Shopify was established in 2006. It has evolved from an online shop toolset to a multifaceted ecommerce platform. Shopify is large enough to support an entire “ecosystem” that includes suppliers, customers and vendors.
Shopify offers three ways to make money.
- A Shopify Store is the best and most common way to make money.
- Shopify Merchants is the fastest-growing and most lucrative way for you to make money.
- Shopify’s Platform is the easiest and most supported way to make your money.
Each of these paths can be used to make passive and active income. Since 2010, I have been with Shopify and have either done or consulted in every way.
Let’s get to it.
Shopify Store: Make Money
Before Shopify, creating and managing an online storefront was difficult. This was before acquiring customers and products.
This was one of the reasons for the rapid growth in marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy in the 2000s. Although marketplaces offer some benefits, they can also reduce profit margins and hinder brand building as much as independent stores. Shopify is the solution.
Shopify offers an accessible range of plans that include bundled themes and plugins. You can now open an online store with Shopify right away.
Shopify’s way to make money is easy: sell products and services to customers at a fraction of the cost it would take to purchase those goods and/or services. It’s pure retail. It is the heart of Shopify’s platform, ecosystem and products.
You can build and operate a traditional online store
It is easy to start an online store. To make a profit, you can buy wholesale inventory and then resell individual units at higher prices.
It’s necessary to:
- acquire inventory
- Create a website using Shopify.
- Get customers to your Shopify store
- Process payments
- manage orders & shipping
- Manage customer service
- Make money
Benefits The business model is simple and clear. This is an easy path to follow with minimal barriers to entry. Shopify offers a wide range of resources that will help you succeed.
Drawbacks – There is a low barrier to entry that can lead to fierce competition. It can be difficult to get your first visitors to your website. It is important to monitor your cash flow and the price of goods sold. It can take time to reach a critical mass of customers without startup capital.
Create and manage a multichannel retail brand
Multichannel retail brands are superficially similar to traditional retail stores. You’re still trying to sell low and buy high to customers but on multiple platforms, instead of one store.
It is, however, a completely different business due to where the value is. Online stores have the potential to be very profitable. The brand and the experience are what make a retail brand valuable.
Shopify is used by many retail brands as an inventory, payment and order management platform. Shopify allows products to be listed online and then found offline (Amazon.com, eBay.com, Instagram. etc.). ).
Parks Project has a great Shopify example. They’re not just an online clothing retailer. They are an clothing brand, which sells its products through various retail channels.
Shopify is a great place to make money this way, as their order management tools and inventory are robust. You can integrate them with many other retail platforms, including offline. Shopify payments, Shopify POS and Shopify eCommerce make it easy to sell offline.
Benefits Your profit margins will be higher. This route is familiar and allows for more creativity, and may require less capital. You can directly work with manufacturers and have direct input into product development.
Drawbacks – A business model that is more complicated and more challenging is It is important to balance the needs of your audience with your business goals. It is important to optimize logistics across different distribution channels.
First Steps Start building an audience, even if you only have an Instagram account, an email list, or a YouTube channel. Think carefully about your brand and your brand style. Create a Shopify account even if it is a Shopify Light account to manage your initial orders and inventory, as well as set up distribution channels.
Create & Manage a Dropshipping Retail Business
Dropshipping is a popular way to make money with Shopify. Oberlo is a Dropshipping App that Shopify integrates with. Shopify dropshipping works in the same way as a traditional online business model, but you don’t own or touch any inventory.
Drop shipping allows you to bring in customers and send them orders to your wholesaler. They fulfill the order from their stock. The drop shipper is charged a fixed price per unit. Your profit is the difference between what you receive from the customer and what you pay to the drop shipper.
Benefits There are no barriers to entry and there are no capital costs. It’s easy to get started and you don’t need to worry about cash flow or cost of goods sold. Focus on marketing and brand building.
Drawbacks – To avoid losing money, you will need to be strategic in pricing and acquiring customers. Since you don’t have control over the product’s fulfillment, you will need to be creative in customer service and returns.
Shopify Merchants: Make Money
An old business story states that it is not the gold miners who make most money during a gold rush. It’s actually the people who sell equipment and services to that make the most of the gold miners.
This analogy would make gold miners online store owners. There are many people who will make it big. However, the ones who sell products and services to online stores will have the highest revenue.
Selling products and services to Shopify storeowners is similar to selling products & service to website owners. Shopify’s standardization means that both service providers and store owners are able to strike deals for specific work that isn’t applicable to other websites.
So, SEO for Shopify websites is no different from SEO for other websites. Shopify’s standardized structure makes it easier for SEO marketers and store owners to create a Shopify-specific SEO strategy.
Online stores that are turn-key can be built and sold
Although Shopify makes it easy to create an online store, putting it together can be difficult. It’s not easy to get the logos right, write product pages and organize menus and collections. It’s all overwhelming and tedious work for store owners trying to sell. It’s similar to IKEA furniture. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone can put it together.
Shopify offers a great opportunity to make money by building and selling a store. This is a well-known path that Shopify offers a dedicated Exchange Marketplace for you to sell to a large number of buyers.
Benefits There are many benefits to selling a website that is already in use, particularly if it has been successful in generating sales. Systematizing your business is also possible.
Drawbacks – There can be risks and a long sales cycle. It is important to be aware of your business and have an idea of the needs of potential buyers.
Shopify Merchants can get custom services
You have a wide range of services you can offer Shopify merchants. My search engine optimization (SEO), was my first job. It was for enterprise Shopify Stores. The potential services include marketing, design, copywriting, development, inventory and fulfillment. The majority of these roles are similar to ecommerce services. However, you can standardize your service for Shopify.
Benefits – Shopify offers a wide range of services and complements to help you reach millions of customers. There are many opportunities to increase your sales and add value. You can standardize your services with one platform so there is no scope creep and miscommunication.
Drawbacks There is a lot of competition from other service providers. Shopify extensions and plugins make certain services more automated.
First Steps To get access to a Shopify development store, sign up as a Shopify Partner Start pitching storeowners to ensure your services are on par. Software such as BuiltWith and NerdyData can be used.
Create & Sell Custom Resources to Shopify Merchants
There’s a huge market for Shopify-specific content and resources. Shopify store owners have the opportunity to improve their stores with premium resources, such as a Dropship Directory, fulfillment guides, Liquid Tutorial, Inventory Calculator, and many other useful tools.
Benefits You can “scale” (i.e. create one and sell infinite copies). There are many opportunities and a constantly evolving landscape. (e.g., integration with TikTok, Depop, etc.) ).
Drawbacks – Marketing can be difficult and it can be difficult to keep up with the constantly changing market.
First Steps – Choose a problem Shopify merchant might face and start working to solve it. To find issues, monitor the Shopify forums and Quora threads along with Twitter, Reddit, and Reddit threads. Selling can be as easy as PayPal, Gumroad (or Shopify) ).
Shopify Platform: Make Money
Shopify offers a Shopify Partners program which gives approved access to their platform for developers, agencies, and content creators. This program allows you to make money on the Shopify platform, without having to build a store or sell clients directly.
Shopify Apps, Extensions, and Themes can be built and sold
Shopify’s Shopify theme and app stores are the most leveraged ways to make money with Shopify. A Shopify theme or app will give you a B2B audience that has the budget to buy a digital product that is profitable. Although it’s a very competitive market, it’s not as crowded as other apps stores.
Benefits – The ecommerce business owner has a budget and a need for Shopify merchant solutions. Shopify offers a well-documented API and lots of developer support. They make money from apps and view apps as a competitive advantage. This is a great way for stable revenue streams.
Drawbacks – There aren’t infinite customers. However, there are many apps that can help you solve the most common problems.
Build & Migrate Shopify stores
Shopify Partner accounts allow you to build websites for clients , and you can continue making money even after the client has transferred the store to you . This is a great way for Shopify to generate passive and active income.
Benefits – Shopify can provide steady referral income and help you build a platform clients love and recognize.
Drawbacks – Shopify is somewhat locked down to your web design business.
Shopify Stores: How to Solve Technical Issues
Shopify has a Shopify Expert directory that can assist merchants with specific issues. This is a great place for a solid freelance company and supplemental income.
Benefits – Shopify screens you and assigns you clients who have predictable, solvable problems.
Drawbacks – These leads are less reliable than Shopify leads you can find outside the directory.
Shopify Affiliate Program – Promote and Explain
Shopify will pay a referral fee to customers they refer. This is a great way for you to monetize tutorials, courses, or content. You will have access to a dedicated affiliate team as well as resources to assist you in your growth. This is a great way for passive and active income to be increased without having to work directly with the platform.
Benefits Affiliate marketing does not require any technical knowledge or skills. Your creativity and promotion skills are the only things that will make you successful. Shopify is a strong product that has a large potential customer base. There are many opportunities.
Disadvantages It is difficult to make money as an affiliate with Shopify if you don’t have an audience. The fees you charge will vary depending on the type of storeowner you’re referring.
Next steps
Shopify offers many opportunities to make money, even if your store isn’t a traditional eCommerce shop. It is important to first outline your goals and the problems you want to solve . Shopify is an amazing platform with excellent toolsets, but it’s no magic bullet. Start by deciding what you want and what you can do.
Shopify can make you money technically as an investor. The company is a publicly traded stock (SHOP), and has attracted a lot of attention from the financial media. They do not currently pay dividends, nor plan to, as of 2021. They do not return earnings via buybacks. Although Shopify stock returns have exceeded expectations, they are still based on future growth. This post will be limited to Shopify’s use as a platform.
