How to Set Up a Shopify Store in 9 Steps in 2023

Put the name of your product that you want to display to your customers in the Title field.

Product descriptions describe (and sell) your product. They don’t have to be professionally written; you just need to keep your customer in mind when writing them. Think about what they need to know to feel confident in their decision to buy.

If you’re a reseller, don’t use the manufacturer’s exact description because your product descriptions need to be unique to search engines.

In the News: (January 2023) Shopify has jumped on the AI train by introducing AI-generated product descriptions through Shopify Magic. You can sign up for the waitlist when it becomes available for Shopify users.

The area where you put your product description uses a rich text editor so you can format your text.

Under the media section, you can upload images, 3D models, and videos to show your product’s appearance.

Images: The most recommended file type of images is PNG, followed by JPEG, and GIF. However, PSD, TIFF, BMP, HEIC, and WebP are also accepted. Product and collection image sizes need to be 20MB or less to be added to Shopify.

Videos: You can upload a video file or embed a YouTube or Vimeo video link. For direct video uploads, the requirements are:

• Length: Up to 10 minutes
• Size: Up to 1GB
• Resolution: Up to 4K (4096 x 2160 px)
• File type: .mp4 or .mov

3D Models: To display videos or 3D models on product pages, your online store needs to use a theme that supports the media that you want to add. It also has the following requirements:

• Size: Up to 500MB
• File type: GLB, USDZ

Product presentation in photos makes all the difference. Use high-quality photos. Starting out small? Most smartphones are capable of shooting photos, and you can use free photo editing tools to edit them.

Shopify limits you to three variants per product. For example, if you sell shirts, you can define size, color, and material options. These options can have multiple variants (e.g., Size: S, M, L; Color: Black, White, etc.). Our store sample has color as the variant and two options: caramel and cream.

If your product has variants, check the box that says, “This product has options, like size or color.” You will then be able to set up product options.

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Once you set up variants, you can attach images, set up pricing, inventory quantities, and SKUs. If you have multiple variants, it is advisable to open the bulk editor so that you don’t have to scroll sideways to set up product details per variant.

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This is the bulk editor view for product variant setup.

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For pricing, you can enter the following details:

• Price is the amount you are charging for the product. Click Charge taxes on this product if the product is taxable.
• Compare at price is the original price for a product on sale. When you enter a compare at price, the product displays a sale price.
• Cost per item is how much it costs to secure the product and is optional. If you resell a product, enter the manufacturer’s price, excluding taxes, shipping, or other costs. If you create the product yourself, enter a value that is based on your labor and material costs.

For inventory, you can enter the following information:

• SKU (stock keeping unit) is the code that identifies the product within your business and is optional. For effective tracking and sales reporting, each SKU needs to be unique.
• Barcodes (ISBN, UPC, GTIN, etc.) are typically used by resellers and are unique identifiers used internationally to store and locate product information.

It is easier to set up pricing and inventory for products with no variants. Add your wholesale cost per item and your retail pricing to track your profits on each sale.

You need to set up shipping rules for physical products. Shipping rules (e.g., flat rate, free shipping, country or region-based rates) can be set up easily for individual products, collections, or your entire store. More of this will be discussed in later sections.

For shipping and fulfillment, you can enter the following information:

• Check whether the product needs to be shipped by checking This is a physical product.
• The Weight field only appears when This is a physical product is checked and needs to be exact because it is used to calculate shipping rates.
• The Country/Region of origin field is where the product was manufactured or assembled.
• If you want to ship the product internationally, enter the harmonized system (HS) tariff code because they provide customs with information so that correct tariffs can be applied to the order.

The search engine listing preview is a preview of how your product will appear in search engine results. The preview has the product title, the product slug, and part of the description. Edit the product details so that it’s easier to find on Google.

You can also manipulate the meta information that Google and other search engines display on results pages.

• Product type: You can create different product categories to organize your site and inventory tracking—for example, shirts, pants, jackets, etc.
• Vendor: Add the vendor or supplier information to reorder as items run out easily.
• Collection: Create collections, such as “Fall 2022” or “Back to School,” so that shoppers can browse by theme or event. They let you organize and curate your products for specific purposes and audiences. Display collections in your navigation or homepage, similar to having a catalog. When setting up collections, the same product can be part of multiple collections
• Tags: These are keywords you can add to products so that they are easy to search on your site. For example, if you sell pants, you can add tags based on color (navy, khaki), fabric (denim, cotton), and more. Tags can also help to automate actions in your store, like adding a product with a specific tag to a specific collection

An example of how to organize products in a Shopify store.

If you want to use Shopify Payments, you’ll need to provide the following:

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Banking information
• Average price of your orders
• Average shipping time for your orders

To set up Shopify Payments, navigate to Settings in the left navigation bar, and then choose Payments.

The easiest (and most cost-effective for new businesses) payment processing method for Shopify stores is Shopify Payments.

You’ll either see the option to Complete account setup (if you haven’t set up a credit card payment provider for your account) or to Activate Shopify Payments if you’ve enabled a different provider. The latter will remove any providers associated with your account and replace them with Shopify Payments.

You can also adjust payment settings, including

• Payout details: Shopify will automatically deposit earnings from sales into your bank account. The default description on the payment will be “Shopify,” but you can change the name of your store or business (if, for example, you have multiple Shopify stores).
• Payout schedule: Choose whether you are paid every business day, weekly, or monthly.
• Fraud prevention: You can choose to automatically decline charges that fail AVS postal verification (the ZIP code on the customer’s payment method does not match what they entered) or AVV verification (they enter the wrong 3- or 4-digit security code).
• Customer billing statement: Choose what name shows up on customers’ bank statements when they purchase from you and add a contact phone number.
• Multiple currencies: Accept dozens of currencies, including Canadian Dollars, British Pounds, and Euros.

After you set this up, it’s a good idea to conduct a test transaction on your store.

If you’re using Shopify Payments, you can still activate PayPal and Amazon Pay to offer shoppers more one-click or one-touch payment options. You can also activate alternative payment options—including buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) and installment payment plans from Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, Sezzle, and others.

Shopify makes it easy to add PayPal payment options.

The first step in designing your store is to add your brand assets to Shopify—your logo, colors, and cover image. You can directly access this through the setup guide, but you can change this anytime by going to Settings from the navigation menu and scrolling down to click Brand.

Upload the following:

Common brand assets used across apps and channels:

• Default Logo: Used for most common logo applications (HEIC, PNG, or JPG; 512 pixels minimum recommended width)
• Square Logo: Used by some social media channels and may be cropped into a circle (HEIC, PNG, or JPG; 512×512 pixels minimum)
• Brand colors: Primary and secondary colors (HEX codes)

Additional brand assets that are usually used by some apps and social media channels:

• Cover Image: Shows off brand in profile pages and apps (HEIC, PNG, or JPG; 1920×1080 pixels minimum)
• Slogan: Brand statement or tagline often used along with your logo (80 characters)
• Short description: Business description often used in bios and listings (150 characters)
• Social links: Often used in the theme footer (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, among others)

Next, you’ll choose a theme for your online store. You can use a templated theme or create your own. If you use a premade theme, you can customize it, so it’s unique for your online store. Browse free and paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store.

Click Customize theme from your Shopify dashboard to access free themes, purchase a theme, or upload a theme.

Once you find one you like, click Try theme to test it before purchasing and adding it to your site. If you like the theme, select Buy theme (Add theme if it’s free) to apply it to your Shopify store.

You can also choose to upload the .zip file to your Shopify site if you have your own theme. To do this, go to Themes in the left navigation bar and click Upload theme. A window will pop up; select Choose File and upload the .zip file you want to use.

When choosing a theme, consider the following:

• Make sure the theme follows ecommerce website design principles.
• Check if the theme you like has the features you need built in, like a search bar that auto-completes queries or a section that displays press mentions.
• Don’t pick a theme based on colors or fonts. These are all things you can customize later.
• Try a paid theme before you purchase it for a one-time fee.

The default theme for Shopify is Dawn. You can click on the Customize button to add design elements and make the store your own. We will discuss how to do it in the upcoming sections.

The dropdown menus on your site help users navigate different pages, and you can customize these accordingly. From the navigation bar, scroll to Sales Channels > Online Store. Click on Navigation.

Shopify has default navigation menus you can easily edit. You can also add new menus or link to lists for nested menus.

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Click Add menu item to add new navigation options. Here, you’ll enter the title and where you want it to link. When you’ve added all your menu items, hit Save menu.

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You can add three types of navigation to your website:

1. Main navigation or top menu. To avoid cluttering it, you can create submenus (i.e., dropdown menus) under each item.
2. Footer navigation. This is where you put links to pages that might distract visitors but still need to be available. Most online shoppers will know to look here for information like your return policy or contact page.
3. Search. This is especially useful if you have an extensive catalog of products and many pages on your website.

Your Shopify store should consist of more than just a homepage. You’ll need product pages, a contact page, and other pages to help users get to know your brand and products.

To add a new page, go to Pages under the Online Store menu in the navigation bar. Then click Add page.

To publish the page, choose a publish date under Visibility. If you’re not ready for the public to see it yet, you can always select Hidden or schedule it for a future date. When you’re done, click Save.

Your Shopify store pages use a WYSIWYG editor.

You don’t need to have all your pages ready for launch, but some of the most helpful pages to your shoppers are the following: About page, Contact page, FAQ page, Policy pages.

• About page: Some ideas to include on this page are 1) a video introducing yourself or the business; 2) links to awards and press mentions; and 3) images that explain your supply chain or display the faces behind your business operations.
• Contact page: Most Shopify themes let you create one easily. Give instructions to help customers get in touch or even link out to other pages, like an FAQ, to help customers troubleshoot their own problems first.
• FAQ page: A frequently asked questions page helps address some of the common customer support inquiries.
• Policy pages: Policy pages are standard practice for online businesses. Under Settings > Legal in Shopify, you can generate templates that you can customize according to your business and local laws. It is recommended you develop the following policies: return policy, privacy policy, terms of service, and shipping policy.

The final step in designing your store is customizing the look and feel. To make additional tweaks to the design of your Shopify site, you can go back to the Themes section of your Online Store from the navigation bar. Find the theme you want to edit and click Customize.

When designing your homepage, think about what goals you want your homepage to accomplish and determine how they can help with your business. For example:

• Prioritize first-time visitors. Help them quickly understand your business to encourage them to buy.
• Accommodate returning visitors, and make it easy for them to navigate and purchase items.
• Design your homepage with the intention that most will be viewing from their phones. Make it easy for them to scroll.

You can easily move, add, delete, or hide sections in your theme editor.

Shopify has previews for desktop and mobile.

Depending on where your business and customers are located, you may need to adjust your Shopify store’s tax settings. Shopify automatically adjusts taxes for US-based sellers and sales, but you’ll need to add tax and enter your tax registrations if you’re in Canada or use default or custom rates for each location if you’re outside the US and Canada.

Navigate to Taxes and duties in the left menu (Under Settings) to review your default settings. You can also adjust taxes for shipping, specific products or collections, digital products, exempt customers, and more.

Shopify makes it easier for you to include or exclude taxes on your product pricing.

Before you can launch your store beyond the free trial, you’ll need to give Shopify your credit card or bank account information for recurring payments. You can update this at any time.

This new pricing is effective immediately for new sellers. Current Shopify subscribers can lock in their current rates by opting for an annual subscription before the new pricing takes effect for current sellers on April 23, 2023.

To manage and change your billing information, navigate to Finances in the left navigation menu and click on Billing. Go to the Payments methods section to change your billing method. You’ll want to look for something that indicates “replace.” You can also view your billing history under Recent bills.

Shopify can send notifications to you, your team, or your customers when certain parameters have been met. For example, you can receive an alert each time a new order is placed, an item has gone out of stock, or a package has been shipped. Go to Notifications in the left menu to do the following:

• Edit notification templates
• Add, modify, or delete notifications
• Create email and SMS notifications

Look for Shipping and delivery in the Settings menu. Here, you can do the following:

• Add shipping locations
• Add, edit, and delete package types (look for Packages)
• Configure default package dimensions (in the Saved packages section)

Configure custom shipping rates, local pickup and delivery, and save package sizes in this section of your Shopify store settings.

Shopify allows merchants to have the following policies:

• Refund policy
• Privacy policy
• Terms of service
• Shipping policy
• Legal notice
• COVID-19 prevention policy

Find Policies in your Settings menu and either enter your ready-to-go policies or click Create from template to use Shopify’s boilerplate copy as a starting point. When your changes are complete, click Save. These policies will display on your Shopify site’s footer. You can also add them to product pages, store menus, and social media. You can choose to create your store policy from Shopify’s existing template.

Now it’s time to design what the customer experience is like when shoppers check out. One of the best things about Shopify is that it allows you to create a fairly customized checkout experience without having to navigate any code. That also means there are a lot of settings you can wade through.

Shopify’s new drag-and-drop checkout editor lets you easily customize your checkout page with your branding colors, images, and fonts. (Source: Shopify)

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Shopify’s new checkout page also lets you install checkout apps that can be easily edited in the new checkout editor. (Source: Shopify)

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Navigate to Settings > Checkout and accounts to manage:

• Customer accounts: Choose whether user logins are disabled, optional, or required for purchases.
• Contact methods: Select whether shoppers can provide their email and/or phone number at checkout, or if their email is required. Also, choose whether or not shoppers are prompted to add notifications for shipping updates or download Shopify’s Shop app to track order status.
• Form options: Choose what fields are hidden, optional, or required for customers to fill in at checkout, including first and last name, company name, address, and phone number.
• Shipping: Choose whether or not to display shipping options.
• Order processing: Select whether or not to use a customer’s shipping address as the default billing address, whether electronic items such as gift cards should be automatically fulfilled, and when a customer order should be archived.
• Email marketing: Decide whether or not to show a sign-up option at checkout and if it should be pre-selected.

You can also use the theme editor to make adjustments like adding a background, logo, or image; changing the font and colors; adding bot prevention; and adjusting the form fields.

Before opening your Shopify store to the public, give it a test run with a dummy transaction. Go to Payments in your settings menu on the left. Disable your payment gateway if needed.

Follow the steps to activate testing:

1. In the Shopify payments section, click Manage.
2. At the bottom of the page, click Switch to a third-party provider, and then click Switch to a third-party provider again to confirm.
3. Select (for testing) Bogus Gateway from the list.
4. Click Activate (for testing) Bogus Gateway. Hit Save.

Shopify recommends testing more than just placing an order, including other things like

• Successful transactions
• Failed transactions
• Refunds
• Canceled orders
• Partial vs whole fulfillment
• Archiving successful orders

After successfully running a test transaction, it’s time to publish your store by removing its password. To do this, go to Online Store > Preferences from the navigation menu and click Remove Password.

Shopify has built-in analytics tracking and reporting and works with third-party providers like Google Analytics. Its native data reporting tools will automatically kick on. You’ll have three separate tools right out of the gate: Dashboards, Reports, and Live View.

The dashboard allows you to see daily or date range-specific statistics like total sales, returning customer rate, conversion rate, average order value, traffic source, and more. Reports offer detailed breakdowns in eight categories: sales, acquisition, profit margin, customers, behavior, finances, marketing, and inventory. Live view allows you to see your current site visitors.

Shopify offers over a dozen additional sales channels, including POS, Facebook, Instagram, eBay, Messenger, Google, Pinterest, and B2B wholesale storefronts.

To add sales channels, you can find the corresponding channel in the Shopify App Store or your dashboard, depending on the channel. For the latter, click the “>” icon next to the Sales channels heading in your left menu.

An example of livestream shopping in a YouTube channel where products are pinned and tagged during the livestream. (Source: Shopify)

Shopify Email allows you to send newsletters to your subscribers. Add the app to your store and then access it through your dashboard in the Marketing section. Click Create campaign and then select Shopify Email to build your first email.

Allow customers to opt-in to receive emails. This is a setting you can configure under Settings > Checkout.

Marketing on Shopify comes with a range of marketing tools to help you build and promote campaigns including blogging tools, SEO features, automation tools, targeting Facebook ads, Google advertising, and more.

Shopify’s automation apps and add-ons include options for abandoned cart recovery, SMS messaging for promotions, and email list segmentation.

Alternatively, you can also enhance your Shopify store by using apps from the Shopify App Store. We have a list of recommended Shopify apps for ecommerce growth.

Another area of your store where you’ll want to keep SEO in mind is the Title and meta description fields, which can be found under Sales Channels > Online Store > Preferences.

Set up SEO settings for your whole store in the Preferences tab in your navigation menu sidebar. Always remember search engines show the most relevant results to the user, so try to choose keywords that are directly relevant to your business.

This is an example of what your reports look like from your dashboard. You can customize date ranges for comparison.

To learn more about your customers, go to Analytics in the left navigation and select Reports. Look for the Customers section. Here, you can find the following insights as well as customize your own reports:

• Customers over time
• First-time vs returning customer sales
• Customers by location
• Returning customers
• One-time customers
• At-risk customers
• Loyal customers