To Shopify or Not to Shopify for E-Commerce

When launching Diamond Luxe Co., one of the first major decisions I had to make was which platform to build the store on. With so many options out there—Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and even the idea of building a fully custom site—the choice wasn’t just about aesthetics. It was about scalability, user experience, backend operations, and profitability.

As a designer and strategist, I didn’t want to just throw up a good-looking store. I needed a platform that could support a polished brand experience and make it easy to manage inventory, fulfill Print-on-Demand (POD) orders, and handle the customer journey from first click to checkout.

After comparing the top contenders, Shopify quickly stood out. With a market cap hovering around $90 billion and powering over 4 million stores globally, Shopify isn’t just the biggest name in the game—it’s also the most optimized for conversion, integrations, and long-term growth. Its ecosystem of apps, robust backend, and support for POD made it the clear winner for Diamond Luxe Co.

Sure, building a custom e-commerce store has its appeal. More flexibility, total design control, and the chance to architect something from scratch. But for a solo or small team, the time, cost, and complexity of maintaining that kind of system can easily outweigh the benefits—especially when the focus is getting your brand in front of real customers.

Choosing Shopify wasn’t just about going with the most popular—it was about choosing the smartest path to profitability, stability, and growth.