Thinking about starting an online store? In this post I go through the Shopify ecommerce platform in general and how to easily build your own Shopify store yourself (a short guide to setting up a Shopify store).
The first thought about building an online store is often that it is difficult or requires coding. If technical skills are not your strength, hiring a web developer can also get expensive.
It does not have to be that way, though, especially if you are willing to spend a little time learning how websites are built first. In fact, you can launch your own online store in under a day! My easy, fast and absolute recommendation for building an online store is the Shopify platform.
Why Shopify? The simple answer is that you can do it entirely yourself without hiring outside help. It is ideal for small businesses and beginner merchants (compare the Shopify vs WooCommerce platforms).
Shopify is a monthly subscription ecommerce platform, with prices starting at 24 euros a month on yearly billing (€32/month on monthly billing). For that price you already get a fully functional, professional online store. Shopify offers new users a three-day free trial, after which the first three months cost €1/month.
Why choose Shopify in particular
Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms in the world, and its popularity is growing at a tremendous pace. With Shopify, anyone can easily build a working online store themselves, without hiring a web designer, and start their own ecommerce business. Shopify works with ready-made themes that make your site look as good as a professionally built one.
And of course Shopify makes all of this possible at a very reasonable monthly price!
Shopify started out of dissatisfaction with what other ecommerce platforms offered. In 2004 founder Tobias Lütke wanted to sell snowboards online and could not find a suitable platform, so he built his own.
Today the platform has a very good reputation and is well on its way to becoming a top brand like Apple and Amazon (in 2020, as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, Shopify became Canada's largest company by market value). The platform is very versatile and suits a wide range of industries. Whether you plan to sell handmade products as a hobby or take a successful brick-and-mortar store online, building an online store with Shopify is a great decision for businesses of all sizes.
What makes Shopify unique
Shopify is the perfect platform for an online store. It includes all the features needed for a successful online business, from a small side project all the way to stores doing hundreds of millions in revenue (Kylie Cosmetics and Gymshark are good examples of huge brands using Shopify).
When you start a free Shopify trial, you can:
- Create your own online store in under a day
- Choose a theme (= the look of your site) that suits your business and industry from a wide range of styles
- Manage products: add product images, descriptions, menus etc.
- Process customer orders (if you launch your site during the trial)
- And much more
And best of all, building an online store on Shopify is cheaper than hiring a web developer or agency, whose prices usually start at hundreds of euros and in larger ecommerce projects rise to (tens of) thousands of euros.
The benefits of Shopify as an ecommerce platform
Add-ons and themes
Developing an online store on Shopify does not require design or development experts. The platform offers a wide selection of beautiful themes for building your store. Most themes require no special skills to install.
Like WordPress, Shopify offers a Shopify App Store with a wide range of features and add-ons. In fact, many people say apps are the biggest reason they chose Shopify: they are easy to switch on (and off) in just a few clicks without technical installation. Add-ons make it easy to tailor your store and add extra features. Examples include product reviews, affiliate programs, live chat and many others!
Management and scalability
As your online store grows, you can scale it at any time without help. So how much does expanding a Shopify store cost? One of the platform's advantages is that you can grow your store affordably and easily as your business grows. Shopify's plans start at 24 euros a month.
The Shopify admin (i.e. the merchant's view when you log in to your store) is also very beginner friendly and easy to grasp.
Many online stores struggle a lot with shipping, but Shopify makes it easy. The platform has several built-in shipping options, including flat shipping rates or rates calculated from each product's weight and size (which you can of course set up however you like).
The biggest advantage: even beginners can build a Shopify store thanks to how easy it is to use. If you are building your first online store, Shopify is definitely the best choice. You can create an impressive, appealing online store that runs fast, is easy to manage and helps you win more customers.
Limitations of the Shopify platform
A Shopify store is usually very easy to use and customize. It is worth noting, however, that it is a hosted platform, and how far you can customize the checkout, for example, is limited. On every plan you can change the checkout's look (logo, colors and fonts) and add content to the thank-you and order status pages with apps, but deeper checkout customization requires Shopify Plus. That said, in my opinion Shopify's checkout is definitely one of the clearest and best-performing, so you most likely do not need deeper customization.
Another limitation for some may be Shopify's transaction fee, which Shopify charges if you use a third-party payment provider. The fee is 2% on the Basic plan and 0.2% on Plus. No fee is charged on payments that go through Shopify Payments. As sales grow, a more expensive plan can work out cheaper overall. In my view, though, this is in no way an obstacle to starting an online store (after all, card companies also charge fees on transactions at payment terminals).
How to start an online store on Shopify?
So are you ready to open your own Shopify store? Next come simple instructions you can follow step by step to create your own store in no time!
Create a Shopify account
Go to Shopify.com and create an account. Fill in your details and choose a name for your store. Also fill in the extra details, such as a little information about your store and your contact details. During the trial you can also test paid themes free of charge before buying.
The Shopify admin view
The admin is clear and easy to understand. The left-hand menu holds the admin navigation:
- Home: Once your store is live, this view shows general information about your store, such as daily sales, visitors, possible new features and other information.
- Orders: This is where you manage all your store's orders.
- Products: This is where you manage all products, collections, inventory and gift cards.
- Customers: When you get sales or newsletter subscribers, the details customers give you are found here.
- Marketing: Here you see information about your marketing and campaigns.
- Discounts: This is where you manage discount codes.
- Content: pages, blogs, files and metaobjects.
- Markets: international selling, languages and currencies.
- Analytics (my favorite!): Here you see data about your store, such as visitors, sales, traffic sources and much more.
- Sales channels > Online Store: This is where you manage your store's theme and look.
- Apps: Apps and add-ons are all found here.
The Shopify admin is also available in Finnish, and you can switch the language in your own user settings.
Add products to your store
The admin gives you detailed instructions for developing your store. Under Products > Add product you can add new products to your store. Adding products is a very simple and straightforward process: you add a title, product images, product details and a price. Try to give buyers as much information as possible. When you are done, remember to click Save.
Customizing the look of your Shopify store
When you want to customize your store's look, go to Sales channels > Online Store > Themes in the left menu. First you choose a theme. You can choose from several free themes or buy a paid theme from Shopify's Theme Store if you like.
Once you have chosen a theme, you can customize your store's colors, fonts, logo and much more by choosing Customize next to your current theme. Customizing your store's look is often really fun, and you can spend a lot of time on it if you want.
Choosing your store's domain name
Now you have a ready store template! You still need a domain name for your store. In the admin, go to Settings > Domains. Here you can register a new domain name for your store or connect an existing domain if you have already registered one. I recommend spending some time on choosing the name and domain and thinking it through: it should be easy to remember and clear.
Activating payment methods
You can activate payment methods under Settings > Payments in the bottom left of the admin. You will find a wide range of payment methods your customers can pay with. For a Finnish online store, a combination that works is Shopify Payments (cards, MobilePay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Klarna) plus Paytrail (online banks and the Walley invoice). Read a closer comparison of Shopify payment methods.
Once you have chosen your payment methods, activate them following the instructions on the site; this requires setting up an account with the payment providers. Now you can accept payments from your customers!
Launching your online store
Once you have completed all the steps above, choose a suitable plan (Settings > Plan) and remove the store password under Sales channels > Online Store > Preferences. Soon your store is visible to everyone and you can start taking orders!
Finally
I hope this guide gives you an overview of how to start an online store on Shopify. The purpose of this post was to give an overview of the Shopify ecommerce platform and of starting your own online store, and to introduce Shopify at a general level. I hope you got inspired to try starting your own online store with Shopify!
Hi again! 👋 Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I really hope you use them. 🖤 Clicking a link costs you nothing extra, so feel free to explore the sites and tools recommended in this post. If you end up becoming a paying customer through my link, I get a small commission.
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