Shopify is one of the first platforms that comes to mind when we think about making or running online stores. Even though Shopify may seem like a good platform for beginners, a lot of experts are thinking about using other platforms instead.

Don’t worry, you can also close your Shopify store and switch to any other platform. Here, we’ll tell you how to close your Shopify store and suggest some other platforms for hosting your eCommerce store instead:

How to shut down a Shopify store and choose the best replacement for it
How to shut down a Shopify store and choose the best replacement for it

Reasons for Considering a Shopify Store Shutdown

Before we learn how to close a Shopify store, let’s quickly consider some of the major reasons why users move away from it.

  • Negligible Room for Personalization Shopify’s limited flexibility in terms of store design is one of its main drawbacks. Take SEO, where specific approaches are severely restricted.
  • Expensive Shopify’s base plan is affordable, but it lacks essential tools. There are expensive premium plans or third-party plugins available to unlock additional functionality.
  • In-House Content Management Shopify, as a CMS, provides fewer alternatives for presenting products. Hosting product carousels, videos, or augmented reality shopping tools is a challenge for many Shopify users.
  • Scalability Shopify shines when it comes to managing a modest number of products and customers, but it struggles under the weight of a massive inventory and a zillion visitors. Not having complete control over your data also makes it more difficult to expand your operations.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Closing Your Shopify Store

As you can see, there could be multiple reasons for closing a Shopify store. Even though it is a simple process, there are a couple of things that you need to take care of in advance.

Things to do before closing a Shopify Store:

  • First, examine your Shopify account to guarantee that there are no outstanding fees. Unfortunately, Shopify will not provide a refund, so you may lose any money that was paid in advance after you shut down your store.
  • You should terminate your subscriptions and remove any third-party plugins or extensions from your Shopify store.
  • If a custom domain name was being used, the DNS settings should be modified to reflect the new location.
  • To export your entire catalogue to a CSV file, simply go to your store’s settings. This will facilitate the porting of your products to alternative environments.

Great! Now that you have everything you need, read on to find out how to shut down a Shopify store.

Step 1: Go to Your Shopify Account Settings

Step 2: Choose to Close Your Shopify Store

Step 3: Close Your Shopify Store Successfully

TIP: Stop your Shopify store temporarily. You can pause your account instead of closing it if you’re still unsure. Shopify allows you to do this in the Account section of the Settings menu. A paused account retains all of its previous settings and can be resumed at any time.

Here Are the Top 3 eCommerce Platforms to Consider Besides Shopify

Learning how to close a Shopify store is quite simple and a lot of people do it to move to other platforms. If you have the same intentions, then you can consider exploring the following alternatives to Shopify instead.

1. Wix

When looking for an alternative to Shopify, one of the most common choices is Wix. Wix offers a wide variety of packages that are well suited for entrepreneurs operating small and medium-sized enterprises.

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IMAGE SOURCE: VERTINA
  • Wix offers various plans with varying amounts of space for storage, making it simple to expand your business.
  • Wix’s Content Management System is more user-friendly in general, making it simpler to upload media like product images, carousels, and videos than Shopify’s.
  • With Wix, you can choose from a variety of premade storefront skins and modify them to suit your needs, all with zero coding experience required.
  • Wix also allows you to improve your site’s SEO with custom settings and connect your account with a variety of add-ons.

Limitations:

  • Wix only supports a small subset of available apps, and you’d be confined to using it within its own ecosystem.
  • Currently, Shopify offers a wider variety of payment methods than Wix.
  • Wix, unlike Shopify, does not come equipped with any sort of built-in options for handling tax computations.

2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source platform developed by Automattic (WordPress’s parent company), which can transform any WordPress site into an online store. When compared to Shopify and Wix, WooCommerce offers far more flexibility in terms of design.

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IMAGE SOURCE: WOOCOMMERCE
  • Adding a WooCommerce plugin to your WordPress site and creating an online store is a breeze.
  • Options like inventory management, sales reporting, and customer analytics are available.
  • Because of its adaptability and ease of customization, WooCommerce can be integrated with a wide variety of third-party services, such as PayPal, Square, TaxJar, Google Ads, and many more.

Limitations:

  • Every type of extension may incur a separate fee.
  • Many plugins are available, but they may slow down your site and prevent some users from using it.

3. Magento

Magento is one of the most popular options for building eCommerce stores and is used by more than 100,000 different websites. It’s adaptable to different situations and equipped with cutting-edge tools for companies of all sizes.

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IMAGE SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
  • You can create an online store exactly how you want it with simple drag and drop tools.
  • Magento’s scalability and feature set make it ideal for dropshipping businesses of all sizes.
  • There is a wide variety of available add-ons for handling business operations like stock management, invoicing, tax collection, and customer service.
  • After Adobe bought Magento, the two companies worked together to integrate the platform with many of the company’s products.

Limitations:

  • Compared to other tools, creating a Magento store is a bit time-consuming.
  • Only the basic version of Magento is free and its enterprise version can be expensive in the long run

The Official AliExpress Dropshipping Tool

It’s likely you already know that creating a website for your business is only the beginning of your e-commerce venture. The success of your store hinges on your ability to locate high-quality products and reliable dropshipping customers.

As the official AliExpress dropshipping tool, it is a viable option to consider. You probably already know that AliExpress is one of the most popular dropshipping platforms among online retailers. Incorporating it into your dropshipping operations will simplify and streamline the entire procedure. Wix and WooCommerce users can now take advantage; don’t let that stop you from opening an online store!

The ability to shop from thousands of vendors all in one convenient location is one many great features. Additionally, it has a function called the Supplier finder, which aids in selecting the optimal supplier for any given product (with maximum profit margins).

As an added bonus,allow you to automate a number of processes, such as changing order statuses and syncing tracking numbers. You can manage your store like a pro by setting up multiple variants, creating custom bundles, and placing bulk orders.

Closing a Shopify store is as simple as reading the instructions. You can put your shop on hold indefinitely and resume it at any time.

However, you can also move your shop to other platforms like Wix and WooCommerce. However,they are a must-have if you want your dropshipping business to succeed.

It’s the real deal when it comes to dropshipping from AliExpress, and it comes with all the bells and whistles you need to run your store like a pro.