[Why Shopify is recommended] How to create an EC site

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When you think about creating an EC website (online store, online shop), the first thing you need to do is choose a platform.

There are of course the existing mall-type services (such as Rakuten and Amazon), but there are also others that you may already know, such as BASE and STORES, which have been running commercials recently so they are probably quite well-known, right?

Among them, there is Shopify, which may not be that well known among the general public, but when it comes to creating an e-commerce website, the information on it almost always comes up!

Shopify boasts an overwhelming market share overseas and is said to be "the only choice" if you want to launch an e-commerce site. In this article, we will introduce why this is so.

table of contents

Types of e-commerce sites

First, let's look at what makes it different from others.

First of all, EC sites can be broadly divided into

Molding type
Single store type → ASP type → Scratch type

They are divided into two types, and in the case of a single store, the mall type is divided into two types: ASP type and scratch type. (The differences will be described later.)

Let's take a look at each one!

About the mall type

This time, we won't be talking much about mall-type sites like Rakuten and Amazon, but we'll touch on them briefly!

First of all, the mall type is like "opening a store in a department store." It's like being a tenant in a department store called Rakuten. As a tenant, you have to pay rent, and you have to pay a commission to the mall based on your sales!

Although the initial cost tends to be quite large, the biggest advantage is the ability to attract customers. Since it is a department store, you can start with people there as long as you have a store.

However, to be honest, there are too many stores these days, and if you don't do anything, you won't be able to sell anything. In that sense, it's not the era where you can sell just by putting something out there, so if you have a certain level of name recognition and want to expand your business to Rakuten or Amazon's market area, I think it's worth considering!

In the past, you couldn't sell unless you opened a store in a mall, but now you can't sell just by opening a store in a mall.

I think it's becoming more like a normal business flow. It's the same as not being able to open a store in a department store or shopping center right from the start for an apparel brand.

If you join after gaining the skills, the synergistic effect with your ability to attract customers will be great , so it will be worth paying the fees and rent!!

Single store type

And the independent store type can be broadly divided into "ASP type" and "scratch type"! First, let me give you a rough explanation of the difference between them.

ASP type

The ASP type ASP stands for Application Service Provider , and means "a company that provides business applications and usage environments via the Internet."

It might be easier to understand if you think of it as a platform that provides applications and a usage environment from the start .

In other words, it is a service that prepares applications and usage environments such as general-purpose "cart system," "customer management," and "payment functions" from the start.

Let's take a look at some easy to understand and well-known names!

BASE
Shopify
STORES
Makeshop
ColorMe

These are some of the services that fall under this category.

In the case of ASPs, you generally have to pay a monthly fee or commission to use them, and they basically provide general-purpose programs, so you will need to fix the work itself to a certain extent on the ASP side.

Also, in some cases you won't be able to tweak templates very much, so you'll have to be prepared for some restrictions on your freedom, but the good thing is that generally the credit card fees are set at low rates!

Another attractive point is that since we use items that are already somewhat pre-made from the beginning, we can keep initial costs down quite a bit .

Scratch type

This is something that can be said to be " created from scratch " to suit each individual's wishes; if an ASP were to open a store in an existing facility, it would be like opening a store from scratch.

This means that we need to create everything from the initial design to the system itself.

It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to complete , including creating the store, creating the payment function, creating a customer management system, etc.

Of course, we can design the work itself to suit your situation and make it easier for you to do, so it's possible to make your daily work run smoothly as well!!

After reading this, you might be thinking, " Well, then wouldn't it be fine to just use scratch cards for everything? ", but the biggest disadvantage of the scratch card system is the cost!!

It's so expensive that the initial cost can easily reach 80,000 yen. If you have the money, I recommend it, but when you consider the cost-effectiveness, it's hard to go for the scratch type.

The ASP Era

Now that we've looked at the types, let's take a deeper look at the ASP type, which is becoming more and more mainstream. Why is the ASP type so popular now?

Initial opening costs are low
The monthly fee is not high
Can be managed to some extent
Choose according to sales volume

To be honest, there are more and more things that can be done without using the scratch system, so why do we need to use the scratch system? Because there are so many different services out there! That's what we're living in now.

Among them, ASP-type stores that are easy to open are increasing in number, led by BASE, which you may have seen on TV in commercials saying, "If you want to open a store online, use BASE."

It's great to live in an age where you can get to the stage of selling without spending too much money up front.

ASPs that are growing now

Among them, the ASPs that are growing now are limited! I think there are three main ASPs that are growing.

BASE
STORES
Shopify

These three are the ASPs that are experiencing overwhelming growth!

[BASE and STORES]

As mentioned earlier, BASE is the fastest growing ASP! Low initial costs, easy operation, easy-to-understand UI, etc.

Even beginners can create an online shop in no time!

This is a tool that has firmly captured this demand during the COVID-19 pandemic!

I actually had a situation where my sales were almost zero due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but I set up a base website for a wholesale company in about five days and made sales of 1 million yen in one month . It's possible to set up a store so quickly!

Next up is STORES, which is competing in the same arena and is now expanding its market share! I wonder if there is a big difference between BASE and STORES? I feel like there are more serious shops on STORES.

Maybe it's because BASE is too casual and I see a lot of stores that aren't the best...

The monthly fee is free, so the barrier to entry is extremely low! In addition, we have a comprehensive contract for BASE, so the delivery fee is low, and it is also attractive that we can shoulder the economies of scale.

However, a common drawback of both services is their lack of customizability.

It's great that you can create things quickly and easily, but when you think, "Ah, I want to do this!" and it's a service that the ASP doesn't provide, no matter how hard you try you won't be able to implement it.

When it comes to appearance, you have to use the templates provided and you can't make any major changes , so there are quite a few design restrictions.

【 Shopify 】

BASE and STORES are easy to use, but they are not very customizable, so if you want to do more, Shopify is the next choice. In Japan, "Makeshop" and "Color Me" have also entered the market, but the overseas company Shopify is attracting a lot of attention.

Shopify is an APS for e-commerce sites based in Canada, and has an overwhelming share of the global e-commerce site ASP market. In recent years, it is said to have a market share of over 80%, making it the world's largest e-commerce site ASP.

" Create an EC site = shopify "

It is no exaggeration to say that this is common sense.

Unlike BASE and STORES, the minimum monthly fee is around 3,000 yen, but the card fees are slightly cheaper at 3.4% or more.

They also seem to be similar in terms of the functionality for building the e-commerce site itself using templates, but this is where they are quite different !

The degree of freedom offered by BASE and STORES, and the extent to which you can customize the templates themselves, is vastly greater than that of the higher-level services "Makeshop" and "Color Me"! I'll touch on that later.

In addition, as a global platform, it is also capable of supporting cross-border e-commerce as standard!

You can also build a translation site and localize currencies, so if you are considering selling overseas, Shopify will be an overwhelming help to your business!

Why Shopify is so dominating the world

Why is it so overwhelmingly popular around the world? And why has it recently expanded its market share in Japan as well? I would like to reveal the secret behind this.

Free to customize templates

First of all, as I mentioned earlier, even if you use a template, you are free to customize it! Of course, you will still need to tweak the code, so it may be difficult for those without knowledge to customize beyond the template, but if you get professional support,

You can create about 95% of the designs you want.

The best one is Shopify. I wouldn't say 100% because there are some places where it's better to use template functions, but you can create an almost entirely original website.

This is something that almost no other ASP can do ! Normally, the ASP would have trouble processing the content unless it was created in a somewhat standard way, which limits the degree of freedom, but Shopify has overcome this problem by creating a programming language itself and providing a large number of systems for data integration called APIs, so that anyone with programming skills can do anything as long as they can pull out Shopify data.

This allows for considerable freedom in design .

By the way, it is possible to create a 100% original website, but in that case, it will require as much effort as starting from scratch, so it is not recommended in terms of cost-effectiveness. Let's leave it to Shopify a little!

Strong servers and security

Another of Shopify's overwhelming advantages is the strength of its servers.

This is a monster company that operates all over the world. It's only possible because they can spend a huge amount of money, but for example, when a product is introduced on TV, you go, "Oh! I want this!" and click on the site, but the moment it appears on TV, the server is too heavy and you can't connect, right?

This almost never happens with Shopify! The system is designed to handle 10,000 payments per minute .

This means you won't miss the opportunity to sell !

Furthermore, the security aspect is also strong because of the security measures of Monster Corporation. To be honest, there is no solid evidence, but if customer information were to leak from Shopify... that would be a major global problem.

This is a bit different from the situation where individual companies have to deal with it. Shopify says they will not take legal responsibility, but this is the same for other ASPs.

When using ASP, the only thing you need to be concerned about regarding customer information leaks is locally stored data, etc. Credit card information cannot be obtained from the ASP, so in that sense, it's a bit reassuring that you don't have to manage it yourself!

Unlimited functionality

It is common for ASPs to use functions that are provided by the ASP. All ASPs offer things like regular purchases and favorite registration, but Shopify's greatest strength is that you can add other functions with apps one after another.

For example, if you want to do crowdfunding in-house, you can install and set up a compatible app such as "Crowdfunder". If you want to create a reservation site for a rental business, you can use an app such as "Book That App". If your product requires customization, you can use an app such as "Custom Pride Calculator".

Anyway, all sorts of features can be added with the app.

I'm not sure how many apps there are in total, but I think there are several thousand because app developers all over the world are competing to make them.

Yes, anything is possible! (You will need to adapt your work to the app to some extent.)

There are many cases where you can implement functions without an app by using a dedicated language called Liquid and JavaScript. This does require the skills of an engineer and is not as convenient, but unlike an app, it can save you money on monthly fees .

Automation of all kinds

So far we've been talking about the front-end, which is important for customers visiting the site, but Shopify is also strong in its back-end side.

Basically, you can add "tags" to various pieces of data.

merchandise
customer
Order Data
Blog Post

Having tags allows you to design all kinds of automation based on those tags. For example, you can separate things like membership rank, or display coupon codes only for specific products.

Customer segmentation is also quite flexible, so you can send marketing emails only to customers who have made a certain number of purchases, or only to customers who spend a certain amount of money.

Furthermore, by using the official Shopify app called "Shopify Flow," which became available in June 2022 for customers with the Standard plan or above, you can automatically send emails when pre-specified conditions are met, and if you use an app that connects with LINE, it can even send messages via LINE!

It's becoming possible to connect everything and anything, and it feels like the speed of evolution, which was already overwhelmingly fast until now, has really accelerated.

Lots of data for marketing purposes

Shopify can also collect all kinds of marketing data! Rather than discussing this, it's easier to show you a screenshot of the page where you can collect the data, so I'll post it here.

I'll post it! Unfortunately, it won't all fit in the screenshot, but you can get a ton of data.

By the way, the amount of data you can acquire varies depending on the plan, so if you want to get serious about acquiring data, we recommend the Standard plan or higher!

The first challenge for an EC site is to attract customers, and the next challenge is to create repeat customers. In the early stages of construction, it is difficult to think about how to use and utilize the site, but the accumulated data will definitely be useful when you want to increase sales one or two years later.

It's worth using Shopify just for this accumulation !

Why it's better to use Shopify from the start

Finally, here's one more reason why it's better to use Shopify from the start.

So far I've written about various strengths we have compared to other ASPs, but do you understand why it makes sense for our company to specialize in Shopify?

In short, it has overwhelmingly high future potential ! It may be purely my ego that I stake my future on a business with such high future potential, but I still think it's worth pursuing.

Still, I think there are many people who think, "I'll start small with BASE or STORES, and then move to Shopify in the future!"

But don't forget something important here.

Customer information cannot be completely transferred via the platform!

It is possible to transfer the "name", "address", "email address" etc. of customers who have purchased your products, but the "password" and "credit card information" linked to the membership information cannot be transferred to another platform!

If you think about it, it's obvious. If you can transfer passwords between platforms... If you can transfer credit card information... That means all your data is exposed! That's scary in itself.

This means that when you move, you will have to ask the customer to "reset their password and credit card information." Imagine that. You receive such an email from a site you bought six months ago... Yes, if it were me, I wouldn't bother to go through the trouble of doing it again! At this point, you will be dropped from the customer list.

If you move the platform, this event will occur . To be honest, you won't even have 1/3 of the game left.

If you had a customer list of 2000 people, moving the platform would reduce that number to around 600. There's no such thing as a terrible waste!!

To avoid this, we recommend starting with Shopify from the beginning!

You can start small with Shopify! You can start small with Shopify, which costs around 3,000 yen per month, and when you want to expand, don't you think it would be much less risky to lose customers if you customize within Shopify?

With Shopify, you can transform into a large, highly functional EC site without switching platforms. There are great reasons to recommend it for the future.