From free consultation to full development, Sana Webs here to help you sell smarter, grow stronger, and scale faster.
Let us check Is Shopify right for your Indian small and medium business just starting out in eCommerce?
Thinking of starting your online business in India? You've heard the buzz about Shopify, but is it really the right platform for a small Indian business, startup or a solo entrepreneur? On the surface, it looks great, but dig a little deeper, and the costs and complexities can stack up. Today, we're breaking down the five essential points you must consider before you commit. Let's find out if Shopify store is your business's launchpad or a financial sinkhole
We are leading and affordable ecommerce agency in Kerala for Shopify stores. We specialize in providing end-to-end Shopify services including designing, development, product management, app installation, back-office support etc. everything for your Shopify store run smoothly.
Shopify knows how to get you in the door. For any startup, minimizing upfront cost is crucial, and Shopify offers a lucrative introductory price. For example, they often advertise their basic plans for as low as ₹20 for the first 3 months. This is an incredibly compelling offer, making it seem like a no-brainer to start your own online store.
But here’s the fine print: This deeply discounted rate is just a temporary trial. It's designed to give you enough time to build your store, but not necessarily enough time to get your first profitable sale and understand the true operating costs.
Once the introductory offer ends, you transition to the fixed monthly subscription fee, which forms your baseline operating expense. This is a non-negotiable cost, whether you make a single sale or a thousand.
Starter Plan: ₹399 INR/month (no customizable storefront, categorization no supported, only few apps can installed. Basic use is to create a payment method when selling through social media sales channels like Facebook, Instagram.
Basic Shopify Store Plan: This is the most common starting point. Only in this plan you get the functionalities needed for a basic online store. You'll be paying approximately ₹1,994/month.
Shopify Store Plan (Grow): Higher monthly cost with slightly lower transaction fees. You'll be paying approximately ₹7,447/month
You need to factor this fixed monthly cost into your budget from day one. This can be around ₹2000 every single month. For a bootstrapping startup or solo entrepreneur, this is a significant recurring overhead until the business starts to achieve more sales.
This is arguably the single most critical point for Indian businesses: Payment Transaction Fees. Unlike in countries like the US, Shopify Payments method is NOT yet available in India. This means Shopify merchants must rely on a third-party payment providers like Razorpay, PayU, or others even it means accepting payment via UPI/Google Pay.
Gateway Fee: Your payment gateway will charge their standard fee (typically 0.5% to 3% + GST) per transaction based on which payment method they use. Credit Cards attract higher fees.
Shopify's Additional Fee: Because merchants in India are not using Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on top of the gateway fee. This can range from 2.0% to 0.5%, depending on your chosen subscription plan.
So for example on a Basic Shopify plan
This combined fee structure makes the cost of accepting payment significantly high in Shopify store. It can seriously eat into the margin of online business of Indian customers, especially for products with low-margins.
Shopify store is user-friendly, yes, but it’s not idiot-proof when it comes to design and aesthetics. The Theme customization options available via Shopify Admin exist to serve diverse customer preferences, which also gives the platform its own learning curve.
While there are free themes, to make your store look professional you require a good eye for design. If you are not tech-savvy or don't have a good eye for website design, you will face a hidden cost, that is you need to hire a professional.
You might need a graphic designer to create high-quality product imagery and web banners. You might need the technical expertise of Shopify expert to properly customize your chosen free or paid theme.
A poorly designed site in the Indian market can be a huge deterrent. When using Shopify the 'ease' of use, give advanced features and store's performance is high, but the 'ease' of getting a Shopify store to look premium often comes with a price tag for talent.
Shopify’s core strength is its vast App Store. But adding features using apps is a hidden cost trap for customers in India. Depending on your business model, you will find certain apps essential for growth and operation.
Common Essential Needs:
Like the above depending on the products or service you intend to selling products, there would be 2 or 3 indispensable features that require third-party apps to drive sales. And these third-party providers app charge a monthly subscription fee, typically starting around ₹400 to ₹1300 per month, per app. The rates go up based on the number of products, order, transactions etc.
Some high-value apps (like advanced loyalty programs or upsell tools) might also charge a percentage of the order value they help generate. As your business goals, scales and orders increase, these app costs don't just stay fixed; they go up! You're essentially exchanging platform fees for an accumulating pile of app subscription fees.
It's a great online store if: You have a business intended for global reach, a clear scaling plan, and you value a powerful, global platform with unlimited customization potential via apps, and you are willing to absorb the high transaction fees.
It's NOT the best fit if: You are selling low-margin products, are highly budget-conscious, and prefer the lowest possible transaction fees. In that case, you might be better served by other ecommerce platforms.
The takeaway is this: Shopify is an excellent engine, but the fuel (transaction fees, payment methods) and the accessories (app costs) are expensive in the Indian context.
Do the math on your margins before you commit beyond the free trial. Research about other platforms available in the market, are Open-source platforms suitable for your business, what are its advantages and disadvantages against SAAS platforms like Shopify, Wix etc.
Are you planning to create online shopping store within your limited budget, Sana Ecommerce Solutions help to develop your ecommerce website from 5000 INR onwards for Indian small businesses.
2 + 5 =
with sana webs