How to Start a Shopify Store: Step-by-Step Guide
In this guide, you'll learn how to start a Shopify store with 10 simple steps and learn what role a Shopify Plus development agency can play to make the process even smoother. Let's get started.
Developers and Shopify Plus development agency follow these steps to build a successful online store:
Open the Shopify website and create an account by starting a 3-days free trial. This free trial is a good option to explore all of its features. Once you press the start free trial button, you need to provide the following information: Your email address
Your store name
Password for your account
After filling out this form, you are directed to the admin dashboard where you can manage products, customers, store design, and sales.
Once your trial period expires, you'll get the option to select the Shopify plan for your store. The following options are available: Basic is recommended for startups
Shopify is ideal for expanding businesses
Advanced is best for scalability
Shopify Plus is an enterprise-level solution
You should evaluate the needs of your store. If it's high-level, you must go for Shopify Plus, and if it's a startup, basic Shopify would be enough. You can change it later on. If you are still confused about choosing the right plan, compare Shopify vs Shopify Plus to understand which features meet your store's needs.
Shopify offers free and paid themes. It is highly important to match the look and feel of online stores with brands and products. In your dashboard, under 'Sales Channels', there is an option for 'Online Store', where you can find 'Themes'. In themes, you click customize so: Change colors
Insert logo
Adjust layout
Modify font
In case you need more advanced customization options, consulting with a Shopify Plus development agency would be a good decision. They can provide a more personalized experience to your customers by providing you with a unique look that will match your brand's image.
Now it is time to add products. For each product, the following information is required: Title of the product
Description
Price
Images
Variants (size, color, material, flavor, capacity, etc.)
Inventory information
Try to use 'Collections' in products to organize the product categories. Such as the use of Men's sale, Women's sale, Best-selling, new arrivals, etc. This will help users find products more easily.
Set payment gateways to get payment. Shopify makes it easy by supporting the following methods: Shopify Payments
PayPal
Stripe
Apple Pay
Manual payments (cash on delivery, credit, and debit card)
While selecting payment methods, keep your target audience in mind. You can also use different payment methods for different countries. Moreover, ensure to activate two-step authentication for your account and provide accurate bank details.
Now design how to ship and tax your products. For setting up shipping rates, go to 'Shipping and Delivery' and add a shipping rate. You can: Fix the rate
Offer free shipping
Add optional shipping (like weight-based, price-based, or location-based)
Provide the recent shipping carriers like UPS, FedEx, or DHL. Plus, Shopify decides tax depending on the location, but still, you have the option to change the rules of taxation.
To make your store look professional, customize its domain. You have two options: Either buy a new domain through Shopify
Or attach your already existing domain
Once you link to your store, it will be easily available through your domain. This is the essential step to gain customers' trust and increase SEO ranking.
To smoothly run all the operations of your store, complete the following settings from the Shopify dashboard: Enter the store's name, email, and contact details
Store policies like refund, terms, and conditions
Checkout process (guest, accounts)
Notifications (emails or SMS)
These settings make sure that the store meets your customers' expectations.
If you want to add more functions to your store, use Shopify app store's built-in tools, including: Email marketing tools
Reviews and ranking
Live chat
Upsell and cross-sell products
Linking with social media
Shopify Plus users often demand modern integration tools. Be careful to add only the tools your store truly needs, as too many can slow down your website's performance. You can get help from a Shopify Plus development agency to integrate the right and modern tools for your store.
Your store is ready to go live, but before making it live, check the following points: Checkout process
Go through the product details
Verify payment methods
Examine shipping and tax options
Browse your store from the customer's point of view, and make sure to place a testing order with the help of Shopify's test mode. Fix any error that comes up and launch your website live after removing the password protection.
Shopify provides a simple process and tools to build your store, despite the fact that expert guidance is recommended to build high-performing and scalable websites. You can hire a developer or partner with a trusted Shopify Plus development agency like Bizmia. These agencies ensure to provide: Build custom themes
Rapid speed and mobile-friendly features
Assemble custom apps and APIs
Establish modern features like support for multi-currency and multi-language
Make seamless migration from one platform to another, like WordPress to Shopify or Shopify Plus
The experts of these agencies work on your project and save time, cost, and effort.
Starting a Shopify store is simple when you use the right tools, guide, and strategy. By following this 10-step guide, you can build a fully featured store that looks professional. Every single step is essential, from creating an account to launching your website after testing. If you need expert guidance, get help from a Shopify Plus development agency. They promise to take care of every single step from adding advanced features and custom themes to integration with modern apps and APIs.
Go Green with Biodegradable Cosmetic Packaging Boxes
TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Forbes
Stripe Is Building A Blockchain: Can Openness Survive Branded Rails?
Fintech powerhouse Stripe is secretly building a high-performance blockchain called 'Tempo,' per a now-removed job posting and Fortune's reporting. This payments-optimized chain would fill a critical gap in Stripe's crypto stack, complementing its recent acquisitions of stablecoin startup Bridge and wallet infrastructure provider Privy. Stablecoins promise to make crypto mainstream by delivering faster, cheaper, more interconnected global payments. The paradox: the same move could undercut what the technology set out to achieve. Add the rush to branded rails—Robinhood's chain on Arbitrum, Coinbase's Base on the OP Stack, and now Stripe's Tempo—and we could end up close to where we started, just with block explorers. Worse, market concentration may rise if a few players use stablecoins to reach previously unimaginable scale. With the GENIUS Act now law, the next 12–18 months will likely determine the outcome. We've seen this tension before in the early internet's open web versus walled gardens. Will History Repeat Itself? In the history of technology, the pendulum regularly swings between centralization and decentralization. Even when a technology has a decentralizing effect, economies of scale in a new dimension—whether complementary resources, talent, brand, or distribution—inevitably become vectors of concentration. Once concentration becomes too high, the ingenuity of entrepreneurs and developers invents a new approach to reverse it. A prominent example is the early internet, which brought a wave of entry and competition to the heavily concentrated industries of telecommunications, retail, and media—only to create the perfect conditions for today's tech giants to scale through network effects and capture a sizable share of value. Although the underlying internet protocols remained open and neutral, massive digital platforms at the application layer walled off participants from competing services by strategically breaking interoperability. From email to social media to payments, we spend most of our time and money within the confines of what the tech giants have designed for us. And while we are clearly better off—more choice, lower prices—it's increasingly clear that some would prefer a world where platforms do not have as much power and influence over them. Crypto As the Antidote Crypto's reason for existence was to break free from centralized intermediaries. After the 2008 financial crisis, Satoshi wanted to create a world where anyone could exchange value without having to trust a central bank or financial institution ever again. And while the original Bitcoin vision of a fully democratic network—'one‑CPU‑one‑vote'—didn't pan out due to economies of scale in mining, Bitcoin did deliver what more and more financial institutions and some governments now recognize as a novel and neutral financial asset. Inspired by Bitcoin, entrepreneurs and developers have applied the same principles in an attempt to bring decentralization back to other digital platforms—starting with payments, but branching out into finance, marketplaces, messaging, and social media. Overall, progress toward decentralization is mixed: while it's true that Bitcoin allows anyone around the world to be their own bank, the vast majority of consumers and institutions rely heavily on intermediaries for custody and use. Similarly, solutions that offer consumers greater control over their private data and the content they create have stayed niche—often because they lag in usability and convenience relative to the centralized counterparts they're trying to replace. Convenience eats privacy for lunch any day—and it's difficult to undo the entrenched network effects of the leading digital platforms. The Battle for the Future of Payments In payments, the most critical battle is unfolding now. Legacy infrastructure is siloed, and incumbents have tremendous power over what we can access—and on what terms. Because of winner‑take‑all dynamics, markets can become so concentrated that the public sector has to step in—the most salient example is China's introduction of a central bank digital currency to unravel the payments oligopoly established by Ant Group and Tencent. Crypto is a natural, market‑driven solution to this. It provides neutral and decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, as well as truly open and interoperable financial rails via their base layers. But as the technology has matured, two core problems have emerged. Stablecoins' Centralizing Force The first problem is that cryptocurrencies are volatile and therefore expensive for payments and financial contracts. To address this, the market has focused on fiat‑backed stablecoins; this inevitably leads to centralization because issuance and sound management require a regulated financial entity to be in charge of—and accountable for—reserve operations. While distributed governance of a stablecoin network is technically possible, it is extremely difficult to get the design right. Libra is the most prominent example: despite backing from more than two dozen leading global companies and countless resources dedicated to establishing credible distributed governance, the project was always perceived as Meta's initiative. Banks have tried for more than a decade to come together as consortia in response to crypto, and, to date, no joint project has delivered anything tangible. The reason is obvious: until the situation is truly dire, competitors are unlikely to commit to a joint solution—so, in the meantime, everyone hedges their bets across multiple tracks. Intuitively, distributed ownership of a stablecoin network makes sense and is not that different from what ultimately made Visa scale in the 1970s—when Bank of America relinquished control of the BankAmericard credit card program to respond to increasing competition from the consortium that would become Mastercard. Networks of crypto exchanges and fintechs, such as the Global Dollar Network, may be able to move faster, given the agility of the new entrants backing them, but they will still need to strike the right balance between economic incentives and governance to shift members from a wait‑and‑see mode—where everyone hopes to free‑ride on others' efforts—into action. Even Circle's Centre Consortium, which had only Circle and Coinbase as members, was dissolved and converted into a simple revenue‑sharing agreement. So, while there might be a solution to the decentralized governance of a stablecoin, what we know is that, to date, the only working model is one that places a single entity in charge of everything. This is, of course, problematic in the long term, and while issuers today control only the asset, they have already started expanding their offerings in ways that limit openness. For example, Circle announced its payment network (CPN), which places it at the center of how payments are executed—from defining rules and eligibility, to inserting itself into every API interaction and price and liquidity discovery, to, of course, collecting a fee. Put together, this setup is not that different from the model that has allowed Visa and Mastercard to dominate payments for decades. From Open Rails to Closed Loops? The second problem crypto has run into is one that is deeply tied to its roots: decentralization is expensive. The economic consequence is that you can only afford it where it truly matters. To date, among networks at scale, that's been true only for the base layers of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. At most, that yields a few thousand decentralized transactions per second globally across all of them combined—a far cry from what global payments would require, even before you layer financial services on top. As a result, most transactions no longer occur on the base layers (L1s) but on a sprawling ecosystem of high‑throughput scaling solutions (L2s). L2s offer near‑zero fees and instant settlement, and they're profitable because they internalize Maximal Extractable Value (MEV)—the gains from reordering, inserting, or omitting transactions in a block. While crypto purists might decry this trend, it aligns precisely with economic theory: users are willing to pay a premium for decentralization and censorship resistance at the core settlement layer, yet they readily trade some of that for greater centralization in higher layers to gain lower costs and faster speeds. The base layers remain open and trustless, and depending on the application, participants may compromise further—even embracing fully trusted, centralized solutions. This trade‑off is broader than a user's decision to be their own bank and self‑custody funds versus accepting some degree of trust in a third‑party wallet. When building products, Coinbase, Robinhood, and the like care deeply that the underlying network stays neutral and does not play favorites among applications, developers, or businesses—the way the tech giants do on their platforms. Essentially, they are willing to pay for decentralization and neutrality to reduce the risk of hold‑up and expropriation—something that has repeatedly played out on traditional digital platforms. To fully grasp what fast, low‑cost L2s will do to payments and competition in crypto, look no further than what the internet did to news and media: as the cost of distributing—and now, with AI, also generating—large swaths of content fell to zero, business models had to evolve drastically, and massive aggregators (Google, Facebook, Spotify, etc.) emerged to take advantage of the new economics at play. Because L2s remove friction, offer convenience, and allow builders to deliver experiences much closer to traditional fintech products, they are the obvious layer where most of the value will be created—and appropriated. Furthermore, as basic money becomes free and commoditized, competition shifts to the value‑added services and workflows associated with it. That's exactly where fintechs, neobanks, crypto exchanges, and even traditional financial institutions have a significant advantage. Any one of these players, if it executes well over the next couple of years, can use the technology to establish the first truly massive and global financial network. Once it reaches scale, it could also progressively degrade interoperability, appropriating more of the value—much as today's internet giants did. Whoever Controls the Last Mile Wins So what's the most likely scenario? Based on how strong and persistent network effects have been in crypto over the last decade, it's safe to assume that payments and financial services will disproportionately gravitate toward a couple of leading blockchains. The remaining chains will need to specialize within an industry vertical to stay relevant. Most activity will take place not on their decentralized base layers but on scaling layers branded and shaped by crypto and fintech players (e.g., Base, Robinhood Chain), applications (e.g., Unichain, World Chain), and financial institutions (e.g., Kinexys, Fnality, Partior). Players that control distribution—whether on the consumer, merchant, or institutional side—have a massive advantage, as they own the interface between the blockchain and the real world. Blockchains drastically lower the cost of verifying and coordinating onchain data, but their value is limited without a strong nexus with complementary offchain information—identity, compliance, credentials, creditworthiness, and more. That's where friction persists—and where economies of scale will decide winners and losers. From Strategic Partners to Swappable Modules This is why stablecoin issuers have strong incentives either to commoditize the rails—by issuing on multiple networks and positioning themselves at the center of interoperability across them (e.g., Circle's Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol)—or to nudge most activity to a network they control, such as a new L2 or a higher‑level protocol like CPN. Either strategy gives them a shot at becoming massive global fintech leaders and capturing most of the value the technology creates. Meanwhile, crypto and fintech players will want to shift those same valuable transactions to a network over which they have more sway, such as a branded L2. In doing so, they'll also want either to commoditize stablecoins and other tokenized assets, or to issue their own. In the latter scenario, stablecoins may well be used as a loss leader to expand the reach of a fintech's offering, and domestic stablecoins will be issued to gain more control over the FX market and support local use cases. Real‑world assets (RWAs), memecoins, other tokens, and applications that are truly differentiated and exclusive to those networks may also help these branded chains retain volume within their borders. The same companies will be able to develop clever rewards and loyalty programs that increase consumer and business stickiness within their ecosystems. Can't Be Evil? As convenience and economic reality win over dogmatism, crypto will look very different than it is today. The good news is that, as part of that transformation, it will be far more useful. And while that may come with more centralization, the fact that the underlying protocols are open source and forkable means that, no matter how large some players may become, they face more pressure to retain greater interoperability than under the status quo. It is also possible that because crypto protocols allow for new market design and incentives, the ultimate solution will be something that was not quite achievable for the internet protocols—which did not have built‑in monetization mechanisms. Regardless, once centralization materializes, some clever group of developers will work hard to undo it, and the cycle will repeat.
Time Business News
8 hours ago
- Time Business News
Elevate Your Business with Expert Web Development Services in Texas
In the digital realm of today, a professional website stands as the staple of any business activity. Whereas on many-a-occasions, it is the first point of contact for would-be customers, it is now regarded as the 24/7 digital storefront. Competition in the Lone Star State is stiff, and well-crafted web development services in Texas are a must-have for any business. A fine-looking, well functioning, user-friendly website goes a long way toward beauing the brand's reputation, generating leads, and eventually, rendering money for the owner. A website should be far more than just a digital brochure; it should be a tool that nurtures growth. Well-experienced developers know how to maintain an excellent balance between the beauty of the interface and the purse of its operation. Their sole aim is to provide a website that is aesthetic, quick, secure, and fully optimized in terms of search engine. In the quest for web development services in Texas, ensure you partner with a firm offering a complete pack of solutions. An ideal developer takes an all-encompassing approach, guiding you through every step of the whole process, such as: Custom Website Development: A one-size-fits-all template is not going to work. Your business is unique, and the website has to reflect it. Custom development means that your site is literally built from scratch to suit your specific needs and business goals. A one-size-fits-all template is not going to work. Your business is unique, and the website has to reflect it. Custom development means that your site is literally built from scratch to suit your specific needs and business goals. E-commerce Solutions: You need a solid e-commerce platform if you are selling products or services online. Your development team can build safe, efficient online stores coupled with payment gateways on one end and user-friendly product management on the other. You need a solid e-commerce platform if you are selling products or services online. Your development team can build safe, efficient online stores coupled with payment gateways on one end and user-friendly product management on the other. CMS Development and Migration: A content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Shopify gives you the power to update your site as and when you want. Developers can either build customized CMS solutions or assist with the migration of your existing site to a better platform. A content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Shopify gives you the power to update your site as and when you want. Developers can either build customized CMS solutions or assist with the migration of your existing site to a better platform. Post-Launch Support and Maintenance: Websites are living organisms that need to be cared for with love. The best partners provide support and continuous enhancement, test for performance, and carry out updates to keep the site safe and working with par excellence skills. An established web development firm should have a clear, well-defined process to carry the vision into reality. Usually, this journey starts with a thorough consultation where your business, target market, and goals for your project are studied. Then, the team goes to work designing a detailed plan that includes a prototype for your acceptance. This part of the process is discovered to be critical in maintaining a smooth relationship between the two parties, thus ensuring the product is made according to your expectations. After the finished design is approved, the actual development level kicks off. Full-stack developers would determine from their expertise a way of coding for front-end, on the side of things that the users see, and back-end operations for the site to function. They also integrate relevant plugins, databases, and third-party services to turn the functionality into the site. The team would rigorously test the site to identify all bugs and provide a smooth user experience under all devices before going into full production. If someone opts for local web development services in Texas, a distinct advantage is present. Face-to-face meetings can be enjoyed while also gaining a better understanding of the local market. They are able to offer bespoke services depending on your needs and are present to cater to your requirements on demand. They know web development as well as digital marketing arenas such as SEO and social media marketing so they can ensure your business doesn't just have a fine looking website but also generates the best kind of traffic. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Shopify's Higher FCF Margins Can Push SHOP Stock Higher
Shopify, Inc. (SHOP) achieved a 15.75% quarterly free cash flow margin, surpassing its Q1 margin of 15.38% on higher revenue. This could push SHOP stock +14.6% higher as analysts incorporate higher margins into their forecasts. SHOP is trading at $149.70 in midday trading on Monday, August 11. Based on our assessment, SHOP could be worth $224 billion in market value, compared to its current market cap of $194.8 billion (Yahoo! Finance). More News from Barchart Microsoft's Impressive Free Cash Flow - MSFT Stock Could Be Worth 28% More Options Traders Price in Volatile Nvidia Earnings Reaction After U.S. Government Deal on AI Chips Option Volatility And Earnings Report For Aug 11 - 15 Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. That represents a +14.6% upside in SHOP's value, or a price target of $171.55 per share. That's over 12% higher than the prior price target of $136.66 in my July 16 Barchart article ("Shopify Stock is a Bargain - How to Make a 3% One-Month Yield with SHOP"). Shopify's Strong Free Cash Flow and FCF Margins Shopify reported $422 million in free cash flow (FCF) for Q2 on Aug. 6. That was +26.7% higher than last year's $333 million and +16.3% higher than the $363 million in Q1. However, this was also a very high percentage of sales, despite the latter rising +31% Y/Y. This can be seen in the company's Q2 and Q1 tables below. The point is that FCF was 15.75% of revenue, on par with last year's 16.3% and higher than the 15.37% FCF margin in Q1. However, over the trailing 12 months (TTM) ending June 30, the FCF margin was even higher at 18.14% (i.e., $1.817 billion on $10.014 billion in TTM sales). That was even higher than the 18.0% FCF margin in 2024. This data can be seen in Stock Analysis's TTM Cash Flow data. The point is that Shopify is squeezing out ever higher portions of its revenue even as sales increase very strongly. For example, management said in its Outlook section on page 2 of the Q2 earnings release that it expects Q3 FCF margins to be in the mid to high teens in Q3. That implies its Q3 margins could rise to 18% or higher. We can use that to project its next 12-month (NTM) FCF and then set a price target. Forecasting Shopify's FCF For example, analysts now forecast that 2025 sales will be $11.25 billion. That is higher than the $10.88 billion forecast quoted in my July 13 Barchart using the same source, Seeking Alpha. So, using an 18% FCF margin estimate for 2025: $11.25 billion 2025 revenue x 0.18 = $2.025 billion FCF 2025 And for 2026, using analysts' $13.66 billion sales estimates: $13.55 billion 2026 revenue x 18% = $2.439 billion FCF 2026 As a result, the average NTM FCF estimate is $2.232 billion. That is almost 12% higher than the $1.817 billion in TTM FCF. As a result, Shopify's valuation could likely rise. Let's see why. Price Target for SHOP Stock Shopify does not pay a dividend. But, if it were to do so, the payments would come out of the free cash flow the company generates. Let's assume that it pays out 50% of its FCF over the coming 12 months. What would the dividend yield be? That will allow us to value SHOP stock. For example, the market already values Shopify stock at less than a 1.0% FCF yield. This can be seen by dividing the $1.8 billion in TTM FCF by its present market cap of $194.8 billion. $1.817b / $194.8b = 0.0093 = 0.93% yield Therefore, if we assume that its future FCF is valued at 1.0% of its present market cap, here is what that means: $2.232 billion / 0.01 = $223.2 billion market cap For example, if it paid out $1.116 billion and the market gave the stock a 0.5% dividend yield, its implied market cap is: $1.116b / 0.005 = $223.2 billion market cap That market cap is +14.6% higher than today's market cap of $194.8 billion. That means that SHOP stock is worth +14.6% more: $149.70 x 1.146 = $171.55 per share How to Play This Shorting OTM Puts One way to play this is to sell short out-of-the-money (OTM) puts in nearby expiry periods. I discussed this in my July 13 Barchart article. For example, I suggested shorting the Aug. 15 $100 put strike price for a midpoint price of $3.28 per put contract. That provided an immediate 3.28% yield on investment for the short seller. There is every indication that this put will expire worthless on Friday, as it is trading today for just 2 cents, so the trade will be successful. This high-yield short-put play can now be repeated to set a lower potential buy-in point for an investor in SHOP stock. For example, the Sept. 5 put expiry period shows that the $144.00 strike price, 4% below today's trading price, has a midpoint premium of $3.50. That provides an immediate yield of 2.43% (i.e., $3.50/$144.00). This allows a new potential investor in SHOP stock to set a lower buy-in point. For existing investors, it provides additional income and a way to potentially reduce their average cost. For example, to do this trade, an investor first secures $14,400 in cash and/or buying power with their brokerage firm. That acts as collateral to potentially buy 100 shares at $144.00 in case the account is assigned to buy those shares if SHOP falls to $144.00 on or before Sept. 5. But, in return, the account also immediately receives $350.00. So the investor has made an immediate yield of $350/$14,400, or 2.43% on the collateral posted. If SHOP does not fall to $144.00, the investor's account still keeps that income. As a result, the net potential breakeven point, even if SHOP falls to $144.00, is just $140.50. That is 5.8% below the trading price today. So, this is a way to set a lower buy-in point with good downside protection. The bottom line is that SHOP stock looks undervalued here, given its huge FCF margins. One way to profitably play this is to short out-of-the-money (OTM) puts in nearby expiry periods. On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake, CFA did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
