Propeller Preferred Designers for Shopify e-commerce platform

10 February 2007

Shopify

Propeller are delighted to get 2007 off to a great start with the news that we’ve been appointed as Preferred Designers for the Shopify hosted e-commerce platform.

What is Shopify we hear you ask? Let us explain.

Back in August 06 (seems so far away now) we were asked to develop a large e-commerce site which we hope to be showing you shortly. We’ve previously stuck with either Cube-cart, osCommerce or zenCart, being the least troublesome open-source cart systems on the market. That said, we’ve found that the majority of open-source carts are a little clunky to use and can be restrictive from a design perspective, some still relying on a tabled structure, plus to add static pages or blogs and/or news pages could take you away from the cart into a different system altogether. Finally, whilst we find them reasonable to configure and use, most of our clients would prefer to spend their time on their business as opposed to wrangling what are more technical-user focused products into shape.

At Propeller we’ve long prided ourselves on approaching at the web from our clients’ perspective, finding and develop simple, effective, value-for-money solutions. So when we came across Shopify we knew we had another winner.

Shopify was developed by Ottawa-based Jaded Pixel and in their own words "is our bit in the ongoing process to make online e-commerce a bearable field to work in". Shopify was designed from the ground up to simplify and meet the needs of selling goods online. In contrast to the typical set-up, the new system is hosted and secured by Jaded Pixel whilst offering a 100% open framework for design. Shopify is quick to sign up and has no establishment or hosting fees. Shopify simply charge a 3%* commission on your sales – Shopify’s fee structure has changed as of 31 July 2008. With some nice implementation of AJAX and a well thought out user interface, Shopify is a breeze to use even for the least technical of users. Simple visitor analysis and order tracking is built right in along with either RSS, email or SMS notification of orders. Adding static pages and simplified blogs is easy ensuring you can manage and control your entire site without having to go off the reservation to keep your visitors up to date with what you’re doing. Site search is built right in and Shopify even allows you to use your own domain name for that last simple touch of professionalism.

In practical terms Propeller can design, develop and code a custom, web-standards compliant website and then use Shopify’s code to hook into the content management system, bringing the site to life. Once installed and activated, you are free to choose from a large variety of payment processing solutions from simple COD orders to complete merchant gateway systems. Shopify is integrated with Paypal (Website Payments Standard and Payflow Pro), Chronopay, Authroize.net, USA ePay, LinkPoint, Moneris Trust Commerce, Google Checkout and eWay Australia’s leading payment gateway.

Shopify has also been PCI certified and as such is “compliant with the remote vulnerability audit requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)” as determined by ScanAlert, the world’s largest PCI certification service.

As your store is hosted by Shopify, your own hosting account is not required though for instances where a dedicated email server or online storage for dynamic photo galleries etc is required, Propeller are offering a basic hosting package at a reduced cost.

Shopify has a number of basic themes available for use right away though as Preferred Designers, Propeller can provide a custom solution perfectly tailored to your needs. If you’d like to learn more or would like to book a demonstration, please contact us on 07 3822 9123 now.

*2% for monthly turnovers of over $10,000 – Pricing Structure changed as of July 31, 2007, please contact Shopify for details. Please check full terms & conditions prior to signing up for a Shopify store.

Where To From Here?

Feel free to give us a call, email, or use our contact form to discuss your project and how we can help you.

0402 488 550

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