Shopify is one of the world’s leading eCommerce platforms that allows entrepreneurs to set up online shops and sell their products. Shopify uses a SaaS model, making it easy for business owners to create a website and use its tools and resources, such as inventory management and payment processing.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to set up a Shopify store in ten simple steps. Whether you want to sell custom art or beauty products, Shopify makes it easy. Follow these ten steps to start setting up a Shopify store.

Step 1. Sign up for a Shopify account

The first step in creating a Shopify store is signing up for a Shopify account. When you reach Shopify’s homepage, you’ll find options to start a free trial or click the “Get Started” button to create your account. The only information required for this step is to input your email address, create a password, and add your store name.

Best practice is to use your business email address rather than a personal email address to keep your personal- and business-related communications separate.

Step 2. Input store details

Once you’ve created your Shopify account, the next step is inputting more information about your Shopify store. Information that may be required includes:

  • Personal contact information
  • How much you plan to sell
  • How much you’re currently selling
  • Goal of your Shopify store
  • Billing information

Once you’ve added this information, your Shopify business account will be complete. From there, you’ll be able to start designing your online store and adding your products, which we’ll discuss below.

Step 3. Design your Shopify store

Now that your account is set up; your next step is understanding how to use Shopify. Fortunately, the Shopify website builder is extremely user-friendly, making it easy for anyone to design their own Shopify store.

On the main dashboard, you’ll see an area to click “Customize the Look of Your Site.” By selecting this option, you’ll have full creative control over the layout and design of your eCommerce store. When creating a start up Shopify theme, it’s always important to keep your brand and personality in mind.

To create a cohesive look, follow your brand guidelines and stick to themes that match your store, whether it’s sleek and modern or bright and colorful. Some components you can put a creative spin on include:

  • Website theme
  • Brand colors
  • Page layout
  • Fonts
  • Logos
  • Carousel slides
  • Photos and videos

Shopify has hundreds of themes you can choose from, with most of them being free. Additionally, most themes don’t require any coding knowledge like HTML or CSS. However, Shopify makes it easy to customize your theme and layout if needed.

With Pietra, you can work with freelance designers to help you create and design your Shopify store. If you’d rather allocate your time and energy to other areas of your business, our freelance designers can help. Utilize a freelance team to set up your Shopify store, create your brand guidelines, design your logo, and customize your Shopify theme and page layouts for a fully customized and branded look.

Step 4. Add products

Once you’re done setting up a Shopify store, the next step is adding your products. When adding products to your Shopify store, make sure they’re fully optimized for search engines and customers. This means adding engaging product titles with relevant keywords, as well as a thoroughly informative product description.

Don’t have products yet? With Pietra, you can work with thousands of suppliers and manufacturers who can help design and produce custom products for your Shopify store. Once you’ve chosen and designed your products, Pietra easily integrates with Shopify, so your products sync to your Shopify store for users to shop. We can even fulfill your customers' orders and send them straight to their doorsteps.

Step 5. Categorize your products

When creating your online storefront, it’s important to create category pages that house your products and make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for. For example, if you have an online apparel company, category pages can include shirts, pants, outerwear, and shorts. Then, each of those category pages can have corresponding products for users to browse.

Step 6. Pick a unique domain name

To make your Shopify store live, you need a domain name. A domain name is an address linked to an IP address on the internet. Often, a company’s domain name is the name of its business.

For example, Shopify’s domain name is Shopify.com. When choosing a domain name, it’s important to ensure it’s unique and relevant to your business and industry. This way, it makes it easy for customers and search engines to recognize.

Step 7. Choose a payment processor

In order to get paid, you’re going to need to set up a payment processor through Shopify. Shopify has dozens of payment processors to choose from, and as a business owner, it’s best to have multiple options available. More payment options increase the chances you’ll be able to convert more sales.

Step 8. Determine shipping and handling

To remain competitive against large retail giants like Amazon, it’s important to set up your shipping and handling to get products to customers’ doors as soon as possible.

In a few simple steps, you can easily sync Pietra’s Fulfillment Services with your Shopify store to offer shoppers two-day shipping on most orders. With our low-cost warehouses that can manage and ship your inventory, you’ll be able to provide exceptional customer service to your audience.

Step 9. Publish your Shopify store

One of the last steps of setting up a Shopify store is publishing it. Once all of the fine details are taken care of, such as adding products, designing your layout, and setting up your payment processing, do one final sweep to spot any typos, grammatical errors, or issues with user experience. Once everything looks good, publish your site to make it go live.

Step 10. Periodically test your Shopify store

The work doesn't stop once your Shopify store is live. It’s important to regularly test your Shopify store to look for UX issues or bugs that can harm your website. It’s also important to continually optimize your site to remain competitive on search engines.

Integrate Pietra with Shopify

Now that you know how to build an online store with Shopify, turn to Pietra for all of your supplier and fulfillment needs. Learn more about how Pietra works and review Pietra’s pricing to find a plan that works for you.