Shopify.

Shopify is a SaaS solution (Software as a Service): the shop runs on the provider's servers, Shopify takes care of security and updates, and you pay a monthly subscription plus, depending on the payment method, transaction fees. The alternative model is self-hosted shop systems such as WooCommerce or Shopware, which give you more freedom but also more responsibility.

A Shopify shop has three layers. The admin manages products, variants, stock, customers and orders. The theme determines the look and can be adapted through a visual editor and, at code level, with the Liquid template language. Apps add functions such as reviews, subscriptions, translations or connections to accounting and shipping. The app landscape in particular is both a strength and a risk: much can be added quickly, but every app costs money, loads scripts and can weigh on the shop's speed.

For Swiss shops, a few points matter particularly. Payment methods such as TWINT, credit cards, PayPal or invoice are integrated through payment providers — more on this in the entry Payment Service Provider. Multiple languages (German, French, Italian, English) and markets with their own prices and currencies are possible, but need clean set-up including hreflang. VAT, shipping zones and customs questions for deliveries abroad should be settled before launch.

For SEO, Shopify offers a solid foundation but has well-known quirks: fixed URL prefixes such as /products/ and /collections/, duplicate product paths via collections, and themes that output structured data incompletely. Many shops give away potential through thin category texts, automatically generated titles and product descriptions copied from the manufacturer. The lever here is usually not the platform but the work on the content.