie-cutter e-stores out there. Your target audience will love your site because it looks stunning and it will be easy to use.
Why You Should Use Shopify
You’ve already learned about the top benefits of using Shopify, whether you choose one of the existing themes, a fully customised store theme, or headless Shopify. However, you may still be considering one of the other top competitors in the eCommerce website building niche.
Let’s see how Shopify ranks versus WordPress’s WooCommerce, Squarespace, and Magento.
Shopify v WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the eCommerce platform from WordPress. If you already have a WordPress site, this e-shop builder may be better for you. It is free and open-source; however, scaling your business on it comes with some challenges. This is where Shopify has a competitive advantage.
Shopify v SquareSpace
Squarespace is an all-around website builder whereas Shopify is primarily an eCommerce builder. As such, Squarespace offers special features if you want to sell your products online.
Shopify v Magento
Like WooCommerce, Magento is also open-source and free to install. It is best suited to big enterprises that have their own development teams. But, if you are a small- or medium-sized business, you can consider hiring PWD to set up your Magento store for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I hire a Shopify expert or web development agency?
In short, yes. Hiring an expert Shopify eCommerce team to handle the web development and customization of your commerce business is a smart choice, whether you have some tech knowledge or not. Shopify developers can work on your store whether it is still just in the concept phase or an already-established business.
Also, working with professionals who are skilled in all things Shopify will save you time and money. It lets you focus on the day-to-day activities of running and growing your business.
What is the best value Shopify plan?
The best subscription plan for Shopify websites Perth depends on your business’s needs. We would need to know more about your company to make a recommendation, but the Shopify plan at mid-tier is a good starting option.
The Shopify plan offers a range of functionality that you’d need for an online store. Benefit from reporting features and get the information you need. Translate your website into other languages so you can reach and sell to other markets. Exercise multi-currency payment control to become financially successful.
What do I need to start selling on Shopify?
To start a Shopify website in Perth, you need to sign up for a Shopify subscription plan, build your digital shop, and have products listed to sell.
To make the whole process easier, hire a developer for Shopify websites in Perth WA to help you.
Is it easy to upgrade or downgrade your Shopify plan?
Upgrading or downgrading your Shopify eCommerce plan is easy. You can immediately upgrade or downgrade your current plan to any plan that is currently available on Shopify.
What are the disadvantages of Shopify?
There are a few disadvantages to using this eCommerce platform. With Shopify sites, to further customize the themes, you need to know Liquid, their PHP language. Email hosting (having an email account that matches your business) is not yet possible.
These are easy fixes, however. For theme customization, you can hire a Shopify developer to help you. With regard to email hosting, you can forward your emails to your business email account or you can use a third party to set up email hosting for you.
Better yet, opt for headless Shopify to make your dream store a reality. With headless Shopify, you own the freedom you need to make your online shop look and function optimally.