As we progress into this ultra-modern era of technological advancements, our way of conducting the most basic economic activities has shifted onto the screens of our devices.
And if I talk about it practically, we literally buy and sell almost everything through a place that exists over the Internet called, “cloud-market”. So, effectively “modern markets” are in the air!
Now, as intriguing and fascinating as this whole idea of conducting business is, it has never been this convenient and handy to become a part of such mind-boggling markets. And all of it at one place, on sites such as Shopify.in.
Worldwide, it is estimated that there are 12 million to 24 million eCommerce websites.
But, what’s surprising is that only about a million of these websites are able to sell more than $1,000 every year.
That means only a handful of e-commerce companies are getting it on point.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that enables anyone to open an online store and sell their goods. It’s a monthly subscription-based cloud-based software.
The software is simple to use and has a short learning curve, so you can get your online store up and running quickly.
It offers small business owners access to an admin panel where they can enter shop data, add products, and process orders.
It’s a fantastic “one-stop-shop” for eCommerce business owners because it brings together all of their moving parts in a single interface.
Hire a Shopify developer if you are planning to shift to eCommerce or want to start your own business website for a smooth process.
Upsides Of Shopify
1. Customizability
Shopify gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to customizing your website. You can choose from more than 70 themes, and you have complete control over your website’s HTML and CSS, making it very customizable.
On your Shopify blog, you can also publish and categorize content, build lookbooks, stimulate debate, and control comments.
2. Excellent Inventory Management
Inventory management without the aid of current technology is arduous and time-consuming.
Thanks to Shopify’s built-in tools, which automate all of these processes, you can avoid spoilage, deadstock, and save money on storage.
FIFO (First In First Out), LIFO (Last In First Out), contingency planning, regular auditing, and other features are examples.
3. Multi-Channel Selling
Shopify’s ability to merge all the many selling channels into one spot is one of its strongest features.
This implies that if you sell on various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, or eBay, you can manage all of them from your Shopify account.
You may also engage Shopify specialists to assist you with the setup of your eCommerce store.
Downsides Of Shopify
1. Lack Of Support for Multiple Currencies
If you want to sell your products abroad, you won’t be able to do so because there isn’t any built-in support for numerous currencies, confining you to only one country at a time.
However, you may accomplish this by integrating third-party apps.
2. Transaction Fees In Other Payment Plugins
You won’t be charged any transaction fees if you use Shopify Payments, even if you use manual payment methods like cash on delivery, bank transfer, or test orders.
If you use any other payment method, however, you will be charged a transaction fee besides the processing fee you pay to your payment provider.
3. Template Change Issue
If you wanted to modify your Shopify website’s template, you’d have to reformat the whole thing. It’s quite inconvenient, and it’s something that should be addressed.
Shopify Set-up Guide 101
So now that we know what Shopify is, how much it costs, and that we can sell our products on it, let’s set-up its storefront.
And just in case you need a little help, here’s a quick Shopify set-up guide for you:
1. Signing Up With Shopify
Go to Shopify.com. Click on creating an account using the sign-up option. Click the “Create your store now” button after entering the relevant information.
You’ll then establish a password and input your company email address. This is also where you’ll come up with a name for your store. (I’d suggest you finalize a name before signing up, to smoothen your process.)
Following this initial screen, you’ll be prompted to provide additional information, such as your name, address, country, and phone number. You’ll also be asked whether you have any products and, if so, what you plan to sell in your store.
In case, you’re just trying out Shopify to understand its know-how and if it actually works for you, then you may go to and opt “I’m just playing around”, followed by “I’m not sure” as your answer.
Once you’re done, click “I’m done.”
2. Establishing an Online-Store
You’ll be sent immediately to your store admin panel when you’ve signed up. This is the command center for your ecommerce business! You’re ready to start personalising your store, uploading products, and setting up payments and shipping in this step.
Though it’s simple, this is a crucial and exciting phase. So just be creative, and be productive!
With its customizable templates, Shopify makes branding and storefront ecommerce website design simple. It offers a theme store of its own.
Premium themes (those that you pay for) have more customization options, but you may still have a great-looking site with a free theme.
Though it provides access to the HTML and CSS version of your site, if you don’t know how to code or don’t want to deal with the inconvenience of customising code, it has “Shopify Experts” that you can hire to take care of it for you! It’s never been easier to personalise!
Now, do the following to find a theme that suits your business and brand:
1. Go to Shopify Theme Store can be found at themes.shopify.com. There are over 180 themes to choose from, with a fair number of them being free! Yup, for free! Price, industry, popularity, and features can all be used to refine your search. Alternatively, you may purchase Shopify themes from other sites but you’ll have to upload them separately.
2. Once you’ve picked-up a theme you like, you may learn more about it by clicking on the example image. Check out the customer reviews; it’s always interesting to hear what others have to say!
3. Click “View Demo” to try out the theme. This will allow you to see how the theme works, how it navigates, and so forth.
4. Click the green button once you’ve discovered a theme that suits you best. You will be asked to confirm that you want to instal the theme by Shopify. Select “Publish as my Shop’s Theme” from the drop-down menu. It will notify you when the theme is installed, and it will appear in your published themes.
5. All you have to do now is add your company’s custom logos, typefaces, product photographs, videos, and other original material! The following are the most common characteristics:
- Fonts
- Logos
- Color Schemes
- Slider High-Quality Images
- Product and Collection Images
3. Enlisting Your Products
It’s time to start adding products to your site once you’ve got it just how you wanted your online store to look like.
Click on “products” in the left-hand navigation bar. In the upper right corner of the page, you’ll find a button that says “Add a product.” Fill in as much information as you need about your products on the next screen.
Make sure each product has detailed, comprehensive, and helpful information. This is the location where your things will really sell! (Pay special attention to how you might use SEO-friendly keywords, descriptions, and URLs).
In Addition, this is the screen where you can post images of your products. Don’t worry about putting the photographs in a specific order, you can easily rearrange the photographs using the drag feature once they’ve been posted.
**Note, once you get done filling in the details, DO NOT FORGET to click the “Save product” button in the top and bottom right corners. I’m emphasising on it because a lot of you might make this mistake and will have to redo the whole thing, amounting to a sheer waste of time. So, always click “Save product”.
4. Set Up Payments
So, you’ve finished setting up your products and ecommerce website design! Now it’s time to set up your payments!
Customers can make purchases on your Shopify storefront via a “payment gateway.” It’s vital to look at the pricing and commission rate, but it’s also crucial to look at the features they provide.
Consider the following payment options, as each has its own set of restrictions, regulations, and fees.
When deciding which one is best for your Shopify storefront, there are a few factors to consider and understand:
- Transaction Fees: When you accept a payment, Shopify retains a modest percentage or flat fee (or both) in exchange for allowing you to utilise their service.
- Card Types: VISA and Mastercard are accepted by almost everybody, and American Express is accepted by the majority. Paypal is also coming up fast. You must know which kind of cards your chosen Payment Gateway accepts.
- Offsite Checkout: Although I would not recommend it, some Shopify designs do enable payment from third-party services. This implies the consumer will be removed from your checkout, which may be annoying.
Click the “Complete Shopify Payments account setup” button in Settings > Payments to finish your payment setup.
5. Go “LIVE”
Patience. Keep your calm and carry on! Remember to fill up the last critical details before making your Shopify storefront LIVE and ready for consumers!
Consider Buying A Domain Name
Shopify does not immediately supply a domain name service. You can either hunt for a hosting website or buy a domain name directly from Shopify to acquire a personalized domain name.
Purchasing a domain through Shopify can cost anywhere from $9 to $14 per year, whereas purchasing a domain through a third-party website might cost anywhere from $2 to $5 per year.
The only difference is that with a third-party domain name, you’ll have to redirect the DNS records manually, which can be time-consuming.
What Applications Should I Add?
You may utilize Shopify’s hundreds of free and premium applications to improve the functionality of your online store.
Applications may significantly improve the functionality and personalization of your ecommerce site.
Shopify categorizes applications in the following ways to help you browse through all of your options:
- Accounting — Integrate your Shopify store with popular accounting software such as Quickbooks.
- Customer Service — Add customer service services like contact forms, live chat, feedback, and more to your store.
- Inventory — Inventory management solutions may be integrated into your online store.
- Marketing — Everything you’ll need to get started with your marketing efforts.
- Reporting — Get further detailed analytics for your online business and monitor the performance with stats.
- Sales — It may increase sales using these apps for customer loyalty programs and social proof reviews.
- Shipping — These apps can help you handle order fulfilment and connect you with your selected shipping service, making product dispatch easier.
- Tools — Setting up bulk redirection, language translators, preventing fraud, and syncing your blog RSS feeds are all available here.
How Much Does Shopify Cost?
Your Shopify subscription includes secure, dependable website hosting. Whether there’s very high traffic on your site or any sort of sensitive information about you or your customers, with 99.98 percent uptime and a free SSL certificate, Shopify has you covered. And of course, you’ll need to select a subscription level from the following options:
- Basic Shopify: It’ll cost $29 a month and includes two staff accounts, up to four locations, online marketplace and social media access, and an unlimited number of products in your online store.
- Shopify: It’ll cost $79 a month and includes five staff accounts, up to five locations, access to online marketplaces and social media, and unlimited products.
- Advanced Shopify: Advanced Shopify costs $299 a month and includes 15 employee accounts, up to eight locations, online marketplace and social media access, and unlimited products.
Its transaction fees are one of its biggest flaws. Every transaction you make on their site will cost you between 0.5 and 2.0 percent (depending on your plan).
Those transaction fees can be waived if you utilise Shopify Payments, the company’s in-house payment processor. Another advantage is that clients on higher-level Shopify Payments accounts get lower processing fees.
In addition, In India, Shopify-powered merchants can choose to accept payments over PayPal, DirecPay and PayU. PayU takes Visa/MasterCard credit cards as well as debit cards from over 50 different banks.
Shopify advertises itself as an all-in-one solution. You should have all you need to start selling on your own site immediately with a Shopify subscription.
You’re entitled to extensive 24/7 customer support anytime you need it, with any Shopify plan you choose.
This support will be available by phone, email, and live chat. Additionally, you can use it’s knowledge base to fix minor issues.
Email Marketing And Social Marketing
You can integrate blog applications into your Shopify store, you can generate material that will drive traffic to your site by leading visitors to your products.
You may easily connect your Shopify store to an email marketing solution like Mailchimp if you already have one. Aside from applications, make sure you have a solid SEO strategy in place and email marketing assistance so customers can subscribe to your mailing list.
Other Ways To Make The Most Of Shopify
Here are a few more pointers on how to get the most of your Shopify account and grow your online store:
- Dropshipping Apps: Shopify has integrations with a number of dropshipping apps, including Oberlo, which is a popular choice. I’ve heard a lot of good things about these apps when they’re used in conjunction with Shopify.
- Mobile Management: Shopify provides Android and iOS mobile apps that allow you to manage your store from anywhere.
- Integrations With Amazon & eBay: Connect your Shopify account to two of the largest online marketplaces, and use Shopify to process orders from all of your sales channels.
- Promote Shopify On Social Media: Remember to link your Shopify store to your social media profiles, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, so that your products can reach a larger audience.
Bottom Line
Hence, Shopify is an amazing platform for almost all ecommerce businesses as it’s easy to use, sensibly priced and perfectly customizable for businesses to truly get set up and running!
As crucial as the ambiance and the experience is to a physical market or a physical store, it is equally important in online stores as well.
And Shopify helps you give that experience to its fullest. You just need to look, pick and choose the best-suited combinations of their add-ons and services for your purpose.
Author Bio
Hetvi works as a Product Associate at Refrens.com – Online Invoice Generator & India’s most powerful platform for freelancer’s growth.
She has worked for some renowned companies as a Brand and Digital marketing associate. You can follow Refrens.com on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
