Shopify (link jumps to Shopify.com) is the e-commerce platform that hosts this website.

Shopify makes it remarkably easy for a little company to have a storefront on the world wide web.

Large companies will usually have a team of people dedicated to their web-store, but for us, that is not a possibility.

Although I am almost entirely responsible for the website now, it was Debby who did the initial setup on Shopify. She can do just about anything once she sets her mind to it, but she said getting the basic site going required no technical knowledge and she had the skeleton going within a day. Mostly all you need is the energy to read their tutorials and step through the set-ups.

Shopify is hugely important to us, and what they have achieved is remarkable. I guess the world agrees because their market-cap was over $100 Billion, but has dropped down to $38B as of September 2022. Still a huge number!

WeatherWool products are always pure-American, and so I wish Shopify was not a Canadian company. Because our website is not our product, I don't see using Shopify as a violation of our pure-USA philosophy. And maybe it's even a good thing, because I really love Canada and a couple of other countries, and have always felt a little bad about shutting them out.

One huge drawback, though, is support. If something goes wrong, working with Shopify, like many other large companies, can be a nightmare (like now ... see Blog of 6 September 2022).

Feel free to contact me if you want more thoughts on working with Shopify.

Thanks --- Ralph

30 October 2024 --- Ralph