Why Shopify Is Bad and Could Be Holding Your Business Back

Shopify is often hailed as one of the easiest eCommerce platforms to get started with. But while it promises simplicity and fast setup, there are hidden drawbacks that can quickly become obstacles as your business grows. From limited customization options to high fees and lack of flexibility, Shopify might not be the perfect fit for everyone. Let’s dive into why Shopify might not be the ideal choice for your business and what alternatives could serve you better in the long run.

Is Shopify Really Bad?

Shopify isn’t "bad," but it’s not the perfect fit for every business. For startups and small businesses, Shopify is an easy-to-use, reliable platform that simplifies getting an online store up and running. It offers integrated payment solutions, robust security, and 24/7 support, making it a great choice for entrepreneurs who need a quick and efficient eCommerce solution.

However, as your business grows, Shopify's limitations in customization, SEO flexibility, and scalability can become problematic. High transaction fees and the lack of full control over your store’s infrastructure may hinder your long-term growth. So, while Shopify can be an excellent starting point, it might not be the best choice for businesses aiming to scale or require more flexibility.

Is Shopify the Right Platform for Your Business?

Shopify is a popular choice for small businesses due to its ease of use and fast setup. However, as your business grows, Shopify’s limitations may become more evident, especially when it comes to customization, scalability, and control. Let’s take a closer look at these potential drawbacks.

1. Limited Customization Options

One of the most significant drawbacks of Shopify is the lack of customization, especially if you're not on the Shopify Plus plan, which starts at $2,300 per month. Shopify offers customization options on its basic plans, but for more advanced features, you may need Shopify Plus, which provides additional customization flexibility.

URL Structure Issues

Shopify imposes rigid URL structures like /collections/ and /products/, which can limit your ability to create a unique and personalized URL structure for your business. If you're trying to optimize your store for SEO or brand it in a certain way, these limitations can be frustrating.

Checkout Flow Restrictions

Shopify restricts how much you can customize the checkout process unless you’re on the expensive Shopify Plus plan. For example, if you want to add upsells, change the checkout flow, or create a conditional thank-you page based on what a customer buys, you’re out of luck unless you're willing to pay for the premium version.

Theme Limitations

Shopify offers a variety of themes, but they often come with limitations when it comes to how you can modify them. Many users find that they can't easily adjust the layout or features of their themes without complex coding knowledge or relying on third-party apps.

For businesses that need more flexibility, this can quickly become a dealbreaker. You’ll find yourself constrained by Shopify’s built-in structure, unable to fully customize your store to meet the specific needs of your business.

2. High Transaction Fees and Costs

Shopify’s pricing structure isn’t exactly transparent, and the costs can quickly add up, especially as you grow.

• Transaction fees: If you use a third-party payment processor, transaction fees range from 0.5% to 2%, depending on your plan. 
• App costs: Shopify's app store offers useful plugins, but many high-quality apps come with additional costs, which can increase your expenses.
• Shopify Plus costs: To access advanced customization features, you'll need Shopify Plus, which starts at $2,300 per month. 

3. Lack of Staging Environment

Shopify doesn't provide a built-in staging environment, which means any changes you make to your store are implemented directly on your live site.

With no easy or cheap way to set up a staging environment, you’ll have to test all changes directly on your live store. This approach increases the risk of making errors that could affect your customers' experience or, worse, cause site downtime. You may need to purchase plugins to set up a staging site, which adds another cost.

Without backups or a version control system, if something goes wrong, you can’t easily roll back to a previous version of your store. This lack of control can be stressful, especially if you're making frequent updates or working with a team of developers.

4. SEO Limitations

Shopify’s built-in SEO tools are basic at best, and while they cover the fundamentals, there are significant limitations when it comes to fine-tuning your SEO strategy.

Page Speed Issues

Shopify's pages can be slow, especially if you’re using a lot of apps or heavy imagery. Page speed is a crucial ranking factor for Google, and Shopify’s lack of customization on server-side performance means you can't fully optimize your store's speed to improve your rankings.

URL Structure and Content Flexibility

As mentioned earlier, Shopify’s URL structure can hurt your SEO efforts. Additionally, Shopify doesn’t give you complete control over the meta tags and other SEO elements, which can limit your ability to fine-tune your pages for search engines.

5. Limited Payment Options and Payment Delays

Shopify Payments, while a convenient option, doesn’t offer the variety of payment processors and methods that self-hosted platforms.

Shopify only supports a limited number of payment gateways, and many of them come with high fees or restrictions. Shopify’s payment timeline can cause cash flow issues for businesses. Shopify controls the payout schedule, and they can withhold funds or delay payouts at their discretion. For a business owner, this unpredictability can be a significant inconvenience, especially if you rely on timely payments to cover expenses.

Even when using Shopify Payments, you’ll still be subject to payment processing fees. While Shopify’s fees are generally lower than those of third-party providers, they can still add up quickly for businesses with high transaction volumes.

6. Vendor Lock-In

Shopify’s closed ecosystem can make migration to other platforms challenging, but it is possible with time and effort. However, it may come with additional costs.

• Migration hassles: Migrating from Shopify to another platform is complex and costly. You'll need to manually transfer data, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
• Dependence on Shopify’s ecosystem: Shopify's closed ecosystem locks you into their pricing and services. If prices rise or new restrictions are introduced, you're stuck with them.
• No server access: Shopify restricts server access, limiting your ability to make custom server-side changes, which can be frustrating for businesses that need more control over their hosting environment.

7. Customer Support Issues

While Shopify offers customer support, it’s not always responsive or helpful, particularly if you’re outside of North America.

• Limited support options: Shopify’s customer support options can be slow, especially if you're in a different time zone. If you have a critical issue that needs immediate attention, you might have to wait hours or even days to get a response.
• Lack of localized support: For international businesses, Shopify’s lack of localized support can be a problem. The company offers no local phone support in many regions, and the response times for email or chat support can be inconsistent.

The Power of Predictive Ad Performance with Extuitive

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We believe in predicting winners and losers. With our intelligent audience targeting, we help you reach the right people every time, optimizing your ad performance for higher click-through rates (CTR) and return on ad spend (ROAS). Whether you're analyzing large volumes of creatives or testing new campaigns, we make it easy to see how your ads will perform in real-world conditions before you go live.

By partnering with us, you gain control over your ad strategy, bypassing some limitations of Shopify. With Extuitive, you can scale your ad performance with confidence, knowing you’re making informed decisions backed by AI-driven insights. 

Conclusion

Shopify is a solid platform for beginners and small businesses looking to get up and running quickly. Its ease of use and integration with various tools make it an attractive choice for those who need to set up a store with minimal effort. However, as your business grows, you’ll likely encounter many of the limitations discussed above.

Before committing to Shopify, take a long, hard look at your business goals and consider whether the platform's limitations will hold you back from achieving them. The “easy” option may not always be the best one when it comes to scaling your business. However, it still has many benefits to take advantage of.

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