If you are planning to create an e-commerce store and Storenvy is one of your choices, but are not sure how good or bad this platform is for beginners or selling items in general, fret not; this Storenvy review will help you.
Storenvy is a social marketplace where sellers can create a custom storefront. Buyers can like the store, and items, create lists and buy products. Storenvy is one of the most beginner-friendly platforms to build your storefront on, with more control over the design elements compared to some of its marketplace competitors.
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Storenvy Review: Overview
Storenvy is a social marketplace where shoppers can find products, like them, add products to their collections and even send direct messages to sellers. It is a self-managed platform like Shopify and a marketplace like Etsy.
But unlike Etsy, sellers can create a customized store and have complete control, enjoying a variety of features to help with promotion, including using a custom domain.
Storenvy offers a forever-free plan like Big Cartel, and premium prices are comparatively lower than some of its competitors. There are no charges on listing items on your store, unlike Etsy which charges you for each listing and then on sales.
Storenvy Review: Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Access to a large audience base | Limited customization capabilities |
| Complete control over the store | No free themes except the one you get at beginning |
| Reasonably priced premium plans | High listing fees for the products |
| Forever free plan | Requires coding knowledge |
| Advanced features for promotions | Can only list up to 5000 |
Storenvy: Ease of Use
Getting started on Storenvy is as simple as creating an account and choosing a plan. We can confidently say it is the easiest solution we have used to get started. For a simple yet attractive storefront, sellers with little technical knowledge will find it helpful.
This browser-based solution has a Merchant Admin Panel, where sellers can access all the features like changing themes, adding codes, listing and managing products and orders, analytics, shipping rates, and much more. You won’t ever get lost in finding a feature.
Also Read: Big Cartel vs Storenvy: Which Is Best For Small Businesses?
Storenvy: Website Design and Flexibility
Storenvy comes with a store builder, including access to HTML and CSS. People with hands-on experience in coding can make a lot more changes. Other users with no technical know-how will have to stick to the basic customization, including header, buttons, fonts, banners, background, and more.
There’s a theme library with a decent collection of pre-built templates. We couldn’t find any free themes, though. The cost usually ranges between $15-30. Even with the paid themes, the design capabilities are minimal, and nothing that would blow your mind. But whatever features are available, they are very easy to access and use. Certainly easier than Big Cartel or Etsy. You can also use a custom domain with your store.
Storenvy: E-commerce Features
Storenvy makes store management easy. You can access the inventory from the Merchant Admin Panel, list your products, and change prices. It has a built-in shipping and tax rate calculator.
For store performance and business status, you can access Storenvy analytics and business performance to see how your store is doing. Email marketing and dedicated market space you can join using your store give you added benefits. You can display your blog feed on Storenvy. However, the process requires adding a few lines of code, which you can check here.
The only disappointing factor for us was the limited number of listings. You can only sell up to 5000 products, which is undoubtedly more than Big Cartel, and yet not enough to compete with Etsy.
Storenvy: Payment Options
Storenvy lets sellers accept payments using Stripe, AfterPay, and PayPal. There are no charges for listing items in the store. You only pay 15% of the total sales value when you make a sale.
There’s also an option of Managed marketing on Storenvy, which lets you advertise your store on external mediums. You will pay 25% charges for sales resulting from managed marketing.
Storenvy: Marketing Tools and Features
Storenvy automatically optimizes the meta title, descriptions, and tags and also opts for a simpler URL structure. But there are some things that you can do to boost your SEO efforts, like using keywords in the product title and descriptions and using the domain name as your store or vice versa.
You can also leverage features like email marketing to create a customer base, send emails for abandoned carts, new product arrivals, successful checkout, and more. If you want to use a third-party service provider, you can do that via integration. Storenvy has a dedicated article for SEO best practices that might be helpful to you.
Storenvy: Pricing
Storenvy is a good option if you’re looking for a price-value e-commerce platform. The premium plans are cheaper than some competitors, and a free plan adds a cherry on top. Payment is handled via Stripe, AfterPay, and PayPal in all the plans.
The three premium pan starts from $7.99/month and offers features like 25 super discounts, no storefront ad, and listing up to 100 products. The 2nd plan costs $17.99/month and offers all the Artisan plan features, 500 products, 100 super discounts, and automated engage emails. The top-tier plan gives you all the Artisan and growth plan features with listing up to 5000 products, unlimited super discounts and custom engage emails. This plan costs $39.99/month.
Storenvy: Customer Support
Storenvy’s customer support won’t blow your mind. They have a dedicated help center with many helpful articles on almost every topic. But if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can contact customer support via email. It is available Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (pacific time).
There’s also a contact form, but it works like an email, and you’ll have to wait at least 24 business hours before you expect any response from them. The additional contact form option makes Storenvy better than Big Cartel in Customer support.
Storenvy: Conclusion
Storenvy is a good platform, affordable, and easy to work with. The store gives sellers more control over designs and like Etsy, has an established user base.
Compared to other platforms like Big Cartel or Etsy, Storenvy has better features and price-to-value, while Etsy has a larger audience base. However, in terms of cost-effectiveness and being beginner-friendly, Storenvy emerges as much better than many of its competitors. Beginners will find themselves at ease when creating a store on Storenvy.
Storenvy: FAQs
Is Storenvy a marketplace?
Storenvy is an online e-commerce platform with marketplace and social features. Storenvy calls itself a social marketplace. On Storenvy, you can like a product, add to your list or your favorites or share it with others.
Is Storenvy Safe?
Storenvy is a social marketplace where anyone can create a store. While Storenvy, in general, is safe, we cannot say anything about the individual sellers. Only buy from best rated and reviewed sellers on Storenvy to be safe.
