Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms globally. It’s a force to reckon with in the ecommerce world. No wonder a lot of people want to learn how to make money on Shopify. They want to partake in an ecommerce platform that generated $767.4 million as revenue in Q3 of 2020.
Are you one of those who want to learn how to make money on Shopify? I’m here for you and I welcome you to this piece where I will show you how to make money on Shopify. The objective of this article is to show you lucrative ideas that can earn you money with this ecommerce platform.
Some of them will require your skills while some will involve you committing a few resources as an investment to hit the ground running. Before we get down to business, let’s look at the basics.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is one of the robust ecommerce platforms trusted by many online entrepreneurs to set up their online business. Over 1 million businesses worldwide trust this platform to grow their business.
Shopify as an ecommerce giant has contributed $319 billion from 2016 to 2019 to the ecommerce industry.
It offers all the features you need to set up your online store. Either sell your own products, dropship or engage in other activities that will make you money online.
Now let’s get down to details.
How to make money on Shopify
Shopify as an ecommerce giant offers a lot of money-making opportunities that require both skills and investment. Some of them which you’ve heard of but don’t know how to go about them. Others you have no idea of.
Let’s take them one after another.
1.Start a dropshipping business
Dropshipping is one of the lucrative and popular businesses that can make you money on Shopify. Some of the merchants on Shopify are drop shippers who make money fulfilling orders.
Dropshipping business doesn’t require much capital to begin. Also, it involves low risk and that’s why some online entrepreneurs prefer it. You don’t need to have your own product or stock products of other people.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is an ecommerce business that allows merchants to sell products that they don’t own or stock to customers who place orders in their stores.
Dropshipping on Shopify is simple because Shopify offers you all you need to succeed. Starting from setting up your store, to features, add-ons, and apps, Shopify got you covered.
How does dropshipping on Shopify work?
Dropshipping on Shopify works in these simple steps:
- You set up your store as a merchant
- Source for suppliers
- Add products to your store
- Customers place orders on your store
- You forward the order details to your supplier who ships the product directly to the customer.
- You make a sale
Setting up your store dropshipping store on Shopify
Before you can dropship on Shopify, you need to set up your online store. For you to set up your store, you must have settled for any of the plans on Shopify.
There 5 different Shopify pricing plans:
- Shopify Lite
- Basic Shopify
- Shopify
- Advanced Shopify
- Shopify Plus
Except for Shopify Lite which doesn’t support a full-fledged online store you can set up your dropshipping store on other Shopify pricing plans.
After you have chosen a plan, the next is to design your store in a way that it will reflect your dropshipping niche and convince your potential customers to place orders.
Designing your dropshipping store
The first step to designing your dropshipping store is choosing a suitable theme. There’re about 73 themes on Shopify theme store. While 9 are free, 64 are premium themes.
If you plan to scale your dropshipping business, you can go for a more robust theme like Debutify Shopify theme which offers you more advanced features and add-ons you need as a merchant on Shopify.
After you have installed a theme, the next is to customize the theme to suit your niche.
Source for suppliers
In dropshipping, you don’t stock products or take inventory. Rather you work will suppliers whose product images you add to your store.
Once you get orders from customers, you forward it to your supplier who processes the order and ships them directly to the customer.
2 ways to source suppliers for your Shopify dropshipping business
Dropshipping marketplace
Dropshipping marketplace is the easiest way to source for suppliers who will provide you with winning products in your niche. This will save you the headache of how you connect with suppliers.
These marketplaces are apps that are integrated into your dropshipping store. An example of dropshipping marketing you can use as a drop shipper on Shopify is Oberlo.
It has reliable suppliers who ensure you don’t run out of quality products to sell. This Oberlo app has a free and premium plan. But as a beginner, you can start with the free plan.
Manufacturers
For drop shippers who are concerned about the cost implication of middlemen who operate in marketplaces, sourcing their suppliers directly with manufacturers is a choice. There are a lot of manufacturers who want to partner with merchants who will help them sell their products.
These manufacturers sell at cheaper prices which allows you to make more profit. The downside of it is that they prefer to work with drop-shippers who record a high volume of orders.
Even if you decide to bargain with them, their authentic directories are not easy to find. Even if they agree to work with you, be ready to handle your inventory because many of them don’t have seamless integrations with your dropshipping store.
However, the online directories you get from Alibaba and Sourcify can be of help.
What to consider when sourcing a supplier
Fast shipping: This should the main factor to consider when sourcing for a supplier. One of the hallmarks of a reliable drop shipper is the ability to ship fast.
Your customers who place orders in your store want their goods to be delivered as fast as possible. Be sure that any supplier you work it has a proven record of fast shipping.
Otherwise, you’ll disappoint your customers and the outcome will be them not returning to your store to patronize you more.
Product sample: Any supplier you plan to work with should be able to provide you with product samples. The aim is for you to ascertain the quality of products and compare them with their fixed price.
As a beginner, it will be difficult to correct if you create the impression that you offer very low-quality products at higher prices in your store.
Proof of satisfied drop shippers: Ask your supplier for testimonies of drop shippers who are satisfied with their services.
This’s another way to size up your supplier. Any supplier who has been long in the business with a good reputation should have testimonies of many satisfied drop shippers they work with.
Add products to your store
After you have identified a supplier and sourced products in your niche, next is to add the images of such products to your store according to category.
Steps to follow when adding products to your dropshipping store.
- Chose a super clear, attractive product image.
- Name your product
- Write a product description that describes the product in detail. At this stage, bear in mind that your product pages need to rank organically. Make use of target keywords as it relates that particular product.
Customers place orders on your store
Now your dropshipping store is ready for customers to order products. Before now you should have set up a payment gateway, shipping fee, shipping location, taxes on products, etc, then wait to make sales.
But that doesn’t just happen because dropshipping is competitive. No matter how unique your niche is, I can bet you that there are other merchants selling things related to it. So you surely have competitors.
You’ve to widen your dragnet to get customers to place orders in your store. You may have the most awesome store and sell quality products, but if your potential customers don’t know about them, they can’t place orders.
How do you get customers to place orders on your dropshipping store?
Learning how to make money on Shopify through dropshipping won’t be complete if you don’t know how to get customers to place orders on your store. After all, it is through orders that you make sales and generate revenue to keep the store running and pay your bills.
There are two ways to go about it.
Ad campaign
You can launch ad campaigns on Google, Bing, and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram. Many of your potential customers are on these platforms therefore you need to target them base on their interest and online activities.
With online marketing tools like Clickfunnels or Leadpages, you can capture them as leads and create sales funnels that convert them to paying customers.
Running an ad campaign is the fastest way to get customers to make purchases in your store. But you must budget a reasonable amount for it if you want to see results.
Organic traffic
This involves you getting your store to appear on search results for potential customers to check out and possibly make a purchase. This method of getting customers to place orders in your store isn’t easy.
It is competitive and you have to work out your ass. The best approach to this is to start a blog for your dropshipping store. Publish quality and helpful content that are related to your product niche. Another is building links with ecommerce websites related to your niche.
Forward orders to your supplier
Once you get a confirmed order on your store, congratulations you’re close to making a sale. Your own job in the dropshipping cycle ends there.
Your supplier will take it up from there. Once you forward the order, your supplier will process the order and ship the product to the address the customer entered during check out.
You make a sale
Once you confirm that your supplier has shipped the product to the address of the customer and it was well-received, barring any refund, you have made a sale and earned revenue. You may be asking where this revenue comes from.
It comes from the extra amount you add to the exact price the supplier fixed for the product. The customer pays this in addition to the shipping fee. The more products you sell, the more revenue you make.
2.Set Up Online Store And Start Selling Your Products
Selling your own products is another idea to consider when learning how to make money on Shopify. You can create your products both physical and digital and sell on them Shopify. You would be amazed to know that a lot of consumers are interested in your products.
The only way by which you can give them chance to purchase them is by placing them on your Shopify store. The process of setting up your online store to sell your products is the same as dropshipping.
The difference between them is that here you create your own products, manage your inventory, and ship directly to your customers.
While you might see it as capital intensive with many risks, but if managed properly you can turn it into a global brand. You can begin with Shopify’s lowest pricing plan ( Shopify Lite @ $9/month) since it allows you to sell on your website or blog.
3.Become a Shopify technical expert
Shopify technical experts are high in demand. This is because over 1 million entrepreneurs who run their businesses on Shopify will need their services at one point or another. It is a cool idea to consider when you’re thinking of how to make money on Shopify.
Even though Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce platform, businesses will need the services of Shopify experts. For example, a lot of businesses that operate on higher Shopify pricing plans like Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus make use of high-end and robust apps.
These apps most times are third-party apps that they need to integrate, customize, and on their store to suit their business. The procedures to get this done can be tasking that they will hire a Shopify technical expert to it done for them.
What does a Shopify technical expert do?
A Shopify technical expert is an independent contractor who helps businesses that operate on Shopify handle tasks that involve designs, customization, app integration, code errors, etc.
How do you become a Shopify technical expert?
I know that this question must be popping into your mind. You can begin by taking online courses on being a Shopify expert. Udemy is a perfect online course platform where you can start. Watch YouTube videos to learn from top Shopify experts.
Practice by offering to help Shopify store owners fix technical issues they face which you can handle. Facebook group is the best place to connect with Shopify store owners.
Where can I offer my service as a Shopify expert?
There are many places where you can offer your service to clients that need them. Some of them are Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, and Glassdoor. Even Facebook groups work.
How much do Shopify experts charge?
It depends on your level of experience, skill, and exposure. The kind of issue you want to fix is also a factor. Base on Fiverr rates, an average Shopify technical expert charges $25 per hour.
4.Partner Shopify
Partnership is one of the ideas you should consider when planning on how to make money on Shopify. As big as Shopify, it is still open to partnership with people like you. Shopify believes that you have a part to play in improving its services and revenue. You can partner with Shopify through the following ways:
Join Shopify affiliate program
An affiliate program is one of the ways companies use to generate more revenue. It is a mutual benefit between the company and the affiliate marketer. For companies, it boosts their revenue while for affiliate marketers they smile to the bank with huge amounts in commission.
Shopify has a lucrative affiliate program that anyone qualified can join. Bloggers, Youtubers, and Social Media influencers in the digital marketing niche count on it when thinking of how to make money on Shopify.
Shopify affiliate marketing program explained
If you fall in any of the categories listed above, you can join Shopify affiliate program for free. All you need to do is to go to Shopify.com. At the bottom of its homepage, you will see ‘ Affiliate program’.
Click on it and you will be directed to a page where you will create an account as an affiliate.
After which you fill in all your necessary details Shopify asks for including your payment method which is PayPal. Then you wait for approval from Shopify.
As an affiliate on Shopify, it took the affiliate team 2 weeks to approve my request to join the program. The approval comes through email notification.
How to improve your chances of being approved as an affiliate on Shopify
Not every affiliate program application is approved by Shopify. Some are declined for some reasons best known to Shopify affiliate team.
- Be sure that your niche is related to digital marketing, ecommerce, and online business.
- Fill your application form appropriately.
- If you run a blog, ensure that it’s in the categories listed above and boosts of a reasonable amount of traffic in a month.
Once you receive that congratulatory message welcoming you to Shopify affiliate program, the next is to log into your affiliate dashboard and start promoting your affiliate link. This you can do through your blog posts, YouTube videos, and social media posts.
Create apps
Some of the apps on Shopify app store were built through partnerships with developers. It is about identifying problem merchants on Shopify face and coming with a solution in form of an app that merchants can integrate into their store.
According to Shopify, 87% of its merchants rely on apps to run their businesses. A successful app you created on Shopify app store can earn you a regular income.
How? When Store owners install those apps on their store, they pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to continue to enjoy the service offered by the app. Discover how you can build apps for Shopify app store here.
5.Offer common freelancing services
There are a lot of common freelancing services you can offer on Shopify and make money. The skill you have acquired empowers you to render these services to merchants on Shopify. The only investment you do here is your time. Let’s look at some of them below.
Create content for Shopify store owners
Some Shopify store owners run a blog for their online store. It is their marketing strategy through which they create awareness, build their brands, and most especially boost their organic traffic.
As a freelancer who is good at creating content, you can offer this service to them and get paid.
Graphics design
Graphics are important in today’s digital marketing. Store owners on Shopify often have a need for graphics. Be it for their blog or product images. If you’re good at designing graphics, this could earn you money on Shopify.
There are graphics design tools that you can use to achieve this. Canva is one of them. You can start with the free version and upgrade to the premium version later.
Help store owners with ad campaigns
Ad campaign is the quickest way to drive sales on Shopify store. Merchants are aware of this. Unfortunately, some of them don’t know how to go about it. They rely on Shopify ad experts to help them out.
With your skill in Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns, you can easily handle these jobs and earn some cool money. I often see beginner store owners on Shopify who are tired of not recording sales looking for this kind of service on Facebook groups.
6.Become a dropshipping agent
Even if don’t have a store on Shopify, you can be a dropshipping agent and get paid. Take a look at the screenshot below.
Some big merchants on Shopify look for people who can serve as dropshipping agents for their customers in various countries. What you do here is help them handle orders and ensure that customers who place orders get their packages in due time.
7.Create and sell courses on Shopify
The online course industry is booming. It’s estimated to be worth $325 billion by 2025. Online entrepreneurs are taking advantage of it to diversify their streams of income.
As a successful merchant on Shopify, nothing stops you from creating a course on Shopify with any of the online course platforms.
A lot of beginners who are interested in succeeding as merchants on Shopify will gladly purchase it to learn how you did it.
A win-win situation I call it. You dish out your wealth of experience as a successful Shopify merchant in a video course and interested users pay you to access it.
8.Flipping Of Shopify Store
I trust you must have heard of people buying and selling an already built website. The same happens in Shopify. It is called flipping.
Some online entrepreneurs specialize in building Shopify stores and reselling to others who need them. It’s a lucrative way to make money on Shopify. Some entrepreneurs who want to run an ecommerce business on Shopify prefer to purchase an already built and running Shopify store.
They don’t have time to build a store from the scratch, nurture it until it begins to make a profit. You can take this as a business. Build Shopify stores and have others buy them from you.
However, this is best suited for someone who has what it takes to grow a Shopify store. Entrepreneurs who will want to buy a Shopify store from you will prefer one that has the potential to make sales.
Other ecommerce platforms where you can money
Shopify isn’t the only ecommerce platform where you can make money. Although it’s the most popular, there are its competitors that are worthy of mentioning.
Some of them are as follows:
- Bigcommerce
- Woocommerce
- 3d Cart
- Volusion
- Square space
- Magento
Many of the lucrative ideas I discussed with you above can be reflected on these ecommerce platforms.
That’s it with learning how to make money on Shopify. I trust by now you have the basic knowledge of how you earn a living on Shopify.
Before I wrap up, let’s look at some frequently asked questions that you may find relevant.
FAQs on how to make money on Shopify
1.Can you make money on Shopify?
It depends. Results here are not typical. Not everyone who engages in the ideas discussed above succeeds in them.
But there are people who are making money on Shopify. If not Shopify can’t boast of $245.3 million subscription revenue in Q3 of 2020 basically from new merchants joining Shopify. Your ability to make money has to do with your strategy, approach, and skill.
2. Can you make money with Shopify dropshipping?
Dropshipping is one of the lucrative businesses you can run on Shopify. Yes, you can money with dropshipping on Shopify.
But it can’t happen by chance. You have to acquire the right skill, invest time, little capital, and effort. Above all, you’ve to be consistent and exercise patience until you begin to hit those sales.
3. Do I need a business license to sell on Shopify?
For some products, you need to obtain a license from the appropriate regulatory agency in your country.
The aim is to certify you as a qualified merchant that deals with such a product. Some products are delicate. If they are being sold by uncertified merchants, it can cause harm to customers who purchased them.
Wrapping Up
I have shown you different ways by which you can make money on Shopify. We discussed dropshipping, selling your products, partnership with Shopify, offering freelancing services, etc.
It’s now left for you to settle for one which you think can work for you and kick start it immediately. While some may require little investment, there are some that take only your skill.
