What platform is Shopify?

Source: overseadia

Shopify, founded in Canada in 2004, is currently the world's most famous e-commerce SaaS platform. Sellers can set up their own online store on Shopify, decorate the store and list products on the Shopify platform, bind multiple payment methods, and achieve brand marketing linkage. In short, cross-border e-commerce sellers can establish their own independent e-commerce website on Shopify.

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Initially, Shopify founder Tobias L ü tke developed a website program to sell his scooter. In the following years, Shopify transformed into a service provider, and currently more than 1 million merchants have used Shopify to build websites. According to its financial report, Shopify's total Gross merchandise volume reached $119.6 billion in 2020, a sharp increase of 96% over the previous year.

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Shopify's business proportion in China is also constantly increasing, and currently there are over a thousand sellers in China, including some emerging Chinese brands, original equipment manufacturers, and cross-border sellers.

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So, what are the advantages of being a Shopify independent station?

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Firstly, having your own independent website eliminates the need to constantly worry about the store being shut down or restricted by the platform. Recently, the Amazon account suspension trend has not stopped. According to CCTV, in the past five months, Amazon has closed sales permissions for approximately 600 Chinese brands, including approximately 3000 seller accounts related to these brands. Although Amazon officially stated that the current wave of account suspension is mainly aimed at regulating violations of platform rules such as browsing orders and comments, it has indeed led many Chinese sellers to turn to independent websites.

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Secondly, independent websites help establish and market brands. With an independent website and domain name, one can continuously accumulate brand awareness, enhance consumer trust, independently own data, and achieve deep communication with users.

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Finally, the transaction commission of independent websites is lower than that of most platforms. The rent for Shopify's store is $29 per month, plus a 2% transaction fee for sales. And because there is no price comparison on independent websites, there can be higher product pricing.

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Of course, compared to entering cross-border platforms, building a website on Shopify also has its disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is the lack of traffic. Therefore, Shopify needs to have strong self-learning ability to open a store, and website optimization, drainage, promotion, and other tasks need to be completed by oneself.

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Compared to opening a store on a platform, self built websites have their own advantages and disadvantages, and merchants can choose their shipping methods based on their own conditions.