10 Major Reasons Why 95% of Shopify Stores Fail?

Starting an online store will be a dream for newbies, but many of them wonder why Shopify is bad for so many of them. Over 2 million merchants trust Shopify, but one might be asking themselves a few questions like: why shopify stores fail, what is the shopify success rate, etc.

Numerous stores have been built in Shopify, but do you know what percent of Shopify stores fail? 5% of them reach the destination of success, while the remaining 95% of them fail. I know that you don’t want to be amongst those who fail in their eCommerce business. This is the reason why I am writing this blog for you so that at least there will be a 1% decrease in the failure chart. Don’t worry, this blog will give you all the answers along with few tips to avoid the mistakes that lead your store to fail down.

Reasons people think why Shopify is bad or not fit for their needs

While Shopify is popular, some people on other side thinks that it might not be suitable for their business needs. Here are some reasons people think why Shopify is bad for their business:

Pricing

Shopify has subscription fees, and due to the tiered pricing structure, some small businesses can’t afford them. For some merchants, the basic plan might be affordable, but as their stores grow, the costs can add up.

App Dependency

Stores must install Shopify apps to extend their functionality or add more features. Relying on these third-party apps can increase your store’s monthly expenses.

Data Hosting

Shopify is a hosted platform, so you will not have full control over the website server. So, sometimes, this can be a limitation for merchants who have specific server requirements.

Learning Curve

For newbies, the setup and learning processes can be complex for those with a non-technical background. So, because of all these reasons some people wonder why Shopify is bad and step back from using Shopify.

What is the Shopify success rate now?

The Shopify success rate completely depends on several factors like store’s niche, marketing strategies, quality of products, etc. Moreover that, Shopify hasn’t published any specific success rate as it depends on each store’s revenue, profit, etc.

Why Shopify stores fail

Are you also wondering why Shopify stores fail or why Shopify is bad? Just like any other business, online stores on Shopify can also fail sometimes, and because of that, Shopify success rate can also go down. Here are some of the common reasons to know why Shopify stores fail:

Lack of Buying Options

Being an online store the very first step to make sure is about the shopping experience for your customers. If your store doesn’t provide any customization options, then your customers will go elsewhere. They will look at other stores that offer more customized buying options.

So to avoid this, you can offer special discounts, upsell and cross-sell items, product recommendations & bundles, etc. To do this you don’t need to worry of applying as there is an amazing all-in-one Shopify app for you called iCart Cart Drawer Cart Upsell for you.

Wrong Dropshipping Niche

Person watching signs that don't fit together, symbolizing a bad choice for dropshipping niche.

One of the main reasons for the failure of your Shopify store. People just don’t have the patience to understand their niche before they start opening stores. You should invest your time in niche research if you want to achieve your long-term.

Dropshipping: An In-Depth Guide For Beginners

I will tell you the main mistake that people make every time. They look for the trending niche and jump into it. I think this is the main reason why most of the Shopify store fails. Those niches might not have a large audience.

Remember you are forgetting about your groundwork that will lead to success. Spend more time to identify your niche. No one can help you in identifying your niche; instead, you should find it by yourself. A few of the niches are gardening, sports, fashion, etc.

Try to find a niche in which you can move forward i.e. which has less competition and a large audience. Analyse your shopify data for your better research.

Choice of Bad Products

Women is confused while selecting unsuitable products, symbolizing reasons why Shopify store fail.

Although you may have chosen the right niche until and unless there is no success or growth in your business if you don’t choose the right products on your store that people want. If you want your store to be unique then sell products something unique which leads to a wow factor. This wow-factor contains few things like security, love, etc.

You need to be customer-centric for some time to understand their need for products that they will be in search of and what they like to buys. An e-commerce quiz can help in gathering information about products your customers want and need.

Product Margin is Going Down

Graph showing a downward trend in product margins, indicating the reason why Shopify store fails.

Lots of people afraid to keep their margins high because they think that who would buy this for high margins. Remember that low margins lead you to failure, not a success. But in a case like if you are selling the product with a low margin and there are no ways to improve it then change the product instead of thinking why Shopify is bad. This would be simple for you.

Lack of Mobile Application for Users

Almost most of the eCommerce sales are gained completely on mobile devices. As mobile users are increasing nowadays you should offer your customers Shopify Mobile Apps so that they can easily make their favourite products from mobile phones.

icart cart drawer cart upsell

Low-Quality Shop

Women showing a store with shoddy products, representing the reason why Shopify store fails.

Just imagine that you are searching for cool toys or pets and if you reach that site but notice that the spelling is incorrect. Apart from that, the images are of low quality and fonts vary on each page. Obviously, you will think that it is an impostor store or it’s a fraud Shopify store.

Remember that this type of issue can lead to a low trust of your valuable customers. This leads to the failure of your newly started store.

Customers are not returning back

Women walking away from a store without returning, symbolizing the reason why Shopify store fails.

Customers don’t come is another reason why Shopify stores fail. If they had a great experience they will surely come back to you and may not if the experience was negative. To improve customer return rate and to win their hearts provide services that satisfy their requirements.

And in any case, they may contact you for any support then try to reply to them at the earliest. Don’t wait for 2-3 days to reply to them.

Problem in Shipping

Representation of shipping issues, with packages damaged, indicating the reason why Shopify store fails.

The shipping problem is the second biggest Shopify store killer. It often happens with your suppliers that sometimes they are so overloaded that orders get skipped or missed.

So personally, I would recommend you to sell products that are more demand in the market and those products which customers can’t get from the local store.

Poor Customer Service

Unresponsive support, illustrating the reason why Shopify store fails.

The most important thing is attracting new customers to our store and to offer them great services with the highest satisfaction. Create an FAQ page, so that they can get their queries cleared.

Make it easy for customers to contact you. Give them 24/7 customer support. Make sure that every time they come to you with questions, reply to them at the earliest and be polite to them. By doing these things you can avoid the problem of poor customer service.

Poor Optimization of Your Shopify Theme

Representation of a poorly optimized Shopify theme, showing slow loading times.

Most of the Shopify stores fail due to a lack of conversion tactics and not gaining more sales. From my personal experience, I would suggest you Shopify Booster Theme as it will help you to improve conversions.

This theme is very simple and elegant which is designed to be highly optimized for improving sales. Why don’t you go for Shopify Booster Theme instead of using a free theme?

How Do I Pick a Perfect Theme for My Shopify Store

Lack of Marketing

Indicating a lack of marketing efforts, symbolized by man watching marketing mistake board.

No other way is better than promoting your Shopify store by social media marketing. I have seen a lot of people giving youtube ads, Facebook ads, posting stories on Instagram, etc.

All that they are doing in this is promoting their brand and attracting new visitors to their store. All you have to do is to get your visitors converted into valuable customers.

Social Media Marketing Tips For Shopify Stores In

Conclusion

I hope this blog has answered all your questions (why Shopify is bad, what the Shopify success rate is, and why Shopify stores fail). Understand the above-mentioned steps and avoid doing all these pieces of stuff for the success of your store. Start selling unique products that are in demand and be a part of the history of success in the eCommerce world.

Sajini Annie John

About the author

Meet Sajini, a seasoned technical content writer with a passion for e-commerce and expertise in Shopify. She is committed to helping online businesses to thrive through the power of well-crafted content.

25 Responses

  1. Thank You for the info! It was so knowlegable.

    You’ve mentioned 10 reasons in the heading, but you have given 11 reasons. Please work on that along with proofreading before publishing your article. 🙂

    1. Thank you for your suggestion! I will surely look at this 🙂

    2. Are you kidding? He over delivers and you are unhappy?

    3. consider it a free extra reason or tips and stop crying and looking for mistakes like a KAREN !

    4. Oh God. Unico kindly review the blog. There are 10 reason. The 11th is conclusion and not a reason.

    5. Thanks for putting this together, Sajini. It was really helpful; I needed this for research.

      1. Thank you so much for the appreciation 🙂

  2. Thank you! And thanks for the bonus reason—11 instead of 10—NICE!

    1. Thank you so much 🙂

      1. Are you providing service regarding Shopify business?

        1. Yes, we are providing. If you need any help regarding this, you can contact on this mail id: [email protected]

  3. Great Info,Thanks heaps,cleared up a lot.
    Cheers.

    1. Thank you so much 🙂

  4. Really helpful

    1. Thank you 🙂

  5. Great content! Thanks. I will try the shopify booster.

    1. Thank you so much 🙂

  6. Thank you for the info…gr8 help

    1. Thank you 🙂

  7. Great !! Thank you very helpful

    Can you explain why customers will tend to wait long time for delivery if they can get it from the local store?

    “and those products which customers can get from the local store”

    1. Thanks for pointing out the mistake. It was actually can’t get it from the local store.

  8. There is a first rule of dropshipping: never sell that product which is easily available on local marketplaces.

    1. SANJINI…This article was spot on! I had two Shopify stores and can attest to the numerous hours spent in product and inventory management. I also know that Shopify does not have any marketing for the Shopify store owners to market their products to the buying public. One of the biggest factors in Shopify store failure is not technology–my Shopify store and other Shopify stores had robust technology. If customers came into our shops, Shopify’s Chat Inbox would notify us immediately! So Shopify not having a robust marketing program for Shop owners to take advantage and market their products to the buying public is a key factor in the failure of a Shopify stores success. Lack of good technical support is another problem. Subpar Customer support is another reason for shop failure. And definitely lack of Supplier support is yet another reason for failure. In my store, I had atleast 10-15 connections with social sites like Face Book’s Facebook store or Meta, Pin Interest, Amazon Instagram, etc, and guess what I got a notification from Facebook that the Shopify technical support had set my Facebook pixel up wrong, so that Facebook customer could view products in my Shopify store, but could not order the products due to Shopify’s lazy and incompetent tech support. It was unreal! All while Shopify continued to bill me for Shop Fees without really providing good service and support. Their technology is great, however your pointed out this one fact: Shopify’s technology does not do away with repetitive steps, when it comes to inventory management or Sales Taxes management. My store was a women’s clothing store and I had about 300 products, and I had to physically turn on the sales tax feature for all 300 products, which is a lot of work. The other problem I faced was not being able to source name brand products, which meant I really could not compete with big brand stores in my priduct niche. I also feel that Shopify should have a department dedicated to providing customer support for all of the Shopify store owners customers. So that if your customers had questions about their orders, then there would be a dedicated staff available 24/7 to field and answer our customers inquiries. Greatful for this article. I wish this article was out there when I had my Shopify store because I would have never, ever opened a Shopify store. I lost so much money, spent countless and tiring hours managing products, and never sold one product! Finally, Shopify’s SEO optimization apps do not work. I tested one of their SEO apps for 60 days, and the app did not drive any traffic to my Shopify store. I even had Google Analytics and I find out that the 224 customers that did visit my store was driven their by my own efforts. I did like their Link Pop feature and it was a great tool for popping your Shopify store information into Facebook and Instagram posts. I even purchase my own website URL…
      www. driptocraxxy.com. Appreciate the info in your article, and thanks!

  9. Thank you for the information. I will keep it in mind.

  10. Very good information. With all the people in that program and a lot selling the same things, I can understand why it is not a high successful rate.

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