Shopify Lite Plan (2024): Price, Features, And More

Nowadays, people tend to spend more time browsing social media than websites, and that is the fact that many businesses need to realize and start taking advantage of the channel. If over three billion people are on there, they should care.

Enter Shopify Lite Plan - a plan provided by Shopify - the largest eCommerce platform in the world, specifically for selling on social media. With just $9 per month, your Facebook Business page or existing website can instantly turn into an online store.

In today’s review, we will take a detailed look at the Shopify Lite with all of its crucial points like other Shopify pricing plans, features, pricing, pros & cons, and more. All to answer the question of whether social selling with Shopify Lite is the choice for you or not. So keep reading and find out!

What is Shopify Lite?

Shopify Lite is a plan provided by Shopify for people who already own an existing site or social media page and decide to start selling items on it. The plan offers all the basic features of an eCommerce business at only $9/month, the cheapest among Shopify plans.

To easily understand, imagine yourself as a blogger on WordPress or a content creator on Facebook. You now want to sell some custom-made items but don’t want to build a whole new online store since that can be pricey, then Shopify Lite allows you to keep the same blog or Facebook page and integrate products to sell right on the site. Cool huh?

The plan comes with Shopify buy now button for your site, a fully integrated Facebook shop, Shopify’s POS to sell in person, overview dashboard, financial report, and 24/7 support via email or live chat from Shopify if you have any questions.

Related Post:

• How To Use Shopify Lite? Quickly Sell At Little Cost
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Shopify Lite pricing

Well, it is really simple, 9$/month is all you need for the service. When other plans start at $29/month as for the Shopify Basic plan.

Both plans, however, have the same credit cards fees at 2.9% + 30¢ for online credit card payment, and 2.7% for in-person payment. You will also be charged an additional fee of 2% if you use a third-party payment provider other than Shopify Payments.

With that out of the way, let’s see all Shopify Lite’s features to know what it can do for you.

Shopify Lite features

With great power for social media channels, the Shopify Lite plan has some awesome features that you can utilize to gain more profit from the audience.

Sell on Facebook

With Shopify Lite, you have a fully integrated Facebook store, which you can advertise, let people make a purchase right on the page, save time and steps to make more sales. The store merges with your Facebook Business page and adds a Shop tab that can showcase product galleries and your own shopping cart on Facebook.

What is good about this is all your product information in sync between the Shopify dashboard and Facebook, so any product information, price, availability can be updated seamlessly on both platforms.

Shopify Lite also includes a beautiful checkout module right inside your Facebook page. This can cut down steps customers need to do before purchasing, and provide a secure way to shop right the way. Customers also can save their contact and purchase information for easier future payment. Ka-ching!

Overall, Shopify Lite is a solid Facebook store for your fan page or blog so you and your audience can save time doing business right through the platform. There is no reason to build a new Shopify store’s site then and save you a ton of money.

Sell via Facebook messenger

Shopify Lite gives you a Live Chat module for Facebook Messenge so you can connect to your customers and provide customer support in a convenient channel. Through Messenger, customers can also browse your products and make purchases while receiving automated responses that you curated.

These responses can have call-to-action buttons that invite shoppers to do things, such as making a purchase, viewing order, reading a product’s description. And after that, customers can be reminded with automated messages to check shipping information, codes of tracking to have a great experience with your store.

Sell with Shopify Button

Shopify Buy Button is a convenient way to add a purchase widget to any site like WordPress, Tumblr, or your own blog. These are customizable to fit any website and will take your prospect straight to a secure checkout page to finish purchasing.

You can sell a product or more with these easy-to-add buttons. Imagine your blog having a sidebar to show new and existing products to see if people are interested, or embed your product with a purchase button right into your content. Or your landing page of digital products like photography has simple buy buttons to click on, so convenient!

Point of sale

If you are an outgoing person and want to try selling at the street market, trade shows, or exhibition, Shopify Lite offers standard Shopify POS features, which is a point-of-sale app that customers can use the credit cards to make purchases. You will receive the app and a card reader to make sales anywhere you like.

The app is available for iOS and Android with 24/7 support and can sync your inventory across the channels, making managing products way easier. With POS features, you can accept credit cards, apply discounts, insert taxes, ship at checkout, receive gift cards, and even make refunds.

Create and send invoices

Making the customer’s experience better is always good, and Shopify Lite can help you with that, by helping you create invoices and get paid quickly. All you need to do is create an invoice, send invoice to the customer, and he/she can pay with Shopify’s shopping cart.

This small features is great for customers to process orders through their smartphones, and expand your business more efficiently.

Create discount codes

With a low price, Shopify Lite really provides many good features for your store. Through the dashboard, you can also create discount codes and automatic discounts. The options for discount be flexible, fixed, free shipping or buy X get Y discounts. There is an option for a discount when customers reach a certain amount of money spent.

Of course, don’t forget to care about special occasions and send discounts on birthdays, holidays, or your own store’s anniversaries.

Shopify Lite support

If you use the Shopify Lite plan, you will still receive everything that Basic Shopify users get access to like 24/7 support via email or live chat. So any question can be answered whether it is about starting your store, using POS, or integrating the Facebook module.

You also get access to all the tips and resources for entrepreneurs provided by Shopify and automatic sync across channels with orders, products, inventory.

Shopify Lite Plan vs Basic Shopify

There is a basic difference between these two plans and it is the ability to build an online store with Basic Shopify, but not with Shopify Lite. The Lite plan of Shopify is for built sides or Facebook fan pages. The other difference is the monthly fee: $9/month for Shopify Lite and $29/month for Basic Shopify.

Of course, Basic Shopify is more powerful with far more features like hosting, SSL, customizable themes, order and inventory management, etc. While Shopify Lite is more like an extra layer for your already made online business with a few items, which is designed for selling on social media.

So the choice is based on what you need. If you already have audiences following your page and want to give them an easy way to purchase your own products, Shopify Lite is awesome at a low price. If you want more serious business with hundreds of eCommerce products, then Basic Shopify is probably better.

Related Post: Shopify vs Shopify Plus: What is the different?

Shopify Lite for Instagram?

Well, simply put, no, you need to at least use the Basic Shopify plan to sell with Instagram.

The requirements to use Shopify plans with Instagram would be:

• Basic Shopify plan or higher and have opened an online store.
• An approved Facebook Shop with no age or country restrictions.
• Connect your Instagram business profile to a Facebook catalog.
• Comply with Facebook’s merchant agreement and policies.
• You sell physical goods.
• Use the latest version of the Instagram app that is available in your country.

Well, that is to say using Shopify to sell with Instagram requires a real business that if you are probably already doing all of the above if you own one. Shopify Lite is not the ideal choice though.

Shopify Lite Pros and Cons

Pros

• Low cost:: Shopify Lite pricing is only $9/month, lowest among Shopify plans.
• User-friendly for beginners: Easy as operating a Facebook business page.
• Tons of ways to integrate: Shopify Buy Button is compatible with WordPress, Squarespace, Tumblr so your audience can purchase at ease.
• Selling everywhere: Shopify POS is great if you think of travelling and making a profit.
• Sending invoicing: This is incredibly useful if you offer services and want to receive payments.
• Support & resources: You get access to all of the Shopify knowledge base, and 24/7 support via live chat or email

Cons

• No storefront: There is a limitation to your store because of this.
• Limited staff: You can only have one admin and one staff login, so very small operation.
• Lack more social media channels: You can’t sell on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.
• Hard to scale: If your business takes off, the credit card fees can hurt the growing phase, and you will want a real site for your store in that case too.

Try Shopify Lite

5 Shopify Lite examples

If you want to see how people are running a successful business with this small amount of budget on the Shopify Lite plan, check out the 5 following examples. They may be blogs, Facebook pages, or else, but they sure made use of those buy buttons.

1. Master and Dynamic

See how Master & Dynamic masterfully set up their Facebook shop, with detailed information and gorgeous photos that can make people buy in an instance. Also, you should check out their website, which is commonly mentioned in designers’ online magazines.

2. Ambrosio Jewelry

Ambrosio Jewelry is specialized in bridal jewellery, but they made use of Facebook as well to put more choices of payment for customers. All of the products are listed beautifully and organized so visitors can browse them. However, I think the white background won’t work too well with bright-white items.

3. Riopy Music

Well, I haven’t listened to their music, but doing marketing and selling in bundles is a good start to get your passion project out there. Riopy made a little store right on their page so fans can come and purchase apparel, albums, and find out more about their music.

4. Photo Hack Lovers

What if you are a graphic designer and want to make money out of your works? Shopify Lite can help with Buy Buttons for easy purchase, and POS so you can sell physical versions anywhere. That is why Photo Hack Lovers made videos expressing love and say how easy to use Shopify Lite without any knowledge of coding.

5. Biko Jewelry

Biko Jewelry is nothing but stunning, and how easy it is to buy from them is as well! The cart and buttons to use are simple, with straightforward actions that customers can easily understand. Thay may have moved on above Shopify Lite, but the core features still have existence.

Try Shopify Lite

Is Shopify Lite the right choice for you?

Can you run a successful eCommerce business through social media or blogs? Absolutely. And the Shopify Lite plan is perfect for such needs. You won’t need a full online store but still have beautiful checkouts, personalize shopping experience right at your fan page or blog.

For conclusion, the reasons you might want to go with Shopify Lite are:

• You want to start selling some products on your built site at a low budget.
• You want to sell products through Facebook with the help of a live chat module.
• You want to sell offline and accept credit card payment.
• You want to send out invoices and receive payment (especially if you are selling services).

Recommendation:

• How to choose the right Shopify plan for your store?

Last advice

Having made so far, I’m sure you have known all you need to know about the Shopify Lite plan, and may have made some decisions on whether to choose it or not. Even if you don’t choose it, the plan is still incredibly useful at a really low price per month.

Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below, and if you have any questions, I’m always here to help. As always, best of luck for your eCommerce business!