The eCommerce trend is soaring at an all-time high! The pandemic that started last year has changed the course of businesses, pushing the eCommerce industry to new heights.
Among a majority of other platforms, Shopify continues to dominate its position as the third-largest and arguably one of the best eCommerce platforms.
Why is My Shopify Store not Working?
However, the numerous tasks that you need to tick off before you kickstart your Shopify journey can be a bit tiring. Given the fact that setting up a Shopify store involves numerous tasks, there are increased chances of making mistakes in the process.
We’ve all experienced a level of excitement where we’re finally a step closer to the grand opening of our store day when we’ve finally begun our eCommerce journey.
But what happens when you receive a message saying of the Shopify store is down or something like Sorry, this shop is currently unavailable? Won’t it be a heartbreaking scene to witness?
However, we suggest you not panic as there’s a way out of it. Yes, there’s a solution to help you solve this Shopify store-down issue.
If we look at it as an overview, there could only be either of two reasons for your store’s problem:
- You seem to have entered some incorrect information.
- You did not complete the setup correctly.
Whatever the case be, we have you covered. Continue reading to explore a bit more about why your Shopify store is not working and how you could resolve the issue to normal.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What is Shopify?
If you haven’t heard of the term Shopify, you have to live in a cave. One of the leading eCommerce platforms, Shopify is the go-to solution for business owners of every type.
Whether you’re the CEO of a successful venture or have just begun your eCommerce journey, this platform has all the necessary tools to support your journey from scratch.
Shopify is an eCommerce platform allowing individuals to set up their online stores more technically. The platform provides businesses with all the essential tools required to set up and sell their products in the store.
What’s more? The platform has a wide range of applications to help simplify operations for merchants. Further, it also allows them to sell their products in person.
Shopify enjoys its position as one of the leading commerce platforms designed for industries of all types, online, in-store, on social media, or in a cart; Shopify has you covered.
Now that we know what Shopify is let’s look into some of the most common reasons why Shopify stores are down.
Common reasons for Shopify stores down
Being an eCommerce store owner with a Shopify store, seeing your store down can be a really concerning matter. However, every store owner under the platform needs to understand that Shopify takes some time to respond to queries as it has its downtime.
Like all other websites and businesses that run on the internet, Shopify is also powered via web servers that ease operations and aid the seamless functioning of the stores.
And similar to any other computer or electronic gadget, Shopify servers can also face downtime due to numerous reasons.
Since servers are not the sole link powering a web service or site, you need to be sure about what led the Shopify store down.
Like all the other web stores and tech companies, Shopify has also engineered highly robust servers that will perform under straining conditions. However, the store will still have chances of built-in failure.
In such a situation, when your store is down, you just need to ensure that the third-party domain presents your name in the Shopify store. In such cases, you’ll have to write your web address as www.
Now that we know about the servers, let’s look at the other problems you might face in a Shopify store!
Why is my Shopify store not working, and how to make it work?
1. Determining where the problem is!
Probably the most prominent sign of your Shopify store not working is when you can’t view your store. Further, there can be another situation where you go to your store’s admin panel and experience either processing slowly or inaccessibly.
No matter how your store performs, if you come across a Well, be back soon message, consider it to be the ultimate sign that there’s something wrong with your Shopify store.
While all of the above scenarios are likely to predict a problem, the last notification that would make you clear of your store’s trouble is the status page. The status page of Shopify keeps a tab on all the services that your store provides and receives. It is responsible for making the pages live on different servers. If your status page is inactive, it means that Shopify is not working, and vice versa.
The good news is that you can subscribe to the latest updates from the feed section. This way, you’ll have instant notifications when something is down or logged.
However, here are some other pointers which you need to keep in mind while going across the status page:
- You might have come across a problem in your store, but as per Shopify, everything is OK. Chances are that Shopify isn’t aware of any such problem.
- There’s another possibility that the platform has been informed about the specific problem via different store owners and is already working on it.
- Shopify is generally aware of its users’ multiple issues with their stores. While the platform works on the problem, it doesn’t provide others with much info on the same. Therefore, it might not post much information on the alert page while it’s currently working.
Finally, while all the previously listed reasons are obvious, it should also be noticed that the page which presents the status is also powered via live servers and can go down.
While these were some common problems, there could be several other reasons why your Shopify stores not working.
While these issues dont present your store’s official downtime, it is possible that these reasons could lead to your store stopping functioning partially or entirely, even if your store isn’t necessarily down. Here are some examples:
- Your page won’t load the content; they appear unformatted, blank, or with layouts that are odd and unique.
- You cant click your store pages.
- Clicking one specific feature leads to another, and the results are unexpected.
- Customers are unable to add items or check out their carts.
Unfortunately, the issues mentioned above are common problems due to applications or themes installed on your Shopify store. So, you could quickly fix such problems by either uninstalling apps, recreating your store via a backup, or using some other emergency tips for your store.
A list of possible Shopify store solutions!
Assuming that there are multiple reasons why your Shopify store isn’t working, here’s a quick checklist of a few things you can do at the initial stages without needing Shopify’s assistance.
1. Check your Domain
Your Shopify store provides you with a primary domain, which can be found in the Shopify URL. This URL can be used to log into your Shopify store and cannot be changed. However, you cannot simply change your URL but purchase a new customized domain to give a name to your store.
Now, you can either purchase this domain from Shopify or opt for a third-party domain provider. Later, you can convert this to a primary domain. Therefore, ensure that you check in with your domain provider in such a situation.
2. Adding an app
Another problem could be the latest application that you have just installed on your store. As we know, third-party applications are often known to re-write or alter the functions of your page without your knowledge.
This is where the problem might be, and you can efficiently resolve it by restoring your store to normal, just like before the application. You could also use the code rollback feature in such scenarios.
3. Customizing code
We all know that Shopify stores are all about customization, and store owners are known to customize their codes to make their stores more appealing and include new add-ons. Now, some chances of customizing your store might lead to a broken website.
In such cases, try recovering your website via a backup or the code rollback feature. Once you have brought your theme back to normal, update your theme.
4. Improperly configured store settings
Another reason your Shopify store fails to perform is the store’s wide variety of unrelated settings. In order to resolve such issues, try moving to the settings sections and making the necessary changes.
Because it is a global platform, Shopify can have different problems you have not previously experienced. Further, sometimes what might feel like a problem to you could be a completely different thing.
For instance, while you might think that your Shopify store is down due to an error from the platform, it might turn out to be a phishing attack on your store or maybe an attack on your database.
But the entire Shopify is down; what now?
Hey, relax! While it’s true that the different businesses operating via Shopify can easily lose potential customers and sales via such outages, it is also true that a majority of the outages are resolved fairly quickly. Most of the time, your customers won’t even know!
Guess what? You might use the downtime to do something productive or simply enjoy a cup of coffee with your loved ones. After all, there’s no such fixed time for a break, right?
Generally, it takes some 10 – 15 minutes for the platform to recover from anything that’s major. In such instances, you’ll likely find that your store is up and running, and you can continue with your daily operations now.
Conclusion
Now that you have your guide to fixing the normal Shopify store issues, we hope that you won’t be facing any problems in ensuring seamless operations of your store.
Remember, if you ever feel confused about the type of problem your store faces, try to find the reasons behind it. Start right from the status page of your store to find out the magnitude of the problem.
However, if you cannot find the root cause of the problem, we suggest you reach out to Shopify technical support to get the right help. All the best!
