Shopify, no doubt, is a holy grail for those who want to set up their business in no time. It's quick, relatively straightforward, and popular. But this doesn't mean it doesn't have disadvantages and limitations of its own. We have listed some disadvantages that can break the back of a small business and will let you understand why it's time to look for other options.
1. Has to pay for every small thing you do on your business account
Even though Shopify is relatively easy to work with, that ease comes at a price. You are required to pay for every small thing or feature you use. For example, you want to help customers log in to their social media accounts. In that case, you must pay an additional fee of $9 per month.
Suppose you offer free shipping and want to let the customers know how much more they have to spend with a simple message on top of the website. In that case, you will be charged an additional $4.99 monthly. Yes, and the list goes on.
So if you plan to expand your business and add more features to the website, you must pay an additional fee for every feature you opt in. In the long run, a self-hosted website becomes much more economical for your business than hosting it on Shopify.
2. Has less functionality
Shopify is meant for beginners with zero to little knowledge about website hosting and setting up an online store. If you are tech-savvy and want your website to be more user-friendly and interactive, you will need help with a Shopify web store. In that case, you can choose the self-hosting option from Shopify's competitors like Magento and WordPress. These are complicated and might challenge you in the long run. Still, you can experiment with the themes and add as many customizations as possible.
3. Migration can be a lot difficult in the future.
If you have yet to make plans to scale your business and want to operate it as it is, then Shopify can be your best friend. However, you have laid out a full-fledged plan to scale your business and do it within a year or two of launching. In that case, migrating to your self-hosted platform will be difficult as Shopify doesn't go easy on you.
4. Limited options for inserting content
Shopify's primary intent is to sell the products. The options are limited if you want to add many product descriptions and reviews in images or even add a how-to-use video for the product. It would look tacky, and you will need more space or options to add those different pieces of content. There needs to be more room for content in this system.
5. Challenging to get technical support
The straightforward platform has been running for years and needs more urgent support. So if you face any technical issue, you have two ways to find a solution. One goes through the FAQs and sees if anyone else has encountered the same issue and how they got it sorted. Two, go to their forum and post your comment or question. Then a developer will get back to you with a solution.
The live support, if needed, is available only for the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
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