E-Commerce has finally geared up to operate fully again and with the demand levels slowly rising, we can expect to see new players in the market once again. If you’re looking to start an online store, look no further, here’s the ultimate recipe to start an online store on Shopify!
Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world with over 1,000,000 online sellers! Its popularity can be attributed to its ease of use and hassle-free integration coupled with a smooth onboarding process.
In this article, we’ll be looking at the quickest way to get back to business or kickstart a new venture by creating an online store on Shopify and some must-have tools in your toolbag.
Steps to start a Shopify store
First things first, it’s important to set a goal for your store. Whether it’s revenue or order count, make sure to have your North Star in place. Make sure to have a store decked with the essentials. A basic store serves this goal perfectly well.
Let’s look at the steps you need to ensure to set up your store on Shopify:
Step 1: Pick your online store name
The first step to starting your store is to pick a suitable name for your business. E-Commerce as an industry allows you to be creative with names according to your sub-industry.
If you’re having trouble coming up with a good name, you can try out the Business Name Generator.
Step 2: Register for a Shopify store
Modern times have definitely made it easier for e-commerce entrepreneurs to start their business. Previously, you had to get a server, upload an e-commerce system to it, hire someone to change it according to your needs, and pay to maintain it. It was expensive, time-consuming, and the final results were not worth it anyway.
On Shopify, the server setup and maintenance is taken care of. All you need to do is click on the “Start free trial” and click on “Create store”.
We also have special discounts in collaboration with Shopify App Store as part of the back-to-business package, but we’ll get to that in some time!
Step 3: Choose a theme for your store
You can either go for a preset theme or customize your theme according to your preferences. Shopify has also built a free custom theme to help Indian businesses go online in less than an hour
Visit the Shopify Theme Store and choose a theme. There are many free options. If you’re looking to save time, try and find one that won’t need many changes.
A sample plug-and-play template, customized from Shopify’s end to make it easier for you to launch the online store has been created. Download the theme here.
If you want to customize your theme or edit the store’s look, go to Online Store → Themes → Customize Theme. You can also spot sections to edit the header, body and footer of your page.
Step 4: Decide on a fitting business logo
What do Nike, Adidas, Puma and Louis Vitton have in common? They all have distinct, easily-recognizable logos that identify the brand at first glance.
The next step to creating your online store is to upload your business logo. Just like your company’s name, a logo is equally important for your business.
It’s recommended to hire a professional designer to design your logo befitting to your brand image. Keep in mind that a well-designed logo can go a long way in increasing brand recall too.
Hatchful is a trending, beginner-friendly logo-making website that has been making waves on social media platforms like TikTok. Make sure to check it out!
Step 5: Set up your standard webpages
In order to set up a fully-functional website, you need to set a few basic webpages in motion. To start with, here are a few must-have pages for any e-commerce website: About Us, Terms & Conditions, Privacy & Returns Policy, Shipping & Delivery Information, and Contact Us.
On the Shopify platform, to create a page, visit → Online Store → Pages → Add Page to get started. Make sure to also do regular content checks to ensure that your website is well-written and adheres to SEO guidelines.
Also, ensure to upload your policy page correctly to ensure trust between you and the customer. To quickly create basic policy pages for your store, go to Settings → Checkout and scroll down to the Refund, Privacy, and TOS statements section to generate each policy sample.
Step 6: Add products
From your Shopify admin dashboard, head to Products > All products. From this page, click the button Add product. Enter a title for your product, along with a product description and photo. Make sure to add variants (e.g. different sizes, colors, etc).
You can group products into categories by following the instructions outlined in this article.
Step 7: Ensuring safe payments
A big part of the shopping experience is ensuring safe, hassle-free and secure payments. Make sure to choose a best payment gateway for shopify that caters to your needs, to begin with. A payment partner like Razorpay can help you with the above requirements. Razorpay offers one-click integration with Shopify to start accepting payments on your online store.
Find out the Tips to choose the right Shopify Payment Gateway
Step 8: Setting up shipping
Shipping, undoubtedly, is a factor that can make or break your relationship with the customer. Shipping can be hassle-free if you have a lean management system to help you streamline your process.
Have a legitimate shipping partner and a good Order Management Software (OMS) to enable the customer to have a smooth tracking experience. Shopify is integrated with major logistics aggregators across India like Shiprocket, Vamaship, Shyplite and other leading courier partners in India.
A transparent tracking system can significantly up the trust levels between you and the customer. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up your shipping rates on Shopify.
Step 9: Billing information
Before launching your store, you’ll need to enter your Shopify billing information but you won’t be charged until your 14-day trial ends. Navigate to Settings → Account and enter your billing information.
Your store is now good to go!
Getting back on track with Shopify back-to-business
The Indian government has finally eased the lockdown regulations and it’s clear that e-commerce businesses need to re-invent to suit the future. Right from how businesses function to how a consumer interacts with them, things have changed, leading retailers to choose different paths than expected of them.
Shopify, in its attempt to make it easier for businesses across India to get back up after the COVID-19 slowdown, has partnered with Razorpay and other e-commerce solutions that will enable businesses to adjust to the new normal in the coming months.
From marketing solutions to payments, logistics and more, you can find recommendations to suit your business.
Whether you already have an online store or you’re looking at setting up one, this toolkit has every solution and offer you’ll need to set up shop online at minimal costs and grow your business.
From Razorpay to Freshdesk, discover attractive discounts on a horde of useful products, only on the Shopify back-to-business page. Find it here!
Must-have tools to boost your e-commerce business
Razorpay- Online payments simplified
Razorpay is highly trusted among Indian shoppers and businesses, providing local wallets and a variety of payment methods for your Shopify store.
The one-click integration between Razorpay and Shopify is built to help Indian merchants set up a secure payment gateway for websites on your Shopify store in no-time. By setting up Razorpay, you can accept, manage, and disburse payments without losing revenue in large transactional fees.
Thirdwatch- Reduce RTO losses
As more brands are going online and consumers start to make purchases digitally, the chances of fraud increase too. Whether it’s about detecting impulsive purchases or incomplete addresses or even profiling suspicious users, Thirdwatch can help you with that.
Thirdwatch is an AI-powered offering that enables online sellers to prevent Return-To-Origin (RTO) fraud losses. The app’s AI engine evaluates every order in real-time and provides actionable results to weed out orders likely to result in RTO.
AdYogi – Automate e-commerce advertising
AdYogi is a marketing SaaS platform that automates and optimises Facebook, Instagram and Google Ads for your e-commerce store. AdYogi is a Google premier partner and Facebook Agency Partner. Their digital strategy team helps you plan and execute to scale online revenues by 10x.
Shipway- Shipment tracking and automation
Enhance your post-buying experience with Shipway’s all-in-one shipment and package tracking tool & tracking APIs for e-commerce businesses. Let your buyer feel a branded experience with the branded tracking page, in-order tracking status and much more!
Shipway enables you to automate order status notifications, shipment tracking and capture order reviews on successful delivery. Once you start taking orders on your store, it is important to keep your customers informed about the order status. This lets them know when they can expect the delivery of an order and plan their other purchases accordingly.
Vamaship- E-Commerce logistics management
Vamaship is a prominent logistics aggregators in India preferred by a number of Indian brands. They work with leading courier partners to provide you with affordable shipping and logistics partners.
Vamaship’s integration with Shopify allows you to manage your order shipment and fulfilment within your store’s dashboard.
Ezyslips – E-Commerce back-office automation
Ezyslips is an E-Commerce back-office automation tool that helps businesses in carrier API integration, multi-channel shipping management, automatic order allocation according to the service types, zip codes and weight, fulfilment automation, NDR Management and much more.
That ends our blog on how you can start an online store on the Shopify platform and some tools to help you boost your business. Make sure to get in touch with us if you have any questions about how Razorpay or Thirdwatch can aid your business!
1 Comment
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