Shopify is an excellent, easy to use, hosted web store service, and we have it running an on-line store, together with another one that’s in the works. I’ve subscribed to the Shopify forums ever since the site went live.

The posts on these forums now tend to revolve around two classes of issues:

1. Customising the design of a store;
2. Demanding extra features

The first class of issue is to be expected – it takes confidence and a fair amount of skill to take an existing template and tweak it to a specific ‘look and feel’. One has to learn how the store works as well as how the template language works. It’s not really for design beginners, which is why there are templates to choose from.

The second class of issue is also to be expected. Selling things is a complex business, and it’s inevitable that every person’s requirements are going to be slightly different. This is why one ends up with behemoths such as OS Commerce and X-Cart. Shopify isn’t for complex stores, it’s for simple ones.

Furthermore, because Shopify is simple, it demands that you take a look at what you’re selling and how you sell it. Sometimes simplifying what and how you sell something is easier to achieve than complicating the on-line experience. And, because you complicate that experience, it’s less likely you’ll have (happy) customers.

Basecamp is another example of something rather simple but exceptional. The guys who developed it continue to get thrown additional requirements. But they stand their ground, and remark that they want people to grow out of their product, taking their data with them.

When the API to Shopify is released, people will be able to do that: to move to other stores when their business becomes successful. Keep things simple when you’re just starting out.