Shopify Tutorial: How To Set up Shopify

When Rod and Cesar, co-founders of coffee brand BLK & Bold, were ready to create a website, they considered all options.

"We started with a little bit of experimentation—maybe Wix, Squarespace, WordPress," says Rod, chief values officer.

Ultimately, they launched with Shopify because it helped them start a store then grow a business across sales channels.

"What compelled us to go with Shopify over the others was how intuitive it is," Rod says. "Some of those other solutions are more segmented, but Shopify checked off significantly more boxes for us. Being the bootstrap entrepreneurs that we were at the time, it made more sense for us to reduce as much overhead as we possibly could."

Here's how to design and launch your store with Shopify in just a few steps.

How to set up a Shopify store

1. Create a Shopify account
2. Add products
3. Choose your theme
4. Customize your site
5. Add a custom domain
6. Configure shipping settings
7. Set up payments
8. Add pages
9. Connect apps
10. Create a test order
11. Launch your store

1. Create a Shopify account

Visit Shopify and complete account setup. Shopify plans begin with a three-day free trial. After your trial expires, your first three months cost 1ドル per month.

The most popular plan, Shopify Basic, costs 29ドル per month when billed annually.

From your account, you can explore your Shopify admin dashboard, the control center for your ecommerce business. Click through the vertical menu on the left-hand side to familiarize yourself with the dashboard's key features.

You'll revisit the dashboard to design your store, create marketing campaigns, organize customer information, manage inventory, and monitor performance.

2. Add products

Select "Products" in the left side of your browser window. Choose "Add product" to navigate to the products section of the admin dashboard.

Input your first product title and description, upload images, and add pricing information. You can also add a product category, product variants like color or size, stock keeping unit (SKU) or barcode information. Next, select sales channels, configure tax and inventory tracking options, and edit the product's search engine title and description.

When you finish adding your first product, click "Save." You can add the rest of your products now or save this task for later, but consider adding a few items to start. This will make experimenting with product display options more productive when you choose your design theme.

If you don't yet have products to sell, consider dropshipping as a low-risk way to start your business. With dropshipping, you can sell products without holding inventory—suppliers handle storage and shipping directly to your customers. This approach lets you test different products and markets before investing in your own inventory.

3. Choose your theme

Shopify themes are pre-built templates that help you jumpstart your store design, organizational method, and store features.

Explore more than 100 free and paid themes on the Shopify Theme Store. Select the best fit for your site, and customize it to meet your specific brand and functionality requirements.

From the setup guide, select "Customize your online store" and "Customize theme." The admin dashboard will display your current theme at the top of the section. Scroll down to "Theme library" and click "Add theme," then "Visit theme store." Browse the store, selecting "All themes" to view the entire library or "Collections" to filter results by style, feature, or price.

Find a theme you like and click "Try theme" to add it to your theme library. Return to your theme library, click the "Publish" button below your new theme name, and click "View your store" in the upper-right-hand corner of your browser window to preview your design.

Experiment with various themes until you find one that suits your organizational needs and brand guidelines.

4. Customize your site

Navigate to the themes section from the setup guide—or by selecting "Sales channels," "Online store," and "Themes" in the vertical menu on the left-hand side of your browser window. Scroll down to your current theme and click "Customize" to open your site editor.

Use this tool to edit individual pages, add content, and customize your theme settings. To edit page content, locate the vertical menu on the left-hand side of your browser window and click the "Sections" icon. Then select a page from the dropdown list in the horizontal menu bar and update the displayed content using the live website editor.

To apply changes to your entire site, select the "Theme settings" icon from the vertical menu bar. The site builder will display a comprehensive list of settings including logo, colors, typography, layout, and media. Click on each one to view theme presets and apply changes. If you want to change your heading text font to align with your brand standards, for example, you'd select "Typography," then "Headings," then "Change."

5. Add a custom domain

Your domain name is your online business's URL. The default URL for Shopify stores is a myshopify.com domain. You can use this domain for free. Alternatively, you can purchase a domain, or connect an existing on .

To navigate to domain settings, return to the setup guide and click "Sell products," "Add a custom domain," and "Add domain." You can also navigate to this section by clicking "Settings" at the bottom left corner.

The dashboard will display your automatically assigned myshopify.com URL. If you already own a custom domain, click "Connect existing domain" and follow the prompts to connect it with your online store.

If you don't yet own a domain, click "Buy domain" to purchase a custom domain. You can also purchase a domain from a third-party registrar and add it using the "Connect an existing domain" workflow.

6. Configure shipping settings

Return to the setup guide and select "Store settings," then "Set your shipping rates" to visit the shipping and delivery section of the admin dashboard.

Shopify automatically adds domestic and international shipping zones, which determine shipping rates and can help you collect taxes. You can visit the Shopify Help Center to learn more about Shopify tax collection or consult a tax professional for support.

Use the admin dashboard to add and remove zones and adjust rates to match your shipping policy. If you're planning on offering free shipping, for example, you might set domestic delivery fees to 0ドル and roll shipping expenses into product prices.

You can also configure delivery methods, connect with trusted 3PL partners through the Shopify Fulfillment Network, or buy and print discounted shipping labels directly from your Shopify admin for USPS, UPS, and DHL Express.

7. Set up payments

From the setup menu, navigate to "Settings" and select "Payments." Here you can activate Shopify Payments. Merchants who use Shopify Payments don't pay transaction fees for payments processed through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, or PayPal Express—or on cash payments or bank transfers.

You can also use the dashboard to connect one of Shopify's approved payment gateways or other payment providers and set up manual payment options, like bank deposits, money orders, or cash on delivery.

8. Add pages

Your Shopify store comes with a pre-built homepage, contact page, and checkout page, and Shopify creates and populates product pages as you add items to your store. You can edit page content in the site builder and configure your checkout page and customer account settings by clicking "Settings," and then "Checkout" at the bottom of the left-hand vertical menu.

You can also add other page types, such as an About page showcasing your brand story or an employment page advertising career opportunities. To add a page, select "Online store," then "Pages" from the vertical menu on the left-hand side of your dashboard. Then click "Add page" and input new page information.

9. Connect apps

Apps can extend the functionality of your online store. The Shopify App Store includes thousands of native and third-party apps to help you manage your store and other sales channels, fulfill orders, and drive traffic to your store.

To connect apps, select "Settings," then "Apps and sales channels." Click "Shopify App Store" to visit the App Store, then browse apps or use the search bar to locate apps by name or functionality.

For example, you might use search engine optimization apps to improve your performance in search engine results. Or select the "Marketing and conversion" section from the dropdown menu to view a collection of apps that help businesses generate organic traffic, boost conversion rates, and increase average order value.

New store owners often benefit from dropshipping apps that help you find and add products to sell without managing inventory.

10. Create a test order

Test orders ensure your checkout process is working and that your order processing, inventory, and shipping settings are correct before you launch your store.

Return to the setup guide and navigate to the final section, "Launch your online store." Click "Place a test order" to view Shopify's test order instructions. If you're using Shopify Payments, you can place an order in test mode. You can also use Shopify's Bogus Gateway or place and cancel an order from a third-party payment provider. In each case, you'll visit your checkout page and place an order the same way your customers will.

Consider testing various payment methods and placing multiple orders using different devices. You can also test discount codes and input multiple shipment addresses to confirm that your site is calculating taxes accurately.

11. Launch your store

Shopify automatically password-protects your store during the development process. Once you're ready to launch, return to the setup guide and click on "Launch your site," then "Remove password."

Enter a homepage title and a meta description (the text that appears on a search engine listing section). Then add your social sharing image and connect Google Analytics or add a Meta pixel if applicable. Finally, scroll down to the password protection section and remove your password to launch your store to the public and start selling products online.

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