"So, what is this 'Shopify' thing then?"

Since initially setting up a Shopify e-commerce agency, this question has been ever present on the tongues of those in my inner circle of friends and former colleagues. Why I can't say that I blame them, my answer is always long, massively enthusiastic and full of great things to say about the company, the product and the work environment that is, Shopify.

To break this all down, I wanted to share some more detail for my Linkedin Contacts to really get the Shopify bug that is rapidly sweeping the world's global e-commerce community.

The Company

Shopify was initially started in 2006, after a group of snowboarding software developers wanted to begin selling snowboard equipment online two years previous. After starting the company by humble means in Canada, the 'store front' platform grew steadily rapidly, and was initially seen by many as a quick, simple and basic approach to e-commerce.

Following investment in its development and increase in features, Shopify began to be taken more seriously by 'bigger' players. In fact, at the time of writing, brands including Tesla, Red Bull, GymShark and Budweiser now join 500,000+ Shopify Merchants.

On May 21st 2015, Shopify went Public, raising in excess of $131 million. Since their initial offer, share price has reflected both the growing demand for e-commerce and the ability of Shopify to listen to its customers.

Now let's take a look at the product itself.

The Product

Shopify's product is constantly evolving and expanding, yet the core element of Shopify is a fully hosted, cloud based e-commerce platform. Once signed up for one of 4 levels of service, starting at $29 per month, Shopify users can then create a Shopify store by choosing:

• A Shopify theme - A Shopify theme is essentially a basic template for an e-commerce store. Shopify has both official themes listed on its 'Theme Store' but third party providers, such as Out of the Sandbox, provide premium themes, not available direct via Shopify. Pre-created themes range from $0 to $350, yet full custom themes can stretch up to $50,000+.
• Shopify apps - Recently redesigned, the Shopify app store offers Shopify merchants the opportunity to add a range of onsite functionality, marketing integrations and management features, not available on many Themes. Whilst many apps are 'plug and play', some apps will require knowledge of liquid (Shopify's codebase, loosely based on Ruby) to really harness these to their full potential.

Following this initial setup, Shopify merchants can begin to easily list products onsite and sell globally within a few hours. Whilst this is the case, many larger businesses opt to work with agencies known as 'Shopify Experts'. Shopify Experts are vetted agencies who have a track record of building, marketing and managing Shopify stores. My company, Blend Commerce, is classed as a Shopify Expert agency in three of their core categories - design, development and marketing. By having a verified base of experts, Shopify merchants often feel more secure when engaging with agency in this way.

It's also important to note that Shopify is not just for 'pure e-commerce' businesses, with Shopify also having a fulling integrated POS system (Shopify POS). This works well for businesses with a brick and mortar element of their organisation, and offers the benefit of having inventory all in one place.

The Work Environment

In terms of 'work environment' I class myself as a member of the 'Shopify Working Community'. One of the biggest features of Shopify's organisation is that community is at the heart of all they do. In reality, this means that information sharing is wide, help is non too far away and there is a real emphasis on 'how can we help each other.'

In October of this year, I had the opportunity to present at one of many Shopify conferences. Shopify Pursuit London was held specifically for 'Shopify Partners', those individuals who develop, design, market and manage Shopify stores:

As you'll see from the clip above, we took a lighthearted approach to the event, which for us was reflective of how comfortable we feel in our community. After working in other industries, me and my colleagues all agree that Shopify is great place to be.

Hopefully i've been able to shed some light on Shopify for my contacts here and perhaps some of yours too. If you'd like to know more about Shopify and how you could get involved, feel free to shoot me an email via [email protected].