Of the many ways to make passive income via the Internet, selling items is one of the most popular. By automating many of the processes of running an eCommerce shop (or hiring others to handle them for you), and selling items you don’t have to create yourself, you can earn a decent side income with little effort.
That said, you need to choose the right platform for your eCommerce shop if you decide to go this route—but should you choose an eCommerce hosting platform, such as Shopify, or should you create your own site?
This guide will help you make the right choice. The following points explain the key pros and cons of both options. By reviewing this information, you’ll be better able to determine which option is right for your needs and goals.
Shopify
Shopify is one of the most commonly used platforms for eCommerce shops. It offers a variety of services, making the process of setting up a store much easier and more convenient for users. Shopify hosts your store, provides you with themes/templates to simplify the design process, allows you to create ads for your shop, provides analytics tracking, and much more.
You can also expand Shopify’s capabilities with app integrations. For example, perhaps you want to be able to edit product listings in bulk. Finding an automated or more efficient way of completing this task can make running an online shop even more passive. Thanks to Shopify-friendly apps such as Bulk Product Edit by Hextom, you can do so.
If you do choose Shopify as your eCommerce store platform, make sure you thoroughly review all app integration options to determine which may be most useful to you.
Additionally, Shopify stores tend to load quickly, and you can create one with a mobile-friendly template. This is crucial in an age where more and more people are browsing the Internet via mobile devices.
However, because Shopify handles the hosting for you, over time, it can become more expensive than hosting your own site. You can also incur surprise expenses after adding up all the add-ons and app integrations you might need to achieve your goals. Although the default Shopify features are certainly very useful, some merchants find they aren’t sufficient to meet their needs and end up spending more money on additional purchases than they expected to.
It’s also worth noting that, while Shopify does give merchants a substantial degree of freedom when it comes to editing themes and layouts, creating a store through Shopify does limit your branding opportunities somewhat. You’ll need to significantly modify a Shopify theme to make your site stand out from the crowd. These are all important factors to consider when deciding how to create your eCommerce shop.
Your Own Custom Website
There are several reasons why you may want to create your own custom eCommerce website, but branding is one of the most significant. A custom website gives you the opportunity to make key decisions about the layout, images, and overall design. That may be important to you if you want your shop to be unique. Differentiating your brand from the competition can help you attract more customers.
If you started with Shopify, you may have reached a point where you’re ready to move on. Sometimes, people start off with Shopify to learn the basics of eCommerce and eventually become skilled enough to create their own platform. The problem is, migrating your database to another platform isn’t easy, and could result in the loss of important data. For that reason, it may be smarter to create your own site from the start, rather than using Shopify and attempting to transfer everything later. With a custom site, you can add features you need as your business and expertise grow. With Shopify, you may reach a stage where its capabilities aren’t sufficient for your growth.
Of course, creating a custom website isn’t the perfect solution for everyone either. If you don’t have web development experience, you may need to find someone to create a site for you. This doesn’t just cost money; it also takes time. While creating a Shopify store takes less than a day, creating your own platform will be a long process. That might not appeal to you if you want to make income as passively as possible.
The main point to remember is that there isn’t one eCommerce platform that’s right for everyone. You need to evaluate the pros and cons of your options. When you take the time to make the decision that’s best for your goals, you’re much more likely to earn passive income with eCommerce.