We work with on a variety of projects at Amity Digital, but one of our core competencies is eCommerce.
We’ve been doing eCommerce for over 12 years now – a lifetime in the online world – and have experience with homegrown systems, Big Commerce, WooCommerce, and Shopify. We also have experience with platforms that needed to be wrestled into submission, but that’s another story.
One of the trickiest parts of running an eCommerce shop is finding the right platform. The platform we’re most impressed with is Shopify, and we recommend it to about 90% of our clients. Every business is different so not every store is a perfect fit for Shopify, but in our experience, most are.
It is an extremely scalable solution that remains easy to use. You see, usability was a factor that many developers didn’t consider before Shopify web design came along. Systems like Magento were the gold standard, but they were overly complex, had a steep learning curve, and required most companies to have a developer on-staff to keep it running.
Thankfully, you won’t need a full-time developer, or whomever the office hastily designates a universal “fixer-of-things.” You just need Shopify, and the accumulated Shopify web design acumen courtesy of Amity Digital.
What Is Shopify?
Well, it’s not a helpful robot that picks up your groceries, and it’s certainly not the popular music app paying starving artists a meager $0.00318 per stream. Shopify is an all-purpose, scalable eCommerce platform allowing users to create web pages, add products, accept payment from online shoppers, and process and print orders.
Its shopping cart functionality allows online customers to enter payment information and immediately purchase physical products, services, or digitally shared data files (like music, movies, videos, or various guides and instruction manuals).
If you need to sell it, digitally transfer it, or physically ship it, a Shopify website from Amity Digital will help capture and fulfill a customer’s order with an efficient, easy-to-use eCommerce platform – a platform managed and edited by a user-friendly content management system (CMS).
How popular is Shopify? Currently, 1.2 million people use the Shopify backend platform. That equates to roughly 500,000 businesses in 175 countries. So, are all the cool kids using it? Yes, and so are their slightly uncool siblings and totally square parents.
Is Shopify easy to use? Oh, yes. Shopify, like WordPress, is a user-friendly CMS that allows for custom-built websites tailored to products, services, and audiences. And being user-friendly, any edits to the overall design and content can be achieved without coding experience (however, HTML and CSS can still be edited, so if you’re knowledgeable or feeling brave, break out the coding cap and edit to your heart’s content).
Is a Shopify website responsive? Can you actually use a Shopify website on a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device? Oh, absolutely. All pages, products, and shopping-relevant functions found on a desktop computer are perfectly configured for handheld devices. So, if you have the urge to buy half-a-dozen stuffed unicorns dressed like astronauts, just pull out your phone, head over to…uh…unicornsinspace.com (which totally doesn’t exist, but probably should), and confidently add those space-themed fantasy thoroughbreds to your cart.
PS: It’s also great for brick-and-mortar stores. Why? Because Shopify’s on-board point-of-sale system features a Bluetooth-enabled card reader allowing people to make in-person retail purchases.
Is Shopify secure? And then some. Over one-billion orders have been placed through Shopify, so the powerful eCommerce platform depends on digitally redundant security measures. Case in point: Security is upheld through Level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance for all online stores, and a shopping cart boasting an SSL certificate with 128-bit encryption used by major banks.
Ready to start building your very own online store? Hit the button below and contact us today. Like, today. No, not tomorrow (your dream website waited long enough).
SaaS(y) Shopify Services
SaaS stands for Software as a Service. It’s been all the rage for the last decade and for good reason. Before SaaS became a mainstream option for most businesses, we had to purchase software, install it on our own servers, learn how to run that software on that server, and continue to maintain it.
As small companies would scale, they would have to add IT resources to maintain their systems and become experts in both software and server management. However, for SaaS products, all you have to do is outsource the bulk of that work to the company that built the software. Instead of selling you the software to install, they are selling it to you as a monthly, all-inclusive service. It allows businesses to scale without having to make giant leaps in their own technology infrastructure.
Shopify is one of those types of services. They have solutions for the smallest stores just starting out to large brands making millions of dollars. We start most of our clients with Shopify so they never have to worry about moving to another platform.
Our Shopify Services
Custom Shopify Web Design: We’ll create a custom Shopify store that reflects your brand and the visual feeling(s) it’s designed to convey. We’ll also include high-functioning features that make it easy for website visitors to take advantage of (and purchase) your products and services. And because we’re a certified Shopify partner, we’ll help you maximize the functionality and potential of this high-performing eCommerce platform.
App Integrations:
Installing apps to improve the customer shopping experience and elevate intuitive content management? Easy. Monitoring the compatibility of these apps with certain aspects of Shopify web design? Well, that’s not quite easy. Our Shopify expertise allows us to spot potential problems before they happen (having mitigated many various issues before), and enact quick solutions or determine exceptional workarounds in order to implement your preferred application.
Shopify SEO Services:
Familiar with all the intricacies and functions necessary to market Shopify sites online, we’ll properly optimize the website for search engines like Google. Through the optimization of content (on-page SEO) and the accumulation of external, validating links (off-page SEO), we’ll help your Shopify website appear in search results related to your products and services.
Ongoing Support:
Once the website is complete, the journey isn’t over. Whether you need software support, a quick fix, backend maintenance, or a need to scale up for growing inventory and a swelling customer base, we’re here to help. Ready to launch a big marketing campaign that could use some enticing newsletters and some equally enticing landing pages? Yep, we’re here.
The Benefits of Shopify
Why choose Shopify? Oh, let me count the ways:
Intuitive shipping solutions: Sure, a Shopify website allows you to sell products/services, but it also allows you to print orders and integrate with popular shipping software in order to deliver your goods accurately and on time.
Mobile-friendly websites that maintain usability on any screen: On desktop, a Shopify website features great images, plenty of descriptive text, visible navigation, and an easy means to purchase items. Is it possible to fit all that information on a smaller screen, like, for example, a smartphone? Oh, yes. Remember when I said it was responsive? That means all the elements I just mentioned are scaled to fit any screen, and that means mobile devices.
And this responsiveness expands to the backend as well. So, if you want to make some quick edits to the website, grab your phone and start editing.
Add unlimited products and online real estate: Have to add 6000 new sausage-scented dog collars to the website? Want to create a whole new page dedicated to said sausage-scented dog collars? Our Shopify websites allow you to add innumerable products, and the necessary web pages to account for said innumerable products.
It grows at the speed of your success.
Accept multiple forms of payment: From credit cards, to Paypal, to gift cards, to cash and checks, Shopify accepts several forms of payment, and the list of approved methods grows every year.t
A built-in blog for easy content creation: Sure, you create pages for products and provide ample, articulate text, but a Shopify website gives you the ability to add so much more. Utilizing the blog feature, you can write rich, informative, and Google-conscious text regarding, well, anything related to your products and services. Have a new product line? How about a new, dependable, and absolutely huggable dog model to display your sausage-scented dog collars? Write about it. Link to it in a newsletter. Make it part of your story while giving Google more of a reason to consider you an authority (in sausage-scented dog collars).
Our Shopify Projects
Our Work
eCommerce is where it all began for us. And we can safely say – without an inkling of overconfidence – that we were involved with eCommerce before it was a thing. In fact, our very first website allowed customers to purchase items with a check! So, things have certainly changed – quickly, and for the better.
We used dozens of eCommerce platforms over the years and even developed quite a few of our own. Thankfully, Shopify came along, and it’s rarely a necessity to recommend anything else. Our Shopify services have yielded some truly great results.
Check out some of our more recent Shopify projects:
- Giant Robo Printing — a Shopify WebsiteTiras Buck2021-09-19T00:53:13-05:00
- MeepleShirts.com – a Shopify StoreBrian Welch2023-03-22T02:36:33-05:00
- Hand and Paw Studio – a Shopify StoreBrian Welch2023-03-17T06:38:37-05:00
- Ultra Pure Organic Foods – A WordPress Site and Shopify StoreBrian Welch2023-03-22T02:37:59-05:00
