A small maker in Galway with no website and a national retailer in Dublin changing platform end up looking at the same thing. Shopify is a complete e-commerce platform that handles the selling, the payments and the hosting in one place.
I run Bubblehub Media, a Shopify agency in Ireland.
Going online in Ireland
If you are not selling online yet, or the setup you have is years out of date, you are missing sales that Irish shoppers now make online.
There’s grant help too, though not the kind there used to be. The Trading Online Voucher, which paid towards ecommerce sites, closed in December 2024.
Its replacement, the Grow Digital Voucher, pays 50% of new off-the-shelf software. Ask your Local Enterprise Office whether a store platform qualifies. Our guide to what replaced the Trading Online Voucher sets out the difference.
What Shopify gives an Irish business
Many Irish businesses run on Shopify, from one-person operations selling hand-knitted jumpers to established brands with large catalogues.
Fits the Irish market
Shopify has features built for the Irish and European market:
- Euro Support: Shopify handles transactions in euro, with no currency conversion needed.
- EU VAT Compliance: Shopify makes it easy to set up and display prices inclusive of VAT, a must for Irish businesses.
- GDPR Tools: With built-in features to help you stay compliant with EU data protection laws. The obligations stay with you, but the tools help you meet them.
What Shopify costs
Shopify’s pricing is published and predictable.
- You pay a monthly fee based on your chosen plan (Basic, Grow, or Advanced).
- Transaction fees are low, and lower again if you use Shopify Payments.
- As you move up a plan, the transaction fees drop.
You can start on the cheapest plan and move up later, so you are not paying for features you do not need yet.
Building and paying for the store
How your store will look
You can build a store that looks professional without writing a line of HTML.
- Professional Themes: Shopify has a wide range of designed themes and many are free. They look fine out of the box and better once they are customised to your brand.
- Customisation: You can change colours, fonts and layout yourself. For anything past that, a Shopify developer builds the parts the theme does not cover.
- Mobile-Friendly: Every Shopify theme is responsive, so it works on any screen size.
A store that looks professional gets trusted, and trust is what gets the card out. Anyone can get a Shopify store to decent. Getting it past decent is where a Shopify developer earns the fee.
Shopify Payments cuts out the middlemen
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own payment processor, built into the platform.
- It’s Built-In: No need to set up a separate payment gateway. It’s all there, ready to go.
- Lower Fees: When you use Shopify Payments, Shopify waives its own transaction fees.
- Multiple Payment Options: All major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and more.
- Automatic Currency Conversion: Selling to customers outside Ireland? Shopify Payments can automatically show prices in the customer’s local currency.
The Shopify App Store
The Shopify App Store adds the functions the platform does not ship with.
- Endless Possibilities: There is an app for almost everything, from countdown timers to loyalty schemes.
- Irish-Specific Apps: There are even apps designed specifically for the Irish market, like EU cookie consent bars and Irish-specific shipping solutions.
- Easy Integration: Most apps install in a few clicks.
- Scalability: You can add heavier tools as the business grows.
The App Store is how you fit the platform to the way your business actually works.
Hosting is included and handled
Hosting is included, so server issues, load times and security patching are not your problem.
- Reliability: Shopify runs the servers, and the uptime is theirs to keep.
- Speed: Pages are served from Shopify’s own infrastructure and load quickly.
- Automatic Upgrades: Platform updates are applied by Shopify, not by you.
- SSL Certificate Included: Every Shopify store comes with a free SSL certificate, keeping your customers’ data safe and secure.
Getting found and measuring results
SEO tools to get you found
A store nobody can find sells nothing. Shopify’s SEO tools cover the basics:
- Title and meta tags: these are like signposts for Google, telling it what your pages are about.
- Automatic Sitemap Generation: This helps search engines understand the structure of your site.
- Customisable URLs: You can create clean, SEO-friendly URLs for all your products and pages.
- Blogging Platform: Regular content is great for SEO, and Shopify makes it easy to maintain a blog right on your store.
Mobile responsiveness
Many customers reach a store on a phone, so Shopify’s themes are built to work on one.
- Responsive Themes: All Shopify themes automatically adjust to look great on any screen size.
- Mobile-Optimised Checkout: The checkout is built for a phone screen.
Analytics you can read
Shopify’s analytics dashboard shows how the store is performing without a separate reporting tool.
- Real-Time Data: See how your store is performing right now, not last week or last month.
- Sales Reports: Understand what’s selling, when, and to whom.
- Customer Reports: What your customers buy, and what they come back for.
- Marketing Reports: See which of your marketing efforts are paying off.
Support, scale and selling beyond the site
Support around the clock
Shopify’s support team is available 24 hours a day.
- 24/7 Support: Someone is available at three in the afternoon and at three in the morning.
- Multiple Channels: Get support via email or live chat.
- Knowledge Base: Shopify’s help centre has articles and tutorials for most problems.
- Community Forums: Connect with other Shopify users to share tips and tricks.
Scalability as you grow
Shopify runs the same way for a few handmade items as it does for a catalogue of thousands.
- Flexible Plans: Start on Basic Shopify and upgrade as you grow.
- Unlimited Products: Even on the basic plan you can list as many products as you like.
- High-Volume Capabilities: Shopify Plus handles enterprise sales volumes when you get there.
Multi-channel selling
Customers expect to buy where they already are, and Shopify sells through those places:
- Social Media Integration: Sell directly on Facebook and Instagram.
- Marketplace Connections: List your products on Amazon, eBay and other marketplaces.
- POS System: Tie your online store to your physical shop.
Shopify POS for online and offline
If you have a shop, or you do pop-ups and markets, Shopify POS runs the till off the same system as the website.
- Unified Inventory: Online and offline stock is synced in real time, so you do not sell what you have already sold.
- Customer Experience: Customers can buy online and return in-store, or the other way round.
- Hardware Flexibility: Works with a range of hardware, from basic card readers to full-blown checkout systems. Start small and scale up as needed.
Security for you and your customers
Your customers hand over card details and addresses. This is what Shopify does with them:
- PCI DSS Compliance: Shopify maintains PCI DSS compliance, the standard for handling card data.
- Fraud Analysis: Shopify flags orders that look fraudulent before you ship them.
- Continuous Security Updates: Shopify’s security team patches the platform as new vulnerabilities appear, across every store at once.
- SSL Encryption: Every Shopify store comes with a free SSL certificate, ensuring that all data transferred between your customers and your store is encrypted and secure.
- Two-Factor Authentication: Shopify offers two-factor authentication for store owners, adding an extra layer of security to prevent unauthorised access to your admin area.
Making the most of Shopify in Ireland
How to get the most out of it:
- Start with a Plan: Before you sign up, know what you are selling and who you are selling it to.
- Choose the Right Theme: Pick a theme that reflects your brand and shows your products well. You can customise it later.
- Optimise for SEO from Day One: Use Shopify’s built-in SEO tools to ensure your store is discoverable. Don’t forget to use relevant keywords in your product descriptions and blog posts.
- Use the App Store Carefully: Do not install every app you see. Add the ones that do something your customers need.
- Focus on Customer Service: A quick reply turns a one-time buyer into a repeat one.
- Use Shopify’s Marketing Tools: From email marketing to Google’s own app, which sends your products to Google Shopping, Shopify offers a range of marketing tools to help you reach your audience.
- Keep Learning: Shopify’s blog and webinars are where new features get announced.
Irish Shopify stores we have built
Plenty of Irish businesses run on Shopify, and Bubblehub Media has built a number of them.
Take a home decor company in Ireland. They needed an e-commerce setup that could carry a large B2C operation. We built their Shopify store.
Why Shopify suits Irish businesses
Shopify covers the Irish-specific parts, euro pricing, VAT and GDPR, along with the hosting, the payments and the security, for a monthly fee you can see before you start.
We’re a Google Partner, in the top 3% of Google Partners in Ireland, and a Shopify Partner.
If you want to talk through your setup, contact us. No obligation.
