Should I use Shopify? (Online & retail store set-up w/ 1000+ skus)

[FJ123]

Bit of a boring one.

• A local plumbers merchant is currently selling everything in-store.
• They now want to also start selling thier products online.
• They have 1000+ skus
• They have an ePOS system (not shopify or square)

Is Shopify a good solution for them?

Ideal solution: Easy to use online sales platform that automatically updates the inventory in the store when an item is sold.

 

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[Ing]

Many love it. I hated it. I never got the system working. German laws never fitted in it.

Doesn’t have to be, it’s bad, but for me it didn’t work.

 

[FJ123]

Many love it. I hated it. I never got the system working. German laws never fitted in it.

Doesn’t have to be, it’s bad, but for me it didn’t work.

What did you end up going with?

 

[Ing]

Woocommerce. It was difficult for me, but at least it worked.

I don’t use it any more, as I gave up a time ago.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Bit of a boring one.

• A local plumbers merchant is currently selling everything in-store.
• They now want to also start selling thier products online.
• They have 1000+ skus
• They have an ePOS system (not shopify or square)

Is Shopify a good solution for them?

Ideal solution: Easy to use online sales platform that automatically updates the inventory in the store when an item is sold.

It should work. Might want to look into how the inventory will update between shopify and the store. WooCommerce is an alternative but has all the headaches of Wordpress… and all the customisations of Wordpress.

 

[parabolic]

I've used it for my record store from the beginning. We have 1543 different products at the moment. Our inventory online and in store is one and the same.

We use the Shopify POS. I'm guessing that using a different POS will complicate the automatic inventory adjustments being seamless but I'm not sure.

As far as the overall experience, some things about it are annoying but for the most part it is simple and user friendly.

 

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[FJ123]

I've used it for my record store from the beginning. We have 1543 different products at the moment. Our inventory online and in store is one and the same.

We use the Shopify POS. I'm guessing that using a different POS will complicate the automatic inventory adjustments being seamless but I'm not sure.

As far as the overall experience, some things about it are annoying but for the most part it is simple and user friendly.

Thanks, very helpful!

What plan do you use? (Basic, Advanced, Pro etc)

 

[Cameraman]

Bit of a boring one.

• A local plumbers merchant is currently selling everything in-store.
• They now want to also start selling thier products online.
• They have 1000+ skus
• They have an ePOS system (not shopify or square)

Is Shopify a good solution for them?

Ideal solution: Easy to use online sales platform that automatically updates the inventory in the store when an item is sold.

I currently use Shopify Basic. It allows me to embed the Shopify code in my web pages without porting my entire site to full Shopify (which isn't suitable). I've used it for around 6 years now. Although the Basic model has its flaws, it has been good up to a point.

Prior to this, I used WooCommerce for a year. I hated it because of the effort and expense of configuring it with add-ins to achieve what I needed. I also used Easy Digital Downloads for a couple of years but found it slow and that I needed to buy add-ins to do what I wanted.

Is Shopify right for your client depends on things like do they have an existing website. If they do and don't want to migrate it, the Basic Buy Button service from Shopify could work well. Also consider if they are a limited company (I suspect they are) and need to report VAT.

I assume from your description that they are selling physical products rather than digital, so you won't have the headache of dealing with digital taxes around the world, but they will need to report VAT on all sales. Consider their Tax position carefully when finding a solution. The wrong one could land them with a lot more work.

The financial reports and VAT handling in Shopify Basic have worked well for me up to this point. From what I've seen, they are well suited to a business selling physical products within a country like the UK. They could also take advantage of the Shopify POS devices if they wanted to.

 

[parabolic]

Thanks, very helpful!

What plan do you use? (Basic, Advanced, Pro etc)

Basic