Many companies have been using digital channels; here in Brazil alone, between March and May 2020, more than 107,000 virtual stores were opened. A good part of this growth comes as a consequence of the new scenario we are living in, where it was necessary to find alternative ways to continue entrepreneurship.
If you want to start your own business on the internet, you must have already come across the step-by-step of what needs to be done to open an online store. Among the most important is the choice of the platform that will host your store and offer the structure and ease that your business needs to have the security to start its operation.
The choice of platform can be complicated for beginners, it is necessary to consider not only the price of hosting, but the support, service, features and facilities that the platform offers for start-up businesses.
Shopify is a platform that offers great conditions for the shopkeeper who is starting his virtual store, with an easy structure and interesting options to evolve your e-commerce, make your business multichannel and even use other sales channels such as the marketplace.
In this article we will show you through 6 steps how easy it is to build your virtual store on Shopify and start selling.
Step 1: Create your Shopify store
To start your store on Shopify you need to make a simple registration and put the name and address of your new online store. The interesting thing is that Shopify gives you a 14-day free trial, so you can evaluate if the platform offers everything your business needs, test the features and possibilities that Shopify offers.
After the free trial, you can opt for one of the plans that range from $29 to $299 dollars per month. For those who are starting out the Basic Plan meets the needs very well with the possibility of sales on marketplaces and social networks, discount code creation, abandoned cart recovery, gift card creation, among other features.
Also, when you choose your store name, Shopify creates a URL using this name automatically within your domains (.myshopify.com). Even after it's created you can change it and even purchase your own domain for your brand.
Step 2: Start adding products to your store
After creating your store, it is time to start adding the products you will sell. It is recommended to move on to this step early on to help you visualize how your customers will access the products.
Adding products is simple, just go to your store's main Dashboard and click on the side menu under products and add product. Then simply fill in the product information such as name, description of what it is, images for viewing, selling price, available stock, add some variant such as color or size, availability and of course, optimize the SEO of your product page.
Step 3: Create your e-shop pages
One of the key things to make your online store relevant to your customers, is to create pages that offer important information about your company or products. These information pages help build trust with users who visit your store, so it's important to set them up.
Start with pages that consolidate your company, such as: About the company, to tell a little about your history and values; Contact us, to open a customer service channel for your e-commerce; Frequently Asked Questions, to make it easier for your customers to find information about products and specifications; and of course, add the store's policy pages, such as those about returning products, privacy, and others.
Step 4: Themes, templates and customization of your store
You are half way there, congratulations. Now it's time to think about the look of your store, how it will be aesthetic, the arrangement of products and information, and also the functionalities it will have. This is important especially to deliver a visual experience consistent with your proposal with the brand.
Shopify has a theme store, where you can select the one that is most suitable for your business. Just choose and click customize. The themes are divided between paid and free options, and also themes organized by market niche, such as themes for fashion e-commerce, decoration, etc.
The advantage of the themes is that you can customize them with text and images, edit menus and footers, select fonts, colors, and graphic elements that fit your brand. To edit them, it is recommended to have some knowledge of programming to avoid bugs in the store.
Besides the options available in the theme store, you can also choose to develop your own theme, according to your own needs, in this option you can count on partner agencies, like us at Codeby that are specialized in e-commerce development on Shopify. The advantage of developing your own theme is having a team doing all the technical work, avoiding errors in your store.
Step 5: Set up orders, payments, and taxes
Before putting your store online, it is necessary to pay attention to some important settings that will ensure the functioning of your online store. In Shopify's configuration menu, you will have access to all the necessary settings, try to give priority to these:
- Checkout: In this menu you configure all the information you need to collect from the customer to have a purchase made.
- Shipping and Delivery: In this section you will set the general shipping rates, insert the option to pick up at the location if you have physical stores or partners. You can also pre-configure packaging dimensions so that the freight calculation is done during the customer's checkout. And still, if your plan contemplates it, you can enable the calculation of third-party carrier rates.
- Payment providers: Where you will determine the payment methods that will be accepted in your e-commerce.
- Taxes: Where you can configure the collection of taxes on the product sold.
Step 6: Start selling
There you go, after performing all the steps and following the necessary configurations, your store is ready to sell. Now begins the learning and evolution period, where you will analyze and adjust the store according to customer feedback and the data you will start to collect.
Adjustments such as loading time, bugs, SEO, improving the user experience, and creating new features or components of your site, can be done by hiring the support service, to ensure quality navigation and consequently better conversion rates and sales.
Now that you know how to start your e-commerce on Shopify, you might like to know our solution that delivers your store in up to 15 days, with evolution package, this totally affordable for new entrepreneurs who are starting their online operation, get to know it by clicking here!
Like the content and want to know more about the Shopify platform, then download our Beginner's Guide to Shopify.
