Though ease of use is still a differentiator that sets Shopify apart from other solutions, the Canadian-based SaaS platform is also well-reputed for its diverse eCommerce functionalities. Hence, if you sign up for a Shopify pricing plan, ensure you make the best use of these 10 unique Shopify features to prepare your e-store for future success:

Let’s discover all the bits and pieces of Shopify functions with LitExtension – #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert!

Top 10 Shopify Features To Launch, Run, And Scale Up Your E-Store

In case you don’t know what is Shopify, it’s a hosted eCommerce platform that allows you to create and manage an online store easily within one centralized dashboard. Technically, you pay Shopify a monthly subscription for website hosting and access to its diverse features below.

Check out our unbiased Shopify review for more detailed information on how Shopify works, pricing plans, Shopify store pros & cons, etc.

#1. Themes and apps

Shopify has various built-in tools that let you control how your eCommerce store looks and works. However, as you manage and grow your business, you’ll notice that Shopify’s built-in features can be rather limited.

Hence, apps and themes serve as key Shopify features, enhancing store functionality and elevating design to new levels.

Shopify Theme Store

The Shopify Theme Store has 160+ themes (150+ paid & 10+ free) that suit stores of any niche and size, from a single-product electronic store to a fashion brand that has a large catalog and more.

All the themes listed on Shopify Theme Store must meet Shopify’s quality standards regarding support, mobile-friendliness, page speed, UI-UX design, etc.

The awesome part is that you can try any theme you want; you only have to pay when you publish it. Browse our list of the best Shopify themes for your eCommerce store here!

Shopify App Store

Just like an iPhone with the App Store or an Android phone with Google Play Store, when you sign up for a Shopify account, you can access over 8,000 Shopify apps on the Shopify App Store.

Like Shopify themes, Shopify App Store offers free and paid apps for budget-friendly customization. Primarily, Shopify apps are categorized into six groups:

Finding products: Apps that help source products for your store
Selling products: Apps that help expand your sales channels, sell subscriptions, etc.
Orders and shipping: Apps that help with inventory management, order printers, invoices, and tracking
Store design: Apps that help customize your website with reviews, currency converters, pop-ups, etc.
Marketing and conversion: Apps that help promote your store, like SEO, upsell & cross-sell, emails, etc,
Store management: Apps that help support your customers, like help centers, chat, wishlists, loyalty programs, etc.

Here’s the list of the best Shopify apps that simplify your research!

#2. Inventory management

Managing your products effectively is crucial for the success of your e-store, and Shopify’s inventory management feature is designed to make this task straightforward and efficient. With Shopify’s multi-store management, you can maintain a bird’s eye view of your inventory across all your online shops.

If you’re scaling up and selling on multiple Shopify stores, you won’t have to hop from one account to another. Instead, you can conveniently control and sync your stock levels from one centralized location, ensuring you’re well-equipped to manage your merchandise without the fear of overselling or stockouts.

multi-store shopify management — Inventory management is one of the most important features of Shopify

Besides multi-store management, if you want to expand your channel to social commerce platforms like Facebook Shop, TikTok Shop, or marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, etc., you can count on robust Shopify apps like LitCommerce to sync, manage, and track your inventory across platforms.

This means that Shopify keeps a real-time tab on your inventory count no matter where you sell—be it on social platforms, online marketplaces, or pop-up shops.

#3. Marketing & selling options

Up next in this Shopify features list, we will discuss Shopify’s marketing and selling options– crucial functionalities every store needs to drive traffic and sales.

Discount codes

With Shopify platform, creating and managing discount codes is a breeze. You can set up percentage or fixed-amount discounts and even apply them to specific products or collections.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Shopify comes with powerful SEO capabilities, allowing you to edit the meta titles and descriptions of your store’s crucial pages like the homepage, Shopify product page, etc.

This means you are in control of your online visibility, ensuring that your store appears attractive to search engines and potential shoppers alike.

Some other worth-mentioning Shopify SEO features are sitemap auto-generation, auto-redirects, mobile-friendliness, and fast-loading speed.

Shopify one-page checkout

Recently, Shopify has launched the Shopify one-page checkout model, simplifying its previous three-page checkout page. With this enhanced feature, you can expect to reduce your cart abandonment rate, thereby improving your store conversions.

Email marketing features with ‘Shopify Email’

Shopify is aware of how significant personalized communication is. That’s why Shopify offers a free email app called Shopify Email to help you reach out directly to your customers’ inboxes with updates, deals, or personalized recommendations.

shopify email templates — Shopify Email’s various ready-made templates

Automation flow created with ‘Shopify Flow’

If you don’t want to waste tons of your time on repetitive, boring day-to-day operation tasks, Shopify has a free automation app you shouldn’t miss out on – Shopify Flow. With this app, you can automate almost everything, from tagging high-value customers to triggering marketing campaigns based on specific actions, and more.

shopify flow example — An email flow set with Shopify Flow

Affiliate campaigns powered by ‘Shopify Collabs’

Did you know businesses can make up to $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing? Hence, we’ll analyze Shopify features in affiliates that are crucial to Shopify next.

You can find any creators from any niche to promote your products, track and manage commissions for your affiliates, etc.- all within the Shopify Collabs app.

#4. Shopify POS

If you have a brick-and-mortar store besides your online shop, Shopify POS is one of the Shopify features you simply cannot live without.

The point-of-sale system developed by Shopify allows you to manage your virtual and physical stores easily. The beauty of Shopify POS lies in its integration capabilities. Shopify POS system seamlessly syncs with your online shop, ensuring that your sales, inventory, and customer data are perfectly aligned across all your sales channels.

shopify pos example — Product and order management with Shopify POS

This real-time synchronization means you can manage your business operations smoothly, avoiding discrepancies and providing consistent, high-quality customer service.

Another piece of fantastic news is the affordability of this system. Except for the Shopify Starter plan, all Shopify pricing tiers include Shopify POS Lite at no additional monthly cost. So, you can leverage all the operational benefits of the Shopify POS and elevate your in-person selling experience without stretching your budget.

shopify pos pricing — Shopify POS Lite is free for all plans (except Starter)

#5. Shopify Shipping

Shopify Shipping is Shopify’s built-in shipping solution that enables you to buy and print shipping labels at discounted rates directly from your Shopify admin. As Shopify Shipping integrates with various shipping carriers, you can offer your customers multiple shipping options at checkout.

manage shipping and delivery to add free shipping — Manage Shipping and delivery

From my experience, here are the main features of Shopify Shipping:

Discounted shipping rates: Shopify Shipping partners with major shipping carriers to offer you discounted rates on shipping labels. You could save up to 88% on USPS, UPS, and DHL shipping rates.
Calculated shipping rates: Shopify Shipping can calculate shipping rates for your customers in real time, based on the weight and dimensions of their order and their shipping destination. This allows you to offer your customers accurate shipping estimates and avoid overcharging or undercharging them for shipping.
Easy shipping label printing: You can purchase and print shipping labels directly within your Shopify admin.
Shipping insurance: Shopify Shipping offers shipping insurance to protect your orders from loss or damage in transit.

Though Shopify Shipping has various benefits, the shipping solution is only available for merchants in a few countries.

#6. Shopify Payments

As the ability to accept transactions is crucial to any eCommerce merchant, it would be a huge mistake if we leave Shopify Payments out of this list.

If you live in a country where Shopify Payments is supported, ensure you won’t miss out on this feature. This is because when using Shopify Payments, you can avoid the additional third-party payment gateway fees.

In addition, with Shopify Payments, you can accept payment in multiple currencies with automatic currency conversion on real-time exchange rates.

Plus, you also unlock access to Shop Pay– an accelerated and installment checkout option that only comes with Shopify Payments.

#7. Dropshipping & print-on-demand

While Shopify doesn’t inherently support dropshipping and print-on-demand (POD) functionalities within its core platform, it provides a robust ecosystem through many third-party apps.

For instance, if you start a dropshipping store with Shopify, you use apps like Ali Orders or DSers to quickly import products from AliExpress suppliers and automate your order fulfillment.

Meanwhile, if you want to launch a Shopify POD store instead, you can tap into reliable apps like Printify or Printful to set up a print-on-demand business without the headaches.

#8. Analytics & reports

Since you cannot improve on what you don’t measure, analytics and reporting are the Shopify features you should make the most out of.

However, it should be noted that different Shopify plans come with different analytics and reporting – the higher the plan, the more reports you can access.

Shopify’s analytics and reporting for different plans

Hence, if you are on upper Shopify plan tiers like Shopify above, you will unlock several reports with valuable insights into your store performance like sales analytics, profits, or customer reports, besides basic analytics like order, inventory, or acquisition report,

#9. Global expansion features

If you want to move your online business globally, make sure you don’t miss out on these Shopify’s powerful global expansion features:

Multi-languages with separate URLs

Shopify’s multilingual functionalities allow you to create separate URLs for different regions. A buyer from Italy, for instance, will not have to squint his eyes attempting to decipher an English product description. Instead, Shopify automatically presents the website content in Italian right when he lands on it.

This feature accommodates up to five languages for basic Shopify users while Shopify Plus merchants can translate their store content into 20 languages.

Multi-currencies

Currency differences can constitute a hurdle when engaging in cross-border selling. Shopify’s multi-currency feature effectively addresses this issue, allowing global shoppers to view prices, complete orders, and receive refunds in their local currency.

There’s no need for manual calculations; Shopify automatically sets the conversion rate based on real-time foreign exchange rates. Yet, you can pin a fixed rate for each currency, should you wish to do so. However, it’s noteworthy that currency conversion only comes when you are valid for Shopify Payments.

Shopify Markets

This platform also comes equipped with a resourceful tool named Shopify Markets. This robust localization feature allows you to tailor distinct shopping experiences for different customer segments from different regions.

For instance, you can configure a North America market to encompass the United States, Canada, and Mexico, each with its distinct settings.

Shopify sales tax

Dealing with taxes can be daunting when conducting business on a global scale. Lucky for you, Shopify simplifies this process with its location-based tax settings, taking into account that different countries impose varying tax rates based on an order’s destination.

This means you can set up Shopify to handle your store’s common sales tax calculations automatically or manage them manually. Check out our Shopify sales tax guide for more detailed setup information.

#10. Developer tools

Besides the easy-to-use Shopify features built for non-techie merchants, Shopify is also famous for its advanced developer tools that help you build a bespoke eCommerce experience for your customers.

Shopify Hydrogen

Shopify Hydrogen is a revolutionary developer tool that offers a React-based framework for building custom, headless storefronts. It facilitates quick loading, responsiveness, and dynamic operations on your e-store.

Liquid

Shopify Liquid – Shopify’s open-source template language is another powerful feature available to Shopify developers. And since Shopify Hydrogen is more complicated to handle, most Shopify merchants still choose to tweak Liquid code to create unique, personalized shopping experiences.

Metafield

Metafield is the next developer tool we’d discuss. Simply put, this handy tool acts as a repository for supplementary information about products, orders, and collections.

Metafield empowers merchants to add extended properties like extra details or specifications, enhancing an online store’s offerings and enriching customer knowledge about a product or service.

shopify metafields — Add metafields to your Shopify store

For instance, you can add a size chart or add care instructions on your Shopify product page using Metafield.

API

Lastly, API or Application Programming Interface, is a powerful Shopify developer tool you shouldn’t miss out on. Shopify API provides a set of endpoints exposing various functionalities of the Shopify system, enabling apps or software to retrieve, create, update, or delete data in a Shopify store.

This means you can manage your products, orders, customers, and other data using external applications or integrations. This is particularly beneficial for automating tasks, integrating with other software and platforms, and extending the functionality of your Shopify store beyond the default capabilities.

Shopify Features – FAQs

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Final Words

With its diverse inventory, sales, and marketing functionalities that help merchants quickly launch, manage, and scale up their online businesses, Shopiy features are more powerful than you can imagine. Therefore, we hope this article will help you maximize Shopify features, empowering your store’s efficiency and performance.

If you’re impressed by Shopify, trust LitExtension in your Shopify migration! For years, we have been supporting more than 150,000 customers worldwide with high customer satisfaction.

Remember to check out LitExtension’s blog site and join our engaging Facebook Community to get insider tips and tricks from 15,000+ eCommerce entrepreneurs like you.