When considering launching an e-commerce site (online store), many people ask themselves, "Which service should I use?" There are many things to consider: design, functionality, cost, future potential, and so on. Amidst all this, one e-commerce platform chosen by many businesses worldwide is "Shopify."
"I've heard the name, but I don't know what's so great about it specifically." "How is it different from BASE or Rakuten Ichiba?" "Can a beginner really use it?"
In this article, to answer all such questions about Shopify, we will thoroughly explain everything about e-commerce site construction, from its basic overview to specific functions, pricing plans, pros and cons, comparisons with other services, and the path to success. After reading this article, it will become clear why Shopify is called the world's No. 1 and whether it can be the best choice for your business.
What is Shopify? Overview of the World's No. 1 E-commerce Platform
Basic Information about Shopify
Shopify, founded in Canada in 2006, is the world's largest e-commerce platform. It provides a service that allows even people without specialized knowledge to easily build, operate, and manage highly functional e-commerce sites (online stores).
Its achievements are overwhelming, with millions of active stores in 175 countries worldwide. From global corporations like Coca-Cola and Tesla to up-and-coming D2C brands and individual creators, it is used by businesses of all sizes.
What is SaaS? Differences from installable software
Shopify is a "SaaS (Software as a Service)" platform. This refers to a service model where software is accessed and used over the internet, rather than being installed on a PC.
In addition to "SaaS" like Shopify, e-commerce site construction can also be done using "open-source" software (e.g., EC-CUBE) where the system is installed on a server, or by developing from scratch ("full-scratch"). For beginners, Shopify, as a SaaS model, is the most convenient and secure option.
Comparison Item |
Shopify (SaaS) |
EC-CUBE (Open Source) |
Server |
Not required (provided by Shopify) |
Requires self-contracting and management |
System Updates |
Automatic (handled by Shopify) |
Requires self-handling |
Security |
High (guaranteed by Shopify) |
Requires self-measures |
Programming Knowledge |
Not required |
Required (HTML/CSS/PHP, etc.) |
Initial Cost |
None (monthly fee only) |
Relatively high (development costs, etc.) |
Customizability |
Extendable with apps |
Very high but requires expert knowledge |
Reasons Why Shopify is Chosen
Among the many e-commerce platforms available, Shopify is particularly supported by many businesses for the following wide-ranging benefits:
High Design Quality and Freedom of Brand Expression
Shopify offers a rich selection of high-quality templates (themes) created by professional designers. These themes combine sophisticated design with excellent user interfaces (UI), allowing businesses to effectively express their brand image and worldview even without specialized design knowledge.
Furthermore, with knowledge of HTML and CSS, more detailed customization is possible, and a completely original design can be built. This allows businesses to provide a consistent brand experience to customers and build a trustworthy online store.
Overwhelming Scalability and Flexible Feature Addition via the Shopify App Store
One of Shopify's greatest strengths is its overwhelming scalability through the official app store, "Shopify App Store." With over 8,000 apps available, shops can be customized freely.
This app store includes some apps developed by Shopify, as well as many third-party developed apps. You can find apps that provide a wide variety of functions, such as pre-orders, subscriptions, inventory management, customer management, marketing tools, shipping integrations, and accounting processes.
By implementing these apps, businesses can freely add or remove necessary functions later to match their business model and customer needs. This allows for flexible function expansion as the business grows while keeping initial costs down, catering to businesses of all sizes. The capabilities and selection of apps will be discussed in more detail later in the article.
Strong Support for Cross-Border E-commerce
Shopify is an extremely powerful platform for businesses aiming for global expansion. It natively supports multiple languages and currencies, providing a solid foundation for selling products to customers worldwide. By supporting store display in different languages and payment in various national currencies, the barrier to entry into overseas markets is lowered.
It also makes it easy to set up international shipping and customs duties, simplifying complex processes in cross-border e-commerce. This enables businesses to reach a wider customer base, both domestically and internationally.
Robust Security and Stable Operational System
Security and stability are essential for online store operations. Shopify handles all infrastructure aspects such as server management, security measures, and system updates, allowing businesses to operate with peace of mind even without specialized technical knowledge. A major strength is the constant assurance of high-level security, including protection against DDoS attacks, provision of SSL certificates, and PCI DSS compliance.
Shopify's servers boast a high uptime and are designed to withstand sudden spikes in access. This frees businesses from worries about system operations and security, allowing them to focus on their core business activities such as product development, marketing, and customer service.
List of Shopify's Main Features | All-in-one E-commerce Operations
Shopify comes standard with most of the features necessary for e-commerce site operation. Here are its main features.
Basic Online Store Functions
Highly flexible, allowing design tailored to your business.
Product registration: Register product name, description, price, photos, etc. Easy to set up variations like size and color.
Inventory management: Track product inventory in real-time. Receive notifications when stock runs low.
Order management: Centralized management of order status from receipt to shipping.
Customer management: Automatically accumulate buyer information and purchase history, which can be used for marketing.
Design Customization Features
One of Shopify's biggest attractions is the high degree of design freedom.
Shopify Themes: The Shopify Theme Store offers over 800 design templates (themes) created by professional designers. There are free themes as well as more functional and refined paid themes (approximately 30,000 to 80,000 yen).
No-code/Low-code editing: Even without programming knowledge, you can change logo placement and color schemes, and add/delete sections with intuitive drag-and-drop operations. This allows you to build a unique site based on a template.
Payment Functions (Shopify Payments)
Shopify Payments is Shopify's proprietary payment service.
Wide range of supported payment methods: It supports major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) as well as various other payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay as standard.
Easy implementation and fees: While introducing payment services usually requires complex screening, Shopify Payments can be used immediately after setting up your store with simple settings. Furthermore, a significant advantage is that transaction fees are free.
Marketing and Promotion Features
Features to boost sales are also included as standard.
Coupon/Discount Function: Issue flexible discount codes such as "10% OFF" or "Free Shipping."
Blog Function: Set up a blog within the store to utilize for SEO and content marketing.
SEO Measures Function: Basic SEO settings such as title tags, meta descriptions, and URL canonicalization can be configured to be favorably evaluated by search engines.
SNS Integration: Integrate with Instagram and Facebook to use "Shop functions" to sell products directly from posts.
Analytics Features
Shopify also offers robust analytics features to help you understand your store's performance. The dashboard in Shopify's admin panel allows you to check sales, visitor count, conversion rate, popular products, and more in real time. It also supports integration with Google Analytics, enabling more detailed analysis of user behavior and traffic sources.
Multi-channel Selling Features (Omnichannel)
Shopify POS: If you operate a physical store, you can install the Shopify POS app to centralize inventory and customer information between your store's point of sale and your e-commerce site. This enables an omnichannel sales strategy that integrates online and offline sales.
Shopify's Biggest Strength "Scalability" - What are Shopify Apps?
The biggest reason Shopify is considered the best among many e-commerce platforms is its powerful Shopify app ecosystem.
Shopify apps offer a wide range of features to address every challenge faced by e-commerce store operators. For example, a wealth of apps are available that cover functions essential for business operations, such as inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, shipping integration, and accounting. By combining these apps, businesses can flexibly customize their e-commerce sites to suit their needs and significantly improve operational efficiency.
Role of Shopify Apps
Shopify apps are like smartphone apps that allow you to add necessary functions to your store. Over 8,000 apps are available in the Shopify App Store, and by utilizing them, you can meet all kinds of needs that cannot be fulfilled with standard functions alone.
What You Can Achieve with Shopify Apps
Here are some examples of popular apps tailored to Japanese business practices:
Subscriptions (recurring purchases): Introduce a recurring sales model common for health foods and cosmetics.
Pre-orders: Enable acceptance of pre-orders for new or popular products.
Review function: Display customer reviews on product pages to enhance credibility.
Points function: Award points based on purchase amount to promote repeat purchases.
Email newsletter distribution: Integrate with high-functional email marketing tools.
Delivery date/time specification: Allow customers to specify delivery dates and times, essential for Japanese customers.
Customization of delivery slips and receipts: Easily issue invoices tailored to Japanese formats.
How to Choose Apps and Important Considerations
Apps range from free to paid (mostly monthly subscriptions). When implementing, always check ratings and reviews, and select only what is necessary for your store. Be careful not to install too many apps, as this can lead to a decrease in site display speed.
Detailed Explanation of Shopify's Pricing Structure
Shopify offers a clear pricing structure that can be chosen according to business scale.
Comparison of 3 Basic Pricing Plans
Plan Name |
Monthly |
Annual (monthly equivalent) |
Transaction Fee |
Recommended for |
Basic |
¥4,850 |
¥3,650 |
3.55% |
Individuals/small businesses starting e-commerce |
Standard |
¥13,500 |
¥10,100 |
3.4% |
Businesses with growing sales, those who want to utilize reporting features |
Premium |
¥58,500 |
¥44,000 |
3.25% |
Large businesses, those serious about overseas expansion |
※The above prices are as of September 2025. Please check the official website for the latest information.
"Shopify Plus" for Large Businesses
Shopify Plus is an enterprise plan for large companies with annual sales of several hundred million yen or more, and rapidly growing brands. Available from $2,300 per month, it offers all the features of the regular plan plus unlimited customization, dedicated support, and advanced automation capabilities.
About Additional Costs
Transaction fees other than Shopify Payments: If you integrate payment methods other than Shopify Payments, such as Amazon Pay or convenience store payments, an additional transaction fee of 0.5% to 2.0% will be incurred per transaction.
App usage fees: If you use paid apps, it will cost several thousands to tens of thousands of yen per month.
Theme purchase fees: If you use a paid theme, it will cost approximately 30,000 to 80,000 yen for a one-time purchase.
Pros and Cons of Shopify
Based on the information so far, here is a summary of Shopify's pros and cons.
Advantages of Using Shopify
Easy to start with no initial cost: No server contract is required, and you can start with just a monthly fee.
High design quality and strong for branding: Plenty of templates allow for full expression of your brand's world view.
High scalability through apps: You can flexibly add necessary functions as your business grows.
No server management required, high security: Shopify provides a constantly updated and secure environment.
Strong for cross-border e-commerce: Supports multiple languages, currencies, and international shipping as standard.
Easy integration with external services: Seamlessly connects with various external tools such as social media and accounting software.
Disadvantages of Shopify and Solutions
Advanced customization requires programming knowledge.
Significant design changes or the development of unique features require knowledge of HTML/CSS and Shopify's proprietary language "Liquid." By entrusting a production company specializing in Shopify development (Shopify Partner), such as SOLSTAR Inc., you can achieve your ideal site without programming knowledge.
Some aspects may not align with Japanese business practices.
As an overseas platform, there are some aspects that may not align with Japanese business practices, such as invoice specifications. For example, in some cases, "first name and last name may be reversed" in order data. By installing Shopify apps developed by Japanese businesses, these issues can generally be resolved.
Comparison with Other E-commerce Platforms
To clarify Shopify's position, let's compare it with other major e-commerce services.
Service Name |
Type |
Features |
Difference from Shopify |
BASE / STORES |
Domestic SaaS |
Offers a free plan, extremely easy to start. For beginners. |
Easy to start with zero initial cost, but limited design and scalability, and challenges for international sales. |
EC-CUBE / WooCommerce |
Open Source |
Free to use, highly customizable. |
Requires advanced knowledge and server management, which can increase operational hurdles. |
Amazon / Rakuten Ichiba |
EC Marketplace |
Overwhelming customer attraction. Retailers can leverage the marketplace's brand recognition. |
Strong customer attraction, but has fees and design restrictions, not suitable for brand building. |
Who is Shopify Recommended For?
In recent years, online sales have become indispensable for businesses, not just brick-and-mortar stores. However, many people may feel "I want to build an e-commerce site, but I don't know where to start" or "cost and specialized knowledge are obstacles."
Cases Where Shopify is Suitable
Individuals and corporations who want to seriously launch an e-commerce business
Businesses that prioritize design and want to thoroughly express their brand's worldview
Companies considering overseas expansion (cross-border e-commerce)
Businesses that want to link physical stores and e-commerce sites (omnichannel)
Those who value site scalability for future business expansion
5 Steps to Start an E-commerce Site with Shopify
With Shopify, you can start building your e-commerce site right away.
Shopify Account Registration: Register your email address on the official website and start your free trial.
Product Registration: Register information for the products you want to sell.
Choose a Theme and Determine Design: Select your preferred design from the theme store and customize it.
Set Up Payment and Shipping Methods: Activate Shopify Payments and configure shipping zones and rates.
Go Live: Set up your custom domain and disable the password, and your online store will be live to the world.
How to Succeed in Building and Operating Shopify?
The Option of Relying on Experts
While Shopify can be easily started by beginners, maximizing its rich features and building a competitive e-commerce site still requires specialized knowledge and experience. We strongly recommend seeking expert help, especially in the following cases:
You want to implement a unique design that matches your brand image.
You want to develop special features tailored to your business requirements.
You're unsure which apps to install.
You aim to tackle a large-scale site (Shopify Plus) or full-fledged cross-border e-commerce.
Value Provided by SOLSTAR Inc.
SOLSTAR Inc. is a specialist and official Shopify partner that has handled the construction of numerous Shopify e-commerce sites. With certifications in Shopify development, operations, and B2B sales strategy, we support everything from e-commerce site construction to sales improvement and B2B expansion. We leverage solutions that utilize Shopify's core functionalities to build e-commerce sites with minimal technical debt.
Advanced design and feature development: In addition to template customization, we realize your ideal store with technical expertise cultivated through building large-scale sites, including some with development costs exceeding 1 billion yen.
Optimal app selection and implementation: From over 8,000 available apps, we carefully select and support the implementation of only those truly necessary for your business.
Extensive track record: We boast an extensive track record in building Shopify Plus sites with annual sales exceeding 6 billion yen, as well as cross-border e-commerce sites with complex requirements, and providing long-term support for them.
Partner-style support: Our support doesn't end with site construction; we walk alongside your business for the long term, from post-launch operations to marketing, to help you achieve growth.
Start with a free consultation
If you have questions such as "Can Shopify be effectively utilized for my business?" or "Is it possible to implement a specific feature?", please feel free to consult with us. We will propose the optimal solution from an expert's perspective.
Summary
Shopify is more than just an online store creation tool. It is a powerful e-commerce platform that combines high levels of design, scalability, and stability, supporting the growth of all businesses, from individuals to large enterprises.
The ability to build a full-fledged site while keeping initial costs low, and the flexibility to expand functionalities as your business grows, are significant advantages that other services lack. We hope this article serves as a stepping stone for you to take the first step in your e-commerce business. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us via this page.
