Many entrepreneurs are venturing into online stores as there are many untapped opportunities in an online platform. With online stores, you can reach customers across demographics and increase your chance of boosting sales and profits.
Shopify is an eCommerce platform where you can customize to create your online storefronts. You can sell your products online just like on any other eCommerce marketplace but without content limitations or additional charges. This platform offers user plans at varying price points, depending on the size and needs of your business.
All this without requiring prior knowledge of coding or how to build a website from scratch! Shopify’s wide range of libraries of free or paid site templates makes it easy for you to design your storefront. Shopify also offers a Point of Sale app to help support brick-and-mortar operations. You can try the service for free for two weeks if you’re not sure which plan is right for your brand.
How to start selling on Shopify?
Now that you know that Shopify is the most suitable eCommerce platform to start your online store, setting up your Shopify account is very simple.
Read on for the basic steps on how to sell on Shopify and build your very own online storefront in no time.
- Set up Shopify account
Go to shopify.com, then register an account by signing up. If you are starting and want a trial, you can begin with a free 14-day trial, this won’t require any payment setup. It will allow you to test or play around before you finally decide. Once the 14-day trial period is over, the account gets canceled automatically. If you want to activate it, you will have to purchase a plan of your choice. Set up your store credentials by filling out your store name, your name, address, and a domain if you have one. Click on enter, your store is created!
2. Enter your domain address
Choosing your domain name is crucial to your online storefront as it will be what customers will type when they look for your store online. By default, your domain name is primarily saved as examplestore.myshopify.com. After purchasing your domain, you can change it in the settings.
3. Select your Shopify Theme
Customize and create your online storefront according to what you prefer. Keep in mind that colors and fonts can also be customized as per your brand image. There are free themes and paid themes, though a free theme offers a lot of choices, a paid theme gives more access to more functions and features that will make the storefront stand out.
4. Add your products
If you have existing products, you can list them, go to the Shopify app. Click on Products, then under variants, select the variant you want to sell, set the price and save. If you have a huge inventory, you can bulk upload them via a CSV file instead of manually uploading them one by one.
5. Install Apps to Expand Business
Shopify has 2600+ apps that can help you with marketing, sales, inventory management, reporting, analytics, and more. These help you create your ideal sales funnel and fulfill desired customer conversion.
6. You’re now ready to Sell
Once everything is set up, you can now optimize your domain and market your online storefront on social media platforms. Build your email list, create promotions or ads via Facebook ads, Instagram ads, youtube ads, google ads, and more.