While it may be a choice platform for large, established corporations, Shopify for small businesses isn’t an outlandish approach.
But does Shopify meet the needs of small businesses or is it overkill for what a small business owner needs? Let’s discuss first what small businesses need compared to large corporations.
Small Business vs. Large Business Requirements

We’ve divided a business’ online needs into six areas: website building, inventory management, shipping, online store, hosting capacity, and branding. This section will discuss how these needs differ depending on business size.
Category | Small Business | Large Business |
---|---|---|
Website Building | Small and starting businesses need to capture initial attention since they are less recognizable than more established ones. | An engaging website is critical for large businesses as well, but not as much as small businesses that look to make a good starting impact. |
Inventory Management & Order Fulfillment | For smaller businesses with manageable inventory, the owners themselves can oversee order management without much need for bells and whistles, such as smart order routing. | Larger businesses, likely with multiple warehouses, need more sophisticated and dedicated inventory management. |
Shipping | Smaller businesses can do plenty with the postal service or local delivery. | Large businesses may partner with courier services and geographically distributed fulfillment centers to ensure speedy service to a global market. |
Online Store | Secure payment processing would be a more useful feature for a starting eCommerce store. | Larger businesses may afford to experiment with more custom storefront solutions (i.e., storefront API). |
Hosting Capacity | Smaller businesses won’t need the same hosting capacity as large ones. Also, they may need their hosting managed for them. | A store getting thousands of monthly orders will need a more robust hosting solution. They may also have the capacity and expertise to manage their own hosting. |
Branding & Personality | Less established businesses have more free range to switch up and experiment with different branding. | Larger businesses have an established identity. Straying away from that identity may do them more harm than good. |
Is Shopify Good for Small Business and Startups?
We should first clarify that small businesses and startups are two different things.
Startups don't necessarily start with a "small" budget. They could have kickstarted with a massive budget or investment, as in the case of Uber which got a whopping $1.3 Million in its initial funding (source: chagency.co.uk). So startups ≠ small businesses.
Nonetheless, Shopify for startups is also a wise approach. For those wondering how does Shopify work, it offers a comprehensive suite of tools, capacity, and scalability to support both early-stage and growing businesses, guiding them toward worldwide recognition. But it also has the essential, starting utility for a t-shirt-selling hustler with a day job.
We’ve listed some pros and cons to assess and answer the question—”Is Shopify good for small business?”
Pros
Some of Shopify’s most notable benefits for small businesses include the following listed below:
- Shopify is an all-in-one solution for aspiring entrepreneurs. Users will rarely need anything else for their business’ online growth.
- Wide pricing options. Shopify starts at $29/month and can reach as high as $2,300/month. With these pricing options, each with their own capacity and features, Shopify accommodates a wide range of business sizes and expertise.
- Ideal for scaling. With the tiered pricing options also comes potential for scalability. Shopify’s tools include the essentials such as a website builder and payment capturing, and they also provide robust support for merchants who want to sell digital products on Shopify, from eBooks to software, ensuring they can reach a global audience with ease. (e.g., Shopify locations, Shopify markets, Shipping profiles, etc.).
- Flexibility and configurability. Thanks to Shopify’s rich ecosystem of independent app developers and theme designers, users have access to limitless feature integration and storefront tweaking that they can use to stand out from the competition. No two Shopify stores will look and feel alike.
Cons
Of course, this praise isn’t without its drawbacks and imperfections. Online entrepreneurs may be turned off by the following when it comes to Shopify:

- Relatively complex website builder. Squarespace’s website building, for example, is much easier to use and is more intuitive since it’s drag-and-drop. Whereas Shopify’s isn’t drag-and-drop.
- Certain domain names may be more affordable outside of Shopify. It can help to acquire domain names from dedicated domain registrars, as opposed to acquiring them from an all-in-one solution like Shopify.
- Steep learning curve for order and inventory management. It can take a while before new merchants can get used to the buttons and layout
- Transaction fees. Shopify charges transaction fees for every successful transaction on your store done with a card. This is on top of the plan subscription. These rates will depend on your chosen plan and whether the transaction was online, in-person, or through a 3rd party payment provider.
Merchants may easily offset and compensate for some of these cons.
If merchants want to use Shopify but also want the convenience of a drag-and-drop editor, they may install a third-party Shopify app, such as PageFly.
PageFly allows users to drag and drop elements around a custom page, allowing them to easily create a unique, one-of-a-kind layout for their website. PageFly offers a free custom page or section for all users, no credit card information required.
Shopify for Small Businesses: Tools
We’ve divided Shopify’s tools into two—the tools all Shopify users can use and the tools even non-Shopify users get to use.
We won’t discuss all of them since there’s dozens to cover. We will, however, include the more important ones.
Small Business Tools Included with a Shopify Plan
Listed below are some of Shopify’s most useful tools that users get access to. These are included in all plans starting from the Basic, $29/month plan.
Blocks and sections-based website builder

Source: Zoku
Some sections let merchants add slideshows, hero banner videos, countdown timers, and much more to capture interest, making it ideal for feisty and competitive small businesses.
A robust and dedicated order processing system
Shopify’s order processing allows merchants to oversee, manage, organize, and fulfill orders for their store from one, unified hub.
The order management is excellent for a few monthly orders but also has functionality for organizing and sorting through thousands.
A complete inventory management solution.
Shopify’s inventory management allows users to add products, manage SKUs, add variants and tags for each product, and effectively sort items according to certain values (e.g. color, article, material, etc.).
In addition, Shopify also lets merchants track inventory across multiple warehouse locations and assign each SKU to select locations or fulfillment services.
Online and offline payment capturing
While Shopify allows for secure payment capturing via Paypal and third-party payment providers, it also allows merchants to set up their custom manual payment methods, such as bank transfer and cash on delivery.
This lets merchants offer varied payment options so they don’t lose customers on checkout. Fewer abandoned carts that way.
Free hosting
As an all-in-one solution, Shopify provides free hosting for all its users. This means that merchants won’t have to look for a separate, third-party hosting service for their store to go live. Due to its geographically-placed servers, Shopify provides consistent connection, regardless of where shoppers are connecting from.
Marketing and Analytics

Shopify’s analytics lets merchants see how their website and business are performing.
In Shopify’s marketing and analytics dashboards, you can see your total sales, online store sessions, average order value, and returning customer rate, among other metrics that could forecast the success (or failure) of your business.
An app store
Shopify's rich app store contains third-party developed apps that provide additional utility to Shopify users--features that may not have come with the standard Shopify plan. This allows merchants to create a more engaging store, set up email capture popups, and upsell, including a vast array of other functions.
Free Tools for Small Businesses

Shopify provides free tools for all business owners, whether they’re using Shopify or not. These tools, combined with Shopify's paid features, offer excellent utility for diverse business models, including selling courses on Shopify, making it an ideal platform even for those venturing into educational products.
Business Card Maker
Shopify’s free business card maker generates a ready-to-print business card in seconds. Users simply need to input a few basic details, upload a logo image, and Shopify will send the business card to your email.
Linkpop

Linkpop is a small, custom, and free page entrepreneurs may use to sell from their social media bio. Users may also add media and links to their Linkpop page, optimizing it for other CTAs too.
You may customize your Linkpop page so that the transition from your socials to your linkpop isn’t abrupt and intrusive.
Pay stub generator
Simply input your company information, employee details, income information, and deductions. Shopify will generate the official pay stub document.
Pay stubs are documents representing one’s financial capabilities, shown to banks, landlords, car dealerships, etc.. They’re also essential when computing taxes for your business.
Terms and conditions generator
Shopify’s terms of service generator uses a complete, 16-section template that covers prohibited uses, indemnification, and merchant discretion, among others. This kind of policy protects the product or service from misuse and, potentially, legal trouble.
Note: Shopify’s terms of service generator is not a substitute for legal advice.
Shopify’s free tools also include a privacy policy generator and a refund policy generator.
Barcode Generator

Shopify’s barcode generator creates a barcode PNG based on the information you input. You may then print this PNG and attach it to the respective products. Having barcodes on your products will make inventory management much easier, even if you don’t have a massive, retail store catalog.
In addition to this, Shopify also has a free QR code generator.
Shopify has 22 free tools all-in-all that both Shopify and non-Shopify small business owners may use for their stores. These include a profit margin calculator, a purchase order template, and a business loan calculator, among many others. They have tremendous use in a small business’ daily operations, all at no charge whatsoever.
So be sure to maximize these free Shopify tools for your small business.
Shopify Review for Small Business: Alternative Comparison
Shopify isn’t the only eCommerce platform on the market. Other popular and widely-marketed offerings include Wix and Squarespace.
We compared them against each other in four eCommerce-critical areas in the quick Shopify review for small business below.
Category | Shopify | Wix | Squarespace |
---|---|---|---|
Website Building | Shopify website builder uses a sections and blocks system. | Wix is more user-friendly, allowing merchants to drag and drop elements onto the layout. Its default website builder also has more customization options than the Shopify default theme. | Squarespace has the simplest, most straightforward, and most intuitive website builder of the three. However, it’s also the option with the least customization and features. |
Inventory Management | Shopify lets users add products and manage inventory across multiple warehouse locations. | Wix has an equally robust product management as Shopify. It’s lacking multiple warehouse management, though. | Squarespace’s inventory management is not as complete as the previous two. |
Third-Party Apps | Different apps and themes let Shopify craft a shopping experience according to the needs of the business. (i.e., mini cart, color swatches) | The Wix App Market pales compared to Shopify’s, at 10x fewer apps than Shopify’s. Wix also lacks custom themes since each one is made by Wix. | Squarespace uses extensions instead of apps or plug-ins for added store utility. |
Price | The Shopify Basic plan costs $29/month for annual billing. | Wix’s Core plan, which is the starting plan that allows you to run an online store, costs $29/month. | Squarespace’s Business plan, the starting plan with e-commerce capabilities, costs $23/month. |
Using Shopify for Small Businesses: Getting Started
Now that you know what Shopify brings to the table for small businesses, we’ll discuss setting up a Shopify store.
To start using Shopify for small businesses, you’ll first need to subscribe to any paid plan. Once you’ve chosen a plan, the five steps below will get you set up with your online Shopify store. You may do these steps in any order.
Step #1: Add Your Products

Adding your products to Shopify’s system will allow you to oversee and manage inventory from Shopify. You’ll also be able to edit product details, photos, and pricing and have them instantly reflect on their respective product pages. So no product page editing will be required for every price change.
To add your products to Shopify, follow these steps:
- From the Shopify admin, click on Products.
- Click Add Product.
- Fill out the product details. Be as descriptive as you can. Key fields include Title, Description, Media, Pricing, and Inventory.
- Once you’re done, click Save.
Repeat this process for every product you wish to sell.
Alternatively, if you have too many products, you may import a CSV to Shopify and tweak them later.
Step #2: Build Your Website

Your online business needs a website. This functions both as your sales channel and marketing medium. So you’ll need to invest some time and energy into this.
To get started with building your Shopify website, follow the steps below:
- Go to Online Store - Themes.
- Click Customize next to the theme you wish to use. You may find and choose other themes, both free and paid themes, from the Shopify Theme Store.
- Once you’re in the Shopify Theme Editor, you may edit the layout by adding, editing, and moving around the blocks and sections. Each section will have a pre-arranged set of blocks. Blocks, on the other hand, make up a section. They can be buttons, text, or image fields.
- Click on a section or block to edit it
- Drag a section or block to reposition it
- Add a section or block by clicking + Add block or + Add section
- Click the dropdown labeled Home Page to change the page you’re editing. If you wish to edit a Product Page template, click on Home Page - Products - Default Product.
- Click Save once you’re done.
Note that your customization options will depend on the theme you’re using. So make sure to fully explore a theme before purchasing it by clicking on Try Theme to see if it suits your needs.
Step #3: Acquire a Domain

You’ll need to acquire a domain that will host your Shopify store.
To do that, follow the steps listed below:
- Go to Settings - Domains
- Click Buy New Domain
- Search for a domain and choose the one that you’d like to represent your business.
- After you’ve purchased a domain, make the newly bought domain your primary domain.
You don’t need to acquire hosting since all Shopify-acquired domains will automatically be hosted on Shopify.
Step #4: Set up Payments

You’ll also need a way to capture payments from interested buyers. To do that, follow the steps below:
- Go to Settings - Payments.
- To provide optimal service, you’d want to activate the following payment methods:
- Third-party payment provider
- Paypal
- Manual payment methods
- Follow Shopify’s instructions when setting up each of these payment methods.
- Go to Settings - Checkout.
- Underneath Customer information, determine the information you want to collect at checkout.
These steps will set up your checkout and allow you to receive payments from customers.
Step #5: Set Up Shipping

Shipping lets customers receive their orders from your store. To set up shipping, follow the steps indicated below:
- Go to Settings - Shipping and delivery.
- Select General shipping rates to edit these rates.
- Click on + Add shipping zone
- Select countries and regions you want to belong to this zone
- Click + Add rate and add a rate for the zone.
- Each shipping zone may have multiple rates. To add a new shipping zone, click on Add shipping zone.
- Click Save once you’re done adding shipping zones and rates to the General shipping profile. You may add a new profile with its own set of shipping zones and rates that apply to a specific set of products, if you wish.
After completing these five steps, your online Shopify store should be set up and ready to receive orders.
Conclusion
Small business owners have countless options for the eCommerce platforms they choose to use for their own business. One of the options, Shopify, is excellent when starting out but also provides immense utility for any growing business--all the way to mega enterprises.
So start your own online store now. Shopify's extensive toolkit and complete utility will guide you through your path from small business owner to business thought leader.