Setting Up a Shopify Online Store – How to Do It in a Few Days

How to create a Shopify online store? What should an entrepreneur consider in this process? We have compiled a concise guide on how to establish a Shopify online store in a couple of days or a few days without prior experience in building online stores or using Shopify.

In this guide, we start from the assumption that you already have a company, products to sell in the online store, and some visual elements.

Why choose Shopify when setting up an online store?

Let's start by briefly explaining why you should choose Shopify when there are other excellent options available for setting up an online store. One of Shopify's leading competitors, which we also favor in our online stores, is WooCommerce.

WooCommerce, unlike Shopify, is not a standalone system but a plugin installed on a WordPress website. Therefore, to set up a WooCommerce online store, you must have a pre-built WordPress site.

WooCommerce offers various installable plugins that make it easier to implement the online store without web development skills or prior experience with WordPress/WooCommerce. However, suitable plugins must first be found and activated, which is usually time-consuming if you don't know what you're doing. Generally, it can be said that setting up a Shopify online store is easier and faster for beginners.

Setting up an online store on the Shopify platform does not require as much familiarization as WooCommerce or experience in the matter. The tools needed to set up a store are conveniently available from Shopify. These include, for example, online store design tools, product management, and hosting services, which are included in Shopify's packages. Unlike WooCommerce, additional services or integrations do not need to be separately acquired in Shopify.

Shopify is particularly appreciated by those online retailers and entrepreneurs who want to take the easy route and get their online store up and running quickly – even in just a few days.

In terms of appearance, Shopify also offers plenty of options to choose from a variety of themes, which can be customized to a certain extent to your liking without coding skills. Even a beginner can easily change fonts, colors, and other details of the online store. If your online store requires more customization, coding skills and professional assistance will then be needed.

The platform in question is therefore relatively simple to use, and in practice, setting up a Shopify online store can take as little time as a couple of days. In this case, as an online retailer, you need to have some materials ready, such as product descriptions and images, as well as the brand's visual elements, like a logo, colors, and fonts.

One of the advantages of a Shopify online store is the round-the-clock technical support, which provides entrepreneurs with answers to their questions when needed. This can be especially important when you are setting up an online store on your own without external assistance.

This is how setting up a Shopify online store is practically done

1. Create an account and set up a Shopify online store

The first step is the easiest – you register on the e-commerce platform and, of course, create a Shopify account. At the time of publishing this article, you can take advantage of a three-day free trial, during which you don't have to pay anything for setting up a Shopify online store.

When registering for the store, you will first be asked for your personal information and the name of your online store. It is advisable to choose a unique and easily memorable and writable name for the store – it can also simply be the name of your company or domain.

The final name of the online store does not need to be known at this point, as you can change it later if you wish.

2. Choose a Shopify theme and customize it

Next, you can start thinking about how you want your new online store to look. You probably already have some ideas in mind for this; visual elements of the brand, color scheme, and guidelines that define the appearance of your online store.

The Shopify Theme Store offers hundreds of both free and paid themes, from which you can choose the appearance that suits you best and customize it to your liking.

With a free theme, you can mainly adjust the colors and fonts of the online store and change the logo. These themes may well be sufficient for some entrepreneurs and online retailers, but most often paying for a Shopify theme is worthwhile. This way, you can customize more elements and create an online store that truly reflects your brand and looks professional.

Paid themes also allow you to modify your online store's code, enabling you to customize the appearance and individual functions entirely according to your needs. Those with the necessary skills and time can do this conveniently themselves, while others can seek assistance from a web developer thoroughly familiar with Shopify, for example, from us.

Free and paid themes are available in Finnish, but more broadly they are available in English. If the theme you choose is in English, you can update it to Finnish or the language of your customers using Shopify's functions. You can find more instructions on changing the language and other practical matters in Shopify's own guide.

Once you have made the necessary modifications and officially activated the theme, remember to publish it separately.

3. List the products you sell in the online store

The next step in setting up your Shopify online store is to add the products you are selling. You can do this by navigating to the Products tab in Shopify and clicking “Add product.”

Before you start adding products, it would be good for you to familiarize yourself with how your competitors and other popular Shopify stores organize and present their products, if you haven't already done so.

This is particularly important because the solutions you choose to showcase your products will impact the success of your online store either positively or negatively. Clear product categories and listings not only help potential customers find your products more quickly and easily, but also contribute to the visibility of your online store in search engines alongside other solutions.

In the opposite situation, search engines may not understand the structure of your site. Similarly, a paying customer may also become confused, leading them to leave the site quickly. Both scenarios weaken your sales and your ranking in search engine results.

In addition, when adding products to an online store, it is always worth considering that there is no opportunity to familiarize oneself with the product in the same way as in a traditional brick-and-mortar store. If sufficient information is not provided or the information offered is incorrect, the customer is unlikely to purchase from your online store. Therefore, it is worth investing in product information.

At least consider these things when listing products in the online store:

• Product Titles: the title should clearly convey what you are selling. A good product title is short and concise, captures the customer's interest, and includes keywords that potential customers use to search for your product online.
  
  
  

• Product Descriptions: The product descriptions should reveal the most important features of your product and the benefits your customer will receive. The product description does not need to be very short, as besides images/videos, this is the only substantial information a potential customer will get about your product.
  
  However, it is not advisable to start writing a novel. Make the descriptions easy to read and quickly scannable by writing shorter paragraphs and including lists in the text. Remember to utilize relevant keywords in the product descriptions as well.
  
  
  

• Product images and videos: ensure that the images and videos of the product are of high quality and showcase the product in the best possible light. Products may sometimes go unsold due to poor product images/videos, as low-quality online store content can easily reduce trust in the product and your online store.
  
  
  

• Product groups/categories are important for both you and your customers, as they help potential customers find your products more easily and facilitate product management as an online retailer. It is advisable to group online store products based on, for example, product types, gender, age, and offers or campaigns.‍

4. Choose the best payment methods for your customers

To accept payments, you must first set up the payment methods for your online store. Shopify offers a wide range of flexible options for this, but it is advisable to carefully consider them based on your customers' preferences.

If you run an online store in Finland, it is advisable for the entrepreneur to consider the overwhelmingly most popular payment method among Finns, which is online banking payment. If this payment method is not available in your online store, some customers may not complete their purchases.

According to Visma, after online banking, the most popular payment methods in 2022 were payment card, mobile payment, invoice, and installment, meaning that online retailers should consider offering these payment methods to Finnish customers as well.

Shopify offers its users its own Shopify Payments service, which allows customers to pay with a card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Shopify itself does not offer online banking payment, so this option may be more suitable for an online store with mostly international customers.

When choosing a payment service for your online store, remember to consider the fees charged. Most payment services charge something for each transaction. Ideally, you should find a service with relatively low fees.

In the domestic market, probably the best option is to use a third-party payment service that enables online banking payments. In our experience, the best value-for-money payment service provider is the Finnish Paytrail.

5. Add the missing information to the online store

A Shopify online store cannot be launched with incomplete information. Before publishing the online store to the public, you should add information related to your business and e-commerce activities.

Set up your Shopify account settings at least for your company's information (such as contact details, business ID, and VAT number), the value-added tax on products, the shipping methods and prices for the online store, and the information requested from customers at checkout. Before publishing, you must also add to the online store the terms of payment, delivery, and return visible to visitors, as well as a GDPR-compliant privacy policy, for which templates can be found online.

Remember at this point to also carefully select the delivery methods for your online store. It is advisable to offer a wide range of delivery methods, so that customers can choose the most suitable option for themselves and the transaction is not hindered by the lack of a preferred delivery method.

In Finland, good and comprehensive options include Posti, Matkahuolto, and PostNord, but in international markets, it may be more profitable to choose a supplier such as DHL and/or UPS. Our tip is to choose a delivery method for your online store that is certainly familiar to your customer and thus also a safe option.

In online shopping, it is also important to pay attention to the timing of announcing shipping costs. If you can present them to the customer sooner rather than later, do so, as unexpected shipping costs announced only at checkout can interrupt several transactions.

6. Choose a domain and publish the online store

Once you have completed all the previous tasks, it is time to choose a domain name and publish the online store for customers to see.

You can use the free domain option provided by Shopify. However, if you do not want your online store's address to be something like www.maijankauppa.myshopify.com, you will need to pay for the domain. We recommend paying for the domain, as an address like the example does not look very professional and may deter more demanding customers.

Directly from Shopify, you can acquire .com and other international domain names. Finnish domain names are not available from Shopify, so a .fi domain must be obtained elsewhere, for example from Zoner. On the other hand, a domain name you have acquired and already existing can be easily connected to your Shopify store from the settings. 

If you are in a hurry to get the store up and running, not all the things we discussed in the article need to be completed immediately. You can launch the online store prematurely and return to refine details, such as product descriptions, later. However, we recommend polishing the store to be as presentable as possible before allowing customers to browse the pages. 

If you already have some of the materials ready, setting up a Shopify online store can very well take just a couple of days.

If everything is not ready, ensure that even the incomplete online store functions flawlessly, is easy and pleasant for the customer to use, and that its content is of high quality. It is also advisable to check the store for spelling errors and, for example, test the functionality of all buttons, links, and other features before publication.

Remember, that sales are not made without marketing.

As with all commerce, if you don't market the online store you've established, people won't find it. Therefore, we provide a few extra tips to ensure that potential customers find your online store now and in the future.

Here's how to ensure your Shopify store sells:

• Ensure that you have refined the product titles and descriptions to be appealing and optimized them with relevant keywords that your products are searched for on Google. Produce high-quality and sufficiently extensive content for the entire site, do not leave the online store half-empty. Good content is not just for search engines, but it also builds trust in your company and online store.
  
  
  

• Optimize your Shopify store for search engines even at a basic level. Search engine optimization involves ongoing and partially technical measures, but you can improve visibility in search engines simply by optimizing the store's images and texts and eliminating unnecessary elements that slow down its loading time.
  
  
  

• To make it more likely for a customer to make a purchase when landing on your website, ensure that your Shopify store is as user-friendly as possible and the site experience is as straightforward as possible. When designing your Shopify store, put yourself in the customer's shoes and ask yourself at least the following questions: What kind of online store and layout is easiest to navigate? How do I organize the products so that the customer can find them effortlessly? How can I simplify the checkout process?

• Ensure that the online store you design is definitely fast (loading time under a couple of seconds, otherwise you risk customers getting annoyed and leaving the site) and that it works flawlessly on different devices; mobile, computer, and tablet. An efficiently running online store helps to promote both search engine visibility and sales.
  
  
  

• Advertise your Shopify online store on social media and/or search engines. Advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Google can significantly boost your online store's traffic and consequently sales. However, it is important to note that digital advertising will not save the sales of a poorly made online store if the mentioned aspects are not in order before starting the advertising.
  
  
  

• To ensure that the online store supports sales as effectively as possible, it is essential to invest in a professional and beautiful appearance. Therefore, make sure that the visual choices of the online store, such as the logo, fonts, and color scheme, correctly convey your brand and that these choices are suitable for the online world.

For example, an incorrect font can slow down the loading time of an online store, a logo in an inappropriate file format can easily become pixelated, and a poor color choice often results in either insufficient contrast on the website or the entire appearance of the online store suffering. In such cases, it may be difficult for the customer to read the text of the online store, and the online store may not look as good as you intended it to.

Branding goes beyond just visual elements, as it tells who your company is and how you differ from competing companies and online stores. With a carefully planned brand, you build trust and create a competitive advantage for yourself. Therefore, it is advisable to invest in creating a strong brand preferably before establishing a Shopify online store rather than after.

Often, investing in a professional online store is essential if you want to build a memorable and trustworthy brand as well as an effectively converting (selling) online store.

You can certainly achieve the goal on your own, but it will inevitably take more time with learning and mistakes. If you want to have an effective Shopify online store right away, it is advisable to contact an expert in the field directly.

Growly implements goal-oriented brand design and efficiently converting online stores with years of expertise. You can find the online stores we have designed here.

‍

Establishing vs. Running a Shopify Online Store

Hopefully, with these lessons, you can create an efficient Shopify store if you decide to do it yourself. However, we remind you one last time that setting up any online store (whether it's a Shopify or any other online store) differs greatly from running it.

Although setting up a Shopify online store can theoretically be done in just a few simple days (not taking into account other aspects like product and brand design), maintaining and marketing the store usually takes at least days or weeks per month going forward.

If you yourself are unable to invest in the success of your online store, you might also consider outsourcing marketing to a specialist company.

At Growly, we have already helped over 150 companies achieve results through web design, conversion optimization, search engine optimization, and digital advertising, and we are happy to assist you as well.