Here’s why I adore using Shopify for my e-commerce store and how you can start your own online store too.
It’s super user friendly compared to the rest. And I’ve used them all.
Marketing from Shopify is easy and intelligent. You’re reminded about new products you’ve added, so they can easily be shared to all your connected social media channels.
I can always find great products to print on demand. I use my own artwork so I know I’m not infringing on anyone else’s copywrites.
There is no need to hold physical inventory! Whatever I can think of selling, there is a wholesaler that can ship any of my paid items directly to my customer on my behalf.
It makes no sense to hold physical inventory when dropshipping with Shopify is so simple.
Orders are processed either manually or automatically based on what you prefer.
The way it works is once you have an item set up for sale on your website, people buy it and pay you. Their money goes into your bank account, and then you turn around and pay the person who has the item for sale. You keep whatever your markup is in between. You literally become a middleman. You can choose to mark the item up to include the cost of shipping, or you can have the customer pay for shipping.
Who can use Shopify to build an e-commerce store?
It’s ideal for anyone needing a solid work from anywhere job they can do on their own time. For brick-and-mortar businesses to add products and services online to help them stay relevant, and keep up with the demands of the free market.
Musicians can use this website to sell sound clips, book paid performances, sell tickets, merchandise, grow and nurture their fan bases.
The following is a quick and dirty start guide to building your own Shopify Store.
Next, I’ll go over how to:
- Organize your store
- Test your store
- Launch your online store
- Add other online sales channels
- Find local experts to get advice on taxes and laws for your business.
- Choose which sales channels you want to use.
- Think about which pricing plan you need.
Shopify Basic costs $29 per month, with 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction.
The main Shopify plan costs $79 per month, with 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction.
Advanced Shopify costs $299 per month, with 2.4% + 30¢ per transaction.
- Password-protect your store
- Name your store
- Choose your legal business name and address.
- Add your billing information.
- Set a default currency for your store listings.
- Set a default weight unit for your store listings.Staff your store if necessary.
- Set up your domain.
Organize your store.
- Make your website look great with a theme.
- Add your products.
- Organize your products.
- Set up your shipping settings.
- Set up your taxes.
- Set up your payment gateways.
- Test successful and failed transactions.
- Test refunding and canceling orders.
- Test fulfilling and partially fulfilling orders.
- Test archiving successful orders.
- Remove your online store password to give customers access to your store.
- Add chat to your online store and read and respond to messages in Shopify.
- Add other online sales channels.
After you launch your online store, your business might benefit from adding some other online channels to your Shopify store. There are several online channels that you can add to your Shopify admin when selling online.
Each sales channel has eligibility requirements based on your region, your product types, and sometimes on your Shopify plan.
- Sell with Facebook
- Sell with Buy Buttons
- Sell with Facebook Messenger
- Sell with Instagram
Promote your business
After you launch your online store, you’ll need to promote it. You can improve your store’s visibility by thoughtfully designing your home page metadata and by promoting your store in all of the appropriate spaces.
Becky Colvin is CEO of Boudica Marketing, A Fort Collins-based full-stack agency that helps business owners thrive online.
Connect to me on twitter.com/Becky_Colvin
* The author may be rewarded financially for your referral when affiliate links on this page are used to establish a new Shopify store.