[2026 Latest] What Is Shopify? A Thorough Explanation of Its Features, Pricing, Benefits, and Drawbacks

What this article covers

• What Shopify is and what kind of service it offers (understand it in 1 minute)
• The latest 2026 pricing plans
• An honest explanation of the benefits and drawbacks
• A comparison with BASE, STORES, and Color Me Shop
• A diagnostic checklist for whether Shopify is right for you
• 5 steps to getting started with Shopify

Shopify is an industry-leading e-commerce platform used by a huge number of countries around the world and millions of stores. When building a full-fledged e-commerce site (online store), it can be started with an affordable monthly fee, no setup cost, and a free trial period, making it easy to adopt regardless of scale — from sole proprietors to large enterprises.

This article is written by Tsun Inc., which has supported the construction of numerous e-commerce sites as a Shopify Partner, and develops and operates its own Shopify app, "RuffRuff." Rather than just catalog-style information, we aim to deliver honest information based on real-world, hands-on experience.

① What Is Shopify? The Basics in 1 Minute

Shopify is a cloud-based e-commerce site-building and operation platform provided by Shopify Inc., headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. It began as a predecessor business in Canada in 2004, and officially launched as the Shopify e-commerce platform in 2006.

In a word, it's "a service that provides an entire online store through the cloud." There's no need to prepare a server or develop a system — just create an account, and you immediately have access to a fully equipped environment for building your e-commerce site, payments, inventory management, and marketing.

Shopify's Scale

• Countries used in: More than 175 countries worldwide
• Number of stores: Millions of stores
• 2025 GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume): $378.4 billion (up 29% year-over-year, according to Shopify's official press release)
• Arrival in Japan: 2017 (start of Japanese localization)
• Number of apps: More than 16,000 (Shopify App Store)

What "Cloud-Based (ASP-Type)" Means

Traditionally, building a full-fledged e-commerce site required three steps: (1) preparing a server, (2) purchasing and installing an e-commerce system, and (3) contracting for payments separately. Each of these required cost and specialized knowledge, making it a high hurdle for small businesses.

A cloud-based (ASP-type) platform like Shopify bundles all of this together into a single subscription (monthly fee). Since Shopify handles server management, security updates, and system maintenance, merchants can focus on running their store and selling.

The biggest difference from marketplace-type platforms like Amazon and Rakuten is that you can operate it as your own branded e-commerce site. Rather than opening a shop on someone else's platform, you have your own store on your own domain, and traffic from social media and search engines accumulates as your own asset.

② [Exclusive] Why Shopify Is Chosen in Japan: Trends and Honest Feedback from Real Adopters

We at Tsun have supported the construction and operation of e-commerce sites for many companies as a Shopify Partner. We also develop and operate Shopify apps used by more than 10,000 stores in total, such as "RuffRuff 予約販売" and "RuffRuff Order Limits," and we hear directly from many Shopify merchants every day. Based on that experience, here are the real reasons Shopify is chosen.

Japanese Brands Are Adopting It One After Another

The number of domestic brands adopting Shopify is growing year by year, spanning a wide range of genres.

Genre	Example Stores
Food	Nitta Jozo (long-established miso brewery in Nagano), Sato SEASONing (select shop for regional seasonings), Dot Miso (select shop for miso from across Japan), SENREI (lifestyle tea brand)
Jewelry & Accessories	unijem (marketplace for jewelry and accessories), BIZOUX (natural stone jewelry), L&Co. (bridal rings)
Apparel	Noguchi Knit (knit accessories), EDIT CLOTHING (men's fashion), PAPERSKY WEAR STORE (unisex fashion), PARROTT CANVAS official online store (unisex fashion)
Pet Supplies	Pekofull (domestic pet food brand), AniCure Animal Hospital online store (pet care products), MOFF (licensed pet wear), G-PET Online (pet-related brands)
Beauty & Healthcare	HOPEN (men's skincare brand for middle-aged men), COMET&WHINNY (hair care brand from an entertainment company), CareHair (hair accessories), mao nail (nail items), EKATO. (beauty care items), SOISHOP (professional-grade beauty items)
Lifestyle Goods & Characters	Sun Hoseki (character brand symbolizing girls' culture), Tree of Life (long-established herb & aroma brand), Yuu Oriental (selling Asian lifestyle goods), UETE (home gardening goods), Design Shop oh (select shop for tableware), MOOMIN SHOP (official online shop), Thank You Mart (390-yen flat-price fancy goods shop)
Stationery	Kakiomori (domestic stationery brand), Paper Tree (select shop for stationery from around the world), Nohara Kougei online store (traditional-craft woodworking brand)
Hardware & Devices	EVERING online store (ring-shaped payment device)
Coffee	Tomo Brown-Rice Coffee online store (domestic brown-rice coffee), Sawai Coffee Main Store (long-established home-roasted coffee specialty store), Kurasu Kyoto (coffee store balancing domestic and cross-border e-commerce)
Florists	Kazuki Nakajima Flower Design (designer florals), Flower&Plants tette (online shop for flowers and sundries), Masukawa Flower Shop (florist shipping nationwide)
Fruit & Vegetable Sales	Miyabe Farm (hassaku citrus specialty store), Asagiri Farm (selling vegetables and processed goods), Tsukimuke Farm (plum farm's online site)
Online Bookstores	Iwanami Shoten (major bookstore's online site), Fukuinkan Shoten (picture book & children's book online site), ALC (selling correspondence courses)
Alcohol Retail	Sumiyoshi Shuhan (select shop for food and sake), Sakagura Sumidaya online store (multi-branch sake specialty store), Iseya Shuzo (Japan-born medicinal herbal liqueur)

For more case studies of stores built with Shopify, please also see the article "Case studies of online stores built with Shopify."

Real Reputation from Shopify Users

In a store interview survey Tsun conducted with 12 Shopify merchants, the following positive assessments were shared.

Points Users Appreciate

1. Strong SEO, an advantage in search rankings
Shopify's search engine optimization features are robust, and users have praised it as "an advantage in search rankings."

2. No engineer needed thanks to no-code operation
Product registration and order checking are possible through an intuitive admin dashboard. Users say things like "even beginners can operate it easily."

3. Highly extensible and flexible, allowing customization
A diverse range of theme templates and abundant app functionality let you freely build a shop that matches your brand image.

4. A global platform with continuous updates
Because it's used worldwide, its features are constantly evolving and improving — a major appeal.

5. Good compatibility with Meta Ads and Google Ads
Integration with advertising tools is simple, allowing you to reach target customers and measure performance directly from the admin dashboard.

6. Unified customer data through online-offline integration
When running cross-border e-commerce or multiple channels, customer data can be centrally managed and used for marketing initiatives.

Challenges Users Notice

On the other hand, the following challenges have been pointed out.

• Programming knowledge is needed for detailed design changes
• The hassle of handling delivery notes and invoices
• Increased operating costs from adopting paid apps

For more detailed user feedback and inconvenient points, please see the related article below. Use it as a reference when choosing Shopify.

Why More Stores Are "Adding Shopify to Amazon and Rakuten"

We're increasingly hearing from businesses saying, "We don't just want a marketplace presence, we also want our own e-commerce site." There are mainly three reasons behind this.

① Fee pressure: With Rakuten and Amazon, there are cases where store fees, sales commissions, and advertising costs combined can take 20-40% of sales. With Shopify, you can minimize the platform's own transaction fees (though you'll still need to invest separately in your own traffic generation and advertising).

② Building brand assets: On a marketplace, the customer belongs to "Rakuten's user base" — email addresses and purchase data don't become your own asset. With Shopify, customer data becomes entirely your own.

③ Cross-border e-commerce support: Shopify supports more than 130 currencies and more than 50 languages, making it an ideal platform when considering overseas expansion.

Shopify's Strengths, As We at Tsun Experience Them

There are things you only understand from developing and operating Shopify apps day in and day out.

Shopify's ecosystem (APIs, extensions, partner program) is overwhelmingly more developed compared to other e-commerce platforms, creating an environment where "you can achieve almost anything you want to do."

The pace of admin UI improvement is also world-class, with Shopify Editions held twice a year, each time announcing more than 100 (sometimes over 150) new features and improvements.

③ A List of Shopify's Main Features [2026 Edition]

Shopify's features can be broadly organized into 8 categories.

1. E-Commerce Site Building & Design

Shopify has a "Shopify Theme Store" with more than 1,100 design templates (free and paid) available as of 2026. Even without HTML or CSS knowledge, you can build a professional-quality e-commerce site just by dragging and dropping parts to rearrange them, or swapping images and text.

• Free themes: 24 (Dawn, Sense, Horizon, etc.)
• Paid themes: 1,095+ ($100-$500)
• OS 2.0 support: The latest theme specification, allowing sections to be freely added and rearranged

* Each figure is based on the number of themes listed in the Shopify Theme Store as of April 2026.

For more on Shopify themes, please also see the article "What is a Shopify theme."

2. Payments & Checkout

Shopify's payment features are among the most comprehensive in Japan.

• Shopify Payments: Shopify's own native payment service.
• Credit cards (VISA, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX, etc.)
• Convenience-store payment (7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart, etc.)
• PayPay, LINE Pay, Rakuten Pay
• Buy now, pay later (Paidy)
• Bank transfer
• Shop Pay (one-click purchases with a high conversion rate)

For payment methods available on Shopify, please also see the article "A summary of payment methods available on Shopify."

3. Inventory & Order Management

You can centrally manage inventory across multiple locations, and by integrating with Shopify POS, you can sync in-store and online inventory in real time. Order management is fully handled from a single list view, including updating status, sending email notifications, and exporting CSVs.

4. Marketing & SEO

• Shopify's blog feature (supports creating SEO content)
• Individual meta title and meta description settings
• Direct integration with Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok ads
• Shopify Email (newsletter delivery feature)
• Shopify Collabs (affiliate management for working with influencers)

5. Shopify Apps

An ecosystem of more than 16,000 apps is one of Shopify's greatest strengths. Almost anything you want to do can be achieved with an app.

• Pre-orders and time-limited sales (e.g., RuffRuff 予約販売, RuffRuff Selling Periods)
• Subscriptions (e.g., Shopify Subscriptions)
• Set sales and bundles (e.g., Shopify Bundles)
• Purchase and quantity restrictions (e.g., RuffRuff Order Limits)
• Collecting and displaying reviews (e.g., Judge.me)
• Gift and giveaway distribution (e.g., RuffRuff Order Bonus)
• Points and loyalty programs (e.g., easyPoints)
• Translation and multi-language support (e.g., Shopify Translate & Adapt)
• Blog extensions (e.g., RuffRuff Table of Contents, RuffRuff Product & Blog Tags)

6. Analytics & Reporting

Shopify's standard dashboard lets you check sales, session counts, conversion rate, cart abandonment rate, and more in real time. It's also easy to integrate with Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity.

For Shopify's reporting features, please also see the article "Shopify store analytics and reports."

7. Shopify POS (Physical Store Integration)

With Shopify POS, you can integrate your physical store's register system with your online store's inventory and customer data. It can also accept card payments via iPad or iPhone, making it well suited for pop-up stores and events.

For more on Shopify POS, please also see the article "Complete guide to Shopify POS."

8. AI Features (Shopify Magic, Sidekick, Agentic Storefronts)

Shopify positions AI at the core of its platform, with AI features usable across all plans at no additional cost, integrated throughout the entire admin dashboard. It has rapidly expanded these features through 2025-2026, and "Shopify Winter '26 Edition" (announced December 2025) included a large number of AI-related updates alone.

Shopify Magic: An AI-generation feature embedded throughout the admin dashboard. Just enter a few words for a product name or keyword, and it can automatically generate product descriptions, blog articles, newsletter subject lines, and more.

Sidekick: An AI assistant that resides in your admin dashboard. Just give instructions in natural, conversational language, and it can analyze sales data, propose improvements, generate content, customize themes, and set up business-process automation via Shopify Flow.

Agentic Storefronts: With a one-time setup in your admin dashboard, you can automatically distribute and display your product data across multiple AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. It's a feature designed for the new buying experience where "products are discovered in the middle of a conversation with AI and purchased on the spot" — a capability that barely exists yet on other e-commerce platforms.

AI Feature	Main Use	Price	Japanese Support
Shopify Magic	Text generation, AI image editing, automated customer support	Free (all plans)	◎
Sidekick	Data analysis, content generation, theme editing, business automation	Free (all plans)	◎
Agentic Storefronts	Automatic product distribution to AI platforms like ChatGPT	Free (all plans)	◎

For more details, please also see "What is Shopify Magic?," "What is Shopify Sidekick?," and "What is Agentic Storefronts?."

④ A Complete Comparison of Shopify's Pricing Plans [Latest 2026, with Yen Table]

Shopify has 5 main plans, all with zero setup fee and unlimited product listings. Every plan also includes a 3-day free trial (and a special-priced 3-month campaign is sometimes offered afterward).

Latest 2026 Pricing Table

Plan	Monthly (billed monthly)	Monthly (billed annually)	Card Payment Fee	Transaction Fee	Staff Accounts
Starter	750 yen	750 yen	-	5%	0
Basic	4,850 yen	3,650 yen	3.55〜3.9%	2%	0
Grow (formerly Standard)	13,500 yen	10,100 yen	3.4〜3.85%	1%	5
Advanced	58,500 yen	44,000 yen	3.25〜3.8%	0.6%	15
Shopify Plus	Contact for pricing (approx. $2,500/month and up)	1-year contract: 398,000 yen 3-year contract: 368,000 yen	2.9〜3.75%	0.2%	Unlimited

* Annual billing offers roughly a 25% discount. If you plan to use it long-term, annual billing is more cost-effective. * Using Shopify Payments brings the transaction fee down to 0%.

The Pause and Build Plan (Temporary Pause Plan)

Not widely known, but there's also a "Pause and Build" plan for $9/month (about 1,400 yen) that lets you pause your store while continuing administrative work. It's ideal for seasonal stores or times when you want to temporarily stop selling.

Choosing the Right Plan Based on Sales Volume and Payment Methods

The most important thing when choosing a plan is that the break-even point changes depending on which payment method you use as your main one.

Recommended Plan	Best Suited For	Break-Even Point / Guideline for Upgrading
Basic	Early-stage launch, small-team operation	This is generally where you start. Basic is sufficient if a single owner is running the store.
Grow	Operation by multiple people (up to 5), stores that rely heavily on external payment methods	① Once sales from external payment methods alone (Paidy, PayPay, etc.) reach roughly 865,000 yen or more per month ② For Shopify Payments (credit card) only, once monthly sales reach roughly 5.77 million yen or more
Advanced	Large teams (up to 15), stores that need detailed analytics	① Once sales from external payment methods alone reach roughly 11.25 million yen or more per month ② For Shopify Payments only, once monthly sales reach roughly 30 million yen or more
Shopify Plus	Large-scale, multi-location operations, B2B wholesale, dedicated support	A phase where, beyond fee optimization, you need multi-store operations or full customization of the checkout screen.

* The figures in the table are only a guideline. The break-even point will vary depending on the combination of ① and ②.

For more on the differences between Shopify's pricing plans and how to choose, please see the article "How to choose Shopify's pricing plans."

Monthly vs. Annual Billing: The Break-Even Point

For the Basic plan, monthly billing is 4,850 yen, while annual billing is a lump sum of 43,800 yen (equivalent to 3,650 yen/month). If you continue paying monthly, by month 10 your cumulative total reaches 48,500 yen, exceeding the total cost of annual billing. So if you plan to run your store for 10 months or longer, it's more cost-effective to choose annual billing from the start.

⑤ 14 Benefits of Shopify (Based on Real Experience)

1. You Can Build a Full-Fledged E-Commerce Site Without Programming

Even without HTML or CSS knowledge, you can build a commercial-grade e-commerce site just by choosing a theme and swapping in images and text. Among the businesses Tsun has supported, there are several cases where a merchant says, "I built my Shopify store myself and got it launched, so now I'd like help with growth support."

2. Zero Setup Fee — You Can Start at Low Cost

There's no setup fee, and the monthly fee starts at 4,850 yen, which is inexpensive even compared to equivalent domestic services. It's also easy to try, since you can cancel on a monthly basis.

As of April 2026, in addition to the 3-day free trial, there's also a campaign offering 3 months at 150 yen per month, so it's a good opportunity to give it a try.

For more on Shopify's free trial, please also see the article "About Shopify's free trial period."

3. You Can Flexibly Change Plans

You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time to match your business scale. You could start with Basic and switch to Advanced once sales grow.

If there's a period when you won't be selling, you can use the low-priced Pause and Build plan to keep your site published while temporarily pausing sales.

4. You Can Extend Functionality Endlessly With 16,000+ Apps

You can add features as easily as installing an app on your phone. Features like subscription sales, pre-orders, and points programs — which would normally cost hundreds of thousands of yen in development — can be achieved with apps costing just a few thousand yen per month. Our own RuffRuff apps are also used by many stores.

5. A Wide Variety of Payment Methods Can Be Easily Added

A broad range of payment methods — credit cards, convenience stores, PayPay, buy-now-pay-later, and more — can be added from the admin dashboard in just a few clicks. Diversifying payment methods directly boosts conversion rate.

6. Omnichannel Sales via Integration With Social Media, Amazon, and Google

By integrating Shopify with Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Google Shopping, you can centrally manage sales across multiple channels. Integration with a physical store (Shopify POS) is also possible.

7. Open APIs Let You Automate Operations

By integrating with external OMS (order management systems), WMS (warehouse management systems), and MA tools via API, you can automate shipping operations and marketing.

8. Advanced Customization Is Also Possible

For distinctive features that Shopify apps can't handle, you can implement custom functionality using the Liquid template language and the API. Compared to full custom development, this allows flexible customization at significantly lower cost.

9. You Can Operate It From Your Smartphone

Using Shopify's mobile app, you can edit product information, handle orders, and check inventory while out and about. Being able to do operational work during small pockets of time, like a commute, is a major benefit for small business owners.

10. Robust SEO and Traffic-Driving Tools

Blog functionality, meta tag settings, automatic sitemap generation, Google Analytics integration, and other features required for SEO come standard. Technical SEO measures are also possible using Shopify apps.

11. World-Class Pace of Improvement

"Shopify Editions" (major update announcements held twice a year) each reveal more than 100 new features and improvements. It also quickly adapts to the latest e-commerce trends, such as AI adoption and social commerce.

12. 99.99% Server Uptime — It Doesn't Go Down

It runs stably even during large-scale sales events like Black Friday. You don't need to manage your own server, and security measures (PCI DSS compliance, standard SSL) are handled by Shopify.

For more on Shopify's servers, please also see the article "Shopify's servers and security measures."

13. Easy to Start Cross-Border E-Commerce and Overseas Sales

It supports 130 currencies and more than 50 languages, so once your domestic e-commerce is on track, expanding into cross-border e-commerce is relatively easy. Payment methods for overseas customers (PayPal, Stripe, etc.) are also supported as standard.

For detailed cross-border selling methods, please also see the article "A guide to getting started with cross-border e-commerce on Shopify."

14. AI Features Are Free on All Plans, Greatly Streamlining Operations

Shopify offers AI not as a "special paid option," but as a feature built standard into every plan. This is a major advantage compared to other e-commerce platforms.

Specifically, you can use Shopify Magic, which automatically generates product descriptions and blog articles in seconds; Sidekick, which lets you execute sales analysis, business automation, and theme editing through natural-language chat; and Agentic Storefronts, which automatically distributes products to AI platforms like ChatGPT — all within your monthly fee.

Tsun's on-the-ground perspective: Since Sidekick became available in Japanese (from April 2025), even domestic businesses that aren't comfortable with English can now give instructions in Japanese, like "tell me why conversions dropped last month" or "write a description for this product with SEO in mind." For small and midsize businesses with few staff, or solo e-commerce operators, the benefit of having AI take over tasks is especially significant. In fact, Shopify Magic alone has already generated several million product descriptions worldwide (according to comments from Shopify's product team), and AI adoption is becoming the standard for running e-commerce.

⑥ Shopify's Drawbacks and Points to Note (Explained Honestly)

While Shopify has many benefits, there are also drawbacks that should honestly be shared. Understanding them before adopting Shopify can help you avoid a "this isn't what I expected" moment later.

Drawback 1: Some Language Barriers With English Remain

The admin dashboard and help center are increasingly localized into Japanese, but some apps, themes, and support are still English-only. If you're not comfortable with English, you'll need to use translation tools (like DeepL).

How to address it: Prioritize apps with Japanese support (domestic apps like RuffRuff are also increasing). You can also make use of Shopify's Japanese-language community forums.

Drawback 2: Transaction Fees Apply If You Don't Use Shopify Payments

If you use a payment service other than Shopify Payments, a transaction fee of 0.2-2% applies to your sales (varies by plan).

How to address it: Using Shopify Payments brings the transaction fee down to 0%. That said, keep in mind that some payment methods not supported by Shopify Payments (such as certain buy-now-pay-later services) will still incur a transaction fee.

Drawback 3: Advanced Customization Requires Programming Knowledge

Drag-and-drop theme editing covers a broad range of needs, but detailed design changes or implementing unique features require knowledge of Liquid, HTML, and CSS.

How to address it: Ask a Shopify Partner (development agency) for help, or consider whether a Shopify app can achieve the same result instead.

Drawback 4: The Admin UI Changes Frequently

While the fast pace of improvement is a benefit, the admin dashboard's layout and menu positions change periodically. If you have a lot of staff, this can generate retraining costs.

How to address it: Bookmark the official Shopify Help Center and make it a habit to check it whenever there's a change.

Drawback 5: Compatibility With Japanese Business Customs

Supporting Japan-specific business customs — such as noshi wrapping, gift wrapping, specifying multiple delivery addresses, and system-generated delivery slips — sometimes requires additional apps or settings.

How to address it: Research apps that support Japanese business customs in advance. Consulting a Japan-based Shopify Partner like us can help you quickly identify solutions.

⑦ Shopify vs. BASE vs. STORES vs. Color Me Shop: Features and How to Choose

To answer the question "what other options are there besides Shopify?", here's an overview of the major domestic e-commerce platforms. Note that each service has a different fee structure (a different combination of fixed monthly fees, payment fees, and transaction fees), so a simple one-line numerical comparison doesn't accurately reflect reality. Here, we organize things from the perspective of "what kind of person or business it's suited for."

For a detailed look at which platform to choose, please also see the articles "Differences between Shopify, BASE, and STORES" and "Differences between Color Me Shop and Shopify."

Features of Each Platform

Shopify

No setup fee, starting at 4,850 yen/month (Basic). With more than 16,000 apps and support for multiple languages and currencies, it's strong in cross-border e-commerce. AI tools such as Shopify Magic are beginning to be offered, with features expected to keep expanding. It's at the top domestic level for extensibility and global support. As sales grow, the ratio of monthly fees to revenue drops, improving cost efficiency. Its high degree of customization freedom does come with a certain learning curve to use fully.

BASE

You can start with the Standard plan at zero setup fee and zero monthly fee, making it the most appealing option for trying it risk-free. Under this model, fees are charged only when something sells, so you can operate essentially for free while sales are still low. Its features are simple, making it well suited for individuals and small businesses running an online store for the first time. Once monthly sales exceed 500,000 yen, switching to the Growth plan (16,580 yen/month, 2.9% payment fee) becomes the cost-optimization tipping point.

STORES

Like BASE, you can start with a free plan with no setup fee and no monthly fee. Since March 2025, its Standard plan (3,300 yen/month) has begun packaging multiple services for physical stores (online store, cashless payments, POS register, reservation system, etc.), making it well suited for individual shops and small businesses that want to launch a physical store and online store at the same time.

Color Me Shop

A domestic e-commerce platform provided by GMO Pepabo. You can start with the free plan (0 yen/month), and paid plans (Regular through Premium) allow operation with 0% sales commission and lower payment fees. It offers phone support and has a strong track record supporting Japanese business customs (noshi wrapping, gift wrapping, etc.), providing an environment that Japanese small and midsize businesses can use with peace of mind. It's less suited for cross-border e-commerce or large-scale customization.

Which Should You Choose: A Simple Standard

• Want to try it for free first, or have low sales volume → BASE or STORES, or Color Me Shop (free plan)
• Want to launch a physical store and online store at the same time → STORES (the Standard plan package is ideal)
• Need phone support, or prioritize support for Japanese business customs → Color Me Shop
• Prioritize future overseas expansion and extensibility → Shopify
• Want to minimize costs over the medium-to-long term → Shopify (Shopify Payments' 0% transaction fee becomes effective)
• Want to get ahead of AI trends, or streamline e-commerce operations with AI → Shopify (Magic, Sidekick, and Agentic Storefronts are free on all plans)

⑧ [Diagnosis] Is Shopify Right for You? A Checklist

Checklist for People Suited to Shopify

If 3 or more of the following apply to you, Shopify is a good fit.

• ▢ I want to build a full-fledged e-commerce site and grow my own brand
• ▢ I'm considering overseas sales in the future
• ▢ I have a certain scale of monthly sales, or am aiming for one
• ▢ I want to extend functionality to offer a unique service
• ▢ I want to drive traffic through social media and Google integration
• ▢ I want omnichannel sales integrated with a physical store
• ▢ I want to accumulate and use customer data myself
• ▢ I have a certain level of IT literacy, or am willing to learn
• ▢ I plan to actively drive traffic through advertising and SEO
• ▢ I want to eventually try special sales models like subscriptions or pre-orders

Examples of People Not Suited to Shopify

• Those who only need to make a few sales a month as a hobby → BASE's free plan is best
• Those who want zero fixed monthly costs, even if it means paying more in sales commissions → BASE is a good fit
• Those who are uncomfortable with IT and want to resolve everything immediately via phone support → Color Me Shop is a good fit

Recommended Decision Flow by Company Size

Individuals & Startups: It's practical to either first check how well your products sell using BASE or STORES' free plans → then move to Shopify once monthly sales stabilize, or build your brand from the start on Shopify's Basic plan.

Small and Midsize Businesses: Shopify's Grow plan is the most cost-effective option. The 1% reduction in transaction fees and the operational efficiency gained from abundant apps bring significant value.

Mid-Size to Large Enterprises: The Advanced plan or Shopify Plus are the options to consider. The reduction in transaction fees alone can fully offset the monthly fee difference, and customizability is also higher.

⑨ How to Get Started With Shopify: 5 Steps to Opening Your Store (Launch in as Little as a Day)

The basic flow for setting up a Shopify store is the following 5 steps. Detailed steps are explained in a separate article, "How to get started with Shopify (setup guide)," but here we'll cover the key points.

Step 1: Sign Up and Start Your Free Trial (5 Minutes)

Visit the Shopify official site and just enter your email address to start your 3-day free trial. No credit card registration is required.

Point: You'll be asked about your store's industry and scale at first, but since this can be changed later, it's fine if it's not exact.

Step 2: Choose a Theme and Set Up Your Design (30 Minutes to 2 Hours)

Choose a theme you like from the Shopify Theme Store and install it. You can customize the theme just by adding and removing blocks.

Point: The free theme "Dawn" performs stably in a Japanese-language environment and is recommended for beginners.

Step 3: Register Your Products (Time Varies by Product Count)

From the admin dashboard's "Product management" section, enter product images, titles, descriptions, prices, and stock counts. Bulk registration via CSV is also possible.

Point: Product descriptions also affect SEO. Naturally incorporate keywords that are likely to be searched.

Step 4: Set Up Payments, Shipping, and Legal Pages (1-2 Hours)

You'll need to set up your payment method (Shopify Payments recommended), shipping fees, and create a page for the disclosure required under Japan's Act on Specified Commercial Transactions. You can use Shopify's auto-generation feature for the disclosure page.

Point: This is also the stage where you set up your domain (acquiring and connecting a custom domain).

Step 5: Place a Test Order and Publish (30 Minutes)

Make an actual test purchase yourself to check that order confirmation emails, inventory reduction, and shipping settings all work correctly, and then publish.

Point: Shopify has a "test order mode" that lets you check the purchase flow without actually being charged.

⑩ [Tsun's Picks] 10 Shopify Apps for Beginners

As the developer and operator of the RuffRuff apps, we at Tsun can specifically recommend apps worth installing first at the beginner stage, organized by purpose.

Traffic & SEO

① RuffRuff Table of Contents (free and up) An app that automatically displays a table of contents on blog articles. Effective for SEO and improving reader convenience.

② Shopify Email (free and up) Shopify's own native email marketing tool. Supports newsletter delivery to customers and cart-abandonment emails.

Conversion Rate Improvement & Sales Promotion

③ RuffRuff 予約販売 (from $9/month) A domestic app that lets you implement pre-orders, time-limited sales, and members-only sales with no code. Its server-side processing makes its anti-circumvention feature powerful.

④ Shopify Bundles (free) Shopify's own native bundle-sales app. Sell products as a set at a bundle price to increase AOV (average order value).

⑤ Shopify Subscriptions (free) Shopify's own native subscription app. You can implement weekly, monthly, or yearly subscriptions.

⑥ RuffRuff Order Limits (from $9.9/month) A domestic app that lets you implement detailed purchase restrictions server-side, such as preventing resale or restricting purchases to members only.

⑦ RuffRuff Order Bonus (from $9.9/month) A domestic app that lets you implement any kind of promotional initiative, from advanced discount campaigns to gift distribution.

Operational Efficiency

⑧ Matrixify Lets you export and import all kinds of data within Shopify, useful for bulk data updates.

⑨ Shopify Order Printer Handy for printing all kinds of documents, such as statements, receipts, invoices, and picking lists.

Trust & Reviews

⑩ Judge.me An app for collecting and displaying product reviews. Easy to use with Japanese support, and effective for improving conversion rates.

Analytics

⑪ Google Channel Shopify's official Google Channel app makes it easy to set up GA4. An essential tool.

⑫ Microsoft Clarity Visualizes visitor behavior with heatmaps and session recordings. Essential for building evidence to support improvement initiatives.

⑪ The Basics of Shopify SEO and Traffic-Driving

Why Shopify Is Strong for SEO

Shopify comes with the basic features needed for SEO built in as standard, making it easier to work on SEO than with other e-commerce platforms.

1. Automatic sitemap generation: /sitemap.xml is generated automatically, encouraging Google's crawling
2. Standard SSL (HTTPS): Every Shopify store supports HTTPS for free
3. Optimized page speed: Shopify's infrastructure is fast, making it easier to achieve good Core Web Vitals scores
4. Blog functionality: Creating and publishing SEO content is fully self-contained within the Shopify admin dashboard

For details on Shopify's SEO measures, please also see the article "SEO measures possible with Shopify."

4 Basic Ways to Drive Traffic Without Spending Money

① SEO measures (optimizing your blog and product pages) By continuously creating product descriptions and blog articles that include your target keywords, you can increase free traffic from search engines.

② Social media operation (Instagram, TikTok, X) By integrating with Shopify, you can drive traffic directly from social media posts to your product pages. As your followers grow, this becomes a zero-ad-cost traffic channel.

③ Google Shopping (free listing) Just by linking your account with Shopify, your products will appear in Google Shopping's free listing slots.

④ Email marketing With Shopify Email, you can automatically send follow-up emails to buyers and cart-abandonment emails.

For more detailed methods of driving traffic to Shopify, please also see the article "10 ways to drive traffic to Shopify."

⑫ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): 15 Questions

Q1. How do you pronounce "Shopify"?

It's pronounced "SHOP-if-eye." Shopify Japan's official X account has also explicitly stated the correct pronunciation.

Q2. Can Shopify be used in Japanese?

The main features of the admin dashboard and help center support Japanese. However, some apps and support may be English-only.

Q3. Is there a free plan?

Shopify doesn't have a free plan. However, there's a 3-day free trial, followed by 3 months at a special rate of 150 yen per month. (Promotional details may vary depending on the time of year.)

Q4. How do you set up consumption tax on Shopify?

You can set up Japan's consumption tax (10%, or the 8% reduced rate) from "Settings → Taxes and duties" in the admin dashboard. It also supports tax-included price display.

For detailed setup steps for consumption tax, please also see the article "Shopify's consumption tax settings (tax-included display, reduced rate)."

Q5. What kinds of products is Shopify suited for?

It's well suited to physical goods in general (apparel, food, cosmetics, general goods, electronics, etc.). It also supports digital content and pre-orders. If industry-specific disclosures are needed, such as for food under the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions, apps can help cover them.

Q6. Are there people making good money with Shopify?

Yes, many, both in Japan and abroad. In Japan, well-known brands such as Nissin Foods, Soup Stock Tokyo, Orion Beer, and Kameda Seika use it, along with many small and midsize businesses and sole proprietors.

Q7. What's the difference between Shopify and BASE?

BASE lets you start for free, but in exchange has higher transaction fees (3-6.6%). Shopify has a fixed monthly fee but lower transaction fees, and its app extensibility is overwhelmingly greater. As monthly sales increase, Shopify's cost advantage grows larger.

Q8. Can individuals use Shopify?

Yes. It can be used for a wide range of purposes, including sole proprietorships, side businesses, and handmade goods sales. However, to sell products, you must include the disclosure required under Japan's Act on Specified Commercial Transactions.

Q9. How do you cancel Shopify?

You can cancel from "Settings → Plan → Cancel plan" in the admin dashboard. There's no cancellation penalty, so you can cancel flexibly.

Q10. Can Shopify build a site in a foreign language?

Yes. Using Shopify Markets, you can build a site with multiple languages and currencies. Combining it with translation apps (such as Shopify Translate & Adapt) allows even more precise multi-language support.

For more on Shopify Markets, please also see the article "Localizing with Shopify Markets."

Q11. What's the difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that requires your own server. It offers high freedom in exchange for requiring technical knowledge, but comes with server management and security costs. Shopify is a cloud-based platform that doesn't require a server, greatly reducing the amount of management work.

Q12. Are Shopify apps safe?

Apps listed on the Shopify App Store have passed Shopify's review criteria (more than 100 items). That said, since it can't be said that every app carries zero risk of issues, we recommend checking reviews and update frequency when choosing one.

Q13. Can I use a custom domain with Shopify?

Yes. You can connect a custom domain acquired through services like Onamae.com or MuuMuu Domain to Shopify. You can also purchase a domain directly from the Shopify admin dashboard.

For setup steps for each domain service, please also see the articles "Shopify x Onamae.com" and "Shopify x MuuMuu Domain."

Q14. Is data migration possible when switching to Shopify?

Yes. Data migration tools and apps are available for migrating from many e-commerce platforms. CSV import functionality for product data and customer data is also built in as standard.

For more on migrating to Shopify, please also see "List of articles about migrating to Shopify."

Q15. What's the difference between a Shopify Partner and Shopify itself?

A "Shopify Partner" is a general term for e-commerce agencies, developers, and consultants who have a contractual relationship with Shopify. They provide services such as building Shopify stores, developing apps, and providing operational support. Tsun Inc. is also registered as a Shopify Partner.

For more details on Shopify Partners, please also see the article "What is a Shopify Partner."

Conclusion: If You're Serious About E-Commerce, Shopify Is the Strongest Option

Shopify is the strongest e-commerce platform in the world, used across 175 countries and by millions of stores, and can be started for 4,850 yen/month and up, with zero setup fee and a 3-day free trial.

To recap the benefits:

• You can build a professional-quality e-commerce site without programming
• You can freely extend functionality with 16,000+ apps
• It has the extensibility to support cross-border e-commerce and omnichannel sales
• Over the long term, its transaction fees are more favorable than BASE or STORES

The drawbacks come down to three points — "some language barriers with English remain," "transaction fees when not using Shopify Payments," and "advanced customization requires knowledge" — but all of them have solutions.

We recommend first trying out the actual admin dashboard with the 3-day free trial. If you need help building, migrating, or operating a Shopify store, please feel free to consult Tsun Inc., a Shopify Partner and the developer of the RuffRuff apps.