Shopify is an excellent platform for building an ecommerce business and online storefront. It has over 1 million stores and is one of the biggest e-commerce platforms.
Considering how many people prefer to shop online than in-store, store owners have a huge revenue opportunity.
Online sellers who use effective methods for making money online and marketing their products or services can exponentially increase their online sales.
With so much competition, how do you make money on Shopify?
I can help you there.
I created this guide to teach you how to make money on Shopify.
Let’s begin.
Checklist for Launching Your Shopify Store
Beginners or experienced entrepreneurs looking to expand their businesses online with an online platform need basic guidelines to figure out how to make money on Shopify.
Before you can make money on Shopify, follow this checklist.
- Prepare a business plan.
- Thoroughly consider your business idea before investing.
- Identify your ecommerce niche and target audience.
- List the digital channels where you want to promote your brand.
- Devise an SEO strategy.
- Choose your shipping and payment methods.
- Create a functional and SEO-friendly website aligned with search engine guidelines.
How To Make Money on Shopify
There are many ways to make money on Shopify, from selling handmade products to becoming an expert on this e-commerce platform.
Here are 16 tips to make money on Shopify.
1 – Build and Operate a Traditional Online Store.
While brick-and-mortar stores are among the best ways to deliver customer experience, the popularity of online shopping makes it necessary to translate in-store experiences online.
You need a POS system that connects to your ecommerce platform. Shopify POS software syncs your online store data with business data like sales, inventory, and more.
Selling digital gift cards is another excellent way for brick-and-mortar businesses to start selling online and generate instant cash flow.
When launching products for online purchase, local delivery, or pickup, your customers can redeem these gift cards during checkout.
Shopify is a free e-commerce platform, so the transition shouldn’t cost you anything.
However, the Shopify Capital program can help if you need extra cash. The program helps store owners fund their businesses with loans ranging from $200 to $1,000,000.
2- Start an Ecommerce Store.
Helping e-commerce businesses is one of Shopify’s core values. The platform can help you quickly develop an online business.
Your Shopify store can also have a blog to drive organic traffic without paying for website maintenance. Shopify apps can also help boost sales.
Ensure you investigate the SEO keyword system. You can optimize your business with Shopify’s web structure if you have multiple digital platforms.
As with most e-commerce platforms, Shopify has many features and pricing tiers.
Depending on the price, you get various services tailored to your business and maximize your revenue.
You can choose from Shopify, Shopify Lite, Basic Shopify, Standard Shopify, and Advanced Shopify.
Take advantage of Shopify’s free two-week trial, which will give you enough time to set up your online store, operations, and business.
After the trial ends, you can choose which Shopify options best suit your online business.
3- Make Your Own Clothing Line.
The most popular way to make money with Shopify is to sell products.
Shopify’s second largest industry is apparel and fashion. There are multiple themes available from the ecommerce giant for clothing business owners.
Get your creative juices flowing and start a clothing line if you’re a fashion fanatic. Whether you want to sew the clothes yourself or let someone else do it, Shopify makes it easy to start your own clothing company.
You must be creative to make your brand unique among thousands of fashion brands in your community.
Shopify has partnerships with Printful and Printify and offers print-on-demand apps to help you find clothes printers and manufacturers. They also handle retail fulfillment, so you don’t have to worry about stock or packing.
4- Turn Your Shopify Experience Into Products.
Take what you’ve learned about Shopify and use it to generate income.
The best way to make money as a Shopify entrepreneur is to write a business blog or create a training course, digital marketing materials, or YouTube tutorials.
5- Flip Shopify Stores.
Building a Shopify store and selling it for profit is another way to make money with Shopify. You’re more likely to get results if you put in more effort.
To make a store more appealing and profitable, you could create a social media presence and invest in marketing before selling it.
The price you can get for your Shopify store depends on many factors, including your business’s stage and market value. Startup Shopify businesses can cost as little as $50, while established six-figure stores can cost over $1 million!
6- Create a Shopify Dropshipping Business Model.
There are some options for setting up an ecommerce business with a limited budget, such as dropshipping.
A dropshipping business model eliminates the need to find suppliers and enter inventory. When customers buy something from your Shopify Store, your dropshipping supplier gets the order info automatically. After that, the dropshipping supplier will deliver the item to your customer.
Some of Shopify’s most popular categories are women’s clothing and accessories, jewelry, home and garden, and beauty.
You’ve got a lot of advantages with a dropshipping business. It allows you to work with Oberlo, Spocket, and DSers, some of the world’s biggest dropshipping providers.
You can also integrate with other sales channels, such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook Ads, to promote and advertise your products.
7- Join the Shopify Affiliate Program.
Individuals and publishers can become Shopify Affiliate Partners.
Once Shopify approves your request, you’ll get an affiliate link to promote the product or service.
The Shopify Affiliate Program is open to content creators, influencers, educators, or anyone who wants to inspire their audiences to start and optimize their businesses with Shopify.
You must refer your audience to Shopify to join the Shopify Affiliate Program. You will receive a commission whenever your audiences sign up for Shopify Business Plans.
There’s no cost to join, and it’s easy.
Shopify offers many resources to help partners with their audience engagement strategies, including online courses, blogs, guidelines, and sharings on the Shopify community.
Use Shopify affiliate marketing with a focused website that gives customers valuable insights. Concentrate on factors like search engine optimization and article content.
The approach (separate niche) and expansion (coming up with new areas) should match your interests and abilities.
You can also sell affiliate products on your Shopify store. You can make more money from reselling products for a commission-based profit if you have a good reach and need some product variants.
8- Provide Shopify Merchants With Custom Services.
There’s an endless number of services you can offer Shopify merchants. For example, you can start doing search engine optimization (SEO) services for enterprise Shopify stores.
You can offer marketing, design, copywriting, development, inventory management, fulfillment, and other services.
9- Offer Your Freelance Service By Blogging.
There’s a good chance you’ve come across a business blog that helps brands share knowledge, build an audience, generate leads, and increase sales.
The benefits of blogging include developing thought leadership, expanding knowledge, sharing writing skills, and using marketing tools. Anyone can become a blogger, create valuable, appealing content, and monetize it.
Here are a few ways to start a blog.
- Discuss topics that interest your audience, and share life experiences or ideas.
- Educate readers on pressing issues.
- Publish a list of products and services for sale.
- Creating a personal brand.
10- Monetize Social Media.
Turning a social media following into a revenue stream is another excellent option when wondering how to make money on Shopify.
When you’re maximizing your product marketing on social media platforms and want to turn these social channels into revenue streams, selling on Instagram with Shopify could be the way to go.
With Shopify’s starting plan, you can add “buy now” links to your Facebook and Instagram posts. Getting good results from your social media marketing campaigns can be an excellent opportunity to earn extra income.
You can connect your Shopify stores to multiple social ecommerce platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. You can use Shopify App Store integration apps to do this quickly.
You can also build Shopify communities for people who love ecommerce and making money.
Another popular way to learn how to make money on Shopify is to work as a social media consultant. Creators who have been successful on TikTok and Instagram are now showcasing their skills.
The brands will hire you as a social media consultant to develop creative ideas, develop content strategies, produce videos, and more. For digital nomads, it’s a money-making opportunity because you can run your business from your smartphone.
11- Sell Print-on-Demand Products.
Selling print-on-demand products is also an excellent option for making money on Shopify.
With print-on-demand, you don’t have to worry about stocking up. Rather than stocking hundreds of thousands of items and waiting for them to sell, you only create them as online orders come in.
The Shopify platform has everything you need to build an online print-on-demand business.
Here are some products available for print-on-demand.
- Accessories
- Art prints
- Bags
- Books
- Calendars
- Gift cards
- Hats
- Invitation cards
- Mugs
- Phone/laptop cases
- Postcards
- Stickers
- T-shirts
- Tank tops
- Towels
Ensure your POD business does not use reserved rights images.
It’s okay not to have factories and shippers. Third-party partners can help you complete your manufacturing work and fulfillment procedures, including storing your products and delivering them to your customers.
Here’s how Shopify helps you make money with print-on-demand.
- Shopify offers free themes and templates for creating print-on-demand stores.
- Shopify allows easy integration with the best print-on-demand companies, including Printful, Printify, Custom Cat, and more.
- The Buy Button allows Shopify merchants to create embeddable product cards and add checkout buttons to any website.
The Buy Button is perfect for you if you already have an existing website and don’t want to open another Shopify store.
12- Become a Shopify Expert and Sell Your Services.
The Shopify ecosystem now includes a promising market for merchants and a marketplace for third-party commerce businesses and experts.
The Shopify Experts marketplace lets freelancers and entrepreneurs share their expertise with other Shopify store owners on various topics.
- SKUs and inventory setups
- Marketing strategies
- SEO
- PPC (Pay Per Click)
- Store design
- Data analysis
- Store development
Bring your expertise to Shopify merchants who need your help. Doing so provides handsome rewards and exposure to many potential customers.
Shopify Payments are also hassle-free, so all you have to do is to provide a solution and decent customer service.
13- Create an Online Course.
Creating a course is one of the ways to make money on Shopify that’s both fun and challenging.
Note that online courses take a lot of work to produce.
You must have solid experience and expert knowledge. You must also be able to systematize your knowledge and document your best advice.
Promoting your services and convincing customers to pay is also essential.
The advantage of creating an online course is that it’s a digital product. There’s almost no cost involved in making it available to customers.
14- Sell Digital Products and Art.
Whether you’re a painter, photographer, illustrator, or work with other art media, Shopify’s a great way to sell art online.
Putting up an art store where people can find prints, digital art, custom art, and all sorts of handcrafted pieces is another way to curate art pieces.
It’s basically like Etsy, except you can set up a website or sell from your social media page. Using Shopify, you can create your own website matching your design philosophy and aesthetic, making it even more immersive for your clients and followers.
You must disable shipping for digital products in the Shopify admin dashboard.
15- Resell Vintage Items and Thrift Store Finds.
Vintage and novelty items are a business line that lends itself perfectly to a Shopify store since they have a massive market.
If you like finding unique vintage items and unnoticed high-value finds, this strategy is excellent for you!
Boost your profits on Shopify by selling your bargain finds at a higher price.
16- Connect With Other Shopify Apps To Promote Each Other.
Adding integrations to Shopify can also increase the revenue stream for app developers. As each app focuses on a few solutions, integrated partnerships let web builders use many tools from different apps.
When you integrate with other Shopify apps, they will recommend your products on their websites or page editing dashboards. The other side is this will be an advantage for you to satisfy your customers by offering as many features as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Shopify a Good Place To Sell?
Yes. Shopify is an excellent platform for selling goods and services. It’s easy to use and allows you to manage your business and grow your customer base.
Is Shopify Profitable?
Yes. Shopify is profitable, but your Shopify store’s profitability depends on various factors.
- Your business type
- The value of your products or services
- Your profit margins
- Your expenses
- Market saturation
- Your promotion strategies
Shopify merchants in the United States make about $72 profit per customer. High-earning merchants make about $149 per client, while low-earning merchants make about $44.
Furthermore, Shopify’s average revenue per customer is $92, and dropshippers can make up to $10,000 with lower overhead costs.
How Long Does It Take To Make Money on Shopify?
There’s no easy answer to when you’ll start making money with Shopify—it can take days, weeks, or even months.
You’ll have a better chance of making money with strategic business and marketing plans.
What Are the Best Products To Sell on Shopify?
Shopify says these products sold well in 2022.
- Belt buckles
- Circuit boards and components
- Curtain rings and drape rings
- Dinnerware
- False eyelash accessories
- Household cleaning supplies
- Pet carriers and crate accessories
- Play vehicle accessories
- Print books and ebooks
- Vinyl LPs and CDs
Is It Possible to Sell Services on Shopify?
Yes, Shopify isn’t just for physical-product businesses.
You can also use Shopify to offer services. Anyone can sell their services on the platform, including writers, developers, graphic designers, beauty salon owners, and yoga instructors.
Does Shopify Provide Products To Sell?
No, Shopify provides the software to set up your online store and sell your products, but you’ll have to source the products yourself. After choosing handmade or resold products, advertise them in your store and start selling!
What Are the Best Shopify Business Ideas?
Here’s a quick recap of the best business ideas on Shopify.
- Build and operate a traditional online store.
- Start an ecommerce store.
- Sell clothes.
- Turn your Shopify experience into products.
- Build and flip Shopify stores.
- Build a Shopify dropshipping business model.
- Become a Shopify affiliate partner.
- Offer custom services for Shopify merchants.
- Doing a freelance service like blogging.
- Monetize social media.
- Sell Print-On-Demand products.
- Sell your services as a Shopify Expert.
- Sell online courses.
- Sell art and digital products.
- Resell vintage items and thrift store finds.
- Integrate With other Shopify Apps to promote each other.
The list isn’t exhaustive, and Shopify can support any business.
The Bottom Line
Many sellers use proven ways to make money with Shopify.
You can also use Shopify to make money, whether you own a small business or are looking to start a new venture.
Build a revenue stream online by picking up freelance jobs, starting a dropshipping store, creating your own physical products, or writing about other people’s products or services. You just need a little know-how and determination.
Building a brand or business takes time, knowledge, and marketing. Having a thorough business plan and marketing strategy is key to e-commerce success.
