Key takeaways:
- Shopify is a leading ecommerce platform that allows individuals and businesses to create and manage online stores with minimal technical knowledge required.
- Key advantages of Shopify include ease of use, a large app ecosystem, multiple sales channels, and strong customer support.
- Shopify and Amazon can complement each other. Many sellers use both platforms simultaneously to maximize reach and revenue.
- You can launch a working Shopify store in 10 steps: sign up, set up your store, brand it, build collections and product pages, add products, set up payments and shipping, test, launch, promote, and keep improving the customer experience.
- Shopify plans start at $29 per month (Basic, billed annually), with a 3-day free trial and an introductory $1 per month offer for the first three months.
Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms in the world, powering millions of online stores. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand beyond Amazon, this guide covers everything you need to know about selling on Shopify.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a subscription-based ecommerce platform that allows you to create and manage an online store. Unlike selling on Amazon, where you list products within Amazon's marketplace, Shopify gives you your own standalone website where customers shop directly from your brand.
Shopify handles the technical infrastructure of running an online store: product listings, checkout, payment processing, inventory tracking, and order management. You focus on your products and marketing.
Shopify vs Amazon: key differences
Amazon is a marketplace where buyers search for products among millions of sellers. Shopify is a platform where you build your own branded store. On Amazon, traffic comes built-in but you compete directly with other sellers. On Shopify, you own the customer relationship and control the brand experience, but you're responsible for driving all your own traffic.
Neither is inherently better. Many successful sellers use both. Amazon provides access to massive existing demand; Shopify provides brand control and direct customer relationships. Learn more about Amazon vs Shopify to understand which fits your situation.
How to start selling on Shopify in 10 steps
Getting started involves choosing a Shopify plan, setting up your store with a theme, adding your products with images, descriptions, and pricing, connecting a payment processor, and configuring shipping settings. Shopify's onboarding is straightforward and most sellers can have a functional store up within a day or two. The complexity comes in building traffic and optimizing the customer experience.
Here are the 10 steps to launching a successful Shopify store:
- Sign up on Shopify
- Set up your online store
- Give your Shopify store a professional look
- Create collection and product pages
- Add products to your store
- Add payment and shipping methods
- Test and launch your Shopify store
- Promote your Shopify store
- Gather product reviews
- Create a memorable customer experience
Sign up on Shopify
The journey all begins with signing up on Shopify. To do this, simply visit the website and click on Start Free Trial. You can set up your store and explore the platform during a 3-day free trial.
However, before starting your free trial, you will need to answer a few questions.
For one, you will need to choose a name for your store/URL. You can also choose to buy a domain from Shopify.
Answer the questions to finish the store creation, and your store is ready for customization!
Shopify Plans
There are three main Shopify plans for most sellers:
Every plan starts with a 3-day free trial. If you choose annual billing, Shopify usually offers your first three months for $1 per month, then the standard rate applies. If you use a third-party payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a transaction fee of 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow), or 0.6% (Advanced). Shopify also offers a Starter plan for selling through social media and Shopify Plus for large brands. Prices change from time to time, so confirm the latest rates on Shopify's pricing page.
Set up your online store
Once you sign up, you will get to your admin panel where you can set up your store, manage products, manage orders, access analytics, and much more.
Now you can begin setting up your store.
Pick a suitable theme
Choosing a suitable theme is essential to the success of your Shopify store. In fact, your theme can affect your conversion rate and sales. You can change your Shopify store theme, however, this is a task you want to avoid. To choose a theme, you will need to consider a few factors. Ensure your theme is tried and tested. Preferably, you can choose a theme that comes with technical support. You also want to consider load times, mobile-friendliness, your brand, budget, and so on.
Set up main pages
Next, you want to set up the main pages on your Shopify store. These pages include your Homepage, About Us, Return and Shipping Policies, Terms and conditions, etc.
You want to ensure that each of these pages provides enough information about your brand, is clearly written, and inspires your visitors and customers to take action.
For example, your homepage is the first point of contact. You want to create an excellent first impression. Your homepage should be designed with tact and should inspire customers to stay in your store.
Your shipping and returns policies should also be crystal clear to prevent customer disputes.
Give your Shopify store a professional look
After creating your main pages, you need to invest in giving your store an overall professional look. Your store should look and be high-quality.
First, you want to focus on your branding. Decide on your brand colors and logo. Keep in mind that your branding will be a powerful communication tool.
Your customers will feel a certain way about your store based on your branding.
To provide a safe shopping environment and build trust around your brand, invest in security. Display security credentials like SSL certificates, refund badges, verified payment options, and so on.
Lastly, ensure your Shopify store is functional. There should be no misplaced elements or crowded visuals. Your store should also have a fast load time.
Create collection and product pages
Collection pages host a group of items that may have common features or go well together. You want to create your collection pages based on what your customers are searching for when they visit your store. You can display your collection page on your homepage or your navigation bar.
On Shopify, you can manually add and remove products within the collection or automatically set conditions that include products in the collection.
Some collection page examples include seasonal products, best-selling products, items based on a category or product size, etc.
Product pages are individual pages created for each product in your store. To optimize conversions and increase sales, you need to ensure that your product pages include certain important elements.
Your product page should include a product name, product images, product description, shipping, and returns policies, social proof (customer reviews), add to cart button, FAQ section, or question and answer section.
Add products to your store
To add products to your Shopify store, go to Product on your Shopify dashboard and select Add Your Products.
Add product details including the product title, image, and product description. Ensure your product images are of high quality and maintain consistent sizes and dimensions. Don’t forget to optimize your product page for SEO using relevant keywords and links.
Once done with your product page, click the “Save product” button.
Add payment and shipping method
For smooth payment and delivery of orders, you need to set up your payment and shipping.
To accept payments, you need to choose a payment gateway to process payments made in your store.
Thankfully, Shopify works with over a hundred payment gateways including PayPal and Stripe.
Shopify also has its own payment gateway - Shopify Payments which allows merchants to carry out payment transactions free of transaction fees. However, Shopify Payments is only accessible in certain countries.
To activate a payment gateway on your store, go to Settings > Payments on your Shopify dashboard and follow the prompts.
Set up shipping
To set up your shipping rates, go to Settings > Shipping and Delivery on your Shopify dashboard. There, you will be able to choose your preferred shipping rate. You can choose between flat shipping rates, calculated shipping rates, shipping rates based on product weight or price, free shipping rates, or local pickup and delivery.
You can choose any type of shipping option based on the type of product you are selling, the cost of packaging, and customer location, amongst other factors. You can always adjust your shipping rates and rules.
Tip: Free shipping is a powerful strategy for success on Shopify. You can offer free shipping on orders that exceed a certain amount or offer free shipping with loyalty programs.
Test and launch your Shopify store
Now your store is all set up and you’re ready to launch. But before you launch, go through this Shopify checklist to ensure everything is all set.
- Check and connect a custom domain
- Check for product data including shipping and taxes, pricing, images, and copy.
- Check for grammatical and spelling errors.
- Check visuals and ensure they are all high-quality.
- Test all links and ensure there are no broken links.
- Check that payments are accepted
- Ensure you have all legal policies in their place.
- Ensure all forms are functional
- Ensure visitors can contact you.
- Run a general audit to ensure your themes and pages are functional.
Once done with pre-launch checks, you can launch your store! To launch, remove the password protection by going to Online Store > Preferences and scrolling down to the password protection section. And that’s it, your store is live!
Promote your Shopify store
The action all begins when your store goes live. Promoting your store is crucial to making your store visible to customers, and increasing website traffic and conversion rate.
One of the quickest ways is through paid advertising. You can run paid ads to increase visibility and gain traction.
Email marketing is another powerful way to build a relationship with your customers and promote your store. Create an effective email strategy and create email campaigns.
Social media is another way to connect with and reach a wider audience, build an online community, and increase customer loyalty. You can also collaborate with influencers and industry experts to get the word out about your product or brand.
Gather product reviews
Social proof can powerfully boost your store’s value. As your store gets visibility and customers buy your product, encourage them to leave reviews on your page.
You can set up post-purchase email campaigns and encourage your customers to leave a review on your page. You can run campaigns using existing social proof and encourage your customers to share their experience using your product. This is an effective way to attract more customers to your store.
Shopify offers several customer review apps you can invest in to automate the process.
Create a memorable customer experience
Overall, you want to create a memorable shopping experience for every customer that lands on your Shopify store.
Ensure that your product quality is great. Poor products can attract negative reviews and affect your brand. You want to work with good manufacturers or suppliers.
Ensure your store performance is at its peak. You may want to hire a developer to fix any issues that may affect your store’s functionality.
Ensure your shipping and customer service is top-notch. Work with a good shipping company and ensure you respond to customer questions and complaints promptly.
Keep in mind that success with your store involves continuous planning and improvement. Use your store analytics to see what is working and adjust as you grow.
Driving traffic to your Shopify store
Step 8 above is where the real work begins. Unlike Amazon, Shopify stores don't benefit from built-in search traffic. You need to generate your own visitors through SEO (blogging and optimizing product pages for Google), paid advertising (Google Ads, Meta Ads), social media, email marketing, and influencer partnerships.
Building a Shopify business requires a different skill set and investment profile than Amazon FBA. It typically takes longer to generate meaningful revenue, but the long-term brand equity and customer ownership can be significantly more valuable.
Using Shopify and Amazon together
Many sellers run both an Amazon FBA operation and a Shopify store simultaneously. Amazon drives volume and new customer acquisition through organic search; Shopify captures direct sales and enables email list building, subscription models, and branded experiences that Amazon doesn't allow. Apps like Shopify's Amazon sales channel or third-party tools can sync inventory across both platforms.
Conclusion
Shopify is a powerful platform for building a branded ecommerce business. Whether you're launching your first store or expanding beyond Amazon, it offers the flexibility and tools to grow on your own terms.
If you're an Amazon seller considering expanding to Shopify, or want guidance on managing both channels, reach out to the team at ePlaybooks.
Specifically for the Shopify side of that expansion, our Shopify Growth service covers the build, management, and marketing so it doesn't compete for your attention with your Amazon business.
