Everything You Need to Know About Shopify Development [2022]

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Shopify is one of the largest and best ecommerce platforms on the internet. With a global market share of almost 11%, Shopify currently powers over a million online stores across the world.

While Shopify development may sound complex, it is actually not. You don’t need any special programming skills for Shopify integration, and the platform provides many templates for beginners to use or you can hire Shopify app Development Company.

This article will cover everything you need to know about Shopify for beginners, including:

1. Why use Shopify?
2. Things to do before starting Shopify development
3. How to set up a Shopify store
4. Launching your Shopify store

Why Use Shopify?

There are many ecommerce platforms available and choosing the right one is an important decision. Platforms like WordPress aren’t designed for online stores, and BigCommerce is too difficult to use for beginners.

Shopify is already one of the most successful online sales channels. Store owners can fulfill thousands of orders through Shopify integration with Amazon, and they can provide checkout options like PayPal and Stripe.

Here are a few reasons why you should choose Shopify:

• No worrying about server costs
• Annual plans are cost-effective
• Multiple app integrations for SaaS services like Salesforce
• Secure and reliable marketplace

Shopify Development for Beginners

Not everyone knows how to set up their online store. If that sounds like you, then we have a step-by-step guide for you to follow through.

One of the first things that you need to do is create an account on Shopify. If you don’t want to commit to an annual paid plan yet, you can start with Shopify’s free 14-day trial. This trial gives you enough time for effective Shopify development, especially for beginners.

Read Also: What Makes Shopify Good for SEO?

Before You Begin

Before you start with Shopify development, you should already have a list of things prepared. This includes:

1. Business Idea: This is the starting point for any business. You should have a clear picture of what you are going to sell and who the target market is. We suggest spending some time doing market research to understand the business environment, such as your competitors and their strategy.

• Business Name: Customers will refer to your company through the business name. Try not to use any complicated words or phrases – a business name needs to be catchy, yet easy to remember.

• Logo: Create a brand logo or hire a graphic designer to make one for you. This should represent your business and the products you are selling. For instance, if you own a clothing store, then your logo could include a dress or hanger.

• Products: Before you can launch a Shopify store, you should already have a set list of products to sell.

• Photos: Customers will only know what you are selling if you show them. You can either take photos yourself through a smartphone or hire a professional photographer. The photos should be appealing enough to attract customers to make a purchase.

How to Set Up a Shopify Store

At this point, you should have a Shopify account and completed all the prerequisites mentioned in the previous section. Now that you are ready to build an ecommerce store, here is a simple guide to Shopify for beginners:

Step 1: Add the Products

Adding products to your ecommerce store is the most important task. This includes:

• Making new listings on your Shopify store
• Creating titles and descriptions for each product
• Adding photos
• Setting the price

When you go to your Shopify store, you will see a tab called ‘Products.’ You can click on the ‘Add product’ option to add a new listing to your store.

How to Write Product Descriptions for Shopify

Since you already have a list of products to sell, all you need to do is add their titles and descriptions. Remember to use attractive titles and leave all other technical details in bullet points in the description.

For a clothing store, the product description should include a size chart, color variations, and styling ideas. Product descriptions are a great way for online stores to engage with customers, so it is important to include all details in an easy-to-read manner.

Adding Media to Shopify Store

The next thing you should do is add photos and other media for each product. While still photographs are a great way to showcase your product, you can get more creative with videos or 3D models.

Setting Product Prices on Shopify

Lastly, you need to set a price for the product. You can explore various pricing strategies such as competitive pricing or markup pricing.

If you are new to the market, you can choose market penetration which involves setting a lower price initially to attract new customers. Similarly, if you are introducing a unique or luxury product, then price penetration (setting a high price) might be a better option.

An advantage of using Shopify for ecommerce is that you can adjust your prices later as well.

The last portion of adding products to your Shopify store is checking the inventory settings, adding the product weight, and including variants such as colors or sizes. While there are other things such as organizing your products into categories and setting up search engine titles, you can worry about those later.

Step 2: Set Up Key Pages

Now that you have listed all your products on Shopify, you need to add other pages to your online store. Successful Shopify development is not only about having products to sell, but also about creating a brand image.

The key pages on your store will help customers explore more about your business. You can add these pages on your Shopify store by going to the ‘Online Store’ option and selecting ‘Pages.’

Here are a few examples of key pages that you can add:

1. Contact Us: This can include information such as your customer service email or phone number.

• Who We Are: This is essentially an ‘About’ page that helps you explain the idea behind your business or why you started it. Use this page to connect to customers and gain their trust.

• FAQs: Here you can answer some common customer support queries, such as how long delivery would take or if you take custom orders.

Step 3: Make it Pretty

Customers will always be attracted to visually appealing websites. You want your store to represent your business in a unique way, which is why this step is incredibly important. You can explore different ways of how you want your Shopify store to look like.

Choosing a Template for Shopify Store

Shopify has many templates for you to choose from. Go to the ‘Online Store’ option and select ‘Themes’ to browse through their catalogue of both free and paid templates. Each theme has multiple styles, so you should choose one that highlights your product range perfectly.

Once you select a theme for your Shopify store, the next step is to start customizing the colors and fonts. Choose a color palette that compliments your products – such as green and brown if you have a home accessory store. You can make use of the psychology of color to further enhance your marketing skills.

Designing the Homepage

Remember to design the homepage to look as attractive as possible because it’s the first thing that your customers see.

You can use a slideshow with a single slide to explain the idea behind your business. If you want the focus to be on your products, then you can add a featured collection on the homepage.

Further down the homepage can be a newsletter to encourage potential customers to sign up for your mailing list. Even if they don’t make a purchase right now, perhaps they can be convinced by email marketing later.

You can also add links to other key pages that you set up in Step 2 on the homepage. This directs your customers to explore other areas of your business without adding too much information on the homepage.

Step 4: Shipping and Delivery Channels

Before you complete your Shopify development, you need to consider product deliveries. You can consider packaging cost, product weight, and other variables that can determine the shipping cost. Here are a few shipping options that you have:

• Free Shipping
• Real-time Carriers (USPS/Canada Post)
• Flat Shipping Rate
• Local Delivery
• Pickup

Each of these has its own pros and cons. You can read more about Shopify’s shipping options here.

Step 5: Payment Gateway

The last step that you need to complete is selecting a payment gateway. This will determine how you accept payments from customers and which Shopify integrations you wish to use.

To select a payment gateway, you can go to the ‘Settings’ option and select ‘Payments.’ Shopify has its own payment gateway known as Shopify Payments that charges 0% transaction fee. Alternatively, you can also choose a Shopify integration with third-party providers like PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and others.

Time for the Big Launch

Launching your Shopify store can be a big step. Once you are satisfied with how your store looks, you can make it visible for customers. All you need to do is go to ‘Online Store,’ select ‘Preferences,’ and disable password protection.

And you are done! By completing all these steps, you have successfully completed your Shopify Store development and are ready to take orders on your ecommerce store.