Making money online through Niche Marketing

How Does Shopify Work? Your Top Questions Answered

If you’re one of the millions of entrepreneurs trying to make a living online, you’ve taken a stab at the idea of an online store. And, today, you have questions about the leading eCommerce platform. Shopify offers an easy-to-use website builder for etailers. But, how does Shopify work? 

This guide offers updated answers to some of the most common hurdles to overcome by beginners on the platform. 

In a Nutshell, Here’s How Shopify Works: 

First of all, Shopify is an eCommerce platform or software as a service (SaaS) shopping cart solution. Individual entrepreneurs, authors, artists, existing small business retailers, and enterprise sellers leverage the platform to offer their products and services online. 

  • As of June 2019, there are an estimated 820,000 sellers on Shopify (source). 
  • In the past year, Shopify stores have served 218 million buyers from 175 different countries (source). 

It is one of the most popular platforms for online retail today. From within the Shopify dashboard, you can build an online store, add products or services, process orders. And, with the help of apps, online retailers can run an entire business. 

Can You Make Money on Shopify? 

Of course, the platform wouldn’t have so many users if it wasn’t a lucrative option. But, just how much revenue is generated by Shopify?

  • Many stores hosted on the platform are earning millions of dollars (source). 
  • On Black Friday alone last year, $1.5 billion in sales were powered by Shopify (source). 

Online retailers can leverage this eCommerce solution to generate substantial revenue. (Learn more about making money with Shopify here.) 

Does Shopify Provide Products to Sell? 

Shopify itself does not offer retail products on the platform. However, they do offer a ton of helpful advice for selecting products. Furthermore, there are an array of integrated merchandising options for drop shippers and print-on-demand sellers. 

Not sure what these terms mean? Dropshipping is a retail system that moves goods directly from the manufacturer to the customer. With this type of sales, there is no need for the retailer to keep merchandise on-hand. Warehousing is eliminated and stock processes are simplified. Print-on-demand (POD) is a branch of dropshipping wherein products are printed one at a time or in small quantities as they are ordered.  

Two of the most popular options for integrating these business structures into your online store are Oberlo and Printful. Here’s a quick summary of each. 

Oberlo for Dropshippers

Oberlo for dropshippers

[Image source: Oberlo]

Oberlo is a dropshipping suite that connects suppliers to retailers. The app gives users the ability to discover trending products to sell in their stores. With the combination of Oberlo and Shopify, most of the sales process becomes automated. Online sellers don’t have to worry about shipping products to their customers. 

Printful for POD Sellers

Printful for POD Sellers

[Image source: Printful]

POD sellers would want to check out an option like Printful, a top-rated printing, warehousing, and shipping option. Use the platform’s built-in design templates or create your art. Then, have it printed or embroidered onto clothing, accessories, and home decor products. With Printful and Shopify together, there’s no worry about inventory, shipping, or handling  

How Can You Start Selling on Shopify?  

You can try Shopify for free for 14 days before you pay for your monthly use of the software, so there’s no risk for new sellers. 

How Much Does Shopify Cost? 

Shopify plans have three basic pricing tiers: Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. Each option comes with a 14-day free trial, and you don’t need to enter your credit card information to sign up. Here’s a bit more information about what you can expect to pay with each monthly plan

Note: There is also a Shopify Lite plannot listed on the pricing page — which costs only $9 per month. The Lite option is designed for absolute beginners getting to know the platform.

1. Basic Shopify: $29 per Month + Fees

With this plan, you can create up to two staff accounts. Shipping discounts are up to 64%. You will not be able to create digital gift cards, generate professional reports, or use unique Shopify POS staff pins for offline sales, which you can do with the other two plans. If you don’t use the Shopify payments gateway, you will pay an additional 2% transaction fee. 

2. Shopify: $79 per Month + Fees

If you have a team working with you, this plan allows up to five staff accounts. Shipping discounts are up to 72%. You will be able to generate professional reports, create gift cards, use unique staff pins for offline sales, but you won’t have access to advanced reports. And, Your additional transaction fees for third-party payment processors will be 1%.

3. Advanced Shopify: $299 per Month +Fees

For larger teams, the advanced Shopify plan enables you to add up to 15 staff accounts to your dashboard. Shipping discounts are up to 74%. This plan gives you access to all of the features available with the other plans, plus advanced reporting. Furthermore, your fee for payment processing outside the Shopify platform is only going to be 0.5%. 

And, if you’re interested in enterprise options, you may want to check out Shopify Plus

How to Change Your Shopify Store Name

When you first sign up with Shopify, you are asked to choose a name for your store. And, you see a note that says, “Don’t worry, you can change this later.” So, you choose a potentially temporary name to start with. 

That’s when you realize you don’t like the name at all, and you come up with something more catchy. Now, you’re trying to figure out how to change it. Here’s what you do (it’s super simple).

  1. Log in to your Shopify dashboard. 
  2. Navigate to the “Settings” gear icon at the bottom of the left sidebar. 
  3. Select “General” to take you to the page where you can update your information. 
  4. Locate the “Store Name” box.  
Change Shopify Store Name
  1. Update by typing your new store name into the box. 
  2.  Click “Save.”

And that’s it! Now you’re in control. 

How to Remove “Powered by Shopify” From Your Webstore’s Footer

By default, Shopify leaves its branding at the bottom of your new store’s pages. And, the “Powered by Shopify” text links to their landing page to generate more signups. You’re paying for a subscription, so there’s no need to advertise for them. You want to remove the link so that you can keep shoppers on your site. 

Here are the steps to get the branding off your site’s footer: 

  1. Log in to your Shopify dashboard. 
  2. Navigate to “Online Store” in the left sidebar. 
  3. Click “Themes” from the dropdown menu.
  4. Select the theme you want to edit. 
  5. Near the top right of the page, click “Actions.”
  6. From the dropdown, select “Edit Languages.” 
  7. When the page loads, find the “Search Translations” in the Filter. 
  8. Type the word, “powered,” in the box. 
  9. As the page filters the information, look for the “Powered by Shopify” box. 
Remove powered by Shopify
  1. Click inside the box and type a single space. 
  2. Click “Save” 

Removing the branding from your Shopify theme is easy, but you have to know how to get to the right point in your dashboard. 

How to Install Hotjar on Your Shopify Store

Hotjar is a powerful analytics tool that helps you understand the voice and behaviors of your shoppers. Integrated with Shopify, the tool helps online sellers with a combination of data and feedback to create successful business campaigns and increase eCommerce conversions. 

So, how do you add hotjar to Shopify? Here’s what you need to do! 

  1. Log in to your Shopify dashboard. 
  2. Click “Online Store” from the bottom of the left sidebar. 
  3. Select “Themes” from the dropdown menu. 
  4. Select the theme you want to install Hotjar on. 
  5. Click “Actions” near the top right of the page.  
  6. Choose “Edit Code” from the dropdown menu.
  7. Under the “Layout” subheading, select “theme.liquid.”
  8. Scroll down the page to find the following code: </head>
Install Hotjar on Shopify
  1. Paste your Hotjar tracking code just before the closing tag </head>.
  2. Click “Save.” 
  3. Select the “Settings” gear icon at the bottom left of the page. 
  4. Choose “Checkout.”
  5. Scroll down the page to locate the “Additional Scripts” box. 
hotjar tracking code
  1. Inside the box, paste your Hotjar tracking code again. 
  2. Click “Save.” 
  3. Check your Hotjar dashboard to verify the code has been installed on your site. 

Hotjar installation takes a bit more effort than changing your store’s name or removing branding. But, it’s not super difficult. 

Final Thoughts

When you’re new to Shopify, you’ll have a lot of questions. And, I’m here to help you answer some of them. Use this guide to help you get started on the right path to success in your new online sales venture. And, make sure to have fun with it! 

And, if you haven’t tried Shopify yet, try a two-week free trial now to learn, hands-on, how it works.

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