Shopify Trial

If you’re looking to build your first online store using Shopify but don’t know where or how to start, this guide walks you through all the necessary steps to build your Shopify store from scratch. The first step is signing up for Shopify. Signing up is straightforward: just follow the prompts until you land on your Shopify dashboard.

Store Theme

Once you’re in, the first thing you’ll do is choose a theme for your store. Click on Online Store and go to Themes. By default, the Dawn theme is already installed on your store. If you want to choose a different theme, scroll down and click on Visit Theme Store, where you’ll find plenty of options to pick from. For this guide, we’re sticking with the Dawn theme since it’s already installed.

Store Branding

Now it’s time to start customizing your store. Click on Customize to enter the store editor. First, add a banner image to your homepage: click on Image banner and upload your image. Next, update the tagline by clicking on the text and editing it directly. To add your custom logo, go to the theme settings and, under Logo, upload it there. Once that’s done, it’ll show up on the left side of the header. You can also go through the color and typography settings if you want your own brand colors and fonts reflected on your store.

Adding Products

To add products to your Shopify store, head back to your dashboard, save your changes, and click Exit. Then go to Products. If you’re dropshipping from platforms like AliExpress or Printful, you can import products directly from those platforms. If you’re selling your own products, click Add Your Products and enter the relevant details, like the product name and a short description.

If you need help with a product description, Shopify’s AI writing assistant can generate one for you based on a few keywords. Add high-quality images that show your product clearly, and set the price for the product. If you’re using Shopify to track inventory, set the quantities you currently have in stock. If a product comes in multiple colors or sizes, set those up under Variants. Once everything is filled out, click Save to add the product to your store, and repeat the process until all your products are added.

Creating Collections

Collections are a great way to categorize your products and keep everything organized. Head to Collections and set up your first one. For a clothing store, for example, you might create a collection for hoodies and set the collection type to manual so you can add products to it yourself. Add a collection image, then click Save. Under Products, you can now add the relevant items to this new collection.

Customizing Store Pages

With a few products and collections added, it’s time to spend some more time customizing your store pages. Go to Online Store and click Customize to return to the Shopify editor. Scrolling down, you’ll notice there’s already a featured collection section on the homepage. Delete it by clicking the trash icon, then click Add section on the left and choose Collection list. Here you can display collections you’ve created, for example hoodies, T-shirts, and shorts. To add more content to your homepage, click Add section and select whatever section you need. You can switch to other pages on your store and customize them the same way.

Navigation Menu

To customize the navigation menu at the top of your website, go back to the dashboard, then to Online Store and click Navigation. Under Menus, go to the Main menu, where you can add new items, such as a specific collection. You can also create submenus. For a clothing store, for instance, it might make sense to have men’s and women’s collections, with different clothing types nested underneath as submenus. To check how your new menu looks, head back to the editor to see your changes reflected.

Store Policies

You’ll also want to add your store policies, like refund, shipping, and terms of service. Shopify makes this easy. Go to Settings in the bottom left, scroll down, and click Policies. From there you can create policies from Shopify’s templates by clicking Create from template. Before saving, read through each policy and customize it to fit your store’s specific details, and don’t forget your shipping policy and contact information.

Next, add these policies to your store’s footer menu. Close Settings, go back to Online Store, then Navigation, and click Footer menu, where you can add each policy.

Then head back to the store editor, scroll to the bottom, and click the small dropdown arrow next to the footer. Add a new block and choose the Menu block, and your footer menu will now appear at the bottom of your store.

Payment Processors

Before launching your store, set up your payment processors so customers can actually complete checkout. In the dashboard, go to Settings, then Payments, and click Activate Shopify Payments, filling out the required details. This lets customers choose between several payment methods, including credit card, Apple Pay, and Shop Pay. By default, customers can also check out using PayPal. You can turn off PayPal checkout if you’d like, but in many cases that can reduce your store’s conversion rate, so it’s often best to leave it enabled.

Shipping Rates

Set up your shipping rates under Shipping and delivery. Here you can create different rates based on the regions you ship to, or set up dynamic rates based on weight or price. If you’ve imported products from a third-party supplier, a shipping profile may already be set up for those items.

General Settings

Before launching, review a few more settings. Under Store details, make sure everything is filled out, including your store name, store email, billing information, and store currency. If you need to collect taxes for specific regions, set those up under Taxes and duties. Under Brand, you can upload your logo and add your brand colors so your branding stays consistent across platforms.

Domain Setup

The last step is setting up your custom domain, which will be your store’s web address. Go to Domains. If you already own a domain, click Connect existing domain and follow the instructions. If you don’t have one yet, click Buy new domain and search for the name you want, most likely your store name. If it’s available, you can purchase it directly through Shopify, and it’ll be connected to your store automatically.

Publishing Your Store

Before going live, you’ll need to pick a Shopify plan. Go to Online Store and click Pick a plan, choose the Basic plan, select your billing cycle, and fill in the required information to confirm. Then, under Online Store, remove the password so your store is officially open to customers.

And that’s it. Once the password is off, your Shopify store is live and ready for customers to browse and shop.