Note: This article is based on interviews with Shopify merchants in Japan and reflects the Japanese market's perspective and user experience. Some observations may not generalize to merchants outside Japan.
Shopify is a global e-commerce platform supported by a wide range of users, from e-commerce beginners to large-scale businesses. Thanks to its intuitive usability, extensive features, and customizability, it meets a diverse range of business needs.
This article introduces, in order, basic information about Shopify, real user reputation, its benefits and challenges, and a comparison with other platforms.
What Is Shopify?
Image source: Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce platform from Canada used around the world. It allows you to handle everything from building and running an online store to analytics, and since you can build a store through intuitive operation without any programming knowledge, it's also a great choice for beginners.
Learn more about Shopify here
Real Reputation and Reviews from Actual Shopify Users
Positive Feedback
In a store interview survey conducted by Tsun Inc. with 12 Shopify merchants, the following positive assessments were shared.
View the store interviews here
Strong SEO, an advantage in search rankings
Merchants shared comments like, "After running steadily on Shopify for a few years, Google's trust in the site naturally grows." In fact, businesses selling unique products tend to see their pages rank highly for specific keywords.
No engineer needed thanks to no-code operation
Feedback included, "The initial design and areas you want to get just right need to be built carefully, but day-to-day tasks like changing wording or swapping out a banner go smoothly," as well as, "I tried tweaking the code a bit using ChatGPT and Shopify's Sidekick, and it ended up working." These comments highlight that real-world operation is possible even without technical skills.
Highly extensible and flexible, allowing customization
Multiple businesses gave feedback such as, "There's a wide range of apps available, and we have the flexibility to code things ourselves when needed." Review management apps like Judge.me, promotional apps like RuffRuff 予約販売, and purchase-restriction apps like RuffRuff Order Limits mean you can flexibly add the functionality you need from the official app store.
A global platform with continuous updates
Merchants noted, "Because it's a global platform, the pace of development, improvements, and the ecosystem are on a different level. Since there are users all over the world, knowledge keeps accumulating." This ongoing feature improvement is a major appeal.
Good compatibility with Meta Ads and Google Ads
One merchant said, "After moving to Shopify, I decided to give Meta Ads another shot, and it worked really well — sales tripled in three months." The ease of embedding pixels and connecting data has boosted operational efficiency.
Unified customer data through online-offline integration
One merchant shared, "Once all our purchase data and history started flowing into Shopify through Smaregi, we were able to achieve true omnichannel operations." POS integration was praised for allowing seamless management of customer information across physical stores and e-commerce.
Points Users Find Inconvenient
Our same interview survey also brought the following challenges to light.
Weak Japanese-language support, with no phone support
Concerns raised included, "With domestic cart providers, you get a dedicated contact who can help individually, but with Shopify there's no in-house rep, and customer support is only available on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no phone support," and "With overseas apps, inquiries are often handled in English or replies come with a time lag, which is hard for team members who aren't used to it." For businesses where support during the early stages is critical, this can be a significant hurdle.
Default features often aren't enough
Reports included, "With Shopify's defaults, we couldn't design our inventory setup in advance before publishing," and "Combining multiple conditions for purchase restrictions or option management is difficult with the default features." Advanced customization is often required, which frequently results in costs for hiring outside engineers.
Shopify POS is not yet fully mature
Feedback included, "We run our register operations using both Shopify POS and Square together. Shopify POS alone isn't quite enough right now, so we need dual operations," and "There's no credit card payment terminal, so we end up manually entering card numbers." At the level of real-world operations, there is still room for improvement, and businesses aiming for full online-offline integration may need to consider additional systems.
Too many app choices, making it hard to decide
One merchant pointed out, "Adding too many apps makes management cumbersome, so we've now narrowed it down to a carefully selected 10-15." While the abundance of apps is a plus, there is also concern that adopting multiple paid apps increases monthly operating costs. Many businesses are, in practice, still working through trial and error to decide which apps to choose.
Gifting and digital gift features are not yet fully polished
One challenge reported was, "When the UI gets more complex and requires entering more information, usage rates drop. Gift-related features haven't been working well." There is a need to strengthen social gifting and other fully digital initiatives.
What Are the Benefits of Building an E-Commerce Site with Shopify?
Here are the main benefits of building an e-commerce site with Shopify.
High design freedom
Shopify offers a diverse range of theme templates. By choosing a template that matches your brand image, you can create a stylish site without any coding.
Customizable with a wide range of apps
You can flexibly extend functionality — SEO, email marketing, review management, and more — from the official app store. This allows for step-by-step customization as your business grows.
Recommended Shopify apps are introduced below.
Easy to integrate with social media
You can integrate with Instagram and Facebook, driving traffic directly to your store from posts and ads. This helps expand sales opportunities.
Easy to integrate with advertising
Integration with Google Ads and Meta Ads allows you to reach target customers. You can also measure ad performance directly from the admin dashboard.
Choose the pricing plan that fits you best
Shopify offers multiple pricing plans suited to your store's size and required features. (As of May 2026)
| Plan Name | Starter | Basic |
Grow |
Advanced |
Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setup Fee | 0 yen | 0 yen | 0 yen | 0 yen | 0 yen |
| Monthly Fee | 750 yen | 4,850 yen | 13,500 yen | 58,500 yen |
1-year contract 398,000 yen 3-year contract 368,000 yen |
| Card Payment Fee | - | 3.55〜3.9% | 3.4〜3.85% | 3.25〜3.8% | 2.9〜3.75% |
| Transaction Fee | 5% | 2% | 1% | 0.6% | 0.20% |
| Number of Staff Accounts | 1 | 1 | 5 | 15 | Unlimited |
Since features and payment fees vary by plan, choose the plan that fits your shop's sales and operating budget. For more details, see the official pricing comparison page.
Supports multiple languages (cross-border e-commerce)
With built-in support for multiple languages and currencies, it supports expanding your business into both domestic and international markets.
Please also refer to the following for cross-border strategies using Shopify.
Challenges When Building a Site with Shopify
Even though Shopify is simple and easy to use, it does have some challenges.
No-code customization has its limits
To add unique designs or features that go beyond the standard specifications, knowledge of HTML, CSS, Liquid, and other programming skills is required. You may sometimes need to hire a specialist.
App usage fees apply
Shopify has many useful apps, but adopting paid apps increases your operating costs. For long-term operation, managing costs including app usage fees is important.
Comparing Shopify with Other E-Commerce Platforms
When choosing an e-commerce platform, you need to consider not just setup and running costs, but also how flexibly you can customize it as your store grows. Here are Shopify's strengths.
Highly customizable design and features
Shopify lets you freely customize design and functionality using a wide range of themes and apps. It also offers robust cross-border e-commerce features such as multi-language and multi-currency support, making it well suited for businesses looking to expand both domestically and internationally.
By comparison, ASP-type platforms such as BASE and STORES have more limited scope for customizing design and SEO measures.
Abundant features for boosting sales
Because Shopify comes with monthly fees and app usage fees, it can feel somewhat more costly compared to BASE or STORES. However, it offers a wealth of features that drive sales growth, such as integration with advertising and social media, and with proper operation you can grow your sales.
For a detailed comparison between Shopify and other e-commerce platforms, see the article below.
Will Using Shopify Actually Sell Products?
Will using Shopify actually sell products?
Simply using Shopify doesn't guarantee that products will sell. Running an online store requires a strategic approach to building awareness, driving traffic, and promoting products. Regardless of the platform you choose, the store operator's efforts are essential.
Will using Shopify grow sales?
Shopify is characterized by its customizability and wide variety of apps, and it comes equipped with features for growing sales. Focus on strengthening these three elements.
- Increase the number of visitors
- Raise the average order value
- Improve the conversion rate
By experimenting through code edits and apps, you can grow Shopify into an optimal store over time.
The blog article below analyzes the causes of poor sales in a Shopify store and introduces concrete countermeasures. Please use it as a reference.
Conclusion
Shopify is a platform that's easy to use even for beginners, with the scalability to grow alongside your business. It's an especially useful option for businesses considering marketing efforts or cross-border e-commerce.
Our interview survey of 12 merchants revealed clear strengths — such as "strong SEO" and "no-code operation" — alongside clear challenges, such as "weak Japanese-language support" and "insufficient default features." Understanding these points in advance and choosing a platform that fits your organization's structure and needs is the key to success.
That said, operating costs and the difficulty of customization can sometimes become challenges, so we recommend planning carefully in advance as you build your e-commerce site.
