Today starting an eCommerce website is simple like creating a Facebook or Twitter account. You have to just sign up an account in a commercial eCommerce solution or you can host it your own with free eCommerce platform like WooCommerce, Magento, Opencart etc. Here I am talking about creating an eCommerce store with Shopify.
About Shopify
Shopify is a commercial eCommerce solution that allows you to set up an online store to sell your goods. It lets you organize your products, customize your storefront, accept credit card payments, track and respond to orders — all with a few clicks of the mouse.
Shopify has very competitive monthly plans that start at price of just $29 per month. When you take into account the plan includes hosting, theme, payment gateways etc. Shopify provide free and paid themes with lot of premium designs are available and also there are free and paid Apps available in App Store to add many features to your store. You will also get expert support from Shopify Team Members.
Why use Shopify?
- Shopify includes everything you need : To get your store up and running, you don’t need to learn about Web hosting, security and other technicalities. Shopify is the best choice to provide all things in a one package.
- It costs nothing to get started : Shopify includes a no-risk 14-day trial, so you can check it meets your requirements before handing over any money at all.
- Shopify is very easy to use : You don’t need any support to manage shopify, it is built for ease of use. If you have photos and details about products you can do everything yourself with no previous experience.
- Shopify includes many attractive site designs : There are many free and paid themes are available for shopify with professional looking and well designed.
- There are plenty of plugins available : There are over 250 additional plugins available for Shopify. This makes your store add many other features.
- 24/7 support : You will get support from shopify team with phone, e-mail and chat at any time.
How to SignUp Shopify?
For creating an eCommerce store with shopify first you need to create an account.
1. Go to Shopify Website.
2. On the screen that appears, click on Create your store now.
3. Then a form will popup on the screen asking Your store Name, Email address and Password. After giving all these details then click on Green Button “Try it now for free”. You can change these details after creating your account.
4. On the next page that appears you are asked to provide “Where would like to start selling today?” There are two options available, Online Store which means fully hosted eCommerce website and Retail Store or Pop up Shop which can also set up Shopify for use with a physical shop environment. Here I am talking about online store so select option Online Store. Then click Next.
5. On the next page there you are asked to give your Address to set up currencies and tax rates. Then click Next.
6. Next page you are asked to provide some details of your business. Are you already selling?, How much revenue does your business currently make in a year? and Are you setting up a store for your client? After giving all details click on Enter My Store button.
7. Now you will then be taken to the main Shopify dashboard. From there you can go to pages for add products, add discount coupons, settings, app store, theme store, etc. You will also notice that the dashboard shows how long you have remaining on your free demo.
Setting up Store Front
1. For setting up your shopify store front select a theme that suit your business. For that click Select a theme button in the dashboard or from Online Store » Themes. From the page click on Select a free theme button.
2. Then you will get a collection of free themes for your Online store. If you want premium eCommerce website theme go to Shopify Theme Store and buy.
3. From the free collection or premium collection themes, select a suitable theme that is comfortable for your product or business. For this tutorial I am selecting theme Simple. When you select the theme you can view a demo with the theme or just publish theme to your online store.
4. After publish the theme you will redirect to your theme page. From there you can go to customize theme page and also you can rename the theme, edit HTML/CSS of your theme, edit language, download the theme file and duplicate the theme. If you buy a theme from other shopify theme developers or you created a theme yourself you can also upload the theme file. After customizing theme you can go to dashboard.
Adding your first product
1. Now you can add your products to your shopify store. For that go to Products » Product List from the next page click on Add a product button.
2. The next screen that appears is quite detailed. Thankfully, most of the options are quite self-explanatory. As a minimum, you should fill in the product title, type and description fields, and of course a price. You should also upload at least one image. After giving all details of the product click on Save product. You can use Shopify to hold details of your inventory too, although we won’t cover that in this tutorial. Like wise add all the products to your online store.
Things to do before launch
Now you have created an online store with the theme you like and also you have uploaded all products you need to sell. Before publishing the store to the public you have to do some more things.
1. From the dashboard, go to Settings » General. Just ensure that all the details of your store are correct on the page that appear. Some of these you provided when you signed up.
2. On the settings menu itself select Payment. Here you can configure your payment settings for your online store. There are many payment method options are available. You just choose which is suitable.
3. To select what countries you can ship to and control the related costs go to Settings » Shipping.
4. To know Refund, Privacy and TOS Statements by the customers. You should give all this details in Settings » Checkout. You can also choose some more checkout settings.
5. The shopify store is created in a subdomain like techpebble.myshopify.com. To change the domain name go to Online Store » Domains. From there you can buy a new domain or you can add an existing domain. I suggest Godaddy for buy a new domain and connect with the shopify store.
6. In your live site there may be some dummy welcome note or posts or pages. To edit this go to Online Store » Pages/Blog Posts.
7. To get your shopify store up and running you need to select a plan that suited for your business.
Check This Video : How to Build an Ecommerce Website in Shopify
