In our previous post, we talked about the Pros and Cons of starting an eCommerce store. Setting up an eCommerce store is the smartest thing for business owners in 2019, as there has been a predicted growth of eCommerce revenue to trillions of dollars in 2020. So this the best time to make your investment by setting up your store and showcasing your products to a broad audience both nationally and internationally.

The first thing to do after deciding to set up an online store is to draw up a plan. The plan should contain your SMART goals, which setting up a store will help you achieve. The next step is deciding your store niche. Avoid picking niches that are overly saturated as they are highly competitive and come with expensive ads. 

After picking a suitable niche, find out about your target audience. You have to know your audience’s preference if you hope to sell. You should also know your competitors to be able to figure out your competitive advantage. The next step after finding out about your target audience and competitors is getting a domain name, setting up social media accounts in different relevant platforms, and creating awareness of your product niche on the social platforms.

The primary step in setting up an eCommerce store is choosing a suitable platform to operate. You can go for different platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, etc. But for the sake of this article, we are going to use the most popular eCommerce platform- Shopify. Here are some steps to setting up your online store on Shopify.

Setting up an eCommerce store

Store setup

After determining what niche you want to focus on, it’s time to set up your store. Using Shopify is to set up your eCommerce store helps you save time and provides the necessary tools to make your selling experience positive. 

When setting up the store, ensure you complete all the tasks so that your customers do not have difficulties trying to use your store. Some of the things to do when setting up your store on Shopify is to add your store details, address, and currency. 

Move on to set up the payments. Add PayPal and other payment gateways you prefer withdrawing your money and then customize your checkout. The next step is setting up your customer accounts, how they will process orders such as adding a shipping address, and so on. You should also set up emails for the abandoned cart at this point. 

Remember to set up taxes and customer notification. Add your sales channels, credit card, refund policy page, private policy, and all other things required when setting up the store. You need to fill out all the necessary details if you want your store to look professional.

Choose a theme

Personalize your eCommerce store by tweaking the default theme Shopify already installed with the store you rented. There are free and paid theme options. If you have a tight budget, you can go for the free ones, but if you have the funds, choose from the 61 options of paid themes.

 Choose your preferred theme by watching the demos of all the theme collections, either free or paid. Then choose a new theme by installing and customizing it. To customize it, go to the header and select “sections” to upload a file of your store logo and use the slider to adjust the size. Ensure it is a .png file. This file replaces the background of the theme. Add options to your theme by going to the “Add section.” 

Upload a Stock Photo

You can upload a stock photo by clicking the “Image with text overlay,” if you don’t like the picture, you can download other free stock images from available apps, and make it fit by editing. If you have additional photos you want to show on your store, go to select the featured collections. These images will attract buyers to browse more products when they land on your page. 

Add blogpost to the Homepage

If you want your buyers to view your store by collections, add collections to your homepage. You can also add blogpost to your homepage by browsing “Blog posts” and choosing the number you want to display. To add professional photos of your products to your homepage and the links that will take your buyers to the products, select “Gallery.”

If you wish to create awareness on your best-selling products, go to “image with text” and add the image and use the text space to write a sales copy to help with promotion. To add more banner images that rotate, you can click the “Slideshow” option. 

Then if you want buyers and customers to see the list of companies you’ve worked with in the past, you can click on the “Logo list” and add their logos. 

You can also collect the emails of buyers to send updates of new arrivals by clicking on the “Newsletter” and adding a subscribe button. If you have a physical location, go the map option and add a map of it.

Add a Mission Statement

To further personalize your site, you’ll want to add a mission statement or a brief description of your brand. To do this, click the “Rich text” and add the text you need. You should also remember to add the testimonials from your customers, which include social media comments, product reviews, or general customer feedback. Click “Testimonials” to add them.

Customize the Footer

The next step is to customize your footer. To do this, select “Text” and add a brief description of your store. You can also add an email subscription form in your footer to collect emails for newsletter subscription. Go to “Newsletter” to access this option. 

To add colors to your site, select “colors,” to choose a unique font, select “topography.” You can also add a favicon to your logo; do this by selecting “favicon.” If you also want to personalize your checkout point, customize elements such as the logo placement, images, typography, and colors.

General Designing

Add an FAQ page where you answer commonly asked questions such as payment methods, order returns, account registration, shipping times, and other relevant answers you should inform your buyer. Also, remember to add the security badges to product pages.

If you don’t want any password protection on your site, you can uncheck the “Enable password.” Test if the website is working by using different devices such as your phones, tablet, or pc. You should also test the checkout. Lastly, after using the two-week trial, and you are satisfied with everything, you can proceed to pay for the Shopify plan.